HYBRID REVIEW UPDATE
By Kurt Backus
As posted a couple years ago, I can't say enough good stuff about our jump from a popup (Starcraft SpaceMaster) to our Starcraft Travelstar 17CK Hybrid. The benefits are endless, and even more so in the 2 years we have had it. Now we have graduated to the new 19CK floorplan that makes life that even that much better. Although we loved our 17CK, my wife didn't overly care for the bathroom. It was a wet bath (toilet in the shower stall) and the 19CK has a separate shower/toilet plus the addition of a medicine cabinet and sink. As our son gets older I am sure he is going to want his privacy with showering and dressing that this bathroom will provide. The 17CK had a "U" shaped dinette, which provided great storage under the bench seats, but was less than practical in real usage. The 19CK offers a "always up" dinette plus a nice comfy love seat. The downfall of this plan is while it may have the same square footage of storage as the 17CK, it has less "usable" storage for such things as large sleeping bags, blankets ect.. . I will say that, as said before, I think that the Hybrid tows better than our popup, despite the frontal area, but this new 19CK tows even better given that it has 2 axles - especially noticeable on pot hole ridden roads.
We bought our camper from Manns in Rutland, MA (800-677-4476). I just can't say enough good things about this dealer. Not only did we save thousands (yes THOUSANDS) but they extremely pleasant to deal with.
They gave us a more than fair price for our trade-in and an excellent price for the 19CK. Dealers in the immediate CT area couldn't come close. The day I picked the camper up, they went over it with me in every detail, made sure every thing functioned including the water system (which meant they had to de-winterize and re-winterize), the heat, hot water heater, AC, microwave etc.
They provided us with a battery and battery box and a "welcome package", which included a water hose, regulator, sewer hose, clamps, fittings, and toilet chemicals. They cleaned the camper meticulously inside and out. Their commitment to detail was obvious. This is the first camper that I didn't take the dealer's sticker off of since I can honestly recommend them to even a friend.
If you have any questions don't hesitate to fire off a email to me at: kamper00@yahoo.com
-Kurt