Forum Discussion

Bill_I's avatar
Bill_I
Explorer
Sep 18, 2016

How long is too long to travel In a fifth wheel.

We are getting ready to full time live in a fifth wheel as we travel the USA. Have been looking at trying to stay under 38 feet in the fifth wheel but are finding that it is hard to find everything we want in that length. We have a GMC 1ton, short bed PU. Question...how hard is it to find camping spots throughout the USA if we go over 38 feet? Is it difficult to navigate through the east coast with a longer fifth wheel? Thoughts please.
  • 41 feet and having fun with 2500 gmc and airbags still under my weight. Guys worry to much
  • Tvov's avatar
    Tvov
    Explorer II
    I don't have a 5th wheel or do I full time, but... you shouldn't have much trouble finding camping spots. Since you are towing, you will unhitch and you can explore with your truck. Your camping / seasonal spot doesn't have to be right next to wherever you want to explore.
  • Just completed 16 states and never had a problem finding a site for our 38 ft 5er. Leave again soon for 6 more months and find that our set up is perfect for us in the way of space and storage.
  • rhagfo's avatar
    rhagfo
    Explorer III
    Well the way we look at it you are about 2 to 3 years late. We bought our desired retirement, full time 5er four years ago. We have hosted while working for 2, 4 and 3 months the last three summers. The middle summer was the best four straight months in the 5er. We made plans for a lot of enhancements, and well in to the list now. We love the 5er at 32' seems to be the right size.
  • Good evening.
    My wife and I used to have a 40' 5er and we didn't have any issues with finding a campground for it. We stayed at KOAs, Good Sams, several mom and pop ones, and ones where they even allowed us to bring our 33' ATV trailer along with a second truck.

    We live on the east coast and used to live in a smallish town next to a tightly packed city. We haven't had any issues traversing the roads.

    We have recently moved to a new home in a new small town and well we can't get our new 5er we just purchased up to the new house. To many low hanging trees, street isn't wide enough for the backing in swing to driveway and our driveway isn't level enough to get it in.

    New 5er is 42' long and the only concern we have with it is the height as it comes in at 13'3". Little nervous about that. So we purchased the good Sam GPS where you can enter the height, length, weight, how much propane you have and such. The GPS will route you around places you shouldn't be. So far so good.

    Forgot to mention our last truck was a ram 2500 and we just upgraded to a Ram 3500 Diesel and it's amazing the way that thing tows. You should be all set.
  • Hi... Our 5'er is a 38' Montana and we pull it with a F-350 diesel. as far as driving distance we travel no more than 8 or 10 hrs. at a clip, and try to find C/G's that will handle a 40 foot trailer which is pretty common size wise now and easy to find, esp. if you have a Good Sam GPS it will also do trip routing and just about anything else travel related. If you plan on traveling on the Blue Ridge Parkway be careful of your height a couple of the overpasses are only 12 foot high. Esp. in the Northern Va. areas. Good Luck and Happy Camping !!
  • At 38 ft you are already in diesel dual rear axle country. So you may be looking at a new truck too.

    I looked at this before we bought ours and it seemed that over 35 ft was when you start seeing a lot more problems with camping in State and National parkland. And even at 35 ft there are a lot of restrictions. There are only a handful of sites in Yosemite Valley that will take a 35 ft RV for example. If you plan on sticking to commercial parks then you won't have much of a problem.