Hi, Kari and John. I have been camping 75 of my 81 years. I absolutely love it and still enjoy tent camping. We have had various small campers including a truck bed mounted roof top tent which we currently use when traveling including in Baja. Our last trailer was a 2023 Airstream Basecamp 16. It was very nice but I felt the aluminum interior did not have a warm feeling and thus decided to sell it. At the time I bought It I strongly considered an Independence Deluxe like yours. Fast forward to yesterday. I ordered a Casita Patriot Standard. As I mentioned I like the simplicity of tent camping but would like the option for the comfort of sleeping in a more protected environment in the winter months. The only functioning options ordered is the furnace and Maxfan. No water systems to freeze and a blank sheet to create what is necessary. I have portable toilet systems that I will have room to store. Also a very nice camp stove which I can hook to the trailer propane system. For water I plan to install a marine grade stainless sink with a foot mounted pump. I think it will be a simplistic complement to the sailboat salon feeling of the interior. I will pump the water and discharge the gray water from and into 5 gallon jugs. We will continue to use the RTT during the warmer months. I have watched similiar videos to yours and I appreciate your thorough commentary. I am a seasoned camper, but I can still learn. Thank you. Karl - Portland
Congrats on your Casita Anniversary! We have a ‘23 Independence Deluxe that we picked up in Rice, TX last 12-6 so our anniversary is coming up too! We enjoyed the tutorial they gave us and the interaction with Carla, our sales lady. We camped a couple days in TX & drove to Casita Works to have Doug put a hitch on ours. Don wired lights on bike rack from etrailer and we can take our bikes on it. 150 lbs limit so no ebikes but we love our regular bikes. We use twin bed set up and love it! We also have heat strip/ac and yes it’s loud but it doesn’t bother us either. We used electric mostly this year but love to dry camp too. We love our little “Aurora” and anxious to do some snowbirding in it in Feb in AZ. We love your channel! Thanks for updating and sorry I rambled on forever 😁
Congratulations on owning your Casita for a year! I’ve been following y’all’s channel for around 6 months. Keep on camping and have fun with the Casita
I had a wonderful experience with picking up my casita from the dealership in Rice Texas - at least an hour long tutorial on it and they answered all the questions I had at the time. They have also been great at helping me over the phone with any questions I have had. The heat strip needs to be used in incremental 4 degree increments to help power- fun stuff! I am only in my third month of owning my Casita and I am loving it!
I did not see anyone commenting on the roller shades not working. They will not roll up in cold weather until the camper warms up on the inside. I believe it has something to do with the spring mechanism in the roller shade.
We too are one year in on our Casita (Freedom Deluxe) and I agree with many of your observations. I find the narrowness of trailer a great advantage (when towing). If I could have one wish, it would be one foot longer so I could have twin beds and the Freedom table/chairs. I share your view that we go camping to be outside. And having a simple trailer sure makes things...simple. Once we got a Katy's closet, we found we don't actually use all the available storage (plenty good). Casita has changed (ordering options) since we both ordered our trailers, and I think for the better. Thank you for making your videos, I know that is a lot of work.
Just a thought regarding your bed: Consider a compromise between a bid like you have, and two twins. Here's what we did (difference vehicle, but you could certainly do this): Make your bed go wall to wall for about half of its length from the head. Then leave an aisle -- no platform, no mattress -- for a few feet at the bottom of the bed. Thick of a chubby "U". : ) We determined the length of the aisle by figuring out how far toward the head of the bed we'd have to walk in order to be able to reach all of the storage compartments, including the one at the rear. You don't need a wide bed for your legs or feet -- just for the upper body, where the bed would still go from wall to wall. This has worked great for us for six years now and we'd definitely do it again.
John your doing great if you can back a 17ft trailer up on the first time, actually a shorter trailer is harder to back up than a longer trailer I’ve pulled up to a 40ft trailer down to a 13 ft trailer and the smaller trailer was harder to backup it takes smaller steering inputs to make the trailer maneuver
Congratulations on your Casita. I appreciate that you did a one year review, however, it lost my interest with what seemed like rambling and getting distracted with stories. I stand corrected. I went back and finished watching , they did get to the point of the review . It was honest and informative. Good job 👍
Hi, Kari and John. I have been camping 75 of my 81 years. I absolutely love it and still enjoy tent camping. We have had various small campers including a truck bed mounted roof top tent which we currently use when traveling including in Baja. Our last trailer was a 2023 Airstream Basecamp 16. It was very nice but I felt the aluminum interior did not have a warm feeling and thus decided to sell it. At the time I bought It I strongly considered an Independence Deluxe like yours. Fast forward to yesterday. I ordered a Casita Patriot Standard. As I mentioned I like the simplicity of tent camping but would like the option for the comfort of sleeping in a more protected environment in the winter months. The only functioning options ordered is the furnace and Maxfan. No water systems to freeze and a blank sheet to create what is necessary. I have portable toilet systems that I will have room to store. Also a very nice camp stove which I can hook to the trailer propane system. For water I plan to install a marine grade stainless sink with a foot mounted pump. I think it will be a simplistic complement to the sailboat salon feeling of the interior. I will pump the water and discharge the gray water from and into 5 gallon jugs. We will continue to use the RTT during the warmer months.
I have watched similiar videos to yours and I appreciate your thorough commentary. I am a seasoned camper, but I can still learn. Thank you.
Karl - Portland
Thanks so much for sharing your story! I can totally relate to wanting to keep things simple. So excited for you. Keep us updated 😀Happy camping!
Congrats on your Casita Anniversary! We have a ‘23 Independence Deluxe that we picked up in Rice, TX last 12-6 so our anniversary is coming up too! We enjoyed the tutorial they gave us and the interaction with Carla, our sales lady. We camped a couple days in TX & drove to Casita Works to have Doug put a hitch on ours. Don wired lights on bike rack from etrailer and we can take our bikes on it. 150 lbs limit so no ebikes but we love our regular bikes. We use twin bed set up and love it! We also have heat strip/ac and yes it’s loud but it doesn’t bother us either. We used electric mostly this year but love to dry camp too. We love our little “Aurora” and anxious to do some snowbirding in it in Feb in AZ. We love your channel! Thanks for updating and sorry I rambled on forever 😁
@@DonAndLisa what a great name! Aurora. It’s perfect 🤩 I am happy to hear you had a great experience picking it up. Happy camping!
Congratulations on owning your Casita for a year! I’ve been following y’all’s channel for around 6 months. Keep on camping and have fun with the Casita
Thanks so much!!! 😀
Thanks so much!!! 😀
I had a wonderful experience with picking up my casita from the dealership in Rice Texas - at least an hour long tutorial on it and they answered all the questions I had at the time. They have also been great at helping me over the phone with any questions I have had. The heat strip needs to be used in incremental 4 degree increments to help power- fun stuff! I am only in my third month of owning my Casita and I am loving it!
Welcome to the Casita family! I am glad you had a great experience picking it up! Thanks so much for leaving me a comment.
I did not see anyone commenting on the roller shades not working. They will not roll up in cold weather until the camper warms up on the inside. I believe it has something to do with the spring mechanism in the roller shade.
You are correct! I’m not quite sure how I feel about the roller shades. I go back and forth on them.
Love hearing your perspective! We're getting our 2025 Spirit Deluxe delivered in January.
Thank you so much! Congratulations! I hope you have so much fun with your trailer. We had the best adventure year in 2024 and can’t wait for more!
We too are one year in on our Casita (Freedom Deluxe) and I agree with many of your observations. I find the narrowness of trailer a great advantage (when towing). If I could have one wish, it would be one foot longer so I could have twin beds and the Freedom table/chairs. I share your view that we go camping to be outside. And having a simple trailer sure makes things...simple. Once we got a Katy's closet, we found we don't actually use all the available storage (plenty good). Casita has changed (ordering options) since we both ordered our trailers, and I think for the better. Thank you for making your videos, I know that is a lot of work.
@@dontoot6603 eventually we will get around to adding a Katy’s closet. Thanks so much for watching and commenting!
A great, informative discussion.
Big Bears fans...as a fellow Bears fan: my condolences.
We are definitely looking forward to next season! Go Bears!
Just a thought regarding your bed: Consider a compromise between a bid like you have, and two twins. Here's what we did (difference vehicle, but you could certainly do this): Make your bed go wall to wall for about half of its length from the head. Then leave an aisle -- no platform, no mattress -- for a few feet at the bottom of the bed. Thick of a chubby "U". : ) We determined the length of the aisle by figuring out how far toward the head of the bed we'd have to walk in order to be able to reach all of the storage compartments, including the one at the rear. You don't need a wide bed for your legs or feet -- just for the upper body, where the bed would still go from wall to wall. This has worked great for us for six years now and we'd definitely do it again.
John your doing great if you can back a 17ft trailer up on the first time, actually a shorter trailer is harder to back up than a longer trailer I’ve pulled up to a 40ft trailer down to a 13 ft trailer and the smaller trailer was harder to backup it takes smaller steering inputs to make the trailer maneuver
Interesting video, especially since my last one was taking people through Toi Yoda. And we use our bathrooms in exactly the same way...LOL.
Congratulations on your Casita. I appreciate that you did a one year review, however, it lost my interest with what seemed like rambling and getting distracted with stories. I stand corrected. I went back and finished watching , they did get to the point of the review . It was honest and informative. Good job 👍
Thank you so much for this honest review ❤️ you are right! We do ramble. I appreciate you watching and leaving a comment.
Thanks for the video. We are considering the Casita. Did you finance yours through Casita?
No, we considered it but were able to pull funds together to pay in full.