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Bigfoot 25B25RQ Fiberglass Travel Trailer Best available for only 27,500 $US What do you get in this trailer ? Bigfoot 25B25RQ Fiberglass body – super strong and weathertight. Unique 25' Bigfoot off-grid capability thanks to 2016 Solar installation. Run everything off
the batteries except the air-con. (Yes, even the microwave & toaster.) This trailer was new in 2008 and has had just a few, very careful, owners. I bought it from an ex-submariner... surely the best possible 'previous owner' you could ask for (who else could work harder to keep all systems 'go' ?). We've done our best to follow in those footsteps – anything that needs attention has recieved it. If it needs fixing, make it better/stronger. For example, I had a sidewall failure in one tire in 2016 – so, although the other 3 had a year or more to run, I replaced them all with new Michelin LTX (Light Truck) radials. Best I could find. I'm an engineer and bring that mindset to keeping stuff working – or, as with the solar system, designing it to work really well. What's Great about a Fiberglass Shell ? The body of the trailer is made like a yacht or kayak hull and deck – two giant moulded half-shells (top & bottom) are joined together around the waistline. This is a much stronger (and obviously easier to make watertight) way of making a trailer – compared to the 'stck frame and cladding' that is used in building most (lessor) travel trailers. These trailers last – and so hold their value. Not as fussy to polish, or nearly as sensitive to hail, as an Airstream; these Bigfoot trailers were assembled with good build quality and good components. This one has had all systems well debugged and (where needed) improved (ie: the battery & DC supply). Insulation is laid inside – and matched by the double-glazed windows to produce a trailer that is warm in the snow, cool in the desert, and quiet everywhere. Features of this Trailer Aluminum Wheels, tandem Propane Dual 30# tanks with Auto Change Over Regulator Fantastic Fan Bathroom & Skylight in Shower Thermal Windows Microwave (1 cu. ft) LED lighting AC Roof - 11,000 BTU |
Bigfoot 25B25 RQ (25' Rear Queen) Sold in 2008, this may be Bigfoot's best model. Good bed, storage, bathroom, food-prep area and eating area. It's double glazed, well-ventilated, well heated with huge tanks. The furnace is wonderful, hot water plentiful and kitchen superb. The Queen bed at the rear gives great comfort & storage, the utility section in the middle gives you a separate toilet & shower. Trailer is nominally 25' long. Body length is 22' (6700 mm). Bumper & spare tyre plus front triangle add up to an overall length of 26' 7" (8100 mm). Width is 8' 4" (2540 mm) plus awning. Height was measured by Escapees as 9' 11" (3025 mm). GVWR is 7500 lb (3400 Kg). Fresh, gray & black tanks are all 45 USG (172 L). click here for a larger look at the floor plan. click here for Build Sheet showing fitted Options. email us if you have questions: paul2500RAM@gmail.com Solar install done May 2016 Goal was to have no need to plug in. To have everything work (except the power-hogging air-conditioner). This goal has been met comfortably. We spent 6 months on the road and never needed to plug in. We chose to do so for a few nights in Las Vegas, as we were in a hot urban area under a flight path – and air con was preferable to open windows. Best quality components were chosen, installed by a quality Phoenix installer and a well-engineered design eventuated – and just worked. Cost was $ 6050 with no charge for my time. We ran a huge 34” computer screen & laptop heavily (doing photos & lots of research as we travelled), 4 slices in a toaster at breakfast, a few spuds &/or left-overs in the microwave at dinner, plus fans and fridge electronics & lights. Max for either toaster or microwave was about 70A – and for only 3 or 7 minutes. The solar setup just laughed at this demand pattern – we never got below 60% capacity (even when I burned away until 1 am) and were back to 100% almost every day. Had to be pretty overcast to leave us starting a second evening at less than ‘full’.
At the heart of the system is a Magnum MS2012 – a very efficent and clean 2000 W sinewave inverter with a very powerful charger built in – in case the batteries do ever need a charge. Three 160 W Go-Power / Carmanah CTI-160 panels are attached almost flat to brackets glued & bolted to the roof. This 480 W peak charging is slight overkill, but it saves any worry about windage, sun angles and parking orientation. So, no climbing about, tweaking panel angles. Set & forget worked for us ;-) The panels charge the batteries through a Trimetric SC & TM 2030 – clearly displaying state of and rate of charge. Magnum and Trimetric displays are mounted at the door – at eye level and are easy to read. The 4 batteries are 6 Volt 220 Amp Lifeline GPL-4CT deep cycle. These were chosen for their happiness when lying on their sides – in a custom welded steel frame which sits just in front of the Trailer's front axle. This gave us fully adequate ground clearance and I had no loss of internal trailer storage space. Plus, that extra weight was in a perfect spot. The trailer towed even better. All wiring was very adequately sized for minimal losses, breakers and fusing was done carefully and all temperature sensors and shunt/sensor wires were used to ensure optimum charging in all climate conditions. So, the batteries hold 5.7 KW-Hrs, of which 50% is fully useable. The discharge rate easily feeds the Magnum when asked for peaks over 2 KW. It's about half the capacity of a Tesla powerwall ! The system has even driven a hair-drier (a guest surprised us). Anyway – it all worked happily together and we surely _used_ it ‘for real’. Can’t really ask more than that !
Michelin LTX A/T – new Sept 2016 Switched to the Michelin Light Truck tires (LT 265 / 70 R15). Put them on in September 2016 and have felt very secure. Wheels are good alloy units (original Bigfoot) and I have replaced the rubber valve stems with metal ones. Blemishes This trailer has lived most (perhaps all) of its life in warm & dry climates (eg: Phoenix). As a result, some of the wood-grain vinyl on the cabinet framework has rippled. All the doors are solid timber and thus don't suffer from this – but some of the panels are less than perfect. You could fix it – or live with it, as we have... it has zero effect to any functionality. 2017 Upgrades We replaced the electric tongue jack, which was getting tired. New one is identical to the old - but the model has been improved by the manufacturer. We also replaced both black & grey water dump valves. Not because they were malfunctioning - but because they were of an unknown age and would be a pain to do in a remote area. |
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Best Features of Bigfoot...
"Warm, quiet and comfortable."
"Go anywhere and live quietly and comfortably. The solar works simply and effectively."
