Hello all,My wife and I are beginning the search for our next "home away from home". I think our story is pretty typical, kids are getting old and a lot less likely to go with us, so we are looking at trading in our BHS TT, for a fifth wheel. However we are having some difficulty finding something with the balance of gvwr (my main concern), features(her main concern) and budget (everyone's concern these days). So I figured I would turn to the web for some suggestions. Features we are looking for:1. good build quality, this may be the last camper we purchase so it needs to last a long time2. four season (real four season, like camp in the snow four season)3. gvwr under 14500 (TV is 2012 chevy 3500, 6.6, srw. ideally gvwr would be 13700 or less, but I think 14500 is doable)4. couch or chairs in lounge that actually face the tv (silly how many trailer we have seen that don't)5. night stand or shelf by the bed (does no one else have glasses or use an alarm these days? :) )Any input or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.

We bought the one in my signature in April and so far, we LOVE it! The price was right for us and it has all the features you are looking for (including Polar Package) except the bedside table. There is another model with a slightly different floor plan that does have the bedside table. We also looked at Silverback (around the same price) with the same floor plan minus the island in the kitchen but I liked the shower and sink area in the bath of this one better. However the Silverback did have a king vs queen bed and in ours, that is not an option as the bed takes up the width of the slide. Ours does have a residential Queen vs short queen though. I personally wouldn't buy another camper with a short queen because I don't like my feet hanging off the bed. Ours also has a residential refrigerator which I love. Even though we are only vacationers, the residential refrigerator comes in handy. We usually take all of our food with us when we go places and our previous TT had the standard small gas/electric refrigerator which was hard to fit everything we like to take. We looked at Columbus also which are very attractive but the money for the same options lead us to choose ours. I'm a big review nut so it was hard for me to pick our unit because the Signature Series that we bought just came out in 2013 and I could not find any reviews on it. We took the chance. It seems to be well made and we have had no warranty issues after several weekend trips and one vacation to Colorado. Good luck!

Check out Units by Heartland......good customer service + construction.Elkridge is nice, others more high end such as Landmark. Look at Evergreens......composite material impervious to water (no delam)That's why we bought an Evergreen TT :-)

I have the same truck and concerns........We have been looking at Cedar Creek models .... the 34RLSA and 36CKTS.One has a dry weight of # 11569, and the other is dry @ # 11032.Both of these I feel should be under 14500 when loadedYour thoughts ????? I like the Cedar Creeks.....we just took a factory tour

Thanks for the suggestions all, we will take a look RGCG18 wrote:I have the same truck and concerns........We have been looking at Cedar Creek models .... the 34RLSA and 36CKTS.One has a dry weight of # 11569, and the other is dry @ # 11032.Both of these I feel should be under 14500 when loadedYour thoughts ????? I like the Cedar Creeks.....we just took a factory tourI don't think we have seen any cedar creeks yet. There is a lot of Montana and open range and toy haulers around here. Toy haulers are out since we have no need and none of the other layouts seemed to fit the bill. Wife loved the front bath Montana though, but its on the heavy side and pricey.

looking for suggestions | Good Sam Community

drfife
Explorer
Aug 15, 2013
I have the same truck except mine's a GMC. We too just became empty nesters.

We ordered a 2013 Excel Winslow 34IKE.

The floorplan has what you seek. We got the walk through bath.

Very well made trailer.

It has a GVWR of 17500. I have weighed it loaded for a trip and it is within weight specs for the truck.
dfortier
Explorer
Aug 15, 2013
only issue with that is that the local palomino dealer is horrible lol. we will take a look though. We can always go out of state.

thanks for the suggestion
jeb182
Explorer
Aug 09, 2013
Check out the Columbus line. We looked for several months and settled on the 340RK. The fit and finish is better than everything else we looked at and we looked at everything. We ordered one this week and can't wait.
dfortier
Explorer
Aug 09, 2013
Very cool, well hopefully we will get lucky and find something. we are thinking it will be within the next year at most.
Veebyes
Explorer II
Aug 09, 2013
Sorry, got your rig & it is not for sale. TV easily viewable from everywhere, including galley. It is mounted at a 45deg angle in rt slide next to door. King bed with nightstands both sides. Very large galley. Living on a budget means staying out of restaurants so the galley is very important. 4 door fridge. Dry weight is under 12,000lbs. GVW is about 15,000 but you don't have to load it with that much.

Sorry, you can't get one new. Not many were made before the company went bust in 2008 however every once in awhile one shows up for sale.

Great rig for 2. Partys 6, feeds 4, sleeps 2 in fine comfort.

Alpenlite 34RLR

Looking messy. We had just been shopping for a 4 month trip. TV is top right.
dfortier
Explorer
Aug 09, 2013
Thanks for the suggestion, ill take a look
lakeside013104
Explorer
Aug 08, 2013
Bighorn 3685RL has couch facing T.V and shelf on the left side (laying down) of the bed. GVWR in your ballpark. They offer a YETTI cold weather package. These units are made by Heartland and are constructed well. Happy hunting.

Lakeside
JohnBoyToo
Explorer
Aug 08, 2013
just like with cars, the trade in IS a game !!!

you just have to decide how much you are willing to eat :)

fyi, there are some that think the rv shows prices are not that good in that they have to pay to haul them there and back, pay inventory and site fees, etc...

but good luck on your search !
dfortier
Explorer
Aug 08, 2013
We went and saw the cedar creek 36ckts and a Sanibel 3050 and both were very nice. Around the same price and both unlaoded of about 12,000. Boy this is tough lol, really wish money was no object :)

One thing we are stuggling with a bit (and im trying to research) is how they come up with the pricing on our trade. Its a 2010 Bullet 281BHS and there is no way they are really "giving" us what they say they are. So im assuming they are just not marking down the new one to make us feel better about the trade.

Should we look at some of these wholesale places and then subtract the low NADA value to get a rough idea what we would have to finance?

We may just end up waiting till the show comes in Jan/Feb at this rate

thanks again for the input
dfortier
Explorer
Jul 24, 2013
for some reason I was not able to login and post last night. However, we did look at some of the suggestions. Cedar creek may be close to what we are looking for and we are going to try and go to the local dealer this weekend.

Some of the full time ones listed are out of our price/tow range but maybe something we look at if we end up selling the house.

thanks for the input