In 2014, Cirrus Campers, a division of Pleasant Valley Trailers, was born. By year’s end, the first concept camper was revealed to the dealer community and the rest is history.
Pleasant Valley was founded in 2005 as a boutique teardrop trailer manufacturer. Early on, the focus was directed in creating a classic, retro teardrop reminiscent of those in the 1930’s and 40’s. The result is what we know today as the Silver Shadow. As things began to grow, the line expanded to include Scotty travel trailer and a small line of truck campers.
A few years later, when the recession hit full force and the industry experienced major setbacks, Pleasant Valley suspended manufacturing operations. In 2009, Pleasant Valley began putting its toes back into the water and at years’ end, reached an exclusive manufacturing agreement with Little Guy Worldwide, a distribution company specializing in teardrop trailers.
Over the course of the next couple of years, business exploded. Not only did Pleasant Valley make more trailers in 2010 than all the prior years combined, but they also reached an agreement with Dutchmen Manufacturing to acquire the rights to produce and sell the TAB teardrop travel trailer. With that, the doors to a vast array of RV dealers across the country flew open and things continued to spiral wonderfully ‘out of control.’ With Pleasant Valley enjoying a great deal of success squarely built upon the TAB and newly minted TAG teardrop travel trailers, 2014 served as a time to reflect, analyze and pursue new opportunities.
Seeking to strengthen the base and diversify both risk and product line, a decision was made to venture (back) into the truck camper market. This was a measured decision that was heavily influenced by several factors aside from simply diversifying company interests. Assessing the untapped resources already in-house, PV identified current employees that had previously either designed or manufactured truck campers. Additionally, the truck camper community is not unlike the teardrop community in that they do not associate themselves with the traditional travel trailer/5th Wheel crowd. This meant if done correctly, the community would rally around Cirrus Campers both in terms of respect as well as sales. Finally, an opportunity was seen to breath life back into a fairly dull, if not forgotten, sector of the RV industry. Staying loyal to the designs and partners PV used for the other lines of trailers allows Cirrus Campers to revolutionize the truck camper all together.
In the Fall of 2015, the Cirrus officially launched. It was met with enthusiasm as well as a slew of awards, including Rollin’ on TV’s 2016 Truck Camper of the Year, Truck Camper Magazine 1st (Hydronic Heating) and 2nd (Modular Sleep System) Place Best Truck Camper Innovation of the 2015).
Believing we had something special on our hands, we knew it had to be further refined. To do it right, we began to seek feedback from dealers, owners, experts and the community at large. While it wasn’t a complete overhaul, in some aspects, we went back to the drawing board over the winter in an effort to take what we had already done and further improve upon its flow and functionality. Those efforts lead to a litany of new storage options and incorporating more strategic partners (Rieco Titan and TORKLIFT).
The result is the Cirrus 820. In a nutshell, it features a ridiculous amount of interior and exterior storage space, as well as a larger dinette and kitchenette. The 820 will become available in late June 2016.