AC or no AC?

[chowder1974]

I'm considering ordering a new trailmanor 2720 and considering whether or not to order it with the roof AC.

I live in the pacfic northwest and probably would never need AC except mabye once in a while when camping east of the cascades.

I'm considering going with no AC and no awning due to cost, but I also want to consider resale.

Any thoughts on the AC?

 

[Scottie Dogs]

Hi-

Get every thing they offer, you will never regreat it, swing hitch both cabinets, the good antena for direct TV, solar panel, awning that is very important.

2 years from now if you sell, you will not have a striped down TM to sell.

I would never buy a TM without AC, awning, I would keep shopping till I found what I liked. People travel all over the country with TM, and if they go to Florida with no AC, awning, I can hear the wife :new_argue

Dave

 

[rvcycleguy]

I would agree with Scottie. Without A/C, and awning, you would be limiting the potential buyers if and when you decide to sell. Used units with the added accessories are in demand in most areas of the country.

 

[chowder1974]

Scottie,

I was thinking of getting just the tv atenna but not the inclusive satelite. Is that what you mean. Where we camp there are lots of trees and i need the flexabilitiy of moving the satelite away from the camper, sometimes 100 feet or so.

 

[Digger]

Like you said, it depends on where and when you will be camping. Our TM has no AC and in the over 5 years we’ve had it there is not once we would have tuned it on if we did have one. We camp summers in Alaska and have spent the last few winters in AZ and FL. You may not get as much for it when you sell it but you hadn’t paid as much for it either. There is also the extra weight and wind drag while towing to consider. We do have an awning that we don’t use very often but it sure is nice to have when it’s raining. Not trying to tell you what to get or not get, just giving a different viewpoint. Something you may look into if you are buying it new is to see if you can get it wired for AC without the unit installed so any prospective buyer can have a new one easily installed.

Ed

 

[Scottie Dogs]

Scottie,

I was thinking of getting just the tv atenna but not the inclusive satelite. Is that what you mean. Where we camp there are lots of trees and i need the flexabilitiy of moving the satelite away from the camper, sometimes 100 feet or so.

Yes, the regular atenna is fine, the satalite dish is the way to go.

Once you have the nice extras on the TM you will be happy, especially down the road if you want to sell.

We purchased a La-Z-Boy for our TM (the back comes off for travel) and it is wonderful, the wife can kick back read a book and turn on the AC. Then I go outside and sit under the awning, life is great in the TM when it is just like home

We are in the White Mountains AZ. now till Oct. and we use the A/C in the afternoon almost every day. Then in the morning I have a jacket on to walk the dogs, very neat weather here.

Dave

 

[grakin]

I wouldn't ever consider a camper without A/C. That said, I camp pretty much anywhere, and often do so in summer in places with high humidity. Even if I only used it once or twice during the time I owned the TM, I'd still consider it worth it - I can't sleep in hot, humid air.

Think about how long you'll keep it. If you'll keep it for a long time, are you *SURE* you'll never go anywhere hot in 5, 6, or 10 years? It's not an easy retrofit on these campers (you need to swap out the torsion bars on the front shell, at a minimum, not to mention you need to create the hole, wire it, etc). Basically, anything roof-mounted (solar panels, awning, TV antennas, A/C) is something you'll want to buy with the TM when it's new, unless you are sure you don't want the thing. Any change of weight on the top shells requires changing pretty important parts of the camper out (the torsion bars, which is NOT a job that most of us would want to do in the backyard).

As for awning, TV antenna, etc, I'd do what you want for those. If you think you might want them, I'd get them. But I wouldn't do it for resale value - they won't add enough value to the unit once the unit is used to cover the purchase price. Certainly your TM will sell for more and quicker with the accessories, but you will not get what you pay for them out of it. New campers (even TMs, which are better than most) are a really bad investment - you absolutely lose money on them - so don't buy them for investment purposes. Buy what you want, not what some future owner might want.

 

[chowder1974]

I guess being an accountant has its disadvantages...

I think about things way too much.

My thinking on the AC was as follows...we purchased property in eastern WA, I have a Honda 2000 generator to run everything. I could spend $300 - $400 on a room AC and bring it along on trip where I would need it and my generator would run it and I could use it in my house on the 1 or 2 days a year that we need AC here in Seattle.

Any thoughts on this...I know there are those on this board that use room AC units.

 

[Shrimpburrito]

Out of the ~150 nights we've spent in the TM, less than 10 of them have been with the AC on. However, those 10 nights would have been unbearable without the AC. Comfort vs. misery.

As mentioned above, I wouldn't worry about resale value so much. Yes, you'll get less for it if you resell without AC, but I don't think that loss will be more than what you would pay for the AC new. So you still save money. But keep in mind that if, for example, you decide to drive cross country sometime in anything but winter months, there's a good chance you'll use it. Just depends on how much you don't want to sleep in your own sweat on occasion.

Dave

 

[Shrimpburrito]

My thinking on the AC was as follows...we purchased property in eastern WA, I have a Honda 2000 generator to run everything. I could spend $300 - $400 on a room AC and bring it along on trip where I would need it and my generator would run it and I could use it in my house on the 1 or 2 days a year that we need AC here in Seattle.

Any thoughts on this...I know there are those on this board that use room AC units.

Our TM has a window unit. It's not as effective cooling as the roof units, but it can cool ~25 degrees, which can turn 110 down to a manageable 85 degrees and remove humidity.

To retrofit, you would need to cut a hole in the wall, and probably run some new wiring. Not too challenging if you are handy and know how to wire an outlet, but it's a fair amount of work and time. IMHO, it's not worth the ~$500 or whatever savings of doing that vs. getting a roof mount. I'd either get the roof mount or not get one at all.

Also consider that the roof units also have built in heat strips, so if you need heat during the winter and you have hookups, you don't have to use propane to heat the TM.

Dave

 

[chowder1974]

So the AC units have electrical heating? You don't have to use a little ceramic heater and plug it in to heat when hooked up?

 

[mjlaupp]

So the AC units have electrical heating? You don't have to use a little ceramic heater and plug it in to heat when hooked up?

It's an option, and it will heat the TM on chilly mornings.

 

[moaboy]

To be clear it is a heat strip that does a good job of taking the chill out of the air, but not much more. If it gets any colder than 50 or so you need to use the furnace or a ceramic heater.
I go to the VA/NC beach a fair amount so I need AC, but if I didn't I might make do if I lived in your part of the country. The flow through ventilation is very good with all of the windows in the newer model TM's. Also I would not worry about resale too much, who knows, there may be someone out there who wants a a barebones TM as some people stretch to upgrade from a canvas pop up.
If my finances were such, I'd rather have a TM w/o AC than no TM at all.
One accessory I got I have never used is the roof mounted antenna. Most places either have cable or I 'm traveling and would rather sleep than watch tv.
Lastly, I'm not sure one would have to change the torsion bars, AC are getting lighter and they have even come out with an efficient 10,000 btu model. The wiring might be more of an issue. You might inquire at the factory and
research those issues more and get an answer from the folks that build them.
Good luck, you'll have fun either way.

 

[kokilo]

AC is a factory installed option.

I asked the factory last year and they quoted me $3,000.00 to add ac to my 2006 2720SD. This included installation which requires changing of torsion bars and wiring. The work had to be done at the factory.

Peter

 

[rumbleweed]

Adding AC later if wanted is harder due to the need to fold down. The installation of AC in a TM roof is not as simple as in a standard TT. For a normal TT, you cut a hole in the foof and fasten it down. For a TM, you need an adapter to prevent the inside assy from hanging below the ceiling. I recommend the AC from the factory.

 

[Bill-TMO]

Bob -

It is even more complicated than that. If you add an air conditioner to the roof, you need to change out all four torsion bars for that shell. Not easy, I'm thinking. Sad to say, if I were going to try to retrofit an A/C, I would probably revert to a side-mounted unit as TM used in the early days.

[Just noticed that kokilo mentioned the same thing.]

Bill

 

[PopBeavers]

I have used the a/c on two different trips. Once in 2006 and again in 2008.

I rarely use the awning. It tore in the third year. I repaired it last fall and have not sued it since. We use a free standing canopy every day, either for shade of for protection from a light drizzle. We sometimes take it from camp to the ATV trail head.

I do not have the roof antenna. We never stay in RV parks. We stay in the forest where there is no TV reception. I don't even watch TV at home.

I do have the swing tongue, otherwise it would not fit in the garage.

I do have the lift kit. Even with the lift kit I have hit bottom 3 times. Once exiting a parking lot. Once crossing a 20 foot wide dry creek bed. Once towing on a forest service secondary dirt road. This one bent the front battery tray.

Out TM was a factory order. We took delivery Marcy 2005. So far it is 7 years old. We will probably keep it at lease another 6 years. At age 13 the residual value for resale is not important to me. But, as others have pointed out, you may not keep yours very long, making resale value more important.

 

[CeeWoo]

Scottie,

I was thinking of getting just the tv atenna but not the inclusive satelite. Is that what you mean. Where we camp there are lots of trees and i need the flexabilitiy of moving the satelite away from the camper, sometimes 100 feet or so.

I'm with you on that one. Many of my favorite sites are located so that my Sat exposure would be nonexistent. Just finished my first outing with my (new to me) 2720SD. Set up the dish on my usual tripod and I was good to go (used the generator or batteries to power the receiver and 19" tv)

BTW-it was warm enough over here in Kittitas County, that I wish I could have used the Air Cond, but my little 1200W generator just won't do it. But I was grateful for the awning

 

[chowder1974]

So would you consider the polar cub if trailmanor is willing to swap it out instead of the polar mach? its only 9,000 btu versus 13,000 btu but I believe the Honda Generator will run it.

 

[T and C]

When I had my truck camper, I was content without an AC. I did most of my camping in the mountains of the Western states where it doesn't get too hot bacause of altitude.

Then I went to Texas. A couple of nights in the KOA at Fredricksburg in July, and a couple of nights near Carlsbad Caverns in NM...sent me to camping world to get an AC installed as soon as we got home.

Never regretted it. I kept that camper for 8 years.

Tom