Corporate thieves killed another camper company...

Well after a few years of running my trusty Jayco, I was put in a bind and bought a new(er) camper. I stumbled onto camp lite / Livin' lite campers a few years ago and I have drooled on them ever since. These trailers were all aluminum with no wood. Aluminum floors, roof, cabinets, frame, skin... You get the idea. Very light and built like a brick $h!t house. Well Thor bought them out in 2015. They wasted no time going to a rubber camper roof, and using a new product for the floors. Cabinets are now pressboard, models have all changed other than the price. I decided to go on a quest and find a clean 2015 and lock it in. I have no regrets on the new trailer, but I wish my reasons for purchase were different. The Jayco is in awesome shape and always inside stored if anyone wants a sweet little taco friendly rig. It's posted in our classifieds. Sorry about the rant, but it is hard to watch corporate merger greed kill another great product.

 

This sounds like a good thread to upload camper/travel trailer reviews, especially ones that are Taco towable. I have heard from other sources that Thor was/is buying up RV manufacturers in droves. They now have their name on scads of motor homes in all classes. They are the largest "name" in the RV industry at the present time. While they have allowed manufacturers to continue with their identities on their RVs they have dictated methods to improve the bottom line. Yes, this means quality is being degraded. RV buyers have to do their due diligence in searching the marketplace. I have steered away from the Thor name if it is visible and have tried to determine if they have a piece of the brand I look at. I can't name them all right now but you can bet their aren't many out here without a Thor connection. I have had the RV bug for a while. Having never owned one I have been searching for top quality. Two names have been my focus. They are Lance and Northwood. I have not found a Thor connection YET. Lance makes excellent light weight trailers and most of their models are towable by Tacos. If price is an indicator they are at the upper end but I believe you get what you pay for. Northwood, while high quality, are heavier and not easily towed by a Taco. So I have been on a Lance quest. After JRod's post I may look into the Livin' Lite (earlier years) models.
Let's hear from Taco RVers on their trailers and opinions.

 

Waydago, a 16dbs camp lite by livin lite is a sweet little rig. 2015 and older are pre Thor. I got an early 2015 before they switched roofs. I went with a 21. Casita, and big foot, are nice rigs too. I'm not a giant Jayco fan. I did a ton of work to my old one to make it the way I wanted. Airstream is now Thor. I hear good things about lance, but I haven't physically touched one

 

In all, Thor bought up 18 companies. Check them out.
https://www.thorindustries.com/get-to-know-us/meet-the-companies/

As far as RV searching goes I'm inclined to dual axles with a slide as opposed to single axle and no slide. Dual axles are more stable when towing and safer in the event of a flat on one side. And easier to back up too. Just my opinion. And yes, Lance makes awesome Taco towables. Very pricey though. I'm looking for a Lance 1685, preferably preowned and babied. I looked at the Bigfoots. Very nice and also very pricey.

 

I would recommend a camp lite 16dbs... There are multiple configurations depending on your needs. If its just two then the queen bed with a couch slide is awesome. The video below is what sold me... It's also what pissed me off when Thor started stripping things out. Find a 2015 or older and you are good to go. The nice part is that they aren't gonna wear out. I think there's one for sale down in Cobbtown, Georgia, I'll try to find the info. I went with the 21 because of the kids. Also we are pretty much flat landers up here in Ohio so the taco handles it fine. I don't think it would be a good idea to go through the mountains, but the 16' would be the ticket.
Here is the link to the forum with the 16 for sale:
https://aluminumcamperforum.com/index.php?topic=561.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHCXi4NC6Ks

 

You're assuming that there aren't other reasons for these changes besides greed. Companies need to make money to continue operating. Maybe the original company wasn't making the money it needed to continue which is why it was open to a merger or acquisition. The new parent company probably understands the market better and made changes to position the products better to compete in the market. It's expensive to run a business. It's great to make the best product possible but sometimes a company needs to make just a good enough product so they can continue existing.

 

I agree with your statement. However when it is my money and my long term investment I always do my due diligence. If these changes were needed to keep the company alive then so be it. However when you advertise the same product as the previous owner then we have a problem. I have your tailgate cap on my taco. If you were to change it to plastic and advertise it as good as the one I currently have, then you will be in the same boat. I am not the typical customer. If you told me you needed another 10 bucks to keep your quality up then I will gladly give it to you. Sadly the other 99% of the world only looks at the dollar signs.

 

Yea. I definitely hear what you are saying. They partly count on customers being uninformed. Also, they must not believe customers are willing to pay for the extra quality. Which is often the case. By in large, customers want top quality for budget prices. Which is unrealistic. As a business you have to find the sweet spot of quality that's acceptable and cost. It's easy to be too much on either side.

 

I do hvac for a living. I am to the point that I no longer bid new construction. All it becomes is a low bid war. I switched over 5 years ago to retrofits and "sick buildings" where low bid has now bit the owner in the ass. The jobs are harder to get but once you get them you have a customer for life. Customer service is everything and I'd rather have 25-30 loyal customers than 1000 low bids. Fwiw I love the tailgate cap and the quality. It was hard to spend the $$$ but after I opened the box it was worth every penny. The most powerful part of the internet is total disclosure of products by actual owners. My business is damn near 100% word of mouth. No name on the door, no fancy office building, one truck and I get out of it when you call. I do have two guys that work with me on bigger jobs. They are retired and in their 60's. those guys can run circles around any 20 year old I've ever hired. Between this and rental properties life is good. Thanks for fixing the flaws in my factory tailgate.

 

Thanks for posting about the Livin Lite Camplite. Did not know they were totally aluminum - frame, body, cabin, floor, skin, everything.

Looking at the specs for the short ones, they have big fresh/grey/black tanks, dual LP tanks, 7' wide, decent-sized fridge/freezer, nice passthrough storage, lightweight. One of the best setups in 19' or less that I've seen. Lift it, put 14" wheels on, nice offroadable trailer.

Those are offroadable trailers, something you can yank through gullies and use as a comfortable base camp for seven days without resupply.

 

Big recall on Livin lites. I think 16'-21'. Frame/ hitch failures. Check their Facebook page.

 

Check out the campers by Taxa Outdoors. They are not owned by Thor. The designer was, or maybe still is, a NASA engineer. Great quality construction only 4 different models offered. The woolybear is an off road trailer made from all steel construction.


The Tiger Moth, which is what we have, comes in 3 different variations depending on what year you purchase the current is all steel I believe. We have a 2016 which is steel frame with an aluminum upper. The TM is geared toward light off roading. It's similar to a tear drop. The whole inside converts into a full size bed and the "kitchen" is a 4' pull out drawer. Weights range from 900lbs like ours to 1300lbs listed currently.





The green one is ours

They make one called the Cricket which is a bit larger offering an interionr kitchen and sitting area still light at around 1500lbs



Last year they began offering an even larger version called the Mantis. I am not sure of all the features.




I've nothing but impressed so far with our Taxa product. I've made a bunch of mods to it to make it suit our needs. I believe all campers come prewired for solar also.

If you want to see more pics of the TM there is a link to ours in my sig

 

The CampLites look nice. I was looking at some nice looking Rockwoods but I like the all aluminum idea. Gotta look more into it and into that reported recall.

 

wow these look awesome!

 

Great little camper and alot of fun