Rear decks, projection TV, breakfast bars: What's new in campers, motorhomes in 2024
PITTSBURGH ― New camping concepts and camper models will be on the roads and in campgrounds as the weather warms this year.
Will you be driving one of them?
The Pittsburgh RV Show, underway through Jan. 14 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, offers an up-close look at much of the latest the camping world has to offer.
For one person, camping might mean sleeping in a tent on the ground. For another person, it means glamping, or travel trailers and luxury motorhomes. There are countless options, none of which are hard to envision yourself in.
What's new in RVs in 2024?
One new model, the Salem Villa 44View, includes a loft and step-down bedroom on one end and a bath and a half. The 45-foot-long destination trailer feels surprisingly like a home.
“It appeals to people who have acreage or always like a campground. They always stay at the same place,” said Paul T. Willis, general manager of Best Choice RV in Irwin, Westmoreland County.
The camper home has an iron staircase that leads to the loft. “The ironwork is really nice. It’s definitely steady. It’s built for adults and used by kids,” Willis said.
The unit sells for $75,000 and is designed to be placed on a site for an extended time. “It’s basically a second home without all the taxation. You can relax and just drive your personal car to it,” he said.
Inside there are 10-foot ceilings to give people an open feel and there are large windows that open to let you feel the breeze or visit with people outside.
Jason Trettel, general manager of Butler RV Center, displayed a new floor plan design that includes a loft and a covered rear deck. The Cherokee Timberwolf 16 Mini Loft is built like a travel trailer but is designed similar to a tiny house.
It weighs 6,800 pounds, so it can be towed anywhere, and costs about $37,000. “It has everything a house has in it. You can set it up against a pond or river or a lake of some sort. You back it in and you have a back deck, which is untraditional,” Trettel said.
Most campers feature a side awning. This camper has a built-in covered composite deck on the back end with a patio sliding door.
“When I saw that come in, it brought me to my knees," said Randy Giancola, Pittsburgh RV Show producer. 'What a grand idea."
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Getting started in camping
For those who want to get into camping, Willis, who has been in camper sales for 41 years, points to smaller campers that don't require a heavy-duty truck to haul and which have solid walls. Units his business offers start around $15,995.
“It’s a good budget-minded first-time buy because if you don’t like it over time, you get out of it without getting hurt.”
He said solid-wall campers in this category are easy to use versus models that fold down or pop up when it’s time to camp. “You can actually just park it, plug it in, put the sewer hose on and use it,” he said.
Popular teardrop designs require the user to stand outside to use part of the camper such as the rear kitchen.
One entry-level RV is the Cherokee Wolf Den 16EV camper, which sells for just under $15,000. It includes two bunk beds in addition to a regular bed.
“It’s for a young couple that have a few children, there are two bunk houses and a nice queen-size bed and dinette," Willis said. "Somebody that has a smaller vehicle, because the weight on this thing is only 5,400 pounds totally loaded up. The dry weight is only 3,000 pounds. You can tow this with a lot of vehicles that are in the marketplace,” he said.
It also has a fireplace heater, air conditioner and bathroom..
Mid-level campers
Willis said next-level campers range in cost from $25,000 to $36,000 because of the larger size ranges.
Larger units have a bath and a half, more beds and additional televisions. Those units are selling between $35,000 and $42,000.
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People are upgrading to have more space and storage to accommodate longer trips and additional people. Willis said when people start camping they may want to take more family members or friends along and realize they need more space for items like ebikes and want extra bedrooms to provide privacy.
“They’re looking for new exciting products. They are campers who have had one or two, their parents had one and they move into camping and have seen the same floor plans all their lives,” he said.
One of the fresh ideas that came out in late 2023 involves having a breakfast bar table built into the corner of the camper instead of having a dinette table in the middle of the unit. The bar set-up allows people to face the windows while having their morning coffee or to enjoy the sunset.
The change allows for a larger couch area, and the couch folds down into a large bed. “It’s large enough for Sasquatch,” Willis said with a smile.
When purchasing an RV, he said “What you spend is normally what you get.”
Refined camper trailers can go up as high as $60,000. As the price increases, customer get a higher level of cabinets, appliances, finishes, adjustable beds, self-leveling features and build quality. One model includes an 80-inch projection television to give campers a movie-night feel.
Fifth-wheel campers
Some camping trailers are designed with a hitch that mounts in the center of a pickup truck bed and are called a fifth-wheel mount, similar to the design used for tractor-trailers. Willis said those models travel better, with less sway than what’s experienced with campers that hitch at the back of a truck.
“The pin is over the axle of the truck. It totally kills the sway of any kind,” he said. These larger campers are recommended for people who travel to various campsites and different terrain.
Towing a camper
Willis said the standard driver's license people have to drive their car is all they need to pull a camper for recreational purposes.
There are campers that are light enough to be pulled by larger SUVs and light pickup trucks. Larger campers require the power of a pickup truck. Many pickups can pull 10,000 pound dry weight campers that span up to 39-feet.
He said a one-ton dual wheel rear diesel pickup truck will pull any length of a camper that’s available.
However, if you don’t want to purchase a truck, a motorhome may make sense. The cost of a heavy-duty pickup and a higher-end camper is comparable to some motorhomes, Willis said. If a person has to finance a truck and a large camper, it may make sense to finance a motorhome.
Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors, and Instagram at whipkeyoutdoors.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: RVs evolve to include interior staircases, breakfast bars, rear decks
