Looking at buying a camper

I am looking at buying a small camper. I have looked at some new pop up campers. I am also interested in a used camper trailer that is not a pop up but is small and light enough to pull with a Nissan Xterra. Anybody have one for sale or have any advice?

 

You might consider renting one the first couple of times to see if its gonna be worth the investment.
Thats knowledge I`ve gained from friends who had one.

 

to be honest go with a trailer. It don't hurt as much to see it degrading in the back yard. I've got an apache, and quite frankly that is the only way I can afford to go on vacation. Makes things amazingly cheap. Buy used, new is really a ripoff. just look at the new trailers and look at places where water may potentially leak, then go over those places with a fine tooth comb on the used one. If you smell mold just walk away without even looking.

 

I was not aware that you could rent one. Where do they offer that?

I think a trailer might be better because I have not see a popup yet that has a decent bathroom. I have two boys ages 9 and 11 and think it would be a lot of fun to get them outside camping somewhere. They are addicted to the gameboy and playstation.

I have read I can not pull anything bigger than 19 feet with my Xterra.

 

Renting.

http://www.hawleyscamping.com/
http://www.colfaxcountryrv.com/
http://www.thomasrvrentals.com/consign.htm

 

Thanks

 

Oh Thelt do yourself a favor, don't max out the towing weight on your xterra unless you've got heavy duty shocks sway bars and a load distributing hitch, and external transmission oil cooler. Go lighter regardless of what the rental guy trys to tell you, one you sign the paperwork and you're responsible for the rig, and burning out your trans on the interstate is a bummer, doing on some dinky road in east bumfuck miles from a cell link even more so. But if you take the time to put all the pieces together, you and the family can go all over the place at 1/3 the cost of a regular vacation.

 

I plan on using this for short weekend trips a lot so I do not want a heavy trailer that will cost a fortune in gas to pull. I do not want to approach my weight limit, which is 5000 pounds. The popups I have been looking at are around 1300 pounds in dry weight. The one fixed trailer was around 3200 pounds.

Looking at the camper lots makes you wonder who buys the mamouth high dollar trailers. If I could afford one of those I would just stay in a hotel everywhere I go.

 

oh gosh Thelf.....go with the nice big Tents, air mattresses and the such. raised our two college age DDs with this and they have since bought their own and love it still.

save all the wear and tear on the vehicle

 

I tried tent camping and I did not care too much for it. I like a little less rough when I rough it.