# New! Questions Re: 23rs



## lindamy (Jul 24, 2008)

I love this site!!! My husband, 2-yr old son, dog and I plan to do a several-month trip and we're looking to purchase as small a trailer as possible to fit all of us comfortably. Things we must consider: Light weight, comfort of 6'3" daddy, a somewhat "tucked away" area for toddler naps, and enough room to be comfortable if we run into several days of rain and must stay inside (wouldn't have to worry about this factor if we were just summer camping). We really like the 23RS, but have a few questions:

1) Are there no outside showers on any year trailer? If not, can the faucet be rigged to wash off dog, feet, etc.?
2) Can the bunk area be somewhat "closed off" from the rest of the trailer for toddler naps?
3) Is the slide-out queen bed comfortable? Does anyone regret not having a walk-around queen bed, or is it just not that bad?

Any insight/guidance is **MUCH** appreciated! As frustrating as nailing down all of the details can be, shopping for a trailer is a very exciting part of the process, and this site certainly helps sell us on an Outback







.

Thanks!!


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

Hi Linda M Y









Welcome to Outbackers! 

As far as I know, outside showers are no longer on the newer Outbacks, but there have been a few members here who have installed one themselves. I believe the showers were included on the 2005 and older models.

Yes, your outdoor faucet could be rigged for rinsing feet...I would just get a longer hose that could reach over to the other side of the trailer so you don't create a puddle in your living area outside.

The bunk area should be able to be closed off with some type of a curtain and I'm sure there are plenty of members here who have done a mod like that.

The slide out queen bed area is ok, it's the mattress that is lacking. We paid big bucks to have a custom mattress made to replace the factory mattress and then added a 2" thick memory foam pad that makes it very comfortable. Alot of members here swear that the 2" foam pad on top of the factory mattress makes it very comfortable.

My husband is 6' 2 and has to sleep either on his back or diagonally which doesn't leave me much room. Put it this way, not much room for sprawling out, that's for sure...but we don't live in it, so it's not really that big of a deal.

There is a new 2009 model 230rs (no floor plan has been released yet), but it's supposed to basically be the same as the 23krs with a fold up queen bed in the garage area and an accordian door...Perfect for a child's room!







) AND a king slide out bed in the rear















If you don't feel the need for a king size bed, you might consider a new or pre-owned 23krs...

Hope this helps and good luck with your decision!


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## WillTy3 (Jul 20, 2004)

We had the 23rs, I'm 6'2" and use the front queen and let my feet hang over. We put our 5 yo in the slide-out queen.

Will


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## Aunt B (Apr 30, 2007)

Linda,

You might want to really think about it. We have a 21-RS and we take our grandson with us all the time. It's pretty much the same as the 23-rs from the bathroom back. I'm 6'1 and I can't imagine someone 6'3" in the slide out queen especially for any length of time. I'm not saying the OutBack won't work for you but might seem pretty cramped if you're planning on an extended trip. You would at least be more comfortable with a side slide. That would open up the coach a little. The 25-rss and the 26-rss might be more comfortable but 2007 was the last for them. The bathroom is really way too small. I think they only thought of people no larger than 125 pounds for there use. That being said we do limited travel in ours because we have our own business and can't take more than 5 or 6 days at the longest stretch. If you could go to the 28 with walk around queen it would be money well spent. But then that would be limited to you tow vehicle. I hope that helps.

Good Luck

Aunt B


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## joesova (Apr 25, 2008)

Hi Linda,

My wife and i purchased a 2008 23rs early this year so I can offer you the most accurate answers for your questions.

1. As far as outside shower you can hook up the included flexible hose (located withing the enclosure for outside campstove)to a nozzle and that works great for washing off dirty feet and pets.

2. Both the queen slide out and the front beds include curtains for privacy. The front beds have a full length curtain and works well.

3. The queen slide is comfortable but there are times where I wish we had a walk around bed. My wife is pregnant and climbing over her is not very easy sometimes! I am 6' tall and can be a tight fit. Sometimes I wish I had a slide for the side as well due to it being kind of a tight fit. A good alternative to the Outback is the Keystone Cougar. See Steve at Lakeshore Rv in Muskegon MI. He'll take care of you well!


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## Paul (May 14, 2008)

I just got a 23RS in June so I can answer a few of these questions for you. First I don't know where you live but there are two Outback dealers in the central states that blow the other dealers out of the water for pricing (Holman RV and Lake Shore). I Live in Corpus Christi Texas and It was worth the trip to go Holman and get my 23RS. I feel that I saved about %20-%25 over my local dealer.

1) Are there no outside showers on any year trailer? If not, can the faucet be rigged to wash off dog, feet, etc.?

-If you get the 23RS it should have an outside kitchen with a water hook-up.

2) Can the bunk area be somewhat "closed off" from the rest of the trailer for toddler naps?

- The front bed has a Curtain that can close off the front section. If you replaced that curtain with a heavy duty room darkening curtain it may help keep the noise down and make it darker. I would recommend making window curtains that are held on with Velcro from the inside for added darkness.

3) Is the slide-out queen bed comfortable? Does anyone regret not having a walk-around queen bed, or is it just not that bad?

-The slide out bed comfort is OK. It is kind of difficult to make up but I enjoy not having a bed taking up floor space. I had a camper with the walk around bed and I feel that on a small camper the usable floor space is more important.


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

As other's indicated, 6'3" is about the max for the slideout. I'm at the same height and there isn't much spare room. However, if DH is comfortable, it is a very nice trailer.


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## daslobo777 (Mar 24, 2007)

Hi Linda,

Okay, we own a 23RS and we just took our longest trip in it for 20 days. Myself, DH -5'10, and two DD. The back bunk area is nice with the extra cabinet spaces that the 21RS does not have and you have the extra standing room (a little) with the curtain closed. With modification to the big closet there is certainly lots of room for storage for a trip like that. We also did the gas struts on the queen bunk bed for easy lift and storage under there. I only went to the store for bread, milk, fruit, eggs my entire trip and everything else was kept in the trailer in the pantry and under the table seat storages. It really worked out great. I could not believe all the room but we were at max weight. My packing included like 4 cases of water and boxes of capri sun, 24 packs of coke etc. that I had under the front queen with extra sheets, blankets, etc. In other words, small trailer with lots of packing room.

My experience during this longer trip was:

You have to be very organized to keep space open. With one little one that might be easier to do. I don't like things piling up like toys, games, books.

Next, if I could change anything it would be to have a slide on the couch. I like the couch across from the table but a little more room sure would be nice. I don't mind not having a queen walk around (yet). I think having a door rather than a curtain would be nice. We put the DD's in the back bunk area and that closes them off pretty well. On this trip, I found that DH liked staying up late and reading and I like getting up way early so I was in bed and that was hard with the light right there etc. Those curtains on the queen slide are pretty thin for light. My next trailer, I will probably search out more private master quarters with accordion door or wood. This trailer actually fits our family fine right now DD soon to be 9 and DD-5. I forsee outgrowing it though when they are older.

As far as outside shower....we had one on the pop up but don't miss it on this TT. I gave my bichon a bath in the tub. I am not trying to steer you to any other trailer but I know the jayco's come with outdoor showers and have a higher head clearance.

My brother-in-law is 6'4 or 6'5 and we met up with him in Yellowstone and he could not stand totally up in the camper. I know there was discussion on here about that awhile back and there are a lot of tall people out there that buy the outback regardless. I suggest not just for the bed but just walking around in them to go in all the trailers.

If there was a different table like a wrap around or just maybe longer seats that is what I would like. That may be the case in a larger slide out trailer as well.

This trailer (23RS) is a great trailer and worked well on our long trip. When we were looking I noticed with the slides a lot of times the couches were beside the table and we really wanted the couch across the table.

Also, we did keep in mind that camping is for being outdoors so we kept things in perspective and it is working. If cold, rainy, needing down time or whatever, we can be inside without problems.

Most people on here will swear by the outdoor kitchen and I do love that and most other models do not have.

Good luck in your choice.

Cristy


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## 5th Time Around (Jul 8, 2008)

We had an SOB with the rear slide out Queen bed. My DH is 6'1" and for weekends we slept in that bed together, tough he never really slept because he had to go diagonal and I had to be in a fetal position. When we went on our 2 week trip, I ended up sleeping in one of the 4 bunks with the kids (12 &11). After that trip we traded it in and absolutely love our walk around bed. I do not recommend the queen slide out to anyone tall. I am 5'3" and had no problem, except feeling boxed in.


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## mike elliott (Dec 17, 2007)

I have a 2007 23rs I,m 6'4" 290lbs we sleep in the back slide i dont have any problems sleeping there(we have a 2" memory foam topper). yes it is a pain crawling over DW in the middle of the night but honestly how many times does this happen.

On rainy days i love the couch across from the table you can pull the table closer to the couch and everybody,s happy.

I love my outback for a family trailer there is lots of options for sleeping arragements. our last trip we had a mom and her 2 kids stay with us no problem. the trip before that we had 2 of our friends kids with us for 3 nites before the parents came and the kids changed where they slepped each night which made them happy(so of course we were happy).

When our 10 year old grows up and doesn,t want to camp with us any more we will go to a trailer with a walk around bed but for now we are happy with the 23rs.


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## lindamy (Jul 24, 2008)

Oh my goodness this information is extremely valuable. These first-hand experiences are so helpful! This is giving us a ton to think about....thank you so very much for taking time to jot down your thoughts and experiences!!


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## Grunt0311 (Aug 23, 2005)

As stated previously, there is an outside faucet in the fold down kitchen on the exterior. The 23rs had an outside shower through the 2006 model year. The new ones come with a flexible hose that can be hooked up to the faucet on the exterior. That being said, to install an exterior shower is an easy mod to do.

The front sleeping area does have a curtain to close it off. As stated, it is rather thin. One option would be to replace it with a thicker room darkening curtain. I have also been thinking that it would be really simple to install an accordian style door to close it off.

I am 6'1", and I can honestly say I have never not had enough leg room. I do however generally sleep in the forward sleeping area, not the pull-out. Maybe I am just so happy to be camping, and have come to terms with the fact that no matter what it was, it wouldn't be my bed at home. Crawling over the person sleeping is sometimes inconvenient if you don't go to bed/get up at the same time. But once again, this is camping and unfortunately due to space/weight constraints some adjustments will always need to be made.

Good luck in your search! Look at lots of trailers, and then after that decide which has the most features that you would like to have. I hope this helps!

Bill


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## daslobo777 (Mar 24, 2007)

bcdude said:


> I have a 2007 23rs I,m 6'4" 290lbs we sleep in the back slide i dont have any problems sleeping there(we have a 2" memory foam topper). yes it is a pain crawling over DW in the middle of the night but honestly how many times does this happen.
> 
> On rainy days i love the couch across from the table you can pull the table closer to the couch and everybody,s happy.
> 
> ...


That is a great idea! I can't believe I will admit this but we always hook the table under the window side with just the one leg out........perhaps because we were just used to doing that in our pop-up as that is how the tables work. In other words, that makes the table not movable. Thanks for the simple idea.

Cristy


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## Collinsfam_WY (Nov 9, 2006)

Linda M Y said:


> 1) Are there no outside showers on any year trailer? If not, can the faucet be rigged to wash off dog, feet, etc.?
> 2) Can the bunk area be somewhat "closed off" from the rest of the trailer for toddler naps?
> 3) Is the slide-out queen bed comfortable? Does anyone regret not having a walk-around queen bed, or is it just not that bad?


1) No outside shower but the faucet can be used ifyou connect a hose - has both hot and cold water. We have used it a time or two for that purpose.
2) Just with the curtain. Our daughter was 4yrs when we got our 23RS and she sleeps like a champ in that top bunk. We slipped a guard rail under the mattress to keep any accidental roll offs from happening.
3) We added a 4" memory foam mattress topper to our Queen slide and I love it. It is very comfortable and I can take great naps in there. On occasion we wish we had a walk around Queen but it hasn't been that big of a deal. Both my wife and I are short enough that it isn't much of a problem for me to crawl over her to get out. She sleeps on the outside because she has to get up and feed our infant at night. 6'3" is going to be tight in that slide. From what I understand though - all of the '09 Outbacks will be King Bed rear slides. You might consider waiting for those.

-CC

Edit - the 23RS is a camper. It is not something that you would be comfortable staying in for extended periods of time. It sleeps alot but if you alot of people in it - it gets very tight. We don't go camping to spend time in the camper though.


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## russlg (Jul 21, 2008)

collinsfam_tx said:


> the 23RS is a camper. It is not something that you would be comfortable staying in for extended periods of time. It sleeps alot but if you alot of people in it - it gets very tight. We don't go camping to spend time in the camper though.


 Could't have stated it any better and if you need a reminder, Just ask yourself is this bed better than a sleeping bag on an air matress in a tent in a 12 hour torrential downpour with gale force winds!!


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