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Let’s be clear from the get-go: The 2024 Forest River Cedar Creek Cottage 40CFD is a destination trailer. What is a destination trailer, you ask? These models are primarily designed to make one trip somewhere and live out their well-leveled lives in park for a good long while. As such, they are built a bit differently. The bonus is that they are also more designed to be lived in than camped in. 

The idea here is that if you have a piece of land with a beautiful view (or have a relative who’s going to come live with you or things like that), you can just buy a destination trailer and park it there permanently. While you could certainly pull one of these around like a travel trailer — albeit with one heck of a large truck — that’s not the big idea. 

In fact, I have an aunt who has gone to live with her son and his family, and for her situation, something like this would make so much sense. Not only do you instantly get a complete residence, but that residence shows-up fully furnished, plumbed, and ready to go. Done. 

Because destination trailers like the Cedar Creek Cottage 40CFD are designed to go somewhere and stay, you’ll see some unique things that are configured differently than a. conventional travel trailer or fifth wheel. For example, the water heater on the Cedar Creek Cottage 40CFD is a 120-vac, household-style tank water heater. (Albeit with a 20-gallon tank; many residential units are 40 gallons.) Further proof that this model is designed to go somewhere and just stay is the fact that the entire hitch is removable.

Let’s look at exactly why the Cedar Creek Cottage 40CFD keeps owners happily in park for so long.

 

At a Glance: Cedar Creek Cottage 40CFD

I gave the Cedar Creek Cottage 40CFD four-and-one-half out of five stars. I really like the build quality of the cabinets and the open feel of the interior. The porch on the front, too, would be a nice place to spend time if you have a beautiful place to enjoy. (The ceiling fan overhead might help keep the insects at bay.) However, the white upholstery and lack of proper dining table might sway some buyers, although Cedar Creek makes other floor plans that are equally nicely done. 

 

Check the Specs

• Sleeping capacity: 6
• Hitch weight: 1,675 pounds
• Awnings: 11 feet 6 inches and 18 feet

 

Benefits

• Fully furnished getaway cottage with lots of storage
• Fan-covered porch made to enjoy incredible views

 

Challenges

• Not designed for regular moves (hitch is removable)
• Enclosed underbelly, but has exposed gate valves

 

Best For

• Destination trailer buyers looking for a deluxe model
• Property owners who are considering renting a trailer

 

The RV Trader Process

RV Trader asked RV shoppers what was most important to them in their RV buying process. Potential buyers — like you — helped us to identify a list of six key areas that camping and travel enthusiasts always look at when they’re searching for the perfect RV: sleeping space, bathroom, living area, four-season capabilities, and storage space.

The RV Trader team then got to work providing you with an honest and unbiased evaluations. And that’s where I come in. I’m Tony Barthel, RV expert and enthusiast. I provide an honest look at RVs from an RV industry insider perspective. That way, you can learn the good, the bad, and the intriguing about any RVs I review. I inspect each RV with the buyer’s perspective at the forefront. And I always evaluate those six key areas that buyers have told us that they have in mind.

So, that said, let’s take a closer look at the 2024 Forest River Cedar Creek Cottage 40CFD.

 

Sleeping Space

The mast bedroom in the Cedar Creek Cottage 40CFD is consumed by a king-size bed. Both sides of the bed have a shelf overhead with USB outlets, and there are household power outlets near the side of the bed as well. More storage overhead is also appreciated. On the side wall, facing the front of the trailer, is yet another storage cabinet that reminds me of the configuration of a medicine cabinet. 

That makes me think of the bathroom, which is very spacious and features another storage cabinet. But before we get to the bathroom (in just a moment), let’s talk about the extra sleep space in the loft above the bathroom. If you are a grandparent, or parent, and have younger folks with you I could imagine this being a really appealing place to go and hang out. You’re sort of over everybody — including the sleep space on the sofa. 

 

Bathroom

The Cedar Creek Cottage 40CFD has a single bathroom. Some of these park models have two, but there’s not much compromise in this space. There is a very large shower in here with a fancy shower head that not only has an overhead shower, but a hand-held head and several body sprayers. It’s pretty fancy. There is also accent lighting in the shower which would make a nice night light — not too bright and not in your face. 

There’s a linen closet in here with a door — something that I’m seeing less and less of lately. There’s also decent counter space and a larger mirrored cabinet so you can bring both regular and fancy toothpastes. Interestingly this bathroom is effectively under the overhead loft, but head room is still sufficient. I also like that there’s an exhaust vent that can take the steam to the outside.

 

Living Area

While it’s certainly possible to build a very nice getaway cottage, you’d be hard pressed to do a nicer job than Cedar Creek did with the Cottage 40CFD. There are a lot of nice details inside, including both main lighting and accent lighting throughout the interior. 

Here in the living room, the Cedar Creek Cottage 40CFD  is configured with an L-shaped sofa. It does fold out to be a bed, but I can see someone taking naps in this couch without doing any folding whatsoever. (It was tempting when I was in this rig, but I had a job to do to get you the low-down on this big trailer. No sleeping on the job!)

When I saw this rig in the line-up on a recent visit to Forest River, I was pretty excited with what I saw. From the outside, the most notable feature is a porch on the front of the trailer. That porch has a railing and a piece of the roof over it so that it’s a shaded porch. There’s also a ceiling fan on the porch so that’s pretty nifty. 

With Great Power Comes 50-Amp Responsibilities

As a fan of off-grid living (I’m not quite a hippy, but I have hippy leanings), I know that you’re not getting away with running this without a 50-amp connection. The water heater is electric-only here, and you have dual air conditioners that do have heat pump functionality. There is also an electric fireplace in the living room and an electric space heater in the bedroom. 

Many of these destination trailers end-up in places where people build porches for them. And this is the first of these where I see they’ve truly accommodated for that. The steps on the sliding door that provides access to the main living space, and the steps on the front porch of this are both easily removable. The steps to the bedroom entry door simply fold-up under the body of the trailer. These are fairly traditional RV steps, but the idea is that, if you do build a porch, those steps are now out of the way of said porch. 

If you are in a place that allows something like this, I couldn’t fault you for choosing the Cedar Creek Cottage 40CFD. I had a very good experience with this brand as a warranty manager. (I both sold RVs and managed the warranty department … it was a small dealership!) The Cedar Creek Cottage 40CFD is a very attractive model. 

 

Kitchen

Since the kitchen is the gathering space of many homes, starting there you’ll find a large space with a great deal of cabinetry and drawers all around for storage. As with keeping of a more premium space, all those drawers and cabinets feature soft close mechanisms. 

If you did buy one of these for your mom, for example, and she was one of those moms who can put most restaurants to shame with her cooking, she would not be disappointed with this kitchen. (Never want to disappoint mom.) There’s a large three-burner professional-looking stove with a very large oven, a residential-style microwave and a 20-cubic-foot refrigerator with an ice maker. 

I was rather surprised to see that the fridge was a 12-volt model. But I suspect that RV builders just set-up a buying contract with RV suppliers who now offer these larger fridges with more premium features like ice makers. Makes sense to just get everything from one source. 

 

Four-Season Capabilities

On the underside of the Cedar Creek Cottage 40CFD, the paneling used to enclose the underbelly is built in sections. This can be removed if a repair ever has to be made. Also, those holding tanks have 12-volt heaters on them, although the gate valves are exposed. So, if you plan to leave this where it gets very cold, you might consider putting up a wall around the underside of the trailer. I’ve seen this done even with more towable units in some RV parks where temps can get below freezing.

I have also seen other destination or park model trailers that don’t have holding tanks at all with the idea being that you plumb them directly into water and sewer, but that’s not the case here with this trailer having holding tanks. 

On that subject, one of the first changes I would make would be to swap in electric gate valves so you can open and close them from inside the rig itself as they are not conveniently placed plus there are separate connections for galley and bathroom holding tanks. Bleh. 

Roof and Sidewalls

In the case of these Cottage models, they feature a TPO roof that carries a lifetime warranty, although know that any breaches in the roof for vents and such are still a maintenance item that is not covered by this. Another neat feature is that the roof is rolled over the sides of the trailer, so the seam is not at the same point as the seam between the sidewall and the roof. The idea here is that it’s a less likely point of failure which is never a bad thing. 

Sidewalls of these are made of aluminum studs. And the outside fiberglass is a very high gloss material which does tend to have a longer life, although remember that there are also decals on here which is typically what fades first on RVs. 

 

Storage Space

The cabinets in the Cedar Creek Cottage 40CFD hold some surprises, too. There are drawers in the cabinets at the edge of the kitchen to enhance organizing your gadgets. The space is tall enough that you could put things like blenders or coffee makers in here if you choose to. 

Another cabinet surprise are the two pull-out pantries on the opposite side of the kitchen. These two are both quite large so more space to hide more stuff. Another surprise is the pull-out trash can holder. RVs sometimes seem to forget that we have trash, this one didn’t. Though is this really an RV? 

Since clever cabinets seem to be the theme here, the TV and electric fireplace are located in a cabinet that swings open to reveal a storage cabinet. This would be a good place for linens and such for the fold-out bed. There’s even a clever little drawer on a shelf above the fireplace and the latch for the swing-out function here is hidden under that shelf. Honestly, if you didn’t want others to know that this swing-out storage was here they would never know. 

If you don’t have littles, this could also be a great space to store things like holiday decorations. They wouldn’t be super convenient to get to, but they also wouldn’t be that far away either.

What?! More Storage?!

There’s also a huge wall of storage at the back of this rig with two big closets and several drawers beneath those. Further, another closet can be additional storage but it’s plumbed for a washer-dryer if you choose to go that route. 

There are also additional drawers in a bureau in the bedroom and that bureau has a hidden flip-up top with some shallow storage in there, too. Perhaps this could be for jewelry or things like that. 

 

Closing Notes on the Cedar Creek Cottage 40CFD

The idea that you could go to an RV dealer and pick one of these up and almost immediately have a fully furnished, very well-designed living space has a lot of appeal. Of course, some people put these in RV parks where they have seasonal sites. In my time at the dealership, we sold more than a few of this style of trailer to wineries who used them as vacation rentals. 

One thing to know: If you do own property and have thoughts of simply parking one of these on that property, it would be a very wise move to inquire with the local officials before doing so. Some localities are fine with putting trailers on one’s property indefinitely. Others aren’t and some do have a distinction between what might be a more traditional travel trailer and something like this. But it’s always good to know before you move forward.

 

 

Make Your Move

Start shopping for the year, make, and model. Find Your Cedar Creek Cottage 40CFD

 

What Other Campers Are Saying

Read the best reviews by owners. Search for an RV Model

The Rockwood A213HW trailer is a folding, hard-sided trailer that offers a full complement of amenities in a compact and foldable package. But first, before I say more, let me share a little about Rockwood trailers in general. (It’s relevant, I promise.)

Both Forest River and Thor offer a variety of choices and a variety of levels of features and build quality. These companies want to appeal to buyers where those buyers want to be. So, they make some models that are built for price. They make other models that are built for more function and feature. Rockwood is at the top of the Forest River family. Therefore, it may come as a surprise that they make pop-up trailers at all. 

But they do. And they really do build a product with some rather high-end features, even if it’s a in smaller and more affordable package like the Rockwood A213HW. 

 

At a Glance: Rockwood A213HW

I gave the Rockwood A213HW four out of five stars. These RVs are well-made and somehow still also easy-towing and garageable. This one, too, offers really good storage in a front trunk. It’s not difficult to open up, and it offers much of the benefit of a larger traditional trailer along with a lot of headroom once opened. However, being a pop-up, the bathroom is a compromise at best.

 

Check the Specs

• Sleeping capacity: 3
• Hitch weight: 372 pounds
• UVW: 2,670 pounds 
• CCC: 702 pounds.
• Box size: 14 feet
• Exterior length (closed): 20 feet 4 inches
• Exterior length (open): 20 feet 4 inches
• Exterior height (closed): 5 feet 8 inches
• Exterior width: 7 feet

 

Benefits

• Twin beds and nice amenities stand out for a pop-up
• Hard walls make it HOA (and bear-country) friendly

 

Challenges

• Too light to be equipped for four-season camping
• Bathroom is right next to the dining table

 

Best For

• Solo campers who want an affordable, quality trailer 
• Dry campers looking for a pop-up with more storage

 

The RV Trader Process

RV Trader asked RV shoppers what was most important to them in their RV buying process. Potential buyers — like you — helped us to identify a list of six key areas that camping and travel enthusiasts always look at when they’re searching for the perfect RV: sleeping space, bathroom, living area, four-season capabilities, and storage space.

The RV Trader team then got to work providing you with an honest and unbiased evaluations. And that’s where I come in. I’m Tony Barthel, RV expert and enthusiast. I provide an honest look at RVs from RV industry insider perspective. That way, you can learn the good, the bad, and the intriguing about any RVs I review. I inspect each RV with the buyer’s perspective at the forefront. And I always evaluate those six key areas that buyers have told us that they have in mind.

So, that said, let’s take a closer look at the 2024 Forest River Rockwood A213HW.

 

Sleeping Space

There’s a reason the floorplan for the Rockwood A213HW is one of the more popular in the line. And it has a lot to do with the twin beds at the back of this trailer. This arrangement makes it possible for two friends to go camping and each have their own bed, of course. There’s also a provision to put a platform in the open space and have a single large bed as well. 

You might wonder about headroom with the A-frame sloped roof over the twin beds in the back — especially if you use these as two couches in the day. But the Rockwood A213HW has a bowed-out skylight back there, which actually works to provide headroom when seated on the beds. It also provides additional light in the day, although there’s a curtain to cover it at night. 

 

Bathroom

There’s a toilet in the Rockwood A213HW,as well which is a cartridge toilet, but let’s be very honest: This is not a camper to get if you’re shy about doing your business. That toilet does have a curtain that goes around it, but it’s right there … next to the dining table. 

In fact, when one of these came in — while I was working at the dealership — we had a great time with jokes centered around being able to have dinner and, uh, make room for more in the same seating position. But it’s a pop-up. It kinda comes with the limited territory.

 

Living Area

This trailer features an A-frame design where the roof is comprised of two hard sections which fold up like an A-frame cabin with the space filled in by hard-sided sections as well. There is also a dormer on the front of the trailer that sits over the dining area making for even more space inside the unit. 

While pop-up trailers with canvas walls might be something that some buyers consider, these hard-sided models do have an unexpected advantage to consider. Hard-sided pop-ups may be accepted in remote certain campgrounds (like Yellowstone’s Fishing Bridge RV Park) that don’t permit canvas-sided trailers — because they’re in bear country. It’s worth it to call around before you ultimately make a buying decision, though. 

 

Kitchen

Rockwood’s high-wall A-frame trailers mean that the counter sidewalls are taller than some other folding trailers. That means that inside the two-burner stove and sink might be closer to normal height than you might think. There is not a gray tank on this unit, but you can either divert the gray water into a sewer connection if you’re camping in a developed campground or into something like a portable wastewater tote if you’re not. 

The fridge in here is a small, 12-volt model. Rockwood also includes a 200-watt solar panel. This should be able to keep up with the demands of this smaller fridge, but I would still consider a lithium battery for any towable nowadays. However, a downside is that it’s difficult to get to this fridge when the top is down. (Not impossible, though.)

If you do want to cook outside (and I like doing so), the Rockwood A213HW includes a flat-top griddle with this trailer that hangs on a rail outside. I have one of these myself, and I really like it. 

 

Four-Season Capabilities

If you’re someone who likes camping as the weather gets colder this might not be the first choice. Tanks are not protected from freezing on these trailers, which are designed to be lightweight. 

Under the bed, you’ll find a few storage drawers and cabinets, but there’s also a Cool Cat air conditioning system, which is essentially a heat pump. This means that you can air condition the space when it’s hot outside, but this unit can also double as a heater for the space as well. But when it’s really cold, there’s also a propane furnace. This is not unlike how many modern home air conditioners work and it makes a lot of sense. There is also a water heater aboard as well as an outdoor shower and some owners of these do bring those shower tents. 

 

Storage Space

Rockwood has a trunk that spans the width of the front of this trailer with a flip-up lid that provides a pretty decent amount of storage space. There’s also a full-width rotomolded drawer below that which can be accessed from either side of the camper and, again, provides a lot of storage. I really like this drawer set-up. 

Another advantage of this camper is the fact that the Rockwood A213HW includes racks on the top which are capable of carrying up to 150 pounds. So, this would be a great place to haul bicycles or kayaks and that sort of thing. 

 

Closing Notes on the Rockwood A213HW

Pop-Up Choices

When I worked at an RV dealership, one of the concerns I heard the most about this style of trailer centered around raising and lowering the top. Several of the Rockwood trailers, including this one, can be optioned with a power actuator so raising and lowering the roof is literally as simple as unlatching the catches that hold it in place and then pushing a button. 

It is neither heavy nor clumsy. Once the main sections are up you simply go inside and push the sidewall sections up and you’re ready to camp. The model I saw did not have the power feature, but gas struts to make the process pretty straightforward. 

I think these folding trailers are a really good choice for a lot of campers simply because they don’t extend beyond the roof of the tow vehicle when in tow mode. This means that the list of vehicles that can legitimately tow this is much longer simply because of the light weight of the trailer plus the lack of aerodynamic drag on the tow vehicle. These are also relatively affordable and fit into a garage easily. 

Now I can see there will be some readers who look at the placement of the toilet and, like we children who worked at the dealership, might question that positioning. These models do sell well, but there is the A214HW that has a full bathroom with a shower that takes advantage of the dormer space in front. 

 

Extra Rockwood A213HW Touches

I had mentioned that Rockwood is at the higher end of the food chain in terms of quality and, to that end, know that even these more affordable models still have torsion axle suspensions (I really like that style of suspension) and Goodyear Endurance tires. Rockwood also does all its own lamination in-house and features man-made substrates which basically means that water intrusion into the laminate won’t cause it to fail. 

Additionally, I can see these making a lot of sense if you live under an HOA, for example, since you could park the camper in the garage when it’s home. But with how easy it is to set up and the convenient features of this model, hopefully it won’t be home much. 

Also know that this is identical to the Flagstaff hard-side, pop-up model T21TBHW. So, if there isn’t a Rockwood dealer in your neighborhood, but there is one that sells Flagstaff, that would be the same trailer.

 

 

Make Your Move

Start shopping for the year, make, and model. Find Your Rockwood A213HW

 

What Other Campers Are Saying

Read the best reviews by owners. Search for an RV Model