T.A.R.D.I.S. (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) - Google it!
We researched travel trailers for over a year. We knew we wanted something small, but with at least a queen sized bed, a small galley, a private restroom, and as self-contained as possible for boondocking (camping without hookups). Oh and the lighter, the better, so that gas mileage (and later kWh range) is minimally impacted. We also wanted a small dinette area that stayed up all the time so that we could leave the bed assembled and up at all times while out of the way. "Nice to haves" were shower and solar panels.
We looked at several used trailers, but the beds weren't big enough or they were just too heavy. One was so cute from the 60s and was very beautifully restored throughout. We were really hopeful, but the bed was just too small for my big Texan husband.
So, we started looking at new ones. We looked at Airstream and Oliver, but even their smaller models are very expensive and weigh too much.
Then, an old friend sent us to this website: https://safaricondo.com/en/caravanes-alto/
We first considered the retractable roof. But when reading descriptions of used ones, nearly every one had something broken because someone forgot to do the necessary prep for lowering the roof. We figured we would do the same AND the bathroom seemed a bit in the open--a little awkward for "glamping."
We immediately fell in love with the F1743 model. The price was right (about $33k USD with all the features we wanted), the weight was right (a mere 1700 lbs). It even has a shower and solar panels. The only catch was (and still is) there is a looong wait. We purchased her in early January 2021 and finally picked her up in November 2022. Her model year is 2023, but we paid 2021 price. We maxed out the solar package and got the lithium batteries, so we can boondock between full hookup stops and save money and meet interesting people as you will see in future posts.
To make sure we did the right thing, we rented the same model in Durango, Colorado the summer of 2021 (the only place in the country to rent one). We drove the truck across country (another long story) and picked up the trailer, took it to California and had a blast. Definitely the right trailer for us.
We picked her up in Quebec City--what a wonderful place! As it was November, we skipped the stop in Massachusetts we had originally planned. Also, they had winterized her, so we were unable to really camp until this year. If you want to know more about the experience, here is a write up of it. (opens new browser/tab).
We've made some minor modifications and will be making more significant ones when we get back, depending on what we find on this trip works and doesn't work for us.
The mods we've made so far:
Teak bathroom floor. I took a teak bath mat and cut it on my small band saw using the plastic non slip piece (underneath it) as a pattern. Sorry, picture is sideways. This makes such a great difference when using the shower. It dries quickly and keeps you from standing in water while showering.
Drawers in the closet & & organizer on door (with a little room for hanging short things). I happened to already have the drawers and they just fit under the hanging rod. These drawers turned out to be plenty of storage since we did laundry twice during the trip. We realized that we brought a lot more clothes than we needed.
Since we prefer not to keep a large amount of trash on board, we moved the basket on the outside of the bathroom wall to under the curve of the counter to be trash bin and then...
we put the towel bar in the basket's old spot.
Replaced the rack with a creature rack and will be placing the original rack on the outside wall of the closet so we can hang things over the driver's side dinette seat.
We removed the snail decals and added my own design of symbols and phrases in Gallifreyan language.
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| The large one is Doctor Who's real name in Gallifreyan |
The large circle is the last sentence in a quote from the 11th Doctor, "...Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind."
The small circle under the BFW (big front window): "the Seal of Rassilon is a symbol representing the power of the TIme Lords, and of Gallifrey as a civilization, in Doctor Who. The Seal was used as a symbol of identification, and was viewed with deep reverence. Time Lords display it prominently in places of great power."
And then, the "Bad Wolf" on the back is from, well... It's a long story. (opens new browser/tab).
