Best Living Quarters Brands?

[soloudinhere]

I’m in the market for a 4h slant with living quarters. The living quarters will be used a LOT as it will also be doubling as a farm office for me at home and will be my winter abode down south. As such, the LQ area will need to be really well done and hardy to get a lot of use.

I’m familiar with horse trailers in general, but what company does the best living areas?

preference for a company that can do designs other than the old west rugged style with tooling everywhere - I was thinking something more contemporary, like an Airstream interior that is becoming more popular in regular RVs.

[clanter]

there are several out there, they are pricey … I saw one that was just under $250,000

https://www.doubledtrailers.com/15-luxury-horse-trailers-you-wont-believe/

[soloudinhere]

@clanter

there are several out there, they are pricey … I saw one that was just under $250,000

https://www.doubledtrailers.com/15-luxury-horse-trailers-you-wont-believe/

It doesn’t need to be bigger than my actual house just a bed, dinette, and separate toilet/shower will do me. No kitchen island necessary.

[sunkistbey]

We have an Exiss with Sierra living quarters. We did 12’ shortwall and 8’ wide as there are only 2 of us and we’re friendly. Lol
our old trailer had an 8’ shortwall and it was way too cozy. If you decide to get an Exiss, do not use their living quarters. They have very limited options and the workmanship was cheap and ugly. Sierra has a lot of options and you can avoid the “Wild West” look if you don’t mind spending a little extra. Our rig cost $55,000.00 because we did several upgrades from the standard package.

[soloudinhere]

It will, I would estimate 90% of the time, only be me using the LQ. My husband might deign to join me for short visits during the FL season, but otherwise it will just be an indoor place for me to work my professional job from while I keep an eye on the goings on at the farm, which doesn’t have a space that is suitable for insulating/finishing as an office.

during the Florida season it will be my full time residence, but I’m alone.

[sunkistbey]

Well our first Exiss would have been fine for one although cozy. We had a 2 person dinette, a regular bathroom with a shower stall, toilet and small closet. Only one sink which was next to the 2 burner cooktop. No drawers, one hanging closet and 2 cupboards over the dinette. For 2 people going to 4-10 day shows it was too small. For a small office it would probably work. I’d probably go for 8’ wide because maneuvering in 7’ wide is tricky.

[gothedistance]

Get something with a slide. That expands your floor space significantly which is a big plus when you are using it 12/24.

I’d second going with an 8’ width.

I have a Lakota. Interior is modern and clean. No themes. They tucked the toilet into a cubby for me so that it isn’t in the way going from LQ to horse stalls in back. Very nice company to deal with it you want to customize your trailer some.

[Jarpur]

Years ago, I had a weekend package (not a full LQ) put in my Sooner trailer, done by Outlaw Conversions: http://www.outlawconversions.com/

Mine was a simple job, done to my own design, and not in an Old West rugged style, although the latter is what is featured on their website. So, at least at that time, they were willing to do something less elaborate.

I’ve toured a few of these on display at various events, they can get super fancy schmancy, but perhaps they would be willing to do what you want: http://bloomertrailers.com/

[Guilherme]

I’m partial to Featherlites as they have always done well for me. Our local Featherlite shop sold out to Shadow Trailers and is now a Shadow shop. I looked at them and they were OK. I guess by that I mean they are a “C” level product.

Our shop used to carry Silverlite trailers and they did look nice. They had a front raised area over the gooseneck that gave the entire trailer a REALLY nice and airy interior look. Sadly Silverlite is out of business although you can still find used ones around.

I’ve seen some Merhows and they were very well done and appeared to be of very good quality.

I won’t have a Sundowner on the place. Never owned one but we had a client who did and the LQ part was very poorly done. This, along with some structural issues, takes them off my list.

The former Featherlite shop fixed other brands and they had a Kieferbuilt in for some major work. I got a chance to look at wall construction, frame construction, overall quality, etc. I was not impressed and would not buy one.

I had picture of a custom LQ where the area over the gooseneck was raised to about 6.5’ ceiling and became a real, small bedroom. I cannot, for the life of me find it! Didn’t find it on Google, either. Very frustrating. If you go to a genuine custom builder I suspect this could be done. It won’t be either light weight or cheap (meaning not just more trailer to haul but a bigger truck to do the hauling ). It would enhance livability, though!!!

I don’t know anything about Bison trailers but here is an offering that does give a more “livable” interior. https://horsetrailerworld.com/home/trailerdetail.asp?ID=1178385

Our LQ is a weekender and for one person it would be OK for a while but it’s likely “cabin fever” would set in quickly! The illusion, at a minimum, of more space would be worth paying for if it’s going to be a long term abode. Living in a cave will get old quickly.

As with so many things the question is “how much money you got?” If you’re flush then you can have a “taj matrailer” with all the trimmings. Of course if you’re that rich then live in a nice hotel, put your hired help up in Motel 6, and let them have the horses ready for you when you arrive!!!

Good luck in your search.

G.

[DiamondJubilee]

What a timely post! We have just ordered a custom trailer and searched and shopped around quite a bit for a live in quarters (we shopped at Congress this past October) as well as a large carriage/horse trailer.

We were going to go with a custom built Featherlight and Sierra LQ since they were one of the only companies that would do a “custom” live in quarters. We saw a lot of their work and it was ok. My husband is a carpenter so he is VERY picky with all the details. He did not like the cheap drawer slides they used, or some of the work they did on the doors (it was sloppy, not quite matching up etc). It was a decent price (we did their “upgrade” cowyboy type interior - though we didn’t necessarly like it - it just had some nicer features).

We also looked at Merhows, Exiss, Shadow, Heart, 4 Star and Elite trailers. We were not happy with the LQ with the Merhow, Exiss or Shadow trailers - they were similar to the Sierra type LQ. So they were just ok. Heart would not build the size of trailer that we wanted, though they were nice trailers. 4 Star and Elite were very nice trailers for sure, and we could have also gone with either of those as well.

We then checked out a couple of other dealer and interiors and fell in love with the Trail Boss (he will only work on 4 Stars, Cimmeron, Heart, Bloomer and Elite trailers) and he is very picky on the quality of the trailers that he is installing a LQ in. He “persuaded” us to purchase a custom built Cimmeron and then he is going to do our LQ. He can pretty much do anything and his craftmanship is just amazing! I cant tell you how nice his work really is - real wood not just facing the cupboards, but all of the insides of them as well - no particle board or cheap fixtures, china toilets, exotic wood, brass fixtures etc, etc). You can also upgrade anything you would like in it.
http://trailbossconversions.com/

Now our trailer is just being built now and we should have it late May/June, so we don’t have it yet, but I know we will be super happy with it.

We also just heard that Sierra has gone out of buisness and just had a big sale and sold everything. Are we ever glad we didn’t go with the Featherlight and Sierra LQ as we would have been SOL.