More of the 2023 Tampa RV Supershow

More of what we've seen and done at the 2023 Tampa RV Supershow...

Neighbors who are parked across from us in the Newmar area invited us to join them for dinner and conversation on Thursday evening. We were happy to find that they were also Christians, and we had good fellowship with them!

Sunset view of our camping area.

Thursday night there was to be entertainment put on by the Florida RV Trade Association. We weren't exactly sure where it was to be, but we walked over to the fairgrounds, asked a few workers there - one indicated that they had set up 1500 chairs for something in the evening in a particular building, so we headed there. A group called "Sunday Drive" (https://sundaydrivemusic.com/home) was singing - we enjoyed their concert very much!

Friday morning was a "Tech Talk" for Newmar owners in the tent at our camping area. A fellow from Onan generators and another from Cummins engines did presentations and answered questions - very informative.

After the tech talk, we headed into the event to attend a seminar on a tour to Alaska. We enjoyed listening to the presentation, but as the presenter finished, we noticed folks on the row in front of us getting up were friends from the SKP Christian Fellowship group - Allen and Donna! We got up and met them in the back of the room...

... and then got to sit with them a little while during lunch. Carl and Allen...

... Patti and Donna.

What a neat God-incidence! We knew that they were staying not too far away, and they knew that we were at the Tampa Supershow, but we had not made arrangements to meet up - so it was great to have God-orchestrated so we would meet and be able to visit for a little while!

After lunch, we headed out to look at some more RVs -- we're enjoying seeing the inside of rigs we've seen in campgrounds from the outside.

One of the things I wanted to see was truck slide-in campers. We stopped at the Host truck campers -- I was shocked at how roomy they were --

Looking from the entry door at the back toward the front over-cab bed....

... looking toward the back where the entry door was to the left, and a bath was on the right side.

$113K - high for a truck slide-in camper.

Underneath there was a slide-out drawer in the bed of the pickup truck.

When I was in the camper, it felt like I was in a class C, not a pickup truck camper! The weight information indicates it is 4,349 dry weight, and indicates a 1 ton dually with 8' bed needed to carry the camper. We think it may still be quite top-heavy for the pickup truck.

We also looked at a number of "class Bs" or camper vans. The manufacturers consider them quite dear...

Over $220k for this one...

It was a 4x4 and small in size - good for going to places that a rig like Gracie would never fit, but much too small for full-time RVing.

Some more truck campers - these by Lance. Lance is well known for well-built and insulated campers.

There were some unique rigs such as a Show Hauler. We had seen one of these in the storage lot at National Indoor RV and wondered what they are like inside -- they are *very* nice!

We also stopped and saw a couple of the DRV Suites 5th wheels -- we didn't take pictures, but we think that they are also very well made - felt very solid and well built.

When the Onan representative was talking to our Newmar group on Friday morning, he indicated that there was a new "concept" generator on display at their booth and that they were interested in hearing our feedback on it.

So, we stopped by the booth and got a bit of an explanation on it --

... it combines a quiet small generator with a power distribution hub and lithium-ion battery pack. Carl understood more about it than I did, but what I got out of it was that it was a first step toward something that would comply with soon-coming California regulations on generators.

Finally, as we were leaving the event grounds, we stopped to see the River Stone 5th wheels - another set of models that is putting more under-bay storage in 5th wheels...

This one showed that even a small golf cart could fit into the under-bay!

The concept on these is that the interior floor of the living area is on one level - unlike most 5th wheels that have an "upstairs" room over the hitch -- in these, the whole living space is at the level of the "upstairs" room. That means more steps to get into the RV, but none once you are inside. We were interested to see how much more storage space they have than normal 5th wheels!

We were anticipating a service representative coming to our rig so headed back to meet them if they came... it turned out they did not, but we were glad to have some time that we weren't walking or standing! Going to these events is exhausting! We joined the folks who were parked near us for dinner again and enjoyed another evening of conversation with them. We are enjoying our time at the Tampa RV Supershow!