Gulfstream Vista Cruiser 19 BFD

   After over a year of searching we bought another camper. We found a used Vista Cruiser 19 BFD in Iowa on RV trader. Am now on way back home towing camper with a friend driving. It was only owned by previous owner for 5 months so it is in like new condition. It has more room inside and more storage space. Wanted to stay with a camper with a fiberglass roof and torsion axle but only got one out of the two, a fiberglass roof. The Vista cruiser has a spring axle hopefully I will be happy with it. The previous owner replaced the tires with new Goodyear Endurance tires so happy with that.  Hopefully the camper works out well for us. Sorry to part with our V-Cross Vibe got kind of attached to it, have some good memories with it. My wife hasn't seen camper yet so hope she likes it when we get home, she did like the pictures of it.The trip up to Iowa from Tennessee through all the snow and ice was a challenge, thankfully we have made it safely so far, we are halfway home.

  We made it home safe, yes the storm was bad I think there were over a hundred vehicles that slid off the road stuck in the snow. There were two eighteen wheeled trucks off the road one turned around up against a guard rail. It was my first experience driving in that kind of weather never will I do it again. We like the Vista cruiser except I am concerned about the cargo capacity it has a 4,000 lb axle and the camper weighs about 3,247 lbs. I would rather it had a stronger frame and axle. The cargo capacity they rate it at includes weight on the axle and weight on the tongue. It doesn't make sense to me.

Originally posted by CharlieM David, Not to throw cold water on you new acquisition but a note of caution: several years ago Gulf Stream VC  had a severe problem with bent axles. I was looking at the 19ERD because I liked the floor plan but the axle issues scared me away. I'm surprised a trailer of that size still has a single axle. The advertised weight and tongue weight are always understated and without any factory options so I think you are right at the limit. Watch your tire wear for signs of trouble.

   Yes I read about the bent axle problems but I too read that problem was corrected and have not read any problems sense it was corrected. This camper is a new floor plan and it is the heaviest on a single axle. I originally thought it had a 4,500 lb axle and my mistake I didn't crawl under camper to check until bringing camper home. Yes you are right two axles would have been good where I made the mistake was not realizing the stated cargo capacity 1,253 included the weight on axle and the hitch. I thought the GVWR only included the weight on axle or axles I didn't know it included the weight too distributed to the hitch. The factory label on camper says cargo capacity 1,253 that is the 4,000 lb axle and hitch weight 480 lbs  added together minus camper weight 3,247.

   I thought about the additional weight from weight distributing hitch. The RV manufacturers do not have a conscious or a heart for their customers.  If the axle fails I will see if it can be replaced with a stronger axle perhaps even a torsion axle. At least I paid a low price so If axle needs to be replaced I won't feel as bad if I had paid more. Today I removed top bunk made it shorter and reinstalled will use it for storage only. We are keeping the Vibe for now in case camper doesn't work out for us. If they didn't use stale guns so much I would have been happier same problem I had with the Vibe. All the modifications I have done with Vibe and the Vista, everything I have done has been assembled using screws.