Читать книгу RVs & Campers For Dummies - Christopher Hodapp - Страница 49

If you ever thought wistfully about owning an RV but just couldn’t bear the notion of going anywhere without your motorcycles, bikes, trikes, ATVs, snowmobiles, canoes, golf carts, or race car, the toy hauler is for you. These trailers have the usual RV amenities of a kitchen, dinette, couch, bedroom(s), and bathroom, as well as an additional empty space in the rear with a fold-down ramp. Drop the ramp, push all your big stuff in, lash it all down, and hit the road. Some versions even let you reconfigure the ramp as a raised, outdoor patio deck after you’re done unloading.

The goal of most RV designs is never to waste valuable space, and many toy haulers are set up to do multiple duties. The garage area may have a TV, flip-up bunk beds, or fold-out couches you can open up after you park and pull out the Harley. Some have a second bathroom, so that campers outside can use the facilities in the “garage” without traipsing through your living room. More compact ones may convert the garage area into the main bedroom with a fold-down Murphy bed or one that lowers from the ceiling, figuring that you won’t need to sleep until after you’ve dragged all your stuff out at the campsite. Others make use of the garage area to set up a home office. There’s tremendous variety in these types of trailers, with more introduced every year.

In addition to the options that the manufacturers build into them, toy haulers are also a favorite of disabled campers or those with limited mobility. You can use the drop-down rear ramp as your way into and out of the trailer.

Toy haulers come in many sizes. There are toy haulers as short as 19 feet that have enough room for a motorcycle, an ATV, or a couple of mountain bikes. The biggest ones are fifth-wheel trailers, which give you the ultimate combination of indoor living space and a big garage. Just be aware that a fifth-wheel trailer requires a beefy truck to haul it. (More about fifth wheels later in this chapter.) And there are also several toy hauler motorhomes on the market. Instead of towing a small car behind, we’ve seen these motorhomes with a golf cart, Mini Cooper, Fiat, or Smart Car tucked into their onboard garages.

One word of caution with toy haulers: Be sure you know the total weight of your motorcycles, ATVs, or any other major items you want to put onboard before you go shopping. Just because you can fit everything into the back of your rolling garage, doesn’t mean you should. Don’t ever exceed the weight limits of your trailer or your tow vehicle. Doing so can do serious damage to your RV, but more important, can cause extremely dangerous driving problems. We talk lots more about weight and packing in Chapter 8.