We purchased our Fleetwood Lynx travel trailer as a fulltime RV,
and we lived in it from May, 2007 to May, 2008. We bought it with
the idea of "Go cheap, go small, go now." We wanted to use our
existing truck ('04 Toyota Tundra), and this trailer was the largest
size that our truck could handle (theoretically). We wanted a travel
trailer so we could have a cap on the truck and keep our bikes out
of the elements. What appealed to us about the Lynx was its very
spacious interior for its length. It had an open and airy feeling
inside, and had a lot of storage space. It was the ideal introduction
to larger sized RVs.
The 2007 Fleetwood Prowler Lynx 270FQS is a 29'
travel trailer from end to end, including the hitch, and is
27' x 8' inside with a 3' x 14' slideout, providing 240
square feet of living space. It weighs 5,500 lbs dry and
has a GVWR of 7,300 lbs. It was billed as "half-ton
towable" but we had trouble towing it through the
mountains with our 2004 4.7 liter Toyota Tundra. We
towed it for about 4,000 miles with that truck and then
replaced the truck with a Dodge Ram 3500 diesel. The
trailer holds 40 gallons of fresh water, 40 gallons of grey
and 40 gallons of black. It has a 15,000 BTU air
conditioner and 35,000 BTU furnace.
There is a single slide that is 3' x 14' which contains the dinette and
sofa. The queen bed on this model was a short queen (74.5" x 60"),
but Mark modified it to be a full quuen (80"x60"). The bed lifts up to
a huge storage area underneath that can be accessed by hatch
doors on both sides of the trailer. It has a 6 cubic foot refrigerator,
kitchen sink, range, microwave and pantry. The bathroom has a
shower, toilet and sink.
We used an Equalizer hitch with a 12,000 lb rating. The hitch
broke twice. Fortunately we were not hurt either time. The first
time the welds cracked all around the hitch head. The second
time one of the two bolts holding the hitch together sheered off
when we came down a driveway leaving a bank parking lot.
Equalizer was very good and replaced the hitch head when the
welds broke. We replaced the hitch bolts with #8 rather than #5
bolts (only a few bucks) just a few miles from where we noticed
the one had sheered off. We got 9-10 mph while towing with
the Tundra and 11-12 mpg while towing with the Dodge.
This trailer was an ideal starter for fulltime RVing. In it we learned
about solar power, inverters and boondocking, and it taught us about
the things that were vital and the things that were unimportant in a
fulltime rig. In the end we realized the Tundra was not strong enough
to tow the Lynx and we upgraded to a long bed, single rear wheel
Dodge Ram 3500 one ton. It was more truck than the Lynx needed,
but we purchased it knowing that one day we might get a fifth wheel.
By starting with the little Lynx we got on the road sooner rather
than later, and we had time to research alternative big rigs at
leisure. As we traveled we quizzed everyone we met in a larger
trailer to find out what they liked and didn't like about it.
We visited dealerships in towns from Oregon to Florida and
slowly educated ourselves about the brands, makes and models
of the larger rigs.
There is no way that we could have done that kind of research when
we were working. We finally decided the Lynx was too small during
the long cold winter nights, and being a lightly built "half-ton towable"
trailer, it was a little fragile for the long term. We also discovered that
it was very awkward to get into the storage space in the back of the
truck and we decided the bikes didn't really have to be stored out of
the elements.
Our solar setup on this rig was one Kyocera 130 watt solar panel
mounted permanently to the roof (not able to be tilted towards
the sun), and a Morningstar Sunsaver charge controller
connected initially to two 12 volt Nautilus Group 24 batteries. We
upgraded the batteries to two 6 volt Energizer batteries from
Sam's Club after six months. The first pair of batteries had 140
amp-hours of capacity and the second pair had 220 amp-hours
of capacity. The solar charging setup provided about 25-50
amp-hours of battery charging capacity per day, which meant
that we could use about that much battery power in the trailer
each day without running the batteries down.
We had an 800 watt inverter connected directly to the batteries and
we ran a power strip style extension cord from its AC receptacle
through the storage area under the bed and into the trailer. We
had to go outside to open the storage hatch to turn on this inverter,
so we used it only when we wanted to run the vacuum cleaner
(which draws 300-400 watts).
Inside the trailer there was a cigarette-lighter style DC connector
for the antenna boost system on the wall next to the TV shelf. We
kept a tiny Radio Shack 150 watt inverter on the shelf and turned it
on whenever we wanted to charge the computer, the razor, the
camera batteries or the toothbrush, or whenever we wanted to
watch TV or DVDs. This little inverter's fan quit once, but Mark lubed it up with WD-40 and it ran daily for 3-6 hours each day for
the year that we lived in this trailer. It is amazing that a tiny $60 gadget could give us the ability to run all the AC appliances that
we wanted to run (except the vacuum). We had never used a microwave much in our house, so we didn't bother getting an
inverter large enough to support the microwave (950 watts). So we used the microwave as a breadbox.
We drycamped 83% of the time that first year -- 305 nights. The solar setup was more than adequate for the entire year except
for the cold winter months, December - February. Until that time we never paid much attention to our electrical use. The four
LEDs that showed the status of the batteries generally had all four LEDs lit whenever we checket it. During the winter months
the days were short, so the panel did not have much time to get its charging done; the sun rode low in the sky, so the panel did
not sit at a great angle to the sun; and the nights were long, so we sat around for hours while it was dark outside, running the
lights and the battery-draining furnace. To compensate, we used oil lamps for light at night and we wore a lot of layers. This is
okay for a "roughing it" vacation, but it wore on our spirits after a while. It was clear by the end of the winter that we needed
more solar and battery capacity, a non-battery-draining heating system, and more seating options in the trailer!
In the end it was hard to let the little Lynx go. John and Carl at the dealership where we traded it in were very patient as we
continually sang its praises and wondered aloud whether the new huge fifth wheel would measure up. The Lynx had everything
we needed, and if we had been traveling just 6-9 months a year we never would have given it up. However, when your only
home is your trailer, little things like comfortable furniture, space to lie down on the floor and stretch, and general ruggedness
become important. I'm not 100% sure, but I think the fellow that bought the Lynx from the dealership was a man who had just
lost his home -- a 1980's vintage Holiday Rambler travel trailer -- to a tornado that had flattened his town of Pricher Oklahoma.
If that is the case, then I know the Lynx is very much appreciated by its new owner.