The New Rig

TA DA………………. (click on any image to make it larger)

There it is  -- our new rig consisting of a 2016 Ford Expedition (of course it is a Ford) and a 2015 Forest River Rockwood Mini Lite 2504S Travel Trailer.  We bought our new home base in mid November and by mid February we had the new rig already.

We had notions of what we were going to buy and how we were going to do it, but some things changed quite a bit.  Our intention had been to order a Ford Transit Cargo Van as the tow vehicle. But it wasn’t going to fit on the property real well, and with the compromises necessary to make it fit, we suddenly switched gears from ordering a Tansit to buying an Expediton off the lot and had that accomplished in about a week in January instead of a six to eight week order.  The Expedition has 9,400 pounds of towing capacity and is far nicer on the inside than a cargo van.

We then planned to order a new 2016 trailer of the same make, model, and floorplan as this one and to pit a couple dealers against each other to negtotiate a better price.  While Gary was putting together the order and in reality procrastinating just a little, he happend to look on Craigslist.  About 30 miles away was a listing for the same trailer one year old and little used. The owner found that his kids were just too busy with other activities to go camping so he didn’t want to make payments anymore.  We were happy to let him absorb that first year of depreciation and we scored our new to us trailer in a week in February instead of a six to eight week order for it.

So on with the show.  Shown below is how it fits on our home base.  There is just enough space to make it all fit.  It will fit even a bit better once we move a post.  But this is why we waited on the rig until we purchased the house.  We can have our “guest quarters” right outside our front door.

Here is the floorplan.  Note that it has a couch and a Murphy bed upfront.  The couch jack knifes flat and the Murphy bed folds down over the top of it – no added length for a dedicated bedroom – 26 feet total length.

Now for some interior shots.

 

We targeted a model with bunk beds as we will be spending a lot of time in the Summer near our grandson and hopefully one day we will want to come sleep on one of those bunks.  Also, we see that as a good place to store some tubs of stuff as we plan to be traveling for 3 to 6 months a year.

So if you just have to know yet more about the trailer, here is a link that will provide features specs and more.

http://www.forestriverinc.com/product-details.aspx?LineID=204

And if you want to see more, here are a couple links for click and drag 360 degree tours from a companion Forest River model

http://www.forestriverinc.com/product-details.aspx?LineID=203&Image=5387&ModelID=899&TourID=2953#Main

http://www.forestriverinc.com/product-details.aspx?LineID=203&Image=5387&ModelID=899&TourID=2954#Main