We’ve been window shopping trailers for a couple of years. It started when we saw a Scamp at Patagonia State Park in Arizona back in 2014. The light weight of the Scamp’s fiberglass construction appealed to us, as well that they’re just too darn cute. So for a while we researched the different Scamp models as well as every other trailer we could find in the under 25′ range. We read up online, and even traveled to Elkhart, IN to attend a spring RV show. We were driving one day and saw a Scamp in a driveway, the owner happened to be there and graciously offered us a tour. Cindy and I were inside with the owner (a former aircraft engineer) and he wanted to close the door to show how it resembled a plane’s. Click, the door shut with us three inside the Scamp. I glanced at Cindy and could read her mind “It’s SO SMALL”.
So we found ourselves in spring 2016, ready to get a trailer (and a tow vehicle) but not being crazy for any we’d seen. We were almost at a dealer’s to check an r-pod trailer when Cindy yelled “Turn in here, NOW!”
What had caught her eye was a red and white retro looking small trailer at Terry’s RV. They had various sizes on the lot, so we got busy being nosey and walked in them all. After a while, Mike came by, and told us that we were looking at the White Water Retro line manufactured by Riverside RV. Since they’re aluminum construction, they’re pretty light (our’s is 2,350 lbs.), the retro look is cool, and they’re pretty wide, allowing a walk around bed, which was one feature we really wanted.
The full retro treatment has whitewall tires, red upholstery and a black and white checkerboard floor. It’s way cute, but we didn’t feel a white floor would be practical for long term use in campgrounds.
Mike told us there was an alternate color scheme that has a wood tone floor and they happened to have a used one on he lot for sale. It was everything we wanted, so after sleeping on it, we put a deposit down on the 2015, 18.5′ model.
We then did the auto dealer gauntlet, finally ending up with a Toyota Highlander to tow with.
Our first trip had us leaving Chicagoland to head north to several stops in Michigan. Over the course of a week, we stayed at a state park, a national lakeshore and a county park.
The Highlander gave 15-16 mpg during the tow with plenty of power for merging. The trailer was all we’d hoped for, big enough inside and small enough to tow easily.
