from a french dreamer

[frenchdreamer]

Hello to all of you. Juste a question about enclosed trailers. When you go in a campground where do you park the trailer and is there a cost for this parking? I mean if I want to have an enclose trailer because I need some more place to store the extra-stuff that I can't put IN my Newell, and of course to toad a car in this trailer, can I get IN the campgrounds with the hauler. I know it may be a silly question but we do not know very well the rules in USA. :blushing:

[tuga]

Welcome to the Newell site,

Towing a trailer has advantages and disadvantages.

Some of the advantages are that your car is protected from road debris. You can also haul bicycles, motorcycles, and all sorts of other things. Another big advantage is that you can back up without having to disconnect the tow car.

Disadvantages are extra cost to purchase the trailer and place to store the trailer in RV parks. Some parks have parking available for trailer parking - many RV parks don't have any extra parking. I am not sure about whether there is a charge for parking a trailer. In most of the campgrounds that I have seen in U.S.A. you could just request a 90' pull thru site and that would do it. No extra cost to store it and it would be right there next to your Newell.

Be careful when loading the trailer; there are limits as to how much you can carry. I would contact Newell to find out how much your Newell can tow.

I would say that 95% of Newell owners tow a car or truck and not an enclosed trailer. I have seen people towing a pick up truck with a 4 wheeler or serveral bicycles in the truck bed. Also things can be stored inside the tow car or truck.

It seems to me that towing a trailer would be a hassle. Just loading the car inside the trailer is a time consuming process. It has to be strapped down and it is not easy to exit the car once it is inside the trailer. I guess it all depends on what you want to carry inside the trailer.

Good luck and I hope this has helped you.

[lbrachfe]

Agree with Tuga on many points, except my experiences have been that many class a only parks will not accept trailers on site overnight and often have arrangements with storage facilities on site or near by and charge a fee although nominal. Best to have a big tow vehicle and use it for toys or storage. We have done both and find we prefer to pull our MINI Cooper Clubman as it is less than 5 minutes time hooking up or detaching. Also, most campgrounds require you to move your trailer around requiring a hookup for it behind your car that you keep in the trailer, so you may bring it to the storage area or lot. Unless you are transporting show cars or bikes it's more hassle than it's worth. I would also venture a guess that about a third of all parks won't allow a trailer or have a pull through sized to accomodate it available.

[afrench45]

As the others have said, there are advantages/disadvantages to pulling a trailer. Two of my good friends both pull stackers, and both admit it takes work. One will not go anyplace without it, and says that it is worth all the effort it takes to pull a stacker. It is a plus for him, because he can have his lexus, motorcycle plus his extra "stuff". He pulls the trailer with a 45' Prevost and said the coach handles the trailer just fine. Gets about 4.5-5 mpg with the trailer. Another good friend of mine likes the convince of the stacker, because he can haul his race car, equipment, plus another car. His trailer is 28ft I believe. He pulls it behind his 07' Newell with a 625 Cat and ZF12 tranny. He gets around 4mpg and travels about 65mph. The problem that they said they have both found, and I have found when I pull my 24ft. trailer is where to park them. Often times parks will have 90ft. pull through sites, but it is hard to maneuver a coach and trailer to the sites!
A few instances, is where we stay in Destin they say that they offer trailer parking.... What it is, is the beach parking across the street. Its a gravel parking/driveway (not more than 60ft wide) and you can put your trailer there. The problem with this, is that you have to back your trailer down this driveway and have to block off all traffic on the beach road (busy road) to get to your trailer, and hope nobody is blocking it in.
Another case, I had my trailer in South Carolina and was hauling motorcycles and no car. When i booked the site, they said they had trailer parking, and it could be accessed easily by coach....upon arriving that was not the case. We had to drop the trailer at the entrance and have a maintenance man park it for us. If we had a truck/suv that could park the trailer it wouldn't be an issue.

Trailers are great for storage, and look cool going down the road! In my opinion, its all about how much effort you want to put into it.

[tuga]

Good post Tom & lbrachfe,

I have learned that whatever most people do is usually the simplest and the less costly. And I think that is the case with towing these trailers.

These stacker trailers are not cheap; I have heard that they can cost $34,000 +.

I agree that they are difficult to park and a hassle to load and unload a tow vehicle from.

I like towing my Honda Pilot; I can unhook in about 3 minutes!

[chockwald]

Haven't had a problem yet pulling a trailer. Every park we have stayed in had either pull through sites that would handle the coach and trailer simultaneously, or a back in, like we have been staying in this past year....100' long....enough room for the trailer, coach and both our cars parked end to end. So far we've stayed at 11 different parks while pulling a trailer, and had no problem getting a spot in any of them that would accomodate the trailer.....now all of those parks are west of the Mississippi, so I can't speak for anything east of said river. For long term stays it may be that some parks would not want your trailer in the same space. Our travel plan doesn't call for long term stays, except maybe with relatives, or friends.

[frenchdreamer]

Thank you all of you for our answers, they help me a lot. After reading all of them, I think it would be better to tow a car than a trailer because we are not going to have so much things to put in (no bikes or scooter), and the trunk of the car will be enough for the extra stuff.
I do not know how to thank you all for all the help and for your so friendly welcome...this forum is really great!!!!! AND you are greats....hip hip hip hurray for american people!!!!!!