Tampa RV show

[TomC]

Spent Wednesday wondering around the RV show. Some pics for you guys. I’m just showing the stuff that falls on the Ranger world. You can see everything and then some for RV folks. The last 3 pictures are a palomino camper top that was advertised to fit the Ranger.

The smallest OVR from intech was my surprising favorite. Wife voted for the airstream base camp. Both were $60k. We are just looking.

Sponsored

 

[TomC]

More pictures. Pricing was all over the place. Up to 30% off for large class C and super Cs, and Class As, to 10k markups for some class Bs. first picture is a really cool custom car hauler that stacks vertically. Last is a chassis with engine. The engineer On that display gave a great 5 minute talk. Reinforced my desire never to tangle with large vehicles.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

More pictures. Pricing was all over the place. Up to 30% off for large class C and super Cs, and Class As, to 10k markups for some class Bs. first picture is a really cool custom car hauler that stacks vertically. Last is a chassis with engine. The engineer On that display gave a great 5 minute talk. Reinforced my desire never to tangle with large vehicles.

Hi Tom,

Cummings diesel pusher, eh? red brackets indicating raised rail chassis. Most Class A are raised rail, but I chose to have a straight rail chassis for my class A as I do not think the raise rail design is as Robust. Most Class A Rv's are low mileage so chassis mfg gets away with this design, but for those that log high mileage like my ALFA at 97,000 miles are a rarity. My ALFA is relatively worthless for mileage but the chassis if durable for 1,000,000 miles as the CAT engine. Cummings has had a problematic engine in the RV chassis....

Best,
Phil

 

[TomC]

Hi Tom,

Cummings diesel pusher, eh? red brackets indicating raised rail chassis. Most Class A are raised rail, but I chose to have a straight rail chassis for my class A as I do not think the raise rail design is as Robust. Most Class A Rv's are low mileage so chassis mfg gets away with this design, but for those that log high mileage like my ALFA at 97,000 miles are a rarity. My ALFA is relatively worthless for mileage but the chassis if durable for 1,000,000 miles as the CAT engine. Cummings has had a problematic engine in the RV chassis....

Best,
Phil

The freightliner rep was a great speaker. I now know freightliner builds four XC chassis: the XCS, XCL, XCR and XCM. I couldn't pick which is which out of a lineup, and I will never have a class A, but these rv shows are a great way to spend a couple of days if you ever find your way to Florida. They also had a S2RV behind this display, and I did look at a couple of Super C rvs. Since you are a Class A guy this was the most expensive A at the show - 2.4 million. Some sort of Newell.

 

[JimG_AZ]

How was the build quality of the units? I have read that RV quality (if there ever was such a thing) took a big hit during Covid and the Great Resignation period. I am not sure if it has improved yet.

 

[mtbikernate]

How was the build quality of the units? I have read that RV quality (if there ever was such a thing) took a big hit during Covid and the Great Resignation period. I am not sure if it has improved yet.

I think a BIG part of that was related to the stupid fast increase in demand for RVs. And THAT has cooled down substantially as ppl realized that it became hard to get campsites (and in some cases, downright impossible). A big part of the quality drop was related to the manufacturers pushing extra hard to get product out the door.

COVID shutdowns and workers shuffling industries certainly didn't help matters, but AFAIK, the sharp jump in demand was the biggest problem.

I'm a small camper guy, and especially small campers with the capability to boondock exclusively. Not that I'm able to camp this way every time I go out, but I do appreciate the flexibility to take my camper wherever I drive my Ranger.

 

[Jhbryaniv]

That intech OVR looks really nice.

Dry weight is pushing what I'd be comfortable Towing with the ranger... I may need to adjust my comfort level... :-/


https://intech.com/rv/models/ovr/expedition/

 

[mtbikernate]

That intech OVR looks really nice.

Dry weight is pushing what I'd be comfortable Towing with the ranger... I may need to adjust my comfort level... :-/


https://intech.com/rv/models/ovr/expedition/

Yeah, this is part of why I prefer smaller campers for the Ranger. I don't have a problem pulling heavy for short distances, but it's not something I'd want to do on a long drive. Reduction in range between fuel-ups, extra wear and tear on the truck, extra driver fatigue, etc.

I shopped bigger campers for a little bit early during the pandemic (spouse driven, because of an uncomfortable weather situation), and there was one I looked at that was in the neighborhood of what I'd be willing to pull long-distance weight-wise (somewhere in the 3,000-3500lb range), but it LOOKED huge and had a LOT of surface area exposed to the wind. It just screamed to me that it was too big for a midsize pickup. But oh, that salesman was pushing hard (another part of why I walked). He totally brushed me off when I started talking about the frontal area spec for the trailer and the spec described in the Ranger's manual.

 

[MXGOLF]

Thanks Tom for all the photos and your reflections on them. I really like my off road tent trailer as I can go pretty much where I want to but if the weather get's nasty then it's not so much fun. I like it due to being able to stand up anywhere inside also. I am 6'1" tall. this whole setup with my Ranger bed full is around 2000 Lbs. The Ranger doesn't hardly knows that it is back there. There was a couple of those smaller off road trailers that I would like too see more of but I am assuming they are expensive.

 

[TomC]

How was the build quality of the units? I have read that RV quality (if there ever was such a thing) took a big hit during Covid and the Great Resignation period. I am not sure if it has improved yet.

disappointed in most of the offerings I looked at in detail. Of course, these were units that had lots of people in them. Mostly sofas/seats, murphy beds/doors and things with hinges. Window installs, cabinet alignment, strange wires/bundle locations under rvs, and sales people who didn't know that product line. Factory reps were there, though, and learned a lot.

 

[TomC]

Thanks Tom for all the photos and your reflections on them. I really like my off road tent trailer as I can go pretty much where I want to but if the weather get's nasty then it's not so much fun. I like it due to being able to stand up anywhere inside also. I am 6'1" tall. this whole setup with my Ranger bed full is around 2000 Lbs. The Ranger doesn't hardly knows that it is back there. There was a couple of those smaller off road trailers that I would like too see more of but I am assuming they are expensive.

If you zoom in you can see the pricing on some.

 

[AzScorpion]

Did you check out the new Ember models? Just curious how they are as they were "supposed" to be a step up from the others which isn't saying much. I've watched several of Josh the RV Nerds videos on them and he seems to really like them but he also sells them.

 

[Msfitoy]

More pictures. Pricing was all over the place. Up to 30% off for large class C and super Cs, and Class As, to 10k markups for some class Bs. first picture is a really cool custom car hauler that stacks vertically. Last is a chassis with engine. The engineer On that display gave a great 5 minute talk. Reinforced my desire never to tangle with large vehicles.

Was there one of these? Still my favorite...

 

[TomC]

Was there one of these? Still my favorite...

They had one with the fold out bed on both sides.

 

[Msfitoy]

They had one with the fold out bed on both sides.

That's their larger version, "Discover"...the "Explore" is more my size...lower with one fold out...

Sponsored