My family and I are looking to purchase a fifth wheel. We are looking at campers between 2013 and new. We have a budget of around $45k. I was wondering what brands to look at for a quality built unit and what brands to stay away from. Thanks for any advice in advance!

Just make sure you have enough truck to haul a fifth wheel?

We've been very happy with out Montana. You will get a lot of reply's from folks that say their unit is best. Ultimately just do your homework and look at a lot of units and get the one that best suits your needs and wants. Congrats too! It will be a fun search!

I have a Chevy 3500 drw diesel capable of towing 16k.

There are a ton of 5ers on the market made by "X" company, but they are a division of another company. Within each line, some are more expensive so the adage goes, they have "cheap" lines and "expensive" lines. What are you looking for? Rear living room, rear kitchen, front living room, front kitchen, bunkhouse (rear,mid.front), how long? Don't rush into this. Ask yourselves many questions. What do you want, and then go look/ask. Don't get something if not exactly the way you like it or "we will make it work". Take your time. If possible, wait till you have a chance to go to the Hershy RV show in Sept. If you've never been and seriously looking, plan on spending 2-3 days there to look over the units on display.If no to Hershy show, then when you go to look (I assume you and your spouse), each of you have your own notebook and write down the brand, model of each unit you look at as to what you like/dislike about it. Pick up brochures and get pricing. Once you figure you're done looking and want to purchase, now start to compare your notes on a spread sheet or whatever you like. This what we did. Looked for a year or so before we bought. Would like to upgrade, but not too thrilled about some changes made in order to stay w/ same brand as we like their quality.

I love our Montana High Country. It is designed really, really well! My husband does great carpentry work, so we've always done lots of modifications on our trailers, but this one has needed very little. I would stay away from Forest River Products. Our Cardinal had a lot of problems and our Wildcat was so-so. How old are your children? We had a Wildcat with a bunkhouse when our two boys were young. I'd never do it again! The pro is that if you are traveling a lot, you don't have to make up the beds every night. However, by the time the boys were ages 10-12, they didn't want to sleep in the trailer. Instead, they wanted their own digs in a tent pitched close by. Hot air rises, so the top bunk gets really hot. My boys would fight about who did NOT have to sleep on top! After a while, they just started sleeping on the living room floor and the bunkhouse only served as a space for their stuff. And then there were weight limits on the top bunk. It didn't take very long for growing boys to outgrow the limit! (Even though they were NOT overweight!) If your children are over 10, I would totally skip the bunkhouse idea. You also need to factor in how long you intend to keep your fiver before trading up. We went from tent to travel trailer, to first fifth wheel to second fifth wheel to third fifth wheel before finding the one we love! Part of that is due to the fact that they are designed so much better now! Make sure you think about the type of camping you want to do before deciding on your trailer. We like to go to state parks (no electricity) AND we like to travel (national parks, campgrounds with power, etc.), AND we live in ours for three months as snowbirds. We LOVE our LED lights in this trailer. We also LOVE large tanks (fresh, grey, black). I really like the electric awning, but I've read of other people who don't. We have the extra large fridge because we're snowbirds, and I would absolutely stick with it in a new unit.Length also makes a difference. If you get too long a unit, you won't be able to stay in National Parks, state parks, etc. Many of those spaces were designed before units got longer!If traveling, make sure you can get to your refrigerator with the slides in. We like to have lunch in the trailer (it saves money) and believe it or not, some units aren't designed that way. Same with the bathroom. Finding the unit you love and works for you is the most important thing!The other major factor is the dealer. You want to make sure your dealer is reliable and does good service work. My son works for a dealer who is super super picky. New trailers are not accepted with any type of damage, everything is inspected before customers are allowed to even look inside them, and then they are extremely particular in making sure the customer is happy. They take customer service VERY seriously! Joyce

Looking to get into fifth wheel camping | Good Sam Community

4bearhug
Explorer
Mar 05, 2016
You can find lemons from every manufacturer out there. They have all produced some bad units and they all produce lower cost(quality) units which will have more problems. Some folks praise Forest River brands and others say avoid them. We have a 2010 Forest River Cardinal and it has been a very good unit for us. We are currently camping with two couples who have 2012 and 2013 Keystone Montana and Cougar 5ers who both have had nothing but problems with theirs. Neither have a good word to say about Keystone. We had a Keystone TT before our 5er and it was a poorly built unit, but it was a springdale which is a budget model so that could account for our issues.
bulldog95
Explorer
Mar 05, 2016
Which brands of fifth wheels would you stay away from? We were looking Keystone, Chapperal, and maybe Forest River. I have heard though that people dislike Forrest River brands because of problems.
kennethwooster
Explorer
Mar 05, 2016
I've been through all the 5th wheel problems. Some of these trailers are nothing but trouble. I finally bought a Cameo and couldn't believe the difference in quality. I would recommend looking at this class of trailers in used to get to your budget. Many good used units in quality and many new ones thrown together. Just my thoughts.
4bearhug
Explorer
Mar 04, 2016
Tax_Man wrote:
bulldog95 wrote:
I have a Chevy 3500 drw diesel capable of towing 16k.

Just because you can does not mean you should. I am also looking to move up to a 5th wheel.

I have been looking for a couple of years and will probably stick with the TT for a while longer. What I have found, is that there is one out there that will feel right. You just have to look at a lot of others to find it.

Check Trailer Life web site for towing guides and look at the GVWR (Dry plus Cargo weights) of the 5th wheel (Sticker on street side). Stay under the max your truck can tow.

All good advice. I have seen too many posts on here about folks who jump into a 5er without much research or browsing units. They can't wait to buy and end up with a poor fit for their needs. Then they have buyers remorse about a either a poorly chosen 5er or an overmatched TV.
Tax_Man
Explorer
Mar 04, 2016
bulldog95 wrote:
I have a Chevy 3500 drw diesel capable of towing 16k.

Just because you can does not mean you should. I am also looking to move up to a 5th wheel.

I have been looking for a couple of years and will probably stick with the TT for a while longer. What I have found, is that there is one out there that will feel right. You just have to look at a lot of others to find it.

Check Trailer Life web site for towing guides and look at the GVWR (Dry plus Cargo weights) of the 5th wheel (Sticker on street side). Stay under the max your truck can tow.
SkiSmuggs
Explorer
Mar 01, 2016
bulldog95 wrote:
We are looking for a model with a bunkhouse, I would say between 37'-45' long. It would be for my wife, 9 yr old daughter, myself and a 90lb American Bulldog. Maybe a friend of my daughters too. We went to the RV show in Hershey last year and we were hoping to get one before the next show in September.

Any decent 45' fiver is going to be well over 16,000 lbs. Realistically, 40' is probably your limit to stay under 16K. You should probably not exceed 15K for the GVWR of a fifth wheel.
rsday75
Explorer II
Mar 01, 2016
We have been camping and RVing for 20 years.
We have a 35' bunkhouse Travel Trailer now, but are looking at 5th wheels.
We thought our kids would spend time in their bunk room, but have found they want to be out with us right in all the "action"
We are looking at this Jayco

It has a bunk room, but doesn't eat so much of the space in the trailer. GVWR is 13,750. It is 38' long. Has an outside kitchen, and nice rear living layout.
This allows us to stay with our SRW truck. Right at the limit, but doable. Also, not so long as to keep us out of every state/national park.
bulldog95
Explorer
Feb 29, 2016
Payload capacity of my truck is 5400lbs. This would be are first camper, but we fell in love with the fifth wheel room with a bunkhouse. We would not be doing any dry camping. Most likely full hookup campsites.
Racine96
Explorer
Feb 29, 2016
Most of us will recommend what we have. I have a Columbus and love it. However, what I have learned is that all of them will have some issues. Some have had small issues, others have had big issues. Most of the components in all FW are provided by the same manufacturers. In visiting RV forums for some years, every day, what I have learned is that there are two big issues. One is the floorplan most be of you liking, specially you wife. The second big issue is the dealer customer service. I cannot tell you how important this last one is. However, read, read, read the forums and you will gather what I am saying. There are too many reports on how the dealers kind of wash their hands when things go wrong. The thing I like the most is that I have a great customer service dealer. Some of the experiences I read haven't been my experience. So, research the dealer.
boshog
Explorer
Feb 29, 2016
bulldog95 wrote:
I have a Chevy 3500 drw diesel capable of towing 16k.

I went through this shopping for a fiver last spring after spending a winter of research. Wife and I settled on a Montana 3790RD. As you may know, pricing of these things is interesting so don't let the price try to dictate the unit's quality. You should expect to purchaser somewhere around 35 to 39 percent off the MSRP.

When it comes to fivers, the more important number is your vehicles payload and combined gross weight of the truck and trailer. You can find payload and GVW rating placards on the driver's door and/or door jam.