Old vs. New

We loved our little camper. That's the floor plan above. It was compact and cozy but it worked pretty well for us. For the most part. I was never particularly happy with the shower. We’d upgraded the shower head and the shower curtain and we’d put Velcro on the edge near the cabinet to make sure the cabinet didn’t get wet, but the space was still too small. It was too hard to turn around in the shower. I couldn’t find a bath mat small enough to fit in the room and had to use a hand towel. Every time someone took a shower, I had to mop water up off the bathroom floor. It was just impossible to take a shower without completely soaking the bathroom floor. Our new camper solves this problem. The shower has doors. There is room to turn around and no water gets on the floor. Plus, I bought a bathroom rug and it fits. We even have room to store Harry’s litter box so it’s accessible to Harry but not in the way.

Here's the floor plan for the new one. It's hard to compare because I don't think they are drawn to the same scale. Anyway, campers are known for tucking storage into all sorts of places and our little one was no exception. But some of the things we had were too heavy and had to be replaced with lighter weight options – like the Crockpot and pots and pans. The new camper holds everything we had in the old one and more. I even have some empty drawers! And that’s okay. At home I feel compelled to fill every drawer and every cabinet, but in the camper – not so much.

The new one gives me a larger food prep area plus a table and four chairs. A bigger TV than what we have at home (not that we watch much in the camper or at home.) We’ve even got a fireplace in this camper so on Christmas Eve, we can hang up our stockings. (I did bring them.)

We are very happy with the new one – mostly because it’s double the space. Even though it’s only 10 feet longer, it has three slide outs instead of one. The one drawback is that you when all of the slideouts are in, you can’t get into the RV. (In other words, we can’t stop by the side of the road and make a sandwich anymore.) The other thing the little one had that the larger one doesn't is an outdoor grill that popped out of the outside wall. Cool feature but we can buy one and set it on a table outside. It will do the same job. 

The other big difference in the two campers was where we bought them. The first one was purchased from RV Max in Sherman (now owned and operated by Camping World). The first one was a Coachmen Freedom Express. It needed a few things fixed before we took possession of it - there were some missing light covers, a piece of trim that needed to be reglued, all small stuff. But they didn’t do it and we had to take it back and argue with their service department about how they never got the list of things that needed to be done. (Really? I have the email right here on my phone.) Then there were the added charges. I’m not sure what all of them were, but somehow or another when all the final paperwork was signed, we owed about $10K more than we thought we would - even considering the down payment that had to be a cashier’s or bank check.

We purchased the new one, a Reflection by Grand Design from ExploreUSA in Seguin. What a difference! When we went to pick it up it was perfect! They spent nearly half a day with us showing us how things worked, testing the braking system and the hitch installation. (Something they should have done on the first one because we were first time RV owners and there were things that we didn’t know that we had to pay a service call while camping to learn.) And best of all, the price was the price. No dealer prep fees, no charge for the RV starter kit. Just the price we’d agreed on for the RV. Oh, yeah – and they were happy to take a personal check for the down payment – none of this cashier check nonsense.

One more reason why I’m pleased with the Grand Design is that their owner’s manual is well-organized and easy to read and troubleshoot. Other than the trip to drive it home, this is our first trip in it. It is easy to set up (it’s self-leveling) and the hookups for the water and electrical are all easily accessible and a breeze to hook up. I really think we’re going to like this.