General 5th Wheel Brand Question

You are looking at a couple nice brands there. Grand Design Solitude is another of similar quality.

I bought a Cedar Creek 2016 Hathaway model. Here's what I like: Hung walls with residential insulation. Walls have studs on 16" centers and are screwed in place. Cannot delaminate, have room to allow electrical boxes and plugs on outside walls. Hydraulic leveling and slide out mechanisms. Room on each side of the bed even into the slide-out. Making the bed is a breeze. Very quiet and efficient ducted A/C. "I" beam frame also has a square tube stiffener welded along the length for reinforcement. Brand name appliances, carpet, furniture and mattress. Very happy with ours. Factory has been very receptive about sending me parts for things I can fix or okaying mobile service for other repairs.'

B.O.

azdryheat wrote:
I once heard there were more Montana's on the road than anything else.

They were the #1 selling fifth wheel for many years. You still see a lot of new ones ,I suspect they still are . I have owned 2 of them, and they served me well .

justme wrote:
When someone says "better built" I wish they would be more specific. Otherwise, it simply is an opinion based on hearsay. Newer materials and construction techniques can cause that comment when in fact they are better in many ways. Manufacturing problems are a concern though because RVs are essentially hand-built. And then we have difficulty to work on aspects.

Are you referring to my comment?

When someone says "better built" I wish they would be more specific. Otherwise, it simply is an opinion based on hearsay. Newer materials and construction techniques can cause that comment when in fact they are better in many ways. Manufacturing problems are a concern though because RVs are essentially hand-built. And then we have difficulty to work on aspects.

ACZL wrote:
The techs where we bought our '06 CC from said few years later that our '06 was better than the new ones (Creek line). When shopping for a new RV our hopes were very high and set on another Creek, but none of their floorpans triggered our fingers as much as one in sig.

That's what our RV tech says too - the older ones are better built. When the time comes that we are too old to deal with hooking up the FW, we'll switch to a motorhome and we'll look for an older model and have our RV tech inspect it before purchasing.

The techs where we bought our '06 CC from said few years later that our '06 was better than the new ones (Creek line). When shopping for a new RV our hopes were very high and set on another Creek, but none of their floorpans triggered our fingers as much as one in sig.

I once heard there were more Montana's on the road than anything else.

Very subjective question. I can only say that Forest River is more responsive to warranty issues than Keystone Montana.

I think both have their pluses and minuses. These days, it feels like such a crapshoot with any brand. We've had no issues with our Montana High Country, but I'm in a few Montana owner Facebook groups, and some with the same model year have had nothing but issues. I'm guessing we are in the majority vs minority since people w/ issues yell louder than those without any.

In the end, I think finding the floor plan and finish level you like is more important (in addition to how it's constructed as previously mentioned), and then just do thorough walkthroughs and inspections prior to taking delivery. Also the dealer you buy from can make a BIG difference.