Home away from Home
Written: Aug 05 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: everything you need in a small package
Cons: cannot think of any
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| wendy3rd's Full Review: 2000 Coachmen RV Catalina Lite |
My husband and I had agreed to take our five kids on a week's vacation this year. After sitting down and figuring out (gulp) what it would cost for a week's hotel stay and meals, my hubby suggested we look at buying a travel trailer. For what it would cost us for about a week's vacation with buying all meals and hotels we could actually make about 10 months worth of payments on a travel trailer!
So I went 'looking' with him...rather dangerous knowing we would most likely end up toting one back home...which we did. We are both quite pleased with our purchase.
The lite versions of these Coachman's are very economical and they have some really neat layouts inside! The one we chose was one out of three of the 'starting' type travel trailers basically made for people buying their first one. We did have a single axle travel trailer in the past and that was a BIG mistake! Towing a double axle is much easier and using the sway control almost totally cuts out on the sway problem that a single axle trailer has.
The warranty on this model is very good and we were surprised to see that the dealer had their own financing companies ready to make this an affordable payment. We did purchase stabilizer jacks and the heavy duty hitch that was not part of our basic package. This plus a good sway control makes it easier on the vehicle doing the towing. We also purchased an extended warranty.
We decided to get a basic model for several reasons. Ours does not have a built in microwave, coffee maker, etc., but you can always add those things later and this particular model that we have already has the necessary space and hookups to put these conveniences in.
The layout on the inside is more like an apartment than a camper. We have a separate bedroom that has a curtain for some privacy and bunk beds in the back end next to the bathroom. It took some getting used to when we started using the shower in the bathroom for the first time at a campground, but once we got used to using it we had no problems. Nothing is actually 'spacious' except for the cabinets. I can fill up cabinets in any place we have them and we had extra space when I was finished. There is about no wasted space in this travel trailer and the refrigerator works terrific; we keep it plugged up at our house so it is always ready to go. The kids now sleep in this like a 'hut'. So much for roughing it!
The double bowl sink is very large and easy to do the small amount of dishes that we used for our meals. We did cheat and use paper plates and plastic cutlery; hey, we were on vacation! But I really liked being able to enjoy real meals on our trip. We stopped along the way for lunch at a rest area and enjoyed fresh fruit and vegetables that were cold and not gooey from a cooler.
I purchased shelf liners to keep things from sliding around in the cabinets as a precaution and I was very pleased to see that things ride very nicely in the cabinets. Nothing was tossed around or anything. The air conditioner also quickly cools off the whole inside.
We normally have trouble with the kids losing things while on vacation. This also made it possible to do shopping and not end up crowded in our vehicle. We just stowed our stuff in the travel trailer and rode in comfort.
I would recommend one of these to anyone looking for a travel trailer. The dealer we went to was very nice to work with and was not pushy in any way but he was very knowledgeable about the product he was selling. After we bought this they took us through the whole thing and showed us how each individual feature worked so we could get the most out of our purchase.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
wendy3rd
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Location: Alabama
Reviews written: 42
Trusted by: 4 members
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