Reflections on Owning a 2020 Scamp 13’ for Five Years (Nov. 2024)
Note: This is a follow up article to one written after two years of owning our Scamp
It’s already been five years since we took delivery of our new 2020 Scamp 13’ from the factory in November 2019! It seems like just yesterday when the friendly Scamp driver pulled up to our house in San Diego after making the several day drive from Backus, Minnesota. Since that time, we’ve taken 39 trips to 148 locations and have spent 266 nights in our Scamp! To see complete articles on every trip we’ve taken, click here. It now seems like a good time to reflect on our decision to buy our 2020 Scamp 13’ and what’s happened over the past five years.
We were very hesitant before purchasing our 2020 Scamp 13’. We never had a travel trailer before, or even camped anywhere. We were used to travelling, but did so by airplane and staying in spiffy hotels. Before getting our Scamp, we had already travelled to six out of seven of the world’s continents (all but Antarctica) — but had hardly seen any places in the U.S. or Canada. We figured that travelling by land would be a great way to see North America. But, we weren’t sure if we would even like camping or towing a trailer. We could have rented a used travel trailer to get some idea of what it’s like, but, instead, decided to go all in without a trial since it had been in our dreams for awhile.
At first, we did a lot of online research until we narrowed our choice to the Scamp and a few other models. We seriously considered other brands, including Airstream, TAB, and Safari Condo, before choosing Scamp. And, we visited dealerships and spent a lot of time comparing models. We even flew to Quebec City, Canada to visit the factory of Safari Condo! For a detailed article on how we compared different trailers, click here. We also visited a local Scamp owner who was referred to us by Scamp who owned a Scamp 16’. She was very friendly and let us check out her trailer and told us stories about her adventures.
We ultimately chose Scamp due to its construction, features and size. We wanted a fiberglass trailer because fiberglass trailers have a reputation of excellent quality and longevity generally not found in other trailer construction types. We also desired a trailer we could fit in our garage and tow with our four cylinder car. We did modify our garage height so we could have our Scamp at home (great for getting ready for trips) and not have to pay monthly storage fees or spend time driving to RV storage lots. Click here to see how we raised our garage height from 7’ to 8’ to accommodate our Scamp 13’. We learned that in California, trailers 16’ or shorter aren’t subject to yearly annual registration fees (it’s just an inexpensive permanent trailer plate fee every 5 years – currently $10), so getting a small trailer made good economic sense as well.
Our concerns about getting a travel trailer were quickly dissolved after taking delivery and experiencing our first couple of trips. Although there was a learning curve, it wasn’t very steep. When something didn’t work like we expected, we figured it out (sometimes by calling Scamp). We also made good friends on trips and a few became excellent references for answering trailer questions. Towing the trailer didn’t take much time to get used to (here are a couple of articles on our experiences towing and how we hitch up — towing and hitching up). We learned a lot as we took more trips and rigorously documented our Scamp journey by blogging so others might benefit from our experiences. Our Scamp blog not only lists all our trips, but also everything we have encountered along the way and all the modifications we have made on our Scamp 13’.
Having a small travel trailer has allowed us to travel considerably more often and more spontaneously than we would have if travelling by air / car / hotel. It’s great being able to schedule a trip on a moment’s notice whenever we want. Although campgrounds can be difficult to get into during peak months, we’ve always been successful at either booking last minute (if we didn’t make a reservation in advance) or finding alternatives. And, it’s satisfying knowing that we will be sleeping in our own comfortable bed with our own clean bedding (and not having to be concerned about extra fees or hidden nightmares). Additionally, the cost differences between taking a trip in our Scamp and reserving a hotel room are substantial. Since we usually stay in State and National Parks, we generally don’t pay more than $40/night for a campsite (and, if you are 62 years old or older, National Parks and other federal lands, such as BLM & Forest Service parks, slash these costs in half if you buy a Lifetime Senior America the Beautiful Pass — currently $90 including fees). A lot of campgrounds in the Eastern Sierra are run by the Forest Service and fees are generally around $32 / night (so, someone who has a Lifetime Senior America the Beautiful Pass would only pay 50%, or around $16/night at these campgrounds).
The average daily rate of a hotel room in the US was $148 in 2022 (Statista). That’s at least a $100/night savings by travelling in a travel trailer versus staying in a hotel. A simple calculation based on the 266 nights we’ve already stayed in our Scamp 13’ over the past five years shows we would have spent at least $39,368 (266 nights x $148/night average) for hotel rooms had we opted to stay in average priced hotels instead of buying our Scamp 13’ (which cost around $18K, including shipping)!!! For an article on how we selected options and purchased our Scamp 13’, click here. And, generally, prices for nice hotels in California are well north of $200/night. And, hotels within National Parks (if they are available) tend to be very expensive. For example, room rates at the Ahwanee Hotel in Yosemite National Park currently range between $578 and $1,347 per night. Travelling in a small travel trailer brings other cost savings as well, such as not having to go out to eat for every meal. We enjoy great home cooked meals in our Scamp for most days of our trips (although we do enjoy going out to eat occasionally). Driving instead of flying plus renting a car can also be less expensive.
Over the past five years, we fortunately haven’t had any significant issues or maintenance costs with our 2020 Scamp 13’. There have been some minor issues (e.g. replaced exterior door handle, bathroom door handle, hookup valve handle, toilet spring cartridge kit, shower drain pump, and shower valve — all of which we installed ourselves), but nothing very expensive. We take our Scamp 13’ to Sonrise RV every two years to have the bearings repacked and greased and the brakes adjusted (about $200). And, we replaced the standard battery with a SOK 100ah lithium battery ourselves (now priced about $300) — click here to see how we did it. We had a shop install a RedArc DC-DC battery charger (about $1,000) for fast charging of our Scamp’s lithium battery when we drive. We have replaced the Scamp 13’ tires once ($50/tire) and plan to replace them every three years regardless of wear (see this article for more details). We do most repairs ourselves, but a local shop could also easily do them for someone not wanting to do work on their trailer themselves. We wax our Scamp 13’ every spring with our favorite marine wax.
Putting aside how doable buying and using a small travel trailer is and the potential huge cost savings small travel trailers provide compared to other types of travel, the main question for us when getting a travel trailer was “will this be fun?”. Looking back over the past five years, the answer for us to this question is a resounding yes! We have had so many outstanding adventures and met so many good friends during our travels, that getting our 2020 Scamp 13’ has been extremely fun and rewarding. And, one of the biggest benefits of owning a small travel trailer is being able to stay in highly desired locations only possible by having one (such as inside a State or National Park). We’ve been to so many beautiful areas with the closest hotel/motel lodging being thirty minutes or more drive away. And, experiencing these places at night takes the park experience to another level (e.g. many animals come out at night and hearing and seeing them is fantastic!). Plus, the quiet spent in nature once the day users leave is very special. For anyone considering buying a small travel trailer, we would highly recommend the experience. Owning a small travel trailer might change your life for the better!
Disclaimer: You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale. These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences. However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer. It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything
