Hershey RV Show anyone?

**Tweety** · 09-14-2007, 06:47 PM

We went to the BIG show in Hershey today. Anyone else been to any shows? It was awful to not have the big Sunline display there. Every salesman asks "what do you have now" and when we say a Sunline the response is always something along the lines of "It's such a shame they went out of business. They built a really nice trailer." So...what did we find that we liked? Without going into details I'll just say....Not much

Nothing that's making us anxious give up the QUE!

GrayGoose · 09-14-2007, 07:02 PM

We're heading over tomorrow to the show at Timonium, Maryland.
I've been to it before and have been told it isn't as big as the Hershey show but it ought to be a good diversion!

Al in PA · 09-14-2007, 07:03 PM

I haven't been to the show since they moved to Hershey from the Farm Show Complex. I used to go to the Harrisburg and York shows each year, but I never saw anything that would entice me to trade my Sunline . However, I did see the 2553 at the last Harrisburg show which is why I decided to buy one when I heard the factory was going to close.

**Sunline Fan** · 09-14-2007, 07:45 PM

I'd love to go to the Hershey show but I'm too far away

. Well, I'm not too sad since there's no Sunline display there. There no sense in going now!

Jon

chuck & lori · 09-14-2007, 08:41 PM

We bought our 2075 at last year's show from Stolzfus. We also found our first RV, a 1950 at the Harrisburg show in 2001. It is fun to see all of the RVs, but without Sunline in the mix, it would be less fun.

rich2500 · 09-15-2007, 05:24 AM

we are heading up to hershey on sunday,we really would like to upsize to a roomier camper ,something with a second slide for the kids room,we have been doing our research for over a year now and if we are gonna give up our sunline we wanna see every make possible,to make sure we get another quality rv,luckily we are not in any rush to make our upgrade if we upgrade, so we are just taking our good old time and doing our homework.the hershey show will allow us to see just about every brand out there, then we can decide if we really wanna get rid of the sunline

**Tweety** · 09-15-2007, 06:19 AM

Rich, We were least impressed with the trailers we saw. Some of the fifth wheels were nice...the very expensive ones

Of the trailers the Brookside (by Sunnybrook) seemed well made. We were disappointed that Northwood (Nash & Arctic Fox) were not represented. We had looked at them at Keystone RV and thought they were the most like a Sunline

rich2500 · 09-15-2007, 06:59 PM

of all the trailers we have seen so far we are leaning towards a sunnybrook sunsetcreek 312bhds,I like what I see in the sunnybrook lines. you are correct in saying that northwood builds a camper much like a sunline, we had a nash before our sunline and it was very solid just like our sunline but I was not all that impressed with the overall quality.I would really like our next rv to be aluminum structure with aluminum siding,but there are only a few manufactures that build them like that.we have been in alot of brands of rvs already so the hershey show won't have much that we have not already seen,mostly going to look at holiday rambler and starcraft,these are two brands that we have not seen yet.

emam · 09-15-2007, 07:02 PM

Cindy and I went to the Hershey show to compare models with our 2499. At the time, Sunline was still in business and we watched our model roll off the line

10 hours of walking around talking with every manufacturer and we never found one that we thought compared to ours.

I'd recommend the show to anyone who is thinking about switching models or just thinking about getting into the RV World. Where else can you see everything in one or two days, and be able to compare them within a few minutes walk?

Pat

hiller64 · 09-15-2007, 07:41 PM

Going to the RV shows is going to be a lot more boring with out Sunline. I am far from ready to replace my 2499 but if I had to buy a new TT tomorrow I would have no idea what to buy. Our Sunline dealer has taken on Artic Fox and Nash, both of which look like good trailers, but not Sunline. I like the looks of the Award TT out of Canada but they are very expensive.

I think most of the RV industry is seems to be in a great race to the bottom. How can we make it cheaper and who cares about quality. I was down at Greys Point CG in Virgina's Nothern Neck over Labor day weekend. We were camped next to a couple with a motorhome.they purchased 6 months ago. In that 6 months it had been in the shop almost 3 months with varrous problems mostly quality related from the factory. This isn't the American "let go RV'ing" dream they speak of on the comericals. I was think to my self, boy am I glad I own a Sunline.

Barb and Rich

**Tweety** · 09-16-2007, 06:09 AM

Rich, We also wanted to look at StarCraft, but they were not at the show. Stoltzfus has a few on the lot though. We went to Mellott Bros to see Holiday Rambler and DH found lots of flaws in them. Thanks for the info on Nash. We got exhausted before we finished the show, so are going back for a couple of hours today. Maybe we'll see you there

264SRinPA · 09-16-2007, 10:45 AM

We just returned home from Hershey. Took the coach down and spent 3 days there. We had plenty of time to look at trailers and we were not impressed by any of them. The Sunnybrooks were some what ok, and the Bigfoots weren't worth $50K for a 25' trailer. Even the 5th wheels costing $70K - $100K had crappy quality. If you wanted anything with quality, you had to look at the $200K and up motorhomes.

**Tweety** · 09-16-2007, 02:39 PM

We found a couple of interesting things today. The Holiday Rambler Presidential is high quality - very diesel pusher like inside. It is also $54,000 and 35 feet long ! It was hard to like anything after going in that one

It even had a washer / dryer hookup

The other interesting unit was a McKenzie Starwood LX. Priced more reasonably but also starts at about 31 feet long, and the floorplan I liked was 34' long. The thing I realize now about Sunline is that they were just SO unique. They weren't the McTrailers we saw this weekend. Their designers were majicians who fit storage into the most unlikely of places, and created truely cool floorplans that we did NOT see this weekend. Their decorators were so talented, choosing just the right fabrics and woods that make the coach feel like home. SIGH ! All I can say is that Chalet is LUCKY to have gotten Carl Kern ! (& I am very frustrated!)

Mark · 09-16-2007, 04:10 PM

You should trademark "McTrailers", that is perfect explanation of how un-inventive many manufacturers are these days. Just more of the "Me too" styling.

Al in PA · 09-16-2007, 05:59 PM

Rich was correct about the Award from Canada. It's a nicely designed TT, but for the money I'll stick with Sunline. We're all in good shape for the next 15 to 20 years!

rich2500 · 09-16-2007, 07:29 PM

well after about a million steps in and out of campers it looks like for now we will be keeping the sunline,about the only thing that really seemed decent was the mckenzie starwood,the holiday rambler savoy was not to bad but as mentioned a few flaws,after looking much closer at the sunnybrook I was not as impressed as I initially thought I was.So for now looks like another camping season ahead with our sunline,Tom Schaeffers has two starcrafts on there lot in the floor plan we want to see so we will probably look at them yet but I can't imagine them being much better then anything we have already seen.

tinybluetj · 09-17-2007, 01:14 PM

The Hershey show is HUGE! I was told by a McKenzie rep that this is the best place to get a deal. The manufacturers suppy most of the RVs at the show, and therefore the dealer does not have to 'recoup' and money on the Trailer. And, if you plan on financing, they have multiple banks competing for business with interest rates and such! Can't you just see all the little banker-guys in suits riding contracts around in golf carts?

If/ and when we are ready to move up, I will be taking off of work and we will be going there!

**Tweety** · 09-17-2007, 02:13 PM

So here's the deal. There is ONE campground in Hershey - Hershey Highmeadow. It's nice, but the sites are small (the pull throughs are rediculously tiny) and it's expensive - but hey, they have a captive audience. The next nearest one that I know of is 20 minutes away and is a Thousand Trails. This year dry camping on the golf course was $20/night but only available friday and saturday nights. It actually looked pretty nice. If you want to camp at Hershey Highmeadow during this show you need to make reservations WAY in advance. It takes 2 days to see the show in a leisurely manner, one loooong day if you plan a strategy. We had a strategy but got distracted and ended up all over the place looking at stuff we didn't plan on looking at

We try to go on a weekday because weekends are really crowded. There's a nice picnic area in a grass strip in the parking lot, so we pack a picnic. Otherwise you end up standing on hot pavement eating a bad expensive hot dog or funnel cake for lunch. Also, their website has discount coupons to print out before you come. Next year we plan to camp at Highmeadow. I'll make the reservations as soon as the dates for the show are posted!

264SRinPA · 09-17-2007, 06:54 PM

Pam,

The dry camping was available all week. That's where we stayed. It was OK, but no awnings were allowed to be put down,no fires and there are no tables. It didn't really matter, because we wouldn't get back until dark,make dinner and we were ready for bed after walking around for 10 - 11 hours. We were the only Sunline parked in with all the diesel pushers, and proud of it. We even had a few people tell us how nice our rig was, and this was from people in $200K-$300K motorhomes.

**Tweety** · 09-18-2007, 05:45 AM

Hershey did seem really unorganized when I called about the dry camping. The 1-800 number is where I got the info that dry camping didn't start until friday night. I wonder why no awnings.