5'er Length Where You Have Issues Finding Campgrounds/Sites

goducks10 wrote:
I have trouble with my 28' 5th wheel. Not every campground has 40' long sites.

Kinda why I asked. We recently had an 'Aw, ****!' moment (more like hour and a half) at a state park in eastern Washington (Fort Spokane). We'd camped there before with our previous TT, a Salem 21RBS (~24 ft long end to end) and a GMC extended cab 1500. Many of the sites are pull-thru, just little loops off alternating sides of the main loops. This time... with a new bigger trailer (28RLS, about 31' long) and truck (F250 CCSB)... we got in fine, but it was tight. As in could barely get the awning and the slide out - actually ended up pulling the slide in a few inches just for insurance.

When we went to leave... found out that we couldn't go forward due to a tree in the way of where we needed to swing to miss other trees and/or adjacent camp sites, and now we couldn't go back either (tree). Got some help from other campers (both current truck drivers, plus their wives), did multiple attempts including unhooking and rehooking at different angles. Finally ended up having to unhook my rig, and bring one of their trucks, a smaller Tundra with a shorter wheel base, in thru the trees to back the trailer out. Not a fun time, and not anything we want to repeat... ever.

Went back and looked at the site description on their website, and it says '40 ft vehicle length', with 95 ft loop length. I had 'assumed' that meant like a 40 ft trailer, 40 ft. motorhome, etc. Nope... 40 ft *total*, and my truck is about 25 ft plus the 31 ft of the trailer :(

Since then, and for other reasons, we're considering a short 5th wheel, in the 25-30 ft range. Still wouldn't quite fit in that site, due to the small trees in close to the paved loop, but there are a lot of others where we 'should' fit just fine.

I have trouble with my 28' 5th wheel. Not every campground has 40' long sites. One particular state park in Oregon (South Beach) has many sites on the interior that are impossible for me to park in because they're too short. That means I have to look for longer sites at that CG. That situation comes up many times when looking at CG's to stay at. RV parks are almost never an issue. Just because someone in some other state says they have no issues just means that they've not been to another state that has CG's with shorter sites.
One size does NOT fit all.

memilanuk wrote:
Any thoughts/experience on how the length of 5th wheel trailers relates to the length of bumper-pull travel trailers when it comes to navigating tighter sites?

Well a fifth wheel you can jackknife if you need to. My 24 foot toy hauler got into the same spots my 33 foot fifth wheel will. Keep one thing in mind, my fifth wheel is 9 feet longer, but the total length of my setup is very close to the same. When I first bought my fifth wheel, it took a little longer for me to back in because the "balance point" where it starts to jackknife is a lot early in the process. Now the I have that down, it backs in just as easy. But there are differences, there are 2 sites I've been in with my 24 foot I don't think I'd get my fifth wheel in. I've was because it went up a hill on a very short site and my fifth wheel would have been in the road. The other was between 2 trees that were 9 feet apart and no room in front to straighten out. I could see easily on my bumper pull. My fifth wheel I'd need a very good spotter.

Any thoughts/experience on how the length of 5th wheel trailers relates to the length of bumper-pull travel trailers when it comes to navigating tighter sites?

There are plenty of parks with rv sites that will not permit an RV of any type that are 32' or less. Just depends on where you RV. Having a shorter rig will allow more options.
A shorter rig will always fit in a larger space, however, a longer rig will NOT fit in a short space regardless of how well you are able to maneuver it.

RoyBell wrote:
I've never stayed in any campsite where I didn't have a lot of room for my 33.5' OAL bumper pull. What kind of campsites can't fit a 35' camper? A tent space?

I am with you. I feel and have seen with my own 2 eyes the majority doesn't know how to back it into a tight spot.

We go to alot of ATV resorts I WV. I have to do some jockeying to get mine in and I take the worst spot. 2 people I go with have 40ft DP pulling 24ft stackers. We get them into some impossible spots. Backing a trailer with a 40ft truck takes some coordination and skill from both spotter and driver. Talking 15ft road width with a drop off on the other side spots.

Many times I have broke out the pole saw to limb my spot, not dragging branches down my rig either.

I've never stayed in any campsite where I didn't have a lot of room for my 33.5' OAL bumper pull. What kind of campsites can't fit a 35' camper? A tent space?

We bought our first 5th wheel in 2015. We bought the 2015 Reflection 337RL because we knew we would be fulltiming in 2019. Well when we started going out west and staying in national and state parks, there were very few sites we could fit in. So we traded that one in for a new 2017 27RL which is 31 FT and we love it!! We do not spend time in camper except to sleep and shower. Heck we had never cooked in our 337 not once, do all cooking outside. Anyway it would of been a lot cheaper in the long run if we would have got 31 Ft in the first place. Our first big trip was in june out to Utah and Colorado for 17 days and such a joy not to have the worry with sites. Just think about what kind of campers you are and that will help you figure out length. Good Luck Tara

SkullAndSquirrel wrote:
We run a Terry 5er marked as 28. I suspect it is closer to 29, and we have to take care to make reservations 5 months in advance in Ca. state parks. We would probably not go more than 3 feet longer than our current unit as it would bump us out of a couple of our favorite spots.

Also worth a note is to get a sloped roof if you don't need the flat roof like a toy hauler. When you get in our forests,
there are always some lean'er trees that will love to get close to your back corners when you turn them.

And don't let me start on squeezing my rig in between trees -- and this is the main roads to access the campsite.

We run a Terry 5er marked as 28. I suspect it is closer to 29, and we have to take care to make reservations 5 months in advance in Ca. state parks. We would probably not go more than 3 feet longer than our current unit as it would bump us out of a couple of our favorite spots.

Also worth a note is to get a sloped roof if you don't need the flat roof like a toy hauler. When you get in our forests,
there are always some lean'er trees that will love to get close to your back corners when you turn them.