# New Member From Seattle



## SalishSea (May 8, 2012)

Hello from Seattle

First off - thanks for such a valuable resource and great community participation. I probably wouldn't be ready to buy a new travel trailer if it wasn't for Outbackers.com.

My wife and I have decided to buy an Outback 210RS. We have a 5yr old son and 4yr old daughter who are excited to start our new camping adventures as well.

We are complete newbies to camping, travel trailers, and towing but have been reading the forum for several weeks after we decided on an Outback.

Our tow vehicle is a Ford Expedition with the HD tow package. We think the 210RS is a good match for the expy as well as our lack of towing experience. We plan to get an equal-i-zer 4-point or Reese Dual Cam WDH.

We'd prefer to spend most of our time outside when we camp and aren't concerned about outgrowing it's smaller size anytime soon. We'll likely be in state weekend campers only (except for trips to Vancouver Island which we really enjoy).

We did go to the Puyallup RV show this past weekend to look at the 210RS as well as some of it's competitors. We thought it was the nicest in it's class and felt the size was perfect.

Price is important to us so we've been researching add-ons, updgrades, essential supplies, and purchase options to get the real cost of purchasing new.

In addition to the essential supplies and WDH we've decided to get the P3 brake controller, Bulldog 4000 electric jack, replace the lights with LEDs, and add a Trojan SCS225 battery.

We've narrowed down our purchase options to either buying local from Tacoma RV, taking a trip to MN and towing back, or having one shipped to our door from Holman. We'd prefer to purchase local our first time and build a relationship with Tacoma RV but I don't think they're willing to come down much more in price and we're still too far from the "local price" I'm willing to pay.

We're not really excited about our first towing experience being from MN back to Seattle (BTW - their price was competitive with Holeman & Lakeshore but 13 hours closer to Seattle). If we knew anything about operating a travel trailer or installing a WDH we might consider the ship option from Holeman but losing the valuable education that comes with the PDI and WDH installation likely rules out that option.

We plan to make a final decision where to buy by end of week but I suspect I'll be on the road heading East to MN soon.

Todd


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## thefulminator (Aug 8, 2007)

Howdy.

It sounds like you have done your research. The 210RS should be a good choice with two younger kids. The first thing you are going to have to figure out is a ladder for the upper bunch unless Keystone includes those now. You don't want to have to run across the trailer in the middle of the night to get the little one down to go potty.

Both Jasonrebecca and I bought 21RS models from Tacoma RV in 2008. I'm in Lynnwood and Jasonrebecca is in Edmonds. In my opinion, Tacoma RV is a good place to buy but you need to keep an eye on them when it comes to getting things fixed. I had a few issues with our trailer, some of which I had to fix on my own because they somehow missed them when I had it in for repair. I don't know what Jasonrebecca's experience has been. If you are buying in Washington State, the only dealers are Tacoma RV, Camping World in Burlington and D&L's in Wenatchee. Camping World's prices will be higher than Tacoma RV and D&L's stock is extremely limited whenever I've driven by. You can also try Curtis Trailers in Portland. I have never dealt with them so I can't give you any insight on them.

If you are looking for info on campgrounds or where to by supplies, send me a PM and I'll pass along any info I have.


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## ORvagabond (Apr 17, 2009)

First Welcome !!I purchased my first TT from Tacoma RV, an Outback 28KRS..it was a very good experience but they never did any service for me as I lived in Alaska. I towed it with a 2006 Ford Expedition with an Equalizer. Other than under powered in the hills the Expy was fine, although thirsty at 8-9 mpg. Good luck with your purchase. You might try Curtis RV in Portland or Porter's RV in Coos bay OR. I purchased my last trailer from Porters and the purchase and service has been excellent and they definitely talked price.


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## Doxie-Doglover-Too (Jan 25, 2007)

Welcome! love having another PNW Outbacker!


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## Boomer2012 (Aug 31, 2011)

Allow me to add my welcome as well. We upgraded from our tent trailer to the 2012 250rs in March of this year. If you haven't purchased yet, I would look at Curtis Trailers in Portland. They were $4000 less on our new trailer and Tacoma RV admitted they couldn't touch their deal. I too was not interested in taking all the time off from work and costs associated with it and driving all the way across the country and back.

As I read your post, your setup sounded very familiar. We live in Sammamish, have an Expedition with HD tow package and the same WDH. We have two boys -- 7 and 3. We love our Outback and you will too. We took it on our shakedown trip in April. Next stop is Eastern Washington and Keller Ferry.

Feel free to send me a message if you have questions as we are still learning too.

-J


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## SalishSea (May 8, 2012)

Today is decision day on where to buy. We did reach out to all the Outback dealers in Western Washington as well as Curtis in OR.

The MN location is now out as they sold their remaining 2012. We've narrowed down the decision to either Tacoma RV or Holeman RV. The decision is much closer than we thought as Holeman only has access to the 2013 model which is $1,000 more. Now the total savings from buying out of state after travel expenses might not justify the time off. My wife and I reserved the vacation time but keep changing our mind what to do.

We did decide against an electric hitch - my concern being if it broke while we were out camping.

Thanks for the offers on campgrounds & supply tips; we'll definitely reach out when ready.

Boomer2012 - we really liked the 250RS as well but being complete novices to towing and TT camping we thought the 210RS would be a better starter model for us. I'd be interested to learn more about your experience with the Expedition after a season of use. If we end up enjoying TT ownership an upgrade to the 250RS in a few years might make sense. Is your Expedition the EL? Ours is not the EL.

Thanks
Todd


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## SalishSea (May 8, 2012)

We decided to stay local and purchase with Tacoma RV. We pick up the new TT Memorial weekend.

The shake out trip will be to the grandparents house over memorial weekend.

Todd


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

SalishSea said:


> We did decide against an electric hitch - my concern being if it broke while we were out camping.


Do you mean electric jack (raise/lower trailer)??

If for some reason the electric jack fails, you simply crack it by hand.


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## thefulminator (Aug 8, 2007)

If you are talking about an electric tongue jack, do yourself a favor and get one. In the event you have power issues it should come with a handle so you can crank it manually. I went the first year with the stock tongue jack on the 21RS and I'll never do that again.


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## SalishSea (May 8, 2012)

Correct, an electric tongue jack.

We did add a Barker 31558 that has 3500 pound lifting capacity and a 24" lift. The product description says it comes with a manual crank in case of battery failure.


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## jozway (Jan 28, 2008)

Did you but local from Tacoma RV? We bought from them in 2008. I might but there again, They did not want to deal price at all


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## SalishSea (May 8, 2012)

We went back and forth between buying from Tacoma RV and a wholesaler in the Midwest eventually deciding on Tacoma RV. We spent the most time negotiating with Holman & Tacoma RV. While price was a major factor in our decision we also felt that we wanted to establish a good relationship with a local dealer for our first RV.

Both Holman & Tacoma were patient and quick to respond to all our questions. If we had any RV experience I'm not sure who we would have picked. Being newbies and not wanting to spend our vacation time w/o the kids on the trip to Holman and back were also factors.

If we end up loving TT camping and upgrade when the kids are a little older we might plan a vacation through Yellowstone on the way back from buying a new TT from Holman. Of course if we have a great experience with Tacoma RV on the purchase and maintenance we'd also want to give them a shot at our business as well.

Todd


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