Buying first RV for TALL family

Like a lot of people have already said, the beds in bunkhouse layouts are never more than 72" long and sometimes only 70". At 6'2", I'm no giant, but I could not sleep in any way but a fetal position in my neighbor's Rockwood bunkhouse. 74" just can't fit in a 72" space no matter what you try.

Even in the big fifth wheels, the shower head is going to be low for your height, but you can find models that have more than enough room 6'5". In my first fifth wheel, I had to stand with my head in the skylight bubble to be able to stand up. Now in our Fuzion toy hauler, there is plenty of head room, they just mount the shower head a little low. At 6'5", I'm sure you are used to that one since all showers seem to be setup for people that are 5'11".

One of the reasons that we bought a toy hauler was that we like having a separate area for the kids to be isolated from the rest of the trailer. The biggest benefit of the TH layout is the bunks in the garage are full queen size with the overall length being closer to 90". I always tell people that the bunkhouse is great when the kids are small, but by the late teens most kids these days are too tall for the beds.

DH is 6'4" and he was able to deal with our mid profile Laredo but had to stoop quite a bit in the bedroom and only used the shower as a last resort. He seems to be quite comfortable in our Reflection, and says the shower is fine. While shopping, I had a 6'5" salesman show me how he could walk upright in a Crusader bedroom. So there are mid profile units that will work. Suggest that you go to some RV shows.

Edit: be sure to get a standard queen bed, not the shorter RV queen.

For tall people a toy hauler would be better than a bunkhouse. I've never seen a bunkhouse bunk longer than six feet, and some are shorter. Toy haulers have extra rooms with beds that are full size or even queen. :)

She would find most bunks short for her. Most people don't sleep with their heads right against the wall. I am partial to Forest River products since I own one. Cedar Creek and Cardinal lines are well made with lots of loyal customers. The best thing for you and your family to do is go to shows and dealer lots and walk through, touch, sit in, lay down in and take your time. Bring a note pad and maybe a cam-corder to document each trailer because the more you walk through, the more confusing it will all become. Everything will kind of melt together as the weekends go by. There will be no perfect trailer. They will all have some trade-offs. You and your family will have to decide what is really important and what's not. Try not to let $$ have too much influence on your decision. Once the check is written, your going to have to live with the trailer for years to come....long after you've forgotten exactly how much you paid for it.

thanks for the information so far...with my daughter being 6'+ already at 13, we were leaning towards the bunks for her and a friend to be comfortable. they would have a separate "room" so they're not right in the middle of everything. i'm not so concerned about the guest accommodations as i am my daughters. many of the trailers are short and the showers are tight. i was looking for anyone else's experiences/suggestions with a particular brand/model that we should look into and stay away from. i know with our budget it's going to be a challenge!

I am almost 6'-5" myself. You will definitely need a high profile 5er to get adequate headroom thru out. And even some of those will not work. Bedroom ceiling will be the biggest issue. Looked at a lot of 5ers at RV shows. Some that might have been ok otherwise had the antenna crank handle hanging down right where you walk.
I agree that having a bunkhouse, while great for your kids, takes up a lot of your valuable living space. And some of those bunks don't look overly large.
With your budget it is going to take a lot of looking at used units until you find one that fits your needs.

Re-think the bunk house layout. A lot of them are for kids and are short, narrow and have limited weight capacities. Our old Jayco TT had a limit of 150 lbs per bunk and that along with them being short would be really uncomfortable for adults. I'm 6'4" and we looked at all sorts of fivers. I wanted a side isle bath that was all inclusive(sink, toilet and shower)all in one enclosed area. There are mid and high profile fivers out there, each with their own pro's and con's. The mid profile's have the bed usually on a raised platform in the bedroom which reduces head room dramatically and I found I'd be whacking my head on an ill placed tv antenna handle and\or ceiling lights. The plus is that they are overall lower in exterior height keeping you safer in areas with low bridges. For instance, my current fiver exterior height is 13'4". A similar mid-profile fiver might be 12'8" or less. That might not seem like much but in reality it's a lot of breathing room when sailing down an interstate at 60mph. High profiled fivers although taller outside offer very nice interior headroom in the bedroom.
As the OP stated, don't be too concerned with guest accommodations. There are real comfy king sized sofa\air beds in the living room that will sleep 2 comfortably. Our 'bed-in-a-bag' sofa inflatable comes with it's own pump and inflates in under 3 minutes. If additional guest accommodations are needed, if it's warm, a tent works well especially if they are kids or teens. Adults may prefer an adjoining cabin. There are grandparents that enjoy camping with their
grandkids all summer long and in that kind of situation I can understand a bunk bed layout. Other than that IMHO I wouldn't waste the precious floor space with a bunk layout. Good luck in your search!
Mike

My experience with Sunnybrook RV is that the headroom in the travel trailer is `barely' enough for my 6' 4" frame. The fivers have much more room and can even have a ceiling fan in the living area!

Check out also trailers like Cedar Creek, Cardinal as both of those have offered split baths and bunch houses. Personally if you getting a bunk house for "occasional" guests you will hate yourselves in short order. They take up a lot of floor space for occasional use. Let them sleep on a hide a bed and get the coach that fits your needs. Remember, unless you are charging them to visit you, it is you paying for this thing, so get what works for you and the others be darned!