Like the title says gathering information on possible going full-time. So would like a good group to help answer questions.
Just my husband and me.
Nothing has been bought.
Husband did find a fifthwheel he liked.
He likes the GD 398th. I'm liking but, want the second bathroom when kids or grand kids come to visit.
And just wanting some advice on everything. We are hoping to go f-t in 2024 end of.
Be honest..how often will you really have guests. While we've had guests, it's once or twice a year. No where near as much as we thought before heading out. I wouldn't use it as a determining factor in the rig you buy.
Yours may be different but most people we talk to have experienced similar. Grandkids get into high-school or college and spending a week with the grandparents loses its luster...then they get jobs and simply don't have the vacation time. There are exceptions but be honest about it.
We are full timers and have the GD 378MBS. We have a room GD calls "Lounge". We have multiple names for it - Lounge, office, cat room, guest bedroom. An additional half bath would have been nice, but you have to pick and choose. We wanted to stay under 38' in length but ended up settling for almost 42'.
I think you meant either the 397th or the 399th - both toy haulers. We liked the 351m and thought long and hard, but ultimately decided we wanted a regular 5th wheel as we think they feel a lot more like a home.
Are you planning on doing any boondocking? Or primarily just RV parks?
Not sure if this is applicable, but here goes. Growing up we camped all the time and all of the parks we camped in had bath houses. We children were old enough to go to the bath house on our own, but usually went with a sibling. We were not allowed to use the trailer bathroom, that was only for my parents. So it's something to consider - when camping with children go where there is a bath house available so there are options.
I can't imagine telling my kids or grandkids (which I don't yet have) that they can't use the bathroom in the RV.
There are some exceptions to this as I have 4 boys and, well they are boys after all. I have/had only two bathroom rules. Everybody has to sit to pee, no exceptions. Boys have a tendency to miss from time to time so I started from day one with that rule.
The second rule is when remote camping or boondocking. If it's daytime and you're a boy you have to find an outside bush to go pee. The girls get to use the bathroom every time.
What can I say, it was no big deal to us children, it was all a great adventure and fun family time. I have wonderful memories of our camping trips and none of us are scarred from this "horrid" treatment.
My point is if there is a bath house available then there are other options available when more than one person needs to use the bathroom at once; also that children are a lot more flexible and resilient than we sometimes realize. We just had so much fun and it was such an adventure that we just accepted that using the bathhouse was part of the adventure. Maybe I should add that this was in the 60s and 70s and perhaps ideas about raising children and camping have changed a lot.
