New Fifth Wheel

Be aware the a 5th wheel like a High Country will not do well in Northern States during the colder months. Chris

daleytravels wrote:
I haven't read many too good reviews about Jayco and am a bit worried about them. To the others, I am mainly looking for a good quality RV that is between two to three years old. I am looking for used. Any brand recommendations or specific fifth wheelers you have enjoyed?

I don't have experience with the quality of brands, so I posted a new thread titled "Jayco and travel trailer quality" in the Travel Trailer section. You might want to follow that thread to see what others say.

I haven't read many too good reviews about Jayco and am a bit worried about them. To the others, I am mainly looking for a good quality RV that is between two to three years old. I am looking for used. Any brand recommendations or specific fifth wheelers you have enjoyed?

I saw a fifth-wheel with a loft at an RV show. I think it might be this 40 ft Jayco:

Jayco Eagle 355MBQS

If money was no object, this would definitely be my object. The loft and the bunk room really got my attention. Maybe something like this used.

jarata1 wrote:
Agree I think 10,000 for a rig to live in full time you are asking for problems this will be your house don't be cheap

It isn't about being cheap. It's about what fits your needs. As recommended by others, I bought an inexpensive rig because it's SMARTER to practice on an inexpensive one than an expensive one. Can you understand that. I also don't live in it full time as the post says. The op can buy a higher end unit used if he likes and that doesn't make him cheap either.

jarata1 wrote:
Agree I think 10,000 for a rig to live in full time you are asking for problems this will be your house don't be cheap

The appliances and mechanicals are all pretty much the same. In fact I think they do better with the regular use.

Don't do maintenance and you can have problems with the high end rigs also.

We picked up a 10yr old rig for $4500 and used it for 8yrs. We just sold it last week with no significant issues for $3000. Put about 40k miles on it and 150-200 nights per year including a few times for 6 months straight.

Having just bought last week, I've seen plenty of the high end units that I wouldn't touch because they didn't keep up on maintenance. Biggest thing is delaminating sidewalls because they didn't keep the roof sealed.

Again, treat the used rig as a learning experience. A couple years of full time use shouldn't wear it out and with the lower price, even if you just haul it to the junk yard you have less at risk than if you make a mistake buying a brand new rig.

Agree I think 10,000 for a rig to live in full time you are asking for problems this will be your house don't be cheap

Starting out as snowbirds I took advice from people on here and bought a used FW because I had never owned one. I also heard others on here sometimes saying that many of these rigs are not for full time use. I didn't give that point a lot of consideration and figured that a water heater or a propane stove or refrigerator are going to work just fine no matter how much I'm using it. That's not where the problem or issue happened for us. The issue is that we have gone beyond the cycle life of our slide as it was designed. The previous owner used the FW a little each summer to camp with their kids. When I inspected it the plastic covering on the bottom side of the slide looked nearly new with very little witness marks. After three years of us being in it for about 24 months and traveling all over the country the slide rollers are literally eating a path into the underside of the slide which is osb.

When you consider the price range of my rv and how minimally many of them are constructed I'm not surprised that this happened. I'm not worried about fixing it and will probably install thin aluminum for the rollers to travel on. With this particular issue I dont consider it a big deal and as I said, I'll fix it and carry on. If I was to do it again I probably would have been better off buying the $17,000 older Hitch hiker over this $10,000 Coachmen.

For the $10,000 I spent on this rig I have nothing to complain about and can scrap it in a year or to with no regrets. If I were in your shoes I would be very concerned with getting an upper level rig that has a good frame and slide mechanisms etc. I also have the flexibility of having a summer home base and two kids with properties and facilities to deal with my issues vs being in it all the time.

Edit: I'm not saying you should buy used.

It's certainly doable but there are trade offs with any choice in life.

One thing I would question a bit is are you planning to take the rig on these weekly 3-6hr jaunts to family? Fuel bills could get pricey real quick at 10mpg.

I wouldn't worry too much about the "starter unit" idea. Assuming you are reasonably handy, most stuff is fairly straight forward to maintain on an RV and I wouldn't count on a high end unit holding up significantly better the kids are rough on it.

I would suggest getting an older inexpensive unit to try it out with the idea that you will trade out in a couple years once you know what you really want. With no RV experience, it's easy to get sucked in by slick marketing of features that really offer little or no benefit. Plus if you buy an expensive unit, it's a lot easier to lose a lot of money if you decide you don't like it.

You should be able to find something used in the $12-15k range and as long as you don't destroy it, you should get most of your money back out. Big thing to watch for is water damage. If you aren't familiar, once you've got a rig you like, paying an RV tech a couple hundred to give it a once over is likely well spent money (even new rigs it's not a bad idea as there are often teething pains on new units).

daleytravels wrote:
Me and my family have decided to live in an RV full time. We travel a lot and are rarely home due to work and visiting family and friends. We just have never RV before. It has always been something me and my wife were wanting to do when we retired and had been on our bucket list. We decided we wanted a fifth wheel and are looking at a Keystone Montana High Country 358bh due to a second bathroom, bunkhouse for the kids, and washer/dryer hook up. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this model or brand and how you liked it? Also, are there any recommendations for fifth wheels? We want a 2nd bath, bunkhouse that has two beds (not a sofa that converts into a bed), washer and dryer hook up, and good outdoor kitchen as we do grill a lot.

While the High Country line is decent, I would consider this only a "starter" RV and not really suitable for full-time living, long-term. They are a "light-weight" model line and, while you'll be sitting for long periods, you might not find them robust enough for full-timing. I would recommend the Fulltime Families group as an excellent resource for all kinds of info that you might not even think of. Since you're not planning on being "touristy" as a primary consideration for your FW, you might want to even go bigger. Plan on a 1T dually, the later model the better, to tow whatever you get. You =will= need it.

My cousin, her husband and FOUR kids (ages 12 to 4) are rebuilding a 1964 bus for a 2+ year full-time adventure. While they are doing something completely different, they did consider a FW, but found that, for their particular needs, the size FW they'd need would preclude them from going to many places that they can get to with the bus. They've been Fulltime Family members for over a year, now, and have picked up numerous tips and tricks from the other people there, and have even met a number of families on their travels through Arizona. Their blog is www.beginningfromthismorning.com. They can also be found on Facebook under Beginning From This Morning.

Lyle