Forum Discussion

RyanSTorm's avatar
RyanSTorm
Explorer
Jun 17, 2013

Looking for Trailer For Retired Parents

My parents are both retired, so I have been looking at RV's for them. They do most camping in Utah, but want to be able to cruise the South West and North West.

The only two specifics I could say I need are king sized bed and a great tub. I figure buying a new mattress wouldn't be that hard. As for the tubs/showers on these trailers, finding something to replicate home is very hard, and I don't think its cheap to put your own in.

I have seen a few with decent bathrroms and tub. Honestly the kitchen isn't a big deal let alone the living room areas. Is there any brand that makes great 5th Wheels with awesome bathrooms? That seems to be the most important thing for me, when picking one.

I am looking at 5-15k, for something from this Millennium. Since I can't find anything I really like in that price range. So I am looking into brand new for 20k. Is there a certain trailer elderly buy?
  • sushidog's avatar
    sushidog
    Explorer
    Jun 22, 2013
    Atom Ant wrote:
    Smaller units have the toilet in the shower that you can sit on, but no chance for a king bed in those unless you go to an overhead truck camper.


    Or an Aliner like mine. King bed, sit-down shower/cassette toilet combined with all the other camper features and it's 4 cyl towable with 22-25 mpg towing! Of course you have to be very close (or soon will be) as there's very little room inside. But you can't have everything, right?

    There's a lady on the Aliner forum selling her Spaliner (Yes an Aliner with a spa!) Unfortunately it's a little older than ypu are looking for, but it's a custom build. Here's a link:
    http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/alinerchaleta-frames/message/85242

    Here's a pic of the spa:


    Chip
  • KSadler1's avatar
    KSadler1
    Explorer
    Jun 18, 2013
    This is a very open-ended post with a ton of questions just begging to be asked? What do you mean by elderly? Are you going to be camping and traveling with them? Do they have health issues? Do they have joint pain issues? can they climb up and down stairs? What size truck do they have or are planning to buy? Do they/you have experience in towing? Are they/you educated in RV'ing? It's not plug and play you know. I've only scratched the surface. There are many things to be considered here.

    If it were me, depending on my parents age and health, I'd be looking at the used Class C's. Either way, you will be limited on that budget.....
  • Searching_Ut's avatar
    Searching_Ut
    Explorer
    Jun 18, 2013
    What do you mean when you say you want something for them to go camping in? You'll find that for many on the forums, camping means staying in the RV, in an RV park with full hookups. For others, it means forest service campgrounds, pit toilets, and water may or may not be available in the campground, probably no dump station. Then there are those who call camping boondocking, no campground, parked in a nice spot with only the RV for resources.

    As others have mentioned, a tub for the most part isn't generally an option in an RV. You have to deal with space requirement, small hot water heater, and of course if you don't have full hookups, you wouldn't have the fresh or gray water storage available to do much tub wise.

    Finally, what sort of tow vehicle do your folks have available to them. This will come in to play in regards to what they can tow.
  • htowners's avatar
    htowners
    Explorer
    Jun 17, 2013
    We looked at the Rockwood 8244S as it was supposedly half ton towable, not for the "Garden Tub" feature.
    It's hard to see in the picture but it's about 20" deep if I remember correctly, but I certainly wouldn't want to try and use it as a tub, and I'm still a fairly young 50 something.
    Here is a link to a new one.
    Also as others have said, I don't think a king is necessary.
  • hitchup's avatar
    hitchup
    Explorer
    Jun 17, 2013
    We're close to retirement age and a bathtub is not high on our priority list. Neither is a King bed. Had 2 different 5ers with King's and they are just too hard to make. We much prefer our standard Queen size and there's so many more options for mattress replacement.

    Some people like a split bath and some like us prefer an enclosed one. Some days, we wish we had a two holer! Our shower seems small occasionally. But there are 48" showers in many of the newer units.
  • Atom_Ant's avatar
    Atom_Ant
    Explorer
    Jun 17, 2013
    King size bed is a piece of cake - tons out there, but as said the tub is an issue. Can they sit down and shower? I've seen some, like ours now, that have a pedestal to sit down on to shower.

    Smaller units have the toilet in the shower that you can sit on, but no chance for a king bed in those unless you go to an overhead truck camper.
  • n7bsn's avatar
    n7bsn
    Explorer
    Jun 17, 2013
    You aren't going to find anything "new" in your price range
  • Bumpyroad's avatar
    Bumpyroad
    Explorer
    Jun 17, 2013
    I have seen a couple of fivers with large residential/almost size tubs. one was maybe a KZ a few years back??
    but you can't find anything for 5-15k that will be decent and reliable and fitting your two requirements.
    bumpy
  • Me_Again's avatar
    Me_Again
    Explorer III
    Jun 17, 2013
    You have a couple issues with your plan. First really usable tubs in 5th wheels are very far and few in between. One is a space issue and the other is a 6-12 gal hot water heater is lacking for a real soak in a tub.The other issue is the price range you have set.

    Many of the mid 2000 Cardinal 5th wheels have camper king beds that are 72x80 inches and nice neo angle showers in what is called open bath or walk through bath. Only the toilet is behind a door, sink and shower are open to the bedroom.

    We have a 2005 29WBLX Cardinal that we have used to snowbirded in Arizona for the last 5 winters. It has two slides, two recliners that look straight at the main TV, nice computer desk below the TV, king bed, lots of storage for it's size and would sell used for around 20K.

    Do they have a pickup now? Let me guess that it is a 150/1500 model?

    Chris

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