If you’re looking for a lightweight and budget-friendly travel trailer that you can tow with your mid-sized SUV, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the Bushwhacker Plus. Bushwhacker campers are relatively new on the scene, but I think they’ll explode in popularity before long!
In this article I’m taking a deep dive into each floorplan of the Bushwhacker Plus, including specs, price, and pros and cons that I’ve personally witnessed and heard from owners. Click through the table of contents if you’re short on time!
What is the Bushwhacker Plus Camper?
All images gathered from BraxtonCreek.com
The Bushwhacker Plus camper is a teardrop travel trailer. This isn’t an ordinary teardrop, though.
This is a teardrop with a bathroom and kitchen that you can fully stand up and move around in! The Bushwhacker Plus is changing the game in the lightweight budget camper arena. This camper is loaded! You get so much bang for your buck with a Bushwhacker Plus trailer.
Who Makes Bushwhacker Campers?
Bushwhacker campers are made by a company named Braxton Creek. Braxton Creek isn’t as well known in the RV manufacturing game, but they really know what they’re doing. Founded in 2017, Braxton Creek has RV industry veterans running the company with decades of experience.
This small company is focused on quality, not quantity. When you see a Braxton Creek RV, you immediately know that this manufacturer knows what RVers really want and need, and it’s done at a very affordable price. The company even offers a competitive 2-year manufacturer warranty, when the typical warranty in the RV industry is just 1 year.
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The Bushwhacker Plus Camper: A Teardrop You Can Stand In
Braxton Creek started with a regular sized teardrop camper: the Bushwhacker. The Bushwhacker Plus is new as of 2020 and it’s a major upgrade, but keeps the same teardrop shape. The Plus is a teardrop camper that you can stand up in with a full bathroom and several different floorplans. Let’s take a look at them here.
The prices on the Bushwhacker Plus models are all taken from dealership listings on RV Trader. The manufacturer doesn’t list prices on their websites, and every dealer I’ve found starts each model anywhere between $14,999 and $20k new, but most can be found in the $15k range.
Front Kitchen: Bushwhacker Plus 15FK
- Price: Starts at $15,000
- Dry Weight: 1,900 lbs
- GVWR: 3,260 lbs
- Height: 8’ 6”
- Length: 15’ 6”
- Fresh water capacity: 21 gallons
- Gray water capacity: 18 gallons
- Black water capacity: 8.5 gallons
The Bushwhacker Plus 15FK is the smallest of the Plus lineup. This model has a kitchen in the front (the FK stands for front kitchen), a wet bath immediately opposite of the entry door, a fridge, and a u-shaped dinette that converts into a bed. The dinette has a swivel table and converts easily into a queen sized bed.
Bunk Model: Bushwhacker Plus 17BH
- Price: Starts at $15,000
- Dry Weight: 2,360 lbs
- GVWR: 3,320
- Height: 8’ 8”
- Length: 18’
- Fresh water capacity: 24 gallons
- Gray water capacity: 18 gallons
- Black water capacity: 17 gallons
The Bushwhacker Plus 17BH – which stands for “bunk house”, is a model that can sleep up to 4 people. This unit has two bunks in the front of the travel trailer with a dinette that converts into a queen sized bed in the back.
The kitchen is directly across from the entry door, and the wet bath is opposite of the kitchen.
Front Dinette: Bushwhacker Plus 17FD
- Price: Starts around $15,000
- Dry Weight: 2,240 lbs
- GVWR: 3,280
- Height: 8’ 8”
- Length: 18’
- Fresh water capacity: 24 gallons
- Gray water capacity: 18 gallons
- Black water capacity: 17 gallons
The Bushwhacker Plus 17FD (front dinette) has a permanent queen bed in the bath and a convertible dinette in the front of the rig. This Bushwhacker camper offers more room and versatility and still has a kitchen, fridge, and wet bath, too.
Front Living: Bushwhacker Plus 17FL
- Price: Starts around $15,000
- Dry Weight: 2,320 lbs
- GVWR: 3,300 lbs
- Height: 8’ 8”
- Length: 18’
- Fresh water capacity: 24 gallons
- Gray water capacity: 18 gallons
- Black water capacity: 17 gallons
The last Bushwhacker Plus model is the 17FL – which stands for front living. This model has a permanent queen bed in the rear with a front living area instead of a dinette. The front living area consists of a recliner, bench seat, and a fold-down table. This model also has the standard kitchen, wet bath, and refrigerator, too.
In my opinion, this model feels more cramped than the others due to the addition of the recliner. It’s a nice touch, but it makes it feel more cramped inside the small camper.
Standard Features on Bushwhacker Plus Campers
These campers all come with the same standard features like a 5k BTU air conditioning unit and 12k BTU furnace, a kitchen sink and 2 burner stove, and a 12v DC refrigerator.
Other standard features include an LED light package, a TV antenna and wifi prep, Go-Power solar prep package, a spare tire, 2 BAL stabilizing jacks, and E-Z swap LP tanks. These campers also have a 12v high-output roof vent fan, over-sized all terrain tires and a high-clearance, torsion flex axle.
Other Bushwhacker Camper Models
Like I mentioned earlier, Braxton Creek’s original teardrop camper was the Bushwhacker camper. These campers are true teardrop campers with no standing room, bathroom, or floor space.
The original Bushwhacker campers have two different floorplans with a bed inside and rear exterior kitchen, similar to many other teardrop campers on the model today.
Bushwhacker Plus Pros and Cons
What makes the Bushwhacker Plus Camper so great? I love this camper for many reasons.
What I think is really wild is that I haven’t seen anyone talking about these other than the one person I’ve met who has one!
I joined the owners Facebook group for a while and was considering purchasing one myself, but now I have a larger family and need more space. Here are the top pros and cons of the Bushwhacker Plus campers from my personal observations and from actual owners.
Pros
Here are the pros of the Bushwhacker Plus campers.
Lightweight
These campers are seriously lightweight, especially for everything you get with them. Not a single one of them has a GVWR above 4,000 pounds!
You can tow any of the Bushwhacker Plus travel trailers with many mid-sized SUVs on the market today.
Low Price
You can’t beat the price starting around $15,000 for each of the Plus models brand new. Just try! I’ll wait. The only comparable model that comes to mind is the Little Guy Mini Max – it has similar features and a similar style, and it starts at $30,000.
Variety of Floorplans
Something that I really like with the Bushwhacker plus is that you don’t just have one floor plan to choose from. There’s the shorter 15FK with the convertible dinette and then all the other models that have a permanent bed or bunks and additional seating/sleeping areas.
Easy to Tow
A small travel trailer like the Braxton Creek RVs are easy to tow. These single axle trailers are simple and lightweight.
Bathroom in Every Model
It’s not very common to see a bathroom in a teardrop camper, let alone an entire wet bath. This is an amazing feature that could very easily make the Bushwhacker Plus a contender for a solo person’s full-time RV.
Standing Room
Standing room is another thing you won’t find with standard teardrop travel trailers. You have standing room in all of the Plus models, and you can actually walk around. Not very far, but you can still walk!
Thriving Online Community
When I was considering purchasing my own Bushwhacker Plus camper, I joined the owners Facebook group. The group of owners is a thriving and helpful community, sharing their adventures, camper modifications, and help.
Cons
As with everything, there are cons to this camper too. Here are the cons I saw myself and have heard from hanging out in the owners Facebook group.
Lightweight Building Materials
This is a seriously lightweight camper, and it’s packed with features for how light it is. The only way the manufacturer can accomplish this is by using lightweight building materials. These lightweight materials are flimsy, so don’t expect solid hardwoods or marble in a Braxton Creek camper.
Budget Build Quality
You get what you pay for, and that’s reflected in the building materials and build quality. I haven’t heard of any catastrophic build quality consequences on the Bushwhacker Plus models, but I have seen minor things like a seam that wasn’t caulked all the way.
Few Windows
The Bushwhacker Plus camper really doesn’t have a lot of windows, and I personally don’t know why that is. I don’t know about you, but I literally need natural light to feel like a normal human. There are windows and some natural lighting in the camper, but it could use more in my opinion. However, this might be a structural decision since the camper is so small, but like I said, I don’t personally know why they chose so few windows.
Decals Look Cheap
The “Bushwhacker Plus” decals on the exterior of the RV look… cheap, for lack of a better term. And this isn’t just my opinion, either. Many owners in the Facebook group remove their decals as soon as they get the camper. This is a minor detail and is easily fixed with a heat gun and goo-gone or on a hot summer day.
No Awning
These campers don’t come with an awning, and they don’t have the structural integrity necessary to add an after-market awning option. This is a major con in my opinion, but you could always just get a Clam instant screen tent for shade and bug protection outside your camper.
Is the Bushwhacker Plus Right For You?
I’ve been wanting to put this article together for a long time, and I’m glad I did! If you’re looking for a lightweight budget camper, in my opinion you really can’t go wrong with one of these.
They’re so cheap and so lightweight! And I don’t mean cheap as in bad quality, I mean $15k for a brand new camper that has literally everything you need is insane, in a good way.
Check out this video tour or find a dealer near you that has these campers in stock and check one out for yourself!
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Carrie Wilder
Carrie has a passion for location independence and nomadic lifestyles. After traveling full-time in an RV and living the van life, she created Making Money and Traveling to help others make the switch to a remote lifestyle. Learn more about Carrie on the About page or connect on social media below.Â
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