The New Camper - 2021 Heartland Mallard M26

We finally decided to buy a new camper. I'm not quite sure what pushed us over the edge but suddenly we were in the market. It was decided that we were going to shop for our 'last camper'. 

There were a few requirements. 

• There had to be a separate master bedroom that could be shut off from the rest of the trailer.
• There had to be bunk beds for the grandchildren.
• We had to like the way it looked.
• The bathroom had to be human size...big enough to get dressed in.
• The kitchen had to be full sized, with a realistic amount of counter space and storage.
• There had.to be regular seating and dinette seating.
• There had to be an outside mini-kitchen.
• The unit had to be capable of boondocking for a few days.
• The unit had to be easily towed by our truck.
• There had to be enough storage space to be able to put the essentials away.

We had been looking at different floor plans for a long time and had settled on two different bunk house layouts. They were similar with the exception of the seating. One had a large u-shaped dinette and no sofa and the other had a regular dinette and a sofa. It was clear we needed the sofa.

We decided that the Mallard M26 was what we wanted The layout is perfect, it has everything we want and the interior finish is beautiful.  When Barbara stepped inside of the sample it was 'game over'.

It is finished in grey tones instead of the dark browns which had been the industry standard for some time. I could not stand the dark browns and never understood why there weren't more choices. 

One of the things I really like is the amount of light inside. Lots of windows and LED lights.

The seating consists of a standard dinette which converts to a bed and a sofa which also converts to a. bed. There's also enough room to add some small seats if absolutely necessary.

The kitchen is roomy without wasting space. There is also an outside kitchen with a two-burner stove, refrigerator and sink. 

There is a forward bedroom that closes off from the rest of the camper. It has a king size mattress and plenty of storage. In the back is a set of bunk beds that close off with a curtain. 

The bathroom is roomy with a tub shower, toilet and sink...and there's room for a normal sized person to get dressed.

I have a lot of reservations about moving up to a much larger trailer. Our current trailer is 19' and about 4000 lbs. . This trailer is 32' and about 7000 lbs.. I'm not worried about the weight as our truck has more than enough power and capacity to pull it. I'm concerned about maneuvering that much trailer around. Some campgrounds can be a bit tight and other drivers can be a-holes. But I guess we'll see.