Upgrade - which Elkmont? [moved]

[hjbourge]

Hi Shandysplace,

I noticed in your early post that you had a 3326 TM and now a Elkmont 26 TM. We have a 2720 TM 2010 for the past two camping seasons and have been thinking of upgrading to the Elkmont. We thought of the 26 footer but last week we were at the dealer and saw a 24 that had a soffa bed instead of the permanent bed, which give you a lot more walking room in the trailer. But my main question is how do you like the Elkmont and is it really worth upgrading to. We pull our TM with a 2008 Honda Ridgeline and have had no wind problems or sway, but we are both in our late 60's and putting up and taking down of the TM is getting tougher. We had taken a crosscountry trip last year with the TM and made 29 campgrounds some for only one night, by the end of the trip we were getting better at the set up and take down, but still it took a toll. Do you get any sway when towing and is set up quicker?

Originally Posted by hjbourge

Hi Shandysplace,

I noticed in your early post that you had a 3326 TM and now a Elkmont 26 TM. We have a 2720 TM 2010 for the past two camping seasons and have been thinking of upgrading to the Elkmont. We thought of the 26 footer but last week we were at the dealer and saw a 24 that had a soffa bed instead of the permanent bed, which give you a lot more walking room in the trailer. But my main question is how do you like the Elkmont and is it really worth upgrading to. We pull our TM with a 2008 Honda Ridgeline and have had no wind problems or sway, but we are both in our late 60's and putting up and taking down of the TM is getting tougher. We had taken a crosscountry trip last year with the TM and made 29 campgrounds some for only one night, by the end of the trip we were getting better at the set up and take down, but still it took a toll. Do you get any sway when towing and is set up quicker?

may i offer an opinion. the uniqueness of the trailmanor is the folding low profile and no sway. its still a pop up but a unique one.

the elkmonts although they are a quality trailer are still uprights.

mileage will be terrible beacause of wind friction on more exposed area not weight.(and sway greatly increased)

your ridgeline will go from 17 to 8 miles a gallon(guess based on experience).
owned a travel trailer and now own soft sided pop up.( am going to buy trailmanor)

I have also learned not to force using pop up.

if your traveling cross country-use motels for one night stands. don't feel you ha
ve to use your trailer saves a lot of grief.


example. if have 1000 miles to cover use motels first 2 days. drive longer(easier with pop up) then set up for several days stop


gerry

Originally Posted by gerrym51

may i offer an opinion. the uniqueness of the trailmanor is the folding low profile and no sway. its still a pop up but a unique one.

the elkmonts although they are a quality trailer are still uprights.

mileage will be terrible beacause of wind friction on more exposed area not weight.(and sway greatly increased)

your ridgeline will go from 17 to 8 miles a gallon(guess based on experience).
owned a travel trailer and now own soft sided pop up.( am going to buy trailmanor)

I have also learned not to force using pop up.

if your traveling cross country-use motels for one night stands. don't feel you ha
ve to use your trailer saves a lot of grief.


example. if have 1000 miles to cover use motels first 2 days. drive longer(easier with pop up) then set up for several days stop


gerry

While I agree that MPG will be worse with the Elkmont due to increased wind resistance, our mileage has been nowhere near as bad as the 8 MPG suggested in the above post. Worst case we've done is 10.5 MPG fighting a head wind for the entire trip. More typically, our gas mileage ranges from 12 to 13.5 when towing with our Buick Enclave with 3.6L V6 engine. By itself, the Enclave gets about 17 in the city and up to 24 MPG highway (my personal experience, which closely mirrors the vehicle's touted MPG).

I've never owned a fold-down Trailmanor, so I can't speak for its ease of set-up, but the Elkmont is a breeze to set-up. I would recommend a WDH to reduce sway, and dealing with this is the hardest part of the set-up / take-down process. The hitch is heavy and the spring bars do take a bit of effort. That second part can be made much easier by opting for the electric tongue jack option. You use the jack to "lift" the trailer / TV slightly (not literally) which makes tensioning the spring bars a snap.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by gerrym51

may i offer an opinion. the uniqueness of the trailmanor is the folding low profile and no sway. its still a pop up but a unique one.

the elkmonts although they are a quality trailer are still uprights.

mileage will be terrible beacause of wind friction on more exposed area not weight.(and sway greatly increased)

your ridgeline will go from 17 to 8 miles a gallon(guess based on experience).
owned a travel trailer and now own soft sided pop up.( am going to buy trailmanor)

I have also learned not to force using pop up.

if your traveling cross country-use motels for one night stands. don't feel you ha
ve to use your trailer saves a lot of grief.


example. if have 1000 miles to cover use motels first 2 days. drive longer(easier with pop up) then set up for several days stop


gerry

gerry,

I had the same PU thinking that you do before we purchased our 1st TM.....Our PU (2002 Coleman Tacoma), although very nice was a PITA to set up and I agree, long trips would require motel breaks.

I hope that you will discover what so many of us have. IMO, long trips, no longer require motel breaks because the TM is SOOOOOO much easier to set-up than a traditional, canvas sided PU. The length of time is truly a lot less but more than that, the back breaking struggle of setting up the bunks, cranking the roof and all the rest of it is far less in a TM. I find setting up more "Fun" than work. We came to the point that is was "Painful" and "Stressful" to set-up camp. Not any more (except for the people that want to stand around, watch and ask questions.....that's starting to get old)......

I would now consider moving our "Stuff" from the camper to a motel more work and PITA than setting up the TM.....besides, I love my own bed......

[cochise]

Originally Posted by Bigbit

While I agree that MPG will be worse with the Elkmont due to increased wind resistance, our mileage has been nowhere near as bad as the 8 MPG suggested in the above post. Worst case we've done is 10.5 MPG fighting a head wind for the entire trip. More typically, our gas mileage ranges from 12 to 13.5 when towing with our Buick Enclave with 3.6L V6 engine. By itself, the Enclave gets about 17 in the city and up to 24 MPG highway (my personal experience, which closely mirrors the vehicle's touted MPG).

I've never owned a fold-down Trailmanor, so I can't speak for its ease of set-up, but the Elkmont is a breeze to set-up. I would recommend a WDH to reduce sway, and dealing with this is the hardest part of the set-up / take-down process. The hitch is heavy and the spring bars do take a bit of effort. That second part can be made much easier by opting for the electric tongue jack option. You use the jack to "lift" the trailer / TV slightly (not literally) which makes tensioning the spring bars a snap.

I totally agree with this. We pull our Elkmont 24 with a 2003 Silverado 4.3 L 6 cyl engine, and we get around 13 mpg pullinng and about 18-20 mpg alone. And the WDH is a MUST with the Elkmont. You have about 660 Lb on the tongue, place about 5' behind the rear axle (in my case), so that is a lot of fulcrum effect to deal with. And yes we have gotten up to 15 mpg with a slight tail wind helping us along.

I new i should not have used specific numbers. the point is mileage and sway
will be different. the number i used was specifically for the honda ridgeline.

if you go to hondaridgelineowners forum you will see the ridgeline gets very poor milerage for its size then others in its class and encourages premium fuel
while towing.(which is why i did not buy one0.

as for other statements i made. it was based on what the poster said about traveling cross coun try and one night stands.

the elkmont is still a standard trailer and will have greater sway issues

how much sway issues a person can take is strictly a personal issue

gerry

[cochise]

Originally Posted by gerrym51

I new i should not have used specific numbers. the point is mileage and sway
will be different. the number i used was specifically for the honda ridgeline.

if you go to hondaridgelineowners forum you will see the ridgeline gets very poor milerage for its size then others in its class and encourages premium fuel
while towing.(which is why i did not buy one0.

as for other statements i made. it was based on what the poster said about traveling cross coun try and one night stands.

the elkmont is still a standard trailer and will have greater sway issues

how much sway issues a person can take is strictly a personal issue

gerry

We have never had any noticeable sway in our Elkmont/Silverado combo. And as far as comfort is concerned, we love that on a trip we can just pull over and enter the trailer to eat luch or just have a cup of coffee, or even use the bathroom between camp sites. And you don't have to stabilize the trailer for that, just unlock the door and enter.

And often when we travel longer distances we pull into a parking lot or whereever we can after about 300 miles and spend the night in pure comfort, again without having to do a lot of set-up. The Elkmont 24 is perfect for that scenario. Next morning we just get back in the truck and take off for the next 300 or so miles.

Originally Posted by cochise

We have never had any noticeable sway in our Elkmont/Silverado combo. And as far as comfort is concerned, we love that on a trip we can just pull over and enter the trailer to eat luch or just have a cup of coffee, or even use the bathroom between camp sites. And you don't have to stabilize the trailer for that, just unlock the door and enter.

And often when we travel longer distances we pull into a parking lot or whereever we can after about 300 miles and spend the night in pure comfort, again without having to do a lot of set-up. The Elkmont 24 is perfect for that scenario. Next morning we just get back in the truck and take off for the next 300 or so miles.

your right. mileage same pop up or regular trailer . no difference sway regular trailer or pop up; no difference 24 ft trailer or pop up 23 expands to 30 ;

have a wonderful day

[cochise]

Originally Posted by gerrym51

your right. mileage same pop up or regular trailer . no difference sway regular trailer or pop up; no difference 24 ft trailer or pop up 23 expands to 30 ;

have a wonderful day

Perhaps you need to READ what I wrote....I was referring to OUR tow combo. The fact that a Honda may get very poor mileage is too bad. Yes my mileage drops when I tow, but not too bad. As far as sway is concerned, I am sure that if you are traveling at 75 MPH as many do even while towing, you probably will have sway, but I stated that we did not have noticeable sway with our Elkmont/Silverado combo not that there would be no sway!

So you have a nice day too!

[BOB_STRONG]

Having owned 3 traditional TrailManors since 1992, and now owning an Elkmont 26, I honestly can say that I enjoy towing the Elkmont as well as our old 3326King. For gas mileage, I get about 1 to 1.5 miles per gallon less pulling our Elkmont than the the 3326King. I had a WDH and sway bar on the 3326, and I still have a similar set up with the Elkmont. I don't notice any difference in sway or when trucks pass me by.

If you like the 24 foot with the couch in the front that makes into a bed, then I would go for that with the side dinette & bunk beds if you need the additional space for sleeping. If you have no need for the bunk beds, than get the regular floor plan with the couch that makes into a bed. We saw the dealer make the couch into a bed, and it doesn't take very long to do. If you want to leave the couch as a couch, you can always make up the side dinette into a bed. It is real easy to do.

For us, we liked the extra 2 feet plus more storage room. Having the permanent bed, gives you all of the storage under the bed. Plus with the Elkmont 26, you get tandem axles, a larger bathroom, and a nice large side dinette. The price was only $2000 more for us vs the Elkmont 24. Having owned two 3326Kings, the Elkmont 24 just would not fit our needs. That's why TrailManor is building the 22, 24(with various floor plans), and the 26 Elkmont. Only you can decide on what model. I am sure that all 3 sizes will tow very well and still not reduce your gas mileage much. So do your homework on what you need for storage and ease of setting up a bed. That will then determine which floor plan to get.

The other nice thing about the Elkmont is that you can stop at a rest area, unlock the door, and use the bathroom or get something out of the huge 6 cubic foot refrig and sit down at the table. No more having to open and close the trailer. I am not knocking the regular TrailManor, but after 18 years and 3 regular TrailManors, we were ready for the Elkmont to make life a little easier when camping, and if you are stopping every night and setting up.