Читать книгу RVs & Campers For Dummies - Christopher Hodapp - Страница 47

A towable RV is just what it sounds like: an RV with wheels under it that has to be pulled around by a separate tow vehicle. Most people simply refer to them as trailers or travel trailers. Towables are usually described by their total length, along with a few specialty designs or functions: travel trailer, fifth wheel, toy hauler, pop-up, and teardrop. (We cover those specialties in the following sections.)

The travel trailer (see Figure 2-6) is the classic American RV, and they’ve been around for almost a hundred years (or longer, if you stretch the definition). Trailers are the modern-day equivalent of a wagon pulled by horses. Emperor Napoleon famously had a carriage he took on campaign with many of the luxuries we think of today in an RV. After his final defeat at Waterloo, it was displayed all over England for years and wowed the locals.

In the RV universe, trailers are the most common vehicles you’ll encounter and unquestionably the most economical. When you stroll through your first RV show or wander onto a dealer’s lot, the sheer number of trailers you’ll encounter can be overwhelming, like an endless all-you-can-eat Las Vegas smorgasbord. There are more sizes, shapes, models, variations, options, and prices of trailers than you can chuck a badly aimed stick at. Travel trailers can be as short as 8 feet or as long as 45 feet. They can be 4 feet tall or more than 13 feet tall. They can come with no slides or as many as six. They can sleep one person or a dozen.

Trailers are usually designated by their overall length. According to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association, (RVIA), the length stated in ads and catalogs, on websites, and on an RV’s factory sticker is supposed to be the complete length of the trailer, from the very front edge of the hitch coupler in front all the way back to farthest tip of the rear bumper.

When you go shopping, one of the biggest discoveries you’ll make is that a 30-foot trailer has more indoor living space than a 30-foot motorhome. The reason is what’s up front, or what isn’t. A motorhome gobbles up really important indoor real estate with its cockpit (where the driver and a passenger sit and the steering and driving controls are located). A trailer doesn’t need any of that, which means more usable room for you to spread out at the campsite.

You probably already noticed that some trailers have more wheels under them than others. Shorter, lighter trailers (usually 23 feet or less) will only have one axle and set of wheels under them. Anything longer than 23 feet will probably have two axles and four tires. Only the heavyweight giants of the trailer world (like fifth wheels) have three axles and six tires. All those extra wheels spread the weight around to keep a heavy trailer from bending its axles and prevent the tires from wearing down prematurely when it’s fully packed.

Photographs courtesy of Christopher Hodapp

FIGURE 2-6: Travel trailers can be short or long or anywhere in between.