TT to Hybrid

[cbaka27]

OK so I looked but could not find this answer. I have owned my TT 28BHS for 4 years and we love it. When I purchased my TT new my TV as an F150 but I upgraded to a F350. For several reasons I am back to an F150 and I am considering trading in my TT for a Hybrid. Will I regret making this move? Has anyone else done this?

[Jagiven]

Ultimately you have to make the decision. We have the 23b and I think it's a great htt, it has lots of storage and space. You do have to crawl in and out of the bunks. For us the 17z would have been a bad choice, small, little storage and not much open space.

From a noise perapective, the tent ends typicslly is no big issue. We have stayed a few private CG with a lot of diesel pushers who got up early and idle their engines, that was annoying each morning.

[RedHorse1]

We went in the opposite direction. For us the HTT was an experiment to see how we liked the trailers adventure. We loved our X23B, I found the short length plus the inside space when "set up" an excellent combination. The bride and I started our lives together (40 yrs ago) as tenters and we enjoyed the tent bunks in the 23B. Like Jag points out the 23B has good storage (after our 5th I wouldn't say "lots") but pulling with an F150 you'd have ample ability to bring the bulky things.
My biggest negative is that I never found the seating (sofa, setee) to be very comfortable. But a 24' trailer where you can easily sleep 4 adults and a couple of kids is really something.

[Jim-n-Ash]

We went from a pop-up tent trailer to a TT, and considered a hybrid along the way. Ultimately, we decided that we were pretty tired of crawling over each other to get in and out of bed, and tired of getting up/down over the couch, not to mention that it would've been difficult to use sheets/blankets on the pull out beds. Our TT has a Murphy bed, so we still have a [comfortable] couch during the day, and a real bed at night.

[DocBrown]

We love our X20E. We loved our previous hybrid, an '03 Jayco Kiwi 17a. So 13 years of hybrids. Prior to that 11 years of pop-ups, prior to that about years camping in a tent.

But I will say they aren't for everyone. If you have never tented or had a pop-up you may not like the extra noise you will hear. You may not like the heat running more often in colder weather. You may not like opening and closing the beds for setup and take down.

On the flip side a lot of room in a small package. Ours has a small slide out that makes for a lot of floor space even thought it only goes out about a foot. And as you are already aware the ability to tow it with a 1500/150 series truck.

If you have any shows coming up or dealers near you go look at them, sit in them, lay one the beds, imagine yourself in one. Write up a list of pluses and minuses.

[Force]

I am currently selling my hybrid as part of upgrading to a 29.5BHDS fifth wheel. While these may not apply to you, my reasons for moving on are:

1) Tired of climbing over the wife to get in/out of bed in the hybrid; my 2 girls have also grown out of sleeping in the same bunk

2) Near zero privacy when getting dressed

3) While set up / break down of camp with the hybrid isn't overly difficult, it does require 2 people to close up the bunks properly and can be a bit time more consuming compared to setting up a TT or 5'er. Carrying a 4' ladder became mandatory as well.

4) Closing up the bunk ends in the rain means opening it up when I get home to dry things out, no different than if I was in a tent.

5) Sound. No camper is soundproof of course, but let's say I'll never again camp at a Nascar event in a hybrid

6) Camping while hooked up to your truck. At least for our current hybrid, can't open the front bunk w/o detaching from the truck. Not too big a deal except for cross country / rest area stops where you just want to rest overnight. In those cases you'd be forced to set everything up. Contrast that to a TT or 5'er where you can stay hooked up (assuming you are more or less level of course).

6) Too bright in the morning. Hybrids let in a ton of light so if you want to sleep in late, that morning sun is going to be a challenge to fend off. PopUp Gizmos help a bit.

7) Condensation inside the canvas in the morning. Weather dependent, and more or less manageable with PopUp Gizmos, but those add to your set up and break down times.

[33 RLDS]

We went from our first camper, a hybrid, to our current a TT for most of the reasons FORCE listed. It sounded like a good idea when we bought it but we ended up despising it. Up high you hear more noise than near the ground in a tent. The pop up gizmos helped with light and heat but were a hassle to set up.

[mitechie]

We're just signing up to upgrade from an x23b to a 284bhbe. I have to say that we like our x23b but we want less setup, more space for the boy to bring a friend along, and we want to go later/earlier in the year as the hybrid gets chilly regardless of mattress heaters and the like.

It's a different style in my opinion. I'm looking at this 284 wondering how many spots we've stayed I'd not fit into, but how many times we would have had more water on hand due to the larger tanks we'll have now.

So it's hard to say "will we regret it" without really chatting about the type of camping you do and what you want to get out of it. We're going to miss our x23b, but I can't wait to do our first trip out of state with the new bh.