Starcraft RV Owners Forum

We have a 17sb (purchased last May) and love, love, love it! We live in Central FL and have camped in many different state parks here and in South FL. I cannot comment on its performance in cold weather as we have not done so yet (when we camped last month it was in the mid 80's and we used the AC), but I can comment on how quickly the bunk ends warm up. We came from a 1995 Jayco Eagle popup, compared with that, the unit is ice cold, however, the ends still do warm up early in the AM, especially with the intense sun we experience here. We are going to buy solar covers as many hybrid and popup folks I have talked to that have them, swear by them. I am not sure if they help in colder weather, but my understanding is that they make a huge difference in warmer or even sunny weather.

I find the trailer much easier to back-up than our 8' Jayco pup. The fridge stays ice cold, even in the summer heat and humidity we have here (can't say the same for the fridge in our old pup). There is plenty of storage, in fact we keep all of our camping clothes in there (family of 3) pots and pans, some non perishable food items and stuff for the dog and still have empty cabinets. Now, that said, the important thing is the GVWR and the "cargo carrying capacity". Unless you fill the spaces with feathers, you will not be able to use all of the cabinet space and still safely tow (under the GVWR) the trailer. You can use the space however once you arrive and are set-up. Having a bathroom and shower has been wonderful as is the microwave and freezer. All things our pup didn't have and my wife and I thought we would never use. I really can't say enough good things about this unit; its comfortable, spacious, feels very open with the side bunk, the bathroom is of decent usable size (and neither of us are small people), the stereo has been a nice feature and gets used often. Also, we find that having a powered awing has caused us to use it way more often than we did on our pup. The only real drawback is the early AM heat in the bunks (especially when you want to sleep in a bit) and the dinette is a bit small. This was the largest trailer we could get in both length and width and remain compliant with our HOA guidelines. Anything larger and we would have needed off site storage, likely at my father-in-law's, roughly an hour away. We tow with a Honda Ridgeline.

Hybrids are awesome! My wife and I had one for awhile and loved it. It's like having a longer trailer without it being that long after letting down the two drop-down beds. It's kinda like sleeping in a tent, yet you have all the conveniences of a travel trailer without the added length or cost of a fully enclosed trailer. We moved up to a full length trailer because we got tired of crawling over each other to get up during the nite for potty breaks LOL. If that isn't a concern, then they are great. We also liked a walk-around queen bed.

A caution, if you will, when you camp in colder weather, the tent portions of the hybrid can sweat on the canvas roofs and on the underneath of the mattress. This happens because your interior of the trailer is warmer with body heat and furnace heat if you use it. I always checked after a night's sleep and even raised the mattresses to let them air out if they were at all damp. I also put a layer of foam, like a exercise mat under both of mine to help insulate them from the cold. I would check very carefully on the tent material on the different brands. Many of them are cheap and cut corners on the material. I would get as thick and as water repellent as you can find. The thicker the better, for both cold and hot temperatures. The tent sections heat up quickly. Our's did not have privacy curtains in the tent/sleeping areas, but I purchased some rubber lined drapes from Walmart and sewed my own. I closed these during the daytime which kept much of the heat out from the tent areas. It also kept the heat in the main part of the trailer until it was time to go to bed, then I opened them up. I would also stray away from any hybrid that has poles to support the drop-down beds instead of cables.

A hybrid is the way to go especially if you are limited on weight for pulling and do not want to spend as much as you would for a fully enclosed trailer. Ours was a 19ft Heartland Focus fully contained with two queen drop-down beds. I believe it was an upper-end hybrid. Good luck in your search. If you get one please let us know what you decide.

Hey Guys,
In the market for a new tt espically a hybrid, we currently have a Rockwood popup and we are OVER!!!!!!the pop up thing.
We are a family of 4 and really like the launch 17sb.
Question is how do you guys like it? From storage to a/c to anything you can think. Also do you guys use the shower , i am paranoid that it does not have a liner,have y'all had any problems. We are also considering the jayco 16xrb but I'm really digging the side bunk thing. So please any opinions and tips good or bad will help.Really appreciate your time.