Not Just for Show

ShowHauler Trucks may not be the biggest builder of toy haulers, but it might be the most distinctive. The company builds about four per year. That is about 10% of the total number of coaches the company manufactures.

As primarily a custom builder of coaches, ShowHauler takes six to seven months to build a one-of-a-kind toy hauler, depending on whether the customer elects to stay with the base white color or selects a different color for painting. Lead time is about a year from the order date to completion. The custom coaches start at around $550,000 and can reach $700,000, based on the chassis and other options.

Bob Morgan, ShowHauler’s director of sales, says customers are attracted by the ability to customize the coach, as well as having towing capacity. The most popular toys put in garages are motorcycles.

“We still have the 500 or 600 horsepower motor on the front, with a 12-speed automatic transmission with up to 30,000 pounds of towing capacity. They are able to put a golf cart, or motorcycles, bikes and things like that, inside of the garage area.”

Customers will often visit the ShowHauler factory in Middlebury, Indiana, for a plant tour. They can select from a wide variety of available options for their custom coach. For most, it’s an eye-opening experience.

“They see how they’re built, what the structure is and how it’s different from most of the other manufacturers in the industry,” Morgan says. “They’re also able to see different features for the inside, and different cabinetry and countertop options. We’re not limited, like a typical manufacturer, who is only going to have three or four options of cabinet colors, countertops and tiles. I’ve probably got 50 different tile samples for flooring and showers in our display area.”

There are many upholstery options, including leather alternatives made by Ultrafabrics. ShowHauler can also source leather furniture. Morgan touts the company’s flexibility in providing options.

“We utilize Villa [Villa International RV Furniture] as our manufacturer, so it’s very good quality furniture. We build the cabinetry in-house. We’ve got some flexibility if a customer wants a particular design or layout of a cabinet or a certain area for storage. We’ve had customers request us to build areas for storing long guns for shooting skeet.”

Morgan says most of the chassis ShowHauler uses are Freightliner Cascadia, with the 600 horsepower (hp) DD16. Some dealers supply a Peterbilt 567 and 589 chassis with the X15 Cummins 565 hp or 605 hp. One dealer supplied a KW chassis with the same X15 Cummins 565 hp or 605 hp.

A Custom Spin

ShowHauler now has a standard line of coaches called Adventure, but all of the Signature coaches and all of the toy haulers are custom-built.

“Anybody doing toy haulers pretty much has their own spin on things, wanting to customize the coach,” Morgan says. “The garage coaches, as we call them, will typically have a 9- or 10-foot garage in the back. Sometimes we’ll have a bedroom with a queen bed slideout, or what they call a mini king, and a full living space in front of that. It will be a single bathroom, kitchen and seating. There will be a bunk over the cab.”

Morgan predicts future iterations of toy haulers will have upgraded technology. He cites electronics as an example, with greater use of Firefly Integrations touch controls.

“Those will continue to progress and change,” he says. “I think the biggest differences are going to be in appearances in the interior finishes of the coach.”

Upgrades are based on feedback from customers and dealers. ShowHauler is open to considering special requests, Morgan says.

“If somebody wants to have a bed above where their motorcycles are stored in a garage, we can do that,” he says. “We’ve done different cabinetry configurations. We’ve had customers use the garage for show dogs. That works well for toy haulers. You can have plumbing back there for sinks and wash bays if you need that.”

A Different Approach

ShowHauler’s manufacturing process is decidedly different from that of companies mass-producing RVs. Customers touring the plant to observe are often surprised at the difference.

“It’s more like building a home, where you’re building your outer structure and then you’re building the inside,” Morgan says. “We’re putting in interior walls, cabinetry and things like that, versus the typical RV manufacturing process where you build the inside and then you put your walls and your roof around it.”

ShowHauler has a nine-dealer network, mostly concentrated in the Midwest and Eastern U.S., for its signature coaches. There are no plans to expand that number because those dealers take all of the company’s productions.

Morgan says ShowHauler would like to expand production, adding perhaps five to 10 more units per year.

ShowHauler primarily displays its coaches at the Hershey RV Show, the Florida RV SuperShow in Tampa and the Performance Racing Industry show in Indianapolis. The company also participates with its dealer in Rapid City, South Dakota, during the nearby Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

Last September, ShowHauler was at the Elkhart Open House for the first time, displaying its Adventure coaches. ShowHauler builds about two Adventure coaches per month. Morgan expects that to increase to three per month by the end of 2026.

This year’s show in Tampa was a success, according to Morgan.

“We are display-only down there, because we don’t have a Florida dealer for the custom coaches, but we got a really good response,” he says. “We had a customer that came back and talked to a dealer later to purchase a coach, so we got a sale out of that on the custom side after the show. Then we have another dealer talking to a customer now, stemming from the show. For us, building only about 40 custom coaches a year, getting a couple units out of a show like that is pretty good.”

Built To Last

ShowHauler was founded in 2000 by Kermit Troyer.

“He saw there was a need to have the towing capacity that conventional motorhomes did not have, but still have the amenities of an RV on the inside, versus the inside of a commercial truck,” Moran says. “They have always featured a steel structure, with the exception of the slideouts, which are made of aluminum. So, they’re very stout in the build. They hold up for a long time. The first four or five coaches that were built are still out on the road and being utilized on a regular basis.”

Cabinetry is built in-house from hardwoods. Bathroom walls and doorways are built much heavier than most in the RV industry. The insulation factor is much bigger. Morgan says the process delivers more durability and structural integrity.

“It makes it a lot easier if a customer needs to make a repair or modifications to a coach, because everything is built just like you would in a home, where you can access it from the inside,” he says. “Your screws and everything are all facing you.”

During his decade with the company, Morgan has observed plenty of aesthetic changes in units. There have been considerable changes in interior finishes, achieving a more modern look. Electronics have improved. “During the last seven or eight years, we’ve taken big strides to make the coaches look more modern on the inside.”

ShowHauler has an opportunity in the coming years to attract more customers who have previously been in the diesel pusher market, Morgan says.

“We’re going to continue to see growth there, coming over into the Super C market for both the coaches and the toy haulers, opening up opportunities there. A lot of those customers don’t like to pull a large trailer behind their coaches. It gives them the flexibility to be able to put their toys in the coach itself and then maybe tow a car. It still gives them most of the amenities that you’re going to get in a traditional coach.”