Is a van + towing a small trailer for the kids a reasonable idea?

[jkalodimos]

I could use some help figuring out the best way forward. The issue is I am trying to figure out if a van or a hard-sided truck camper is the right rig for me. My conundrum is slightly unique because I plan on towing a smaller "squaredrop" trailer about half the time. My kids are growing and the squaredrop trailer with a bunkbed style arrangement is getting too small. I use the trailer 30-40 days a year (mostly Pacific Northwest for backcountry exploring, MTBing, hiking, and lake fun), with half of those nights in late shoulder season (read rainy) or winter (skiing). My current thinking is to get a dedicated vehicle that we can pile into during winter camping or urban-focused road trips, and then tow the squaredrop when we are three-season camping/exploring so that we can have the extra space and all the kitchen/gear to make base camping comfortable.

A Transit or a 144 Sprinter has the big perk of interior space to hang out in crudier weather but adding two seats for the kids really makes a comfortable layout challenging and I only have my kids with me half the time. Also, I don't know how well it would tow, especially with 2WD on gravel/forest service roads. The alternative I'm considering is a 6.5' Total Composites slide-in on a Ram 2500 4x4. There is a lot less living space in the truck camper but I'm comfortable with the truck platform and I like the idea of being able to swap out the truck as the vehicle ages.

I would appreciate it if anybody could chime in with their experience with multiple kids in a van/truck camper, towing with a van/truck camper, or general suggestions.

FWIW, 2 of my friends have 144 Sprinters (diesel), 1 has a gas 170 Sprinter, 1 has an extended Transit, and one has a SuperTramp on a Ram 2500 (gas) but none of them tow and they are either solo, couples, or single child households. My friend group has a lot of opinions and most of them are conflicting opinions :-/ The maintenance costs on Sprinters are a bit spooky and that has me leaning towards a gas Transit if I go with a van. I currently have a Ram 1500 that I would keep as a daily driver and plan to build out a van or truck camper myself.

Current setup to give you an idea of what I'll be towing.

 

[driveby]

Go find a Winnebago Solis 59P and see if you envision living in that small a space with kids when it's wet and raining. Not saying you can't or shouldn't but that's not a lot of space to move or have privacy on those days like today. If you will be outside more than inside then sure, people can have their space. The 144 si about the same length as your 1500 so imagine only having the truck bed as additional living area. Can you do it? Sure. Will it be fun for you and the kids? Maybe for the first few trips but looking at that photo my boys were around that age and the 35' bunk class A we had (PNW camping) became tight and not fun when wet and cool. One of the reasons we sold it. Family wet weekends were off the table once they became teens and wanted to hang with friends vs Mom and Dad. It's a lot of $$$ to invest in something that may not have a long shelf life for your needs.

 

[jkalodimos]

Thanks @driveby that's a really good point. I'd like to think that I will be cool forever but that's likely an impossible task. We've had an absolute blast over the last couple of years and I am trying to keep their stoke for adventure going. Maybe the current phase is coming to an end and we'll have to pivot to fair-weather camping/exploring and cabins/hotels/yurts/lodges in the crummy weather. Not my ideal but it's better than ruining the joy of the outdoors for them.

 

[hansu]

I did something similar full-time for about 3 years:

- 23ft fiberglass 3.5 season travel trailer.
- Express 3500 extended 6L gasser, 6spd, w/ limited-slip

It was me, my < 10 yro daughter, and mountain bikes + dirt/trials bikes, tools etc packed into the back of the van by removing last 2 rows of seats. The TT was about 7k loaded and w/ water. The van handled it just fine except the Vortec v8 needs to be up in the revs to deliver power. So if you had a climb coming you needed to get a run to maintain highway speeds. The weak spot on that TV was the brakes. I swapped the ************ stock rotors out for high carbons + organic pads and made sure to use Tow Mode liberally on downhills.

I looked into using the Mercs or the Transits for TV and decided I didn't want to deal with tiny engines and turbos under any circumstances. I imagine the older diesel E-series vans would do fine as well.

I still have the TV and TT. I'm about to sell the TT and I'm converting the TV to Sportsmobile-like setup and getting a util trailer for the bikes. I'll sell the TT if you are interested. haha

 

[hansu]

I did something similar full-time for about 3 years:

- 23ft fiberglass 3.5 season travel trailer.
- Express 3500 extended 6L gasser, 6spd, w/ limited-slip

It was me, my < 10 yro daughter, and mountain bikes + dirt/trials bikes, tools etc packed into the back of the van by removing last 2 rows of seats. The TT was about 7k loaded and w/ water. The van handled it just fine except the Vortec v8 needs to be up in the revs to deliver power. So if you had a climb coming you needed to get a run to maintain highway speeds. The weak spot on that TV was the brakes. I swapped the ************ stock rotors out for high carbons + organic pads and made sure to use Tow Mode liberally on downhills.

I looked into using the Mercs or the Transits for TV and decided I didn't want to deal with tiny engines and turbos under any circumstances. I imagine the older diesel E-series vans would do fine as well.

I still have the TV and TT. I'm about to sell the TT and I'm converting the TV to Sportsmobile-like setup and getting a util trailer for the bikes. I'll sell the TT if you are interested. haha

I think some of the glass Bigfoot TTs have slide-outs. If I could go back and do all of that again I would probably go Bigfoot if I'm right about that.