anyone squeeze a family of 4 in a smaller trailer?
Just wondering if the small ones (bambi etc... 17-22 foot range)
can squeeze 2 adults and 2 kids? I don't see many small ones and I am still learning. It would be easier to store and tow the small ones. I am OK with remodeling and would prefer to have somewhere for everyone to sleep even if on the floor.
squeeze 2 adults and 2 kids? would prefer to have somewhere for everyone to sleep even if on the floor.
Karen,
I have let my nephew and his wife use my 16' with the 2 kids on the floor. It is a bit of a squeeze, guess it depends on the size of the kids as to how many nights they would be comfortable with doing it. They stayed in it for 4 nights.
Also, depends on the floor plan. If either of the adults needed to use the head during the night it would have meant figuring out how to get there without smashing one of the kids. My bed is up front, head in the rear.
If you go more towards the 22' range, it will probably be much better if you need to accomodate 4 people on a regular basis.
When I was a little girl, we had a 13 ft Trotwood trailer that slept 4 of us. No bathroom in it, but we had a tripod with a toilet seat on top that you put a plastic bag in for at night. (You can still buy the toilets!)
When our 3 kids were growing up, we had an 18 ft. Mallard trailer for the 5 of us. Worked fine, for the most part. Once the boys hit early teen years, they prefered a tent anyway, but when we were traveling, or it rained alot, we all slept in the trailer. A lot depends on what kind of camping you do, how old your kids are at any given time, how you travel, etc. Campgrounds with good bathrooms are probably a must most of the time. You also should look closely at floor plans. We bought one trailer with a bunk, thinking the kids could use it, and the table for the 3 of them to sleep on. Turned out that the bunk would only accomodate the youngest for a couple years, and the table only would sleep one of the boys, who were in high school at the time. Luckily, the oldest son was only with us one summer, so it worked out. Good luck!
We use our 16' CCD for camping in Forest Service campgrounds (no hookups or showers, etc) most of the time. The notes below are for boondocking - staying in a place with full hookups and campground showers is easy!
Sleeping - 2 in the real bed, 1 on the dinette folded down, 1 on the floor with an air mattress or low cot
Toilet - single grey/black holding tank is way too small for 4 for any length of time, so everyone uses the campground toilets
Shower - since we don't use the toilet in the trailer, the single holding tank is essentially a grey water tank, which we drain with a hose amongst the trees
Fresh water tank - also way too small for a family of 4 for very long. We carry the drinking & cooking water in the pickup - would do this anyway since we always have a ? about the quality of the campground water supply. The freshwater tank gets filled with the campground water so we can use the water heater for showers.
Refrigerator - also way too small for very long, so this gets used for the really important stuff and we rely a lot on canned and dry food.
Storage space - really enough of this. But mice are a problem in Forest Service campgrounds so we use Action Packers (Rubbermaid storage containers) to store ALL the food items - these seal up tight, carry easily to the picnic table outside, and can carry as much as we'd ever need between the trailer and the truck.
This probably sounds like a hassle for people with 'real' trailers - but we started out with tents or car camping, so our little Airstream still feels like a luxury item to us.
I enjoy reading these posts by young families who still possess the "make-do" American spirit. A small Airstream is a luxury compared to what many have camped with. We traveled all over this country with a VW camper van and used a 16' Scamp at our lake lot before we built our house (with two kids). It is not the gear that matters (the less the better), it is the family adventures together.
We have three teenage boys that normally prefer tents. On occasions they end up inside or when we winter camp, we have me and the boss in our queen, one on the gaucho up front and two on the floor. Two are 16, 230 lbs each, and the younger at 150. Nice and cozy!
We typically have the boys use the campground facilities unless we are boondocking. Thank goodness our 16 yr old daughter strongly prefers not to go! lol
wow, thanks everyone! I invision short trips with an airstream so I think a smaller one would work out just fine.
Now I need to save the cash and start searching for a small model that will work well.
byamcaravanner, I did check your blog. your small trailer looks nice! I like the bunk idea you did as well. that would be something I might do as well.
RDM16CCD, from what you described it looks like I can do that. We use a tent now so a small trailer would be a blessing.
We mostly camped in campgrounds with water and hookups etc. (with the tent we rarely used any of the water or power)
Quick Links
(You can still buy the toilets!)
Linear Mode
