Friday, January 17, 2014

2014 Cleveland RV Show

Jon and I went to the RV show last week.  I’d love to post that we found something amazing – that we found our next RV.  But actually I’m happier to post that we are still in love with our current trailer!

It was the usual setup at the Cleveland IX Center, although we both thought the show was bigger this year.  All the local dealers were there, as well as camping stores and campgrounds from the region.

As far as campers go I have to say that nothing really stood out for us.  Well, except for the fifth wheel that had a basement.  Sorry I forgot to take pictures, but it was a 2014 Open Range Roamer 346FLR. Many fivers don’t have much storage space down below, but this one had a basement that fit a 14 foot kayak!  It was pretty sweet!  The living space was in the front which is the floor plan that we like.  You walked into the kitchen, and then the bedroom was up a stair and into the back.  We’re pretty fond of the Open Range line.

Something else we noticed was the expanded use of LED lighting.  Many of the RVs now have LEDs throughout, and a good number of them seem to have the LEDs lighting up the awnings.  A nice touch that I saw on some was the stair lighting with just a simple, single LED light.  Jon says he thought some of the LEDs were a little “blingy,” and in some places I agree. But overall it’s nice to see them being used since they are so much more efficient and therefore purposeful in the application.

We also noticed that there were several copycats of our trailer.  I forget the name of the one we went into, but it made me like ours even more.  The wood was very dark, and despite the almost exact same layout as ours I decided I liked ours better.  The 2014 version of our trailer wasn’t too different.  Except it did have a shower surround which I might have to add.  Nothing like shower water all over the bathroom!


Overall the effect of the RV show was to a) remind me how much we like our little camper, and b) how much I am already ready to go camping!  Just a few short months…