Monthly Archives: September 2016

Girl Camper Talks Serro Scotty with Gary Pirschl

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(image courtesy serroscottytrailers.com)

The history of Serro Scotty trailers dates back to the 1950’s when a retired John Serro built his first trailer. The history of the beloved white and turquoise “everyman’s camper” is long and storied in the annals of the recreational vehicle industry. Podcaster and blogger Janine Pettit had the pleasure of interviewing the grandson of John Serro, Gary Pirschl, in her latest podcast for Girl Camper, her blog and podcast dedicated to the camping lifestyle for the ladies.

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(image courtesy girlcamper.com)

It’s a very good listen and lends some interesting insight into not only the Serro family, but also the history of the company and his thoughts on Little Guy Trailers reviving the Serro Scotty brand in a big way.  The link to the podcast can be found here: http://girlcamper.com/girl-camper-51-gary-perschel-grandson-of-serro-scotty-founder/

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T@B 400 Unveiled at Elkhart RV Open House

 


After months of anticipation, nuCamp RV has unveiled the T@B 400 prototype at the Elkhart RV Open House. Thanks to this pic from Rusty Eckstein of Mount Comfort RV in Indiana, this is what the exterior of the 400 will look like. And before you ask, this was the only picture that I got from it, so currently no interior shots, but I suspect other media outlets who attended the Elkhart Open House will be following up in the days to come.

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Now if you’ll excuse me, back to my regularly scheduled northern Minnesota vacation. ?

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Little Guy Debuts Serro Scotty Line at Hershey

Beginning Wednesday, September 14 through Sunday, September 18, the annual Hershey Pennsylvania RV Show will feature the first look of the resurrected Serro Scotty family of travel trailers from Little Guy Worldwide. Today I got the lowdown and first pictures from Little Guy VP of Operations Dylan DeHoff. As well as the introduction at Hershey, Little Guy is also updating the Serro Scotty website to reflect the new models as well as introducing the new Little Guy logo.

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To some, the first wave of Serro Scotties may be a surprise, as their shape and floorplans are similar to other brands on the market. However, their plan to me makes sense. Their goal with the initial wave of Scotties will be focused on an affordable trailer that just about anyone can get into. As Dylan tells me, “We do get many calls and complaints about the teardrops being too expensive for the size offered. These first Scotty’s are built with price in mind. They are wood construction and can be built stripped of features or loaded up depending on what the dealer wants to stock. We will still be coming out with other Scotty’s that have the HiLander and Sportsman shape but we wanted to create this line of Scottys for the entry level buyer who is looking for an inexpensive camper.”

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There are some five floorplans available ranging in lengths from 17’2 up to 22’7″, including basic couples floorplans as well as bunkhouse floorplans for smaller families. The interiors mix in the modern with the classic Scotty turquoise. Dry weights will run from 2230 lbs to 3927 lbs. Additional specs can be found on the Serro Scotty Trailers website here.

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But Dylan wanted to make it clear that this first wave of Serro Scotty is just the beginning. “We are also featuring a graphic on the home page of the website which shows a cropped version of our first model with two silhouette images of what models are to come. I wanted to put that on there to give the customers an idea of what is to come. But we are really excited to offer this first Scotty as an entry level camper. We want to get the Scotty into as many people’s hands as we can so they can enjoy camping with their family. It was referred to back in the day as the “every man’s camper” and that is our goal with this first model line. Every man’s camper in terms of affordability but unique enough that you stand out from the crowd”. You can expect the 2nd wave of Scotties to be like those of the traditional HiLander (My old 2010 pictured) as well as the Sportsman. Note, these are models from previous Scotty manufacturers. I’m only offering these for reference sake.

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The entry level Scotties will be available sometime this year, and you can look for the more retro HiLander and Sportsman styles sometime by mid-2017. As for MSRP, the five initial floorplans will have a respectable MSRP ranging from $15,000 up to around $20,000. When comparing to other brands with similar floorplans, the prices for the Scotties will be right in line with some of the name brands out there. And considering the throwback color scheme the Scotties will wear, in this era of everything “retro”, I can easily see the Scotty as the choice for many.

I’ll continue to keep tabs on the Scotty through the rest of the year and into 2017 as the new models come out. Stay tuned…this is a fun time for this segment of the RV industry.

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Pleasant Valley Teardrops Sets Its Own Path as nüCamp

As the news of last month bombshell announcement of Little Guy Worldwide and Pleasant Valley Teardrops’ split set the small trailer segment of the RV industry on its ear, we’re now hearing from the Pleasant Valley side of things. After Little Guy Worldwide told of their future in July , we’re now hearing from Pleasant Valley Teardrops, who up until now were manufacturers.

In a press release today, Pleasant Valley CEO Scott Hubble stated, “Frankly, I never envisioned a future without Little Guy— personally or professionally. However, given the situation, we wish our friends at Little Guy Worldwide nothing but the greatest success both now, as partners, and in the future, as they embark on an exciting new path. We believe that this segment of the market will continue to grow, thereby offering both companies an opportunity to collaborate and create synergies with other niche OEMs.”

To rehash why the split occurred, discussions began to consolidate Pleasant Valley Teardrops and Little Guy Worldwide into one company. However, due to differing objectives of each company, it was decided to part ways when their contract expires in April 2017. Enter nüCamp RV.

nucampWith Pleasant Valley now moving on without the marketing and distributi0n savvy of Little Guy by their side, they are starting anew in name as well. Pleasant Valley Trailers has recently adopted the nüCamp RV brand name for use in day-to-day operations. The company will use this new name alongside the Pleasant Valley Teardrop Trailers brand through the end of 2017 in an effort to ease the transition to the new brand. Hubble reiterated that nüCamp RV is Pleasant Valley Teardrop Trailers—just operating under a new name. The nüCamp RV website is located at http://www.nucamprv.com and will continue to be developed over the upcoming months as the company incorporates all of its product lines under the umbrella of this single site.

 

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nüCamp RV is the owner of the T@B teardrop travel trailer, which was acquired from Dutchmen RV in 2011, as well as the T@G: a teardrop trailer Pleasant Teardrop Trailers Valley developed in 2013. nüCamp RV will continue manufacturing these extremely popular lines of recreational vehicles and will continue supporting their very loyal base of T@B and T@G customers.

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Pleasant Valley expects to produce more than 3,500 campers in 2016, representing substantial year-over-year growth for the past five years. “Our company has responded to the explosive growth in the small trailer segment of the recreational vehicle industry by expanding our manufacturing facility in Sugarcreek, Ohio—the heart of Ohio’s Amish Country – by an additional 91,000 square feet,” reports Hubble. “We employ some of the most highly skilled craftsmenand craftswomen in the world, and their continued dedication to quality is renowned in the industry. This is our second plant expansion in three years, and we continue to manage this growth through a dedication to the core principles upon which our company was founded.”

As 2017 rolls around and the separation of nüCamp and Little Guy is complete, I’ll be watching to see how well nüCamp manages the marketing aspect of the business, previously handled by Little Guy. There’ll be a few growing pains, as I’m sure Little Guy will also find out as it ventures into manufacturing. But the real hope of those who’ve been fans of the Little Guy/Pleasant Valley marriage is that both will find success along their respective paths. But with a loyal legion of owners spreading goodwill on nüCamp’s behalf, I’m pretty sure they’ll be just fine. If you’d like to find out firsthand, Hubble states, “nüCamp is delighted to host current and prospective customers as well as dealers and prospective dealers at their facility in Sugarcreek, Ohio to see firsthand how they are reinventingthe recreational vehicle industry one camper at a time.”

To find out more about nüCamp, visit their website at http://nucamprv.com.

 

 

 

 

 

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