What is a good size for a 5th wheel trailer?

You want peace and quiet?
get as far from T.O. as you can ,my minium is 4 hours drive time.The parks closer are being 'loved to death'

joebedford wrote:

Acei wrote:
We are the type who likes to hike a lot and I like taking pictures as well. I doubt we will ever go to resort type of places.

Mildly curious why you think hiking and photography and RV resorts are mutually exclusive?? Unless you're seriously into boondocking (which you aren't because then you wouldn't asking about maximum length in parks) I think you'd be making a mistake staying away from RV resorts.

Imagine passing up a really nice 34' 5er and picking a 28' RV to fit into provincial parks when you could have stayed 5km down the road in a nice RV park. You don't HAVE to go to bingo if you don't want to.

But then I'm biased - mine's 42'6" :)

I am talking without any RV experience so I could be totally off.

We have been tent camping for a very long time. I'm personally not picky so I don't really mind where we stay but my wife seems to prefer more remote and quiet places to stay. Perhaps these RV parks are still peacefully quiet - without experiences, its hard for me to say.

What we know for sure is that we will probably hike every day for couple of hours minimum. We tend to tackle scenic places even if it is challenging to get there. We don't mind driving some distance to get there. As long as this is feasible, we are ok.

Acei
Why dont you take a drive though the Provincal parks near Toronto? Have a look at the units using the campground,I have seen rear engine MH among the pop ups.
Bear in mind the bigger you are the less spaces to choose from ,but most parks have room for 36+ 'ers
just not every site,so if you want unlimited choice .........tent.

Acei wrote:
We are the type who likes to hike a lot and I like taking pictures as well. I doubt we will ever go to resort type of places.

Mildly curious why you think hiking and photography and RV resorts are mutually exclusive?? Unless you're seriously into boondocking (which you aren't because then you wouldn't asking about maximum length in parks) I think you'd be making a mistake staying away from RV resorts.

Imagine passing up a really nice 34' 5er and picking a 28' RV to fit into provincial parks when you could have stayed 5km down the road in a nice RV park. You don't HAVE to go to bingo if you don't want to.

But then I'm biased - mine's 42'6" :)

I don't know of any state parks that have pads.....where is that? I need to get out and travel more.

Here in the west we have forests and it's not necessarily a matter of the length of the site (although you may have trees at the end of that 30' space), but the roads leading in and out are narrow, tight turns and trees right up next to the road.

By the way, my Fox Mountain 235RLS is actually 27' long. An RV salesman told me that originally the model number indicated the length but at some point the mfgs. started using smaller model numbers for insurance purposes.

When I looked for mine I would not accept anything under 26'. 30' seems to be the limiting factor to tight spaces when boondocking. Mine is 32' end to end 1 slide. it's perfect for 2-3 adults or two adults and 3 kids. Here is the exact one I have, 30' coachmen catalina gsx. It's listed as a 28 but it is really 30' with my extended pinbox and rear bumper it actually measures 32'.

The 30' max in many parks does not mean a whole lot. I have been in many, other thn CA, where I can stuff my almost 36' LOA into a site somewhere. The restriction is that the pad length is only 30'. So what! Back the wheels up to the end of the site. If the back hangs into space & the stabilizers are are unusable, who cares?

I see... This is all very informative.

Also, when we talk about 30ft trailers, are we talking about the box length or from the latch to the rear bumper? A 32ft Mobile Suit actually measures 33.8ft. I would guess that you will need a trailer with the actual length of 30ft?

If you did manage to crowd a Mobile Suites into a state or federal campground how long do you think you're going to stay carrying out your sewage in a little blue sewer caddy? With possibly not enough voltage to power your air conditioner? A state park near me doesn't even have water at the sites.

Mobile Suites. The name says it all. A suite of rooms that are mobile. Not necessarily an all terrain vehicle. It'll give you access to different areas of the country. But not every little corner.
For that I carry camping gear. A tent, camp stove, sleeping bag etc. I like to go "camp" at Cayo Costa State Park that won't accept any camper. Because it's on an island.
I asked my DW if she would like to go camping with me. She waves her arm toward our 400 square foot 5er with microwave, flat screen TV and so on and exclaims "THIS! is camping!" (OK, there are different opinions on what constitutes camping)

If you choose a full time unit that is too small just to fit into some of the smaller sites you'll get a case of buyers remorse that'll give you sleepless nights. With a full size camper you'll have plenty of access to parks. Unhitch the truck! Tow a Harley! Personally, I pack my touring kayak with a few days worth of food & gear and I'm off! Or leave on my touring bicycle for a day.

Even if you get into a park you can bet you're not going to be camped right at the trailhead. The riding stables will be on the other side of the lake. What are you going to do? The same as if you were parked somewhere with full hookups. Get into your vehicle and go there.

Acei wrote:
Oh that 30ft limit is unfortunate. Excel only starts from 31ft. Do they really stop your 31ft trailers from parking in the sites while letting other people's 30ft trailers in? Are they that strict?

As you know, most state parks and many of the national parks....the actual campground drive is very narrow with sharp turns and trees right up agains the asphalt so it's a matter of manueverability besides the fact that many campsites are only 30' long to the edge of the driveway. Anything longer and you'd be hanging out into the drive in many of the campgrounds.

Probably not anything that's every occured to you before but go drive some state parks and see first hand. Or.....just go to their web sites. It's not all of them but most of them.