Bought Me The Perfect RV For The Lightning

[scoobybri]

History...a few years back, I had a F150 with the 3.5 TT Ecoboost (Max Tow) and a 6500lb 26 ft. camper. Truck did well as a tow vehicle but my wife and I knew we wouldn't be camping much in the next few years (building a house, moving, etc) so we sold the camper and then the truck. Fast forward to now...I bought my XLT ER Lightning with Max Tow last year and have been toying with the idea of getting a camper again. Knowing the limited range I would get with a tall heavy camper, I wondered what a lower slung camper would do to range. That would be something like a pop-up camper but growing up with the canvas popups, I knew I didn't want all of the negatives that come with them. (Have to dry out after rains, less security and privacy, not great in colder months) I had almost threw in the towel when I saw an ad for a used Trailmanor 2417KB. I have never seen a camper like this. It's basically a hard sided pop-up camper. I can't properly give justice on how these things work, so just watch this video or this video and you will understand. The model I bought is about 6 feet tall when collapsed and only 2100 lbs. dry. My wife and I drove to Raleigh, NC to pick it up and here are the numbers...Lightning had about 450lbs of humans and 3 dogs on board with about 250 lbs of gear. Temperature was about 90F-95F with the additional towing cooling system running. Marginal winds throughout the drive. In 200 miles of driving, 80% at 65mph and 20% 50mph or city, I averaged 1.7 mi/kwh. Call me impressed. That is less than .5 mi/kwh loss with the trailer attached compared to what I would expect with no trailer. This gives about a 190-200 mile range with a buffer of about 20-30 miles in ideal conditions. Not too shabby for an EV!

We stopped at a state park overnight and grabbed some charge with the 220v Ford charger. Also found a sweet Tesla Supercharger in NC where I was able to pull behind the row of chargers so I didn't have to drop the trailer to charge.

Trailmanor campers are quite pricey new and because they are kind of niche, the used market is very small. But if you want to camp and don't want to lose half of your range, these campers seem to be a great option.

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[RdWarriorRuss]

It’s all about aerodynamics and keeping the trailer out of the slipstream. Interesting post.

 

[bhelms]

Awesome! Reminds me of the "Hi-Lo Trailer" we had growing up. Just remember to lay the broom down before lowering the roof...

 

[gbuydos]

Reminds me of the camper my dad had to pull behind the station wagon!!

 

[ryun]

Dang that's wild that that trailer has a full bath. Really cool. And only 2100 pounds means even my XLT without a trailer brake controller could tow it in my state. Thanks for sharing. Happy trails!

 

[jdmackes]

I bought a trailmanor for the same reasons! I averaged 1.7 to 1.8 going from Maryland to Pennsylvania and was very happy with the efficiency. With my Pro SR I would have been able to make the entire trip on one full charge, but I didn't want to end up at the campsite with no battery so I stopped to charge about 70-80% of the way there.

I had wanted a trailer that was hardsided on all sides, had a full bathroom, and had AC and the trailmanor was really the only one that hit all those boxes (aside from a HiLo, but they went out of business I believe). Mine is a 2720 too, so even with the extra weight and length the efficiency is about the same as what you had (I may have driven slower than you too, I don't think I went much past 65 for most of the trip). You can find older ones available; mine is a 2010 that I was able to get a pretty good deal on, I just had to drive to upstate NY to go and get it.

 

[MidAtlanticLightningClub]

History...a few years back, I had a F150 with the 3.5 TT Ecoboost (Max Tow) and a 6500lb 26 ft. camper. Truck did well as a tow vehicle but my wife and I knew we wouldn't be camping much in the next few years (building a house, moving, etc) so we sold the camper and then the truck. Fast forward to now...I bought my XLT ER Lightning with Max Tow last year and have been toying with the idea of getting a camper again. Knowing the limited range I would get with a tall heavy camper, I wondered what a lower slung camper would do to range. That would be something like a pop-up camper but growing up with the canvas popups, I knew I didn't want all of the negatives that come with them. (Have to dry out after rains, less security and privacy, not great in colder months) I had almost threw in the towel when I saw an ad for a used Trailmanor 2417KB. I have never seen a camper like this. It's basically a hard sided pop-up camper. I can't properly give justice on how these things work, so just watch this video or this video and you will understand. The model I bought is about 6 feet tall when collapsed and only 2100 lbs. dry. My wife and I drove to Raleigh, NC to pick it up and here are the numbers...Lightning had about 450lbs of humans and 3 dogs on board with about 250 lbs of gear. Temperature was about 90F-95F with the additional towing cooling system running. Marginal winds throughout the drive. In 200 miles of driving, 80% at 65mph and 20% 50mph or city, I averaged 1.7 mi/kwh. Call me impressed. That is less than .5 mi/kwh loss with the trailer attached compared to what I would expect with no trailer. This gives about a 190-200 mile range with a buffer of about 20-30 miles in ideal conditions. Not too shabby for an EV!

We stopped at a state park overnight and grabbed some charge with the 220v Ford charger. Also found a sweet Tesla Supercharger in NC where I was able to pull behind the row of chargers so I didn't have to drop the trailer to charge.

Trailmanor campers are quite pricey new and because they are kind of niche, the used market is very small. But if you want to camp and don't want to lose half of your range, these campers seem to be a great option.

I bought a trailmanor for the same reasons! I averaged 1.7 to 1.8 going from Maryland to Pennsylvania and was very happy with the efficiency. With my Pro SR I would have been able to make the entire trip on one full charge, but I didn't want to end up at the campsite with no battery so I stopped to charge about 70-80% of the way there.

I had wanted a trailer that was hardsided on all sides, had a full bathroom, and had AC and the trailmanor was really the only one that hit all those boxes (aside from a HiLo, but they went out of business I believe). Mine is a 2720 too, so even with the extra weight and length the efficiency is about the same as what you had (I may have driven slower than you too, I don't think I went much past 65 for most of the trip). You can find older ones available; mine is a 2010 that I was able to get a pretty good deal on, I just had to drive to upstate NY to go and get it.

I'm curious how y'all are liking your Trailmanor trailers. I've been pulling a NoBoundaries behind our Lightning but seriously considering the move to a Trailmanor. I live in Silver Spring, MD and would love to see one some time if either of you are interested in showing it off.

 

[scoobybri]

I'm curious how y'all are liking your Trailmanor trailers. I've been pulling a NoBoundaries behind our Lightning but seriously considering the move to a Trailmanor. I live in Silver Spring, MD and would love to see one some time if either of you are interested in showing it off.

I will be coming up to MD in mid-September and staying at Cunningham Falls State Park in Frederick. Your welcome to stop by if you want to make the drive up.

 

[jdmackes]

I'm curious how y'all are liking your Trailmanor trailers. I've been pulling a NoBoundaries behind our Lightning but seriously considering the move to a Trailmanor. I live in Silver Spring, MD and would love to see one some time if either of you are interested in showing it off.

I've enjoyed mine so far. It has advantages going for it, as I can store it in my garage (just barely, it drops down to 18 ft long since I have the swinging trailer hitch) which I can't even do with my lightning, and it still can expand so there's a decent amount of space. I don't like the toilet that came with mine, it's a recirculating toilet so it just keeps recirculating the same liquid until you dump it and it tends to smell so we have barely used it. I'm going to change it out to a regular toilet and add a small black tank to the trailer and I think that will be much better.

I live in Salisbury, MD so I'm a little ways from Silver Spring, but if you're ever coming over here to go to Ocean City or something you're welcome to take a look!

 

[Brent@ANParts]

That range is impressive! I've mentally written off the idea of long-distance towing with an EV but this is pushing me in the other direction.

 

[Heybucket]

We tow an ancient popup and get roughly 2.0-1.7 kWh range depending on elevation and temps of course.
Don’t even know it’s there most of the time. Popup is about 3500 lbs.

Our last trip was 1.9-2.0 but we were taking it easy speed wise and it was mostly flat/slight decline on trip back so that helped alot. Seems as long as we keep it around 65mph don’t see too much loss in efficiency.

 

[MidAtlanticLightningClub]

I will be coming up to MD in mid-September and staying at Cunningham Falls State Park in Frederick. Your welcome to stop by if you want to make the drive up.

Cool! Depending on the week I’d love to.

 

[MidAtlanticLightningClub]

I've enjoyed mine so far. It has advantages going for it, as I can store it in my garage (just barely, it drops down to 18 ft long since I have the swinging trailer hitch) which I can't even do with my lightning, and it still can expand so there's a decent amount of space. I don't like the toilet that came with mine, it's a recirculating toilet so it just keeps recirculating the same liquid until you dump it and it tends to smell so we have barely used it. I'm going to change it out to a regular toilet and add a small black tank to the trailer and I think that will be much better.

I live in Salisbury, MD so I'm a little ways from Silver Spring, but if you're ever coming over here to go to Ocean City or something you're welcome to take a look!

Cool. We’re on the eastern shore from time to time.

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