We wanted to look around a few RV’s and found a show in Atlanta last weekend. It’s around three hours to the Atlanta RV Show Fall 2018 from our base here in Abbeville. We like to visit shows on not so busy days. The first day of this show was Friday, so we climbed into the wrapped Campsiteflags.com truck and got to the show around noon.
We brought our granddaughter along with us. She loves looking at all, and I mean every one of the RVs. Pretty much all of the major manufacturers were at the show represented by nine dealers.
The RV’s
Keystone | Forest River | Grand Design | Coachmen | Gulfstream | Tiffin | Jayco | Thor | Fleetwood | Heartland | American Coach | Holiday Rambler | Dutchmen | KZ | Winnebago | VanLeigh
With the granddaughter, we looked into just about every unit on the show floor.
As full-timers, we have almost two years under our belts and a lot of camping before that. Starting out in a pop up moved to a truck slide in the unit then went to a 5th wheel. Currently, we are in a Bullet travel trailer. We’ve seen a lot of what goes wrong and where the problems hide on the RVs. We all know what we like and what we don’t.
So, we can spot quality issues pretty quickly and know what to look for in a new unit. As we wandered through all of the different style shapes and colors, we quickly noticed something; The manufacturers are finally starting to listen to what the consumer has to say. Every RV makeover has two things in common. Walls get painted a light color, and so do the cabinetry. We saw many units with lighter colors on both the cabinets and walls. We also noticed much less carpet in the mid to upper-level units.
After doing the lap with all the RVs, we decided that with our style of business and the need for office space for two people, a toy hauler would be the best match for the next RV.
The Choices
We narrowed the choice down to two brands Grand Design and Heartland. The show had the 397 TH and the 351M From Heartland and the 4115 Cyclone from Momentum. The wife picked the cyclone as her favorite, and I seconded that motion.
Here is the flor plan for the 4115 Cyclone.
There were a few features that are total must-haves for us on these units.
A good, high-quality set of steps. Both brands had these upgraded steps as part of the unit. We also fell in love with the porches out the back of the toy haulers. Many of the campsites we stay at have some type of water feature. It may be a lake or creek we back up to and this porch opening out the back is perfect for this setup.
Full-size kitchen fixtures are also very high on the list of must-haves. As full-timers, we use the oven in the camper. My wife enjoys baking, and a full-size oven will help. The 18 CU FT frig will help with the number of trips to the store. The kitchen also has a full-size pantry for dry goods storage. An added feature that we liked on the island was the addition of two bar stools on the back side. This eliminates the need for a table for the 2 of us and lets us upgrade to the super sofa that seats five across.
The Finishing Touches
The bedroom has a queen bed without any overhead cabinets. That is key for us, we both dislike the cabinetry above our heads. The bedroom is prepped for a washer and dryer which is a must for full-timers. Another note that my wife liked had a regular dresser at the end of the bed.
The garage area will be used for our office space, and the overhead bunks will be for business storage. We will remove the seating and beds that come with the garage units and make our built-in office desk and printing area for our flags. Again those porches will be a great diversion from staring out a window or looking at the desk in the office. So the Atlanta RV Show Fall 2018 was a pretty good choice to take a look around for the next RV.