How much will a big fifth wheel limit us?
I don't currently have an RV but have borrowed my in-laws Class A before...so though I am not in the owners club I am not a total newbie either. My wife and I are around 40 and are self employed. ...
Forum Discussion
Most boondocking places that I have been to have no length restrictions. However some have gravel access roads, so something over 40 feet might be self restricting to places with better access roads.
As for internet access, you might want to consider a satellite receiver, it will give high speed access anyplace that you park and set up the dish. If you need a cell phone access, or other local Wi-Fi, you might not find those in any state campgrounds (well cell might be limited in some, free Wi-Fi is not something that I camp across in Federal Parks, they are not into Wi-Fi yet, but more back to nature). . ..
I have met some wonderful people while out boondocking. Some great places to camp, like overlooking Horseshoe bend on the Colorado River. Spent a couple of weeks at North Rim of the Grand Canyon where you could camp all summer in the forests, (outside the National Park).
I was looking at a Cyclone by Heartland RV.
IT sure seems spacious, and will give you two or three separate living areas. Yet a t 44 feet and 16000 pounds empty is also a significant load for even the dually trucks today. Parking in some forest service campgrounds would be out of the question, so I think it is to large for my needs and desires to camp in National Forest campgrounds.
I have parked my buddies 40' long Country Coach, and that was easy. No need to hitch it up to a 20' long truck than tow a combined length into the places and angle it just right to back into the site. If the conditions are right, you can pull a motorhome into or back into a site. Normally if you are long, then backing into a site can have the advantage of the rear axle being 8 or 10 feet in front of the bumper, that can hang over the parking stops several feet, giving clearance to the front of the site.
Yet if we had arrived late on a Friday, we might not have found a site at Sequoia National Park. I had a back up plan, and arrived early on Friday to get a good site. The first place we parked, then looked around the campground with the Jeep we towed, and did not find anything else that his motorhome might have fit into. The back up plan was boondocking on the other side of the park, about 10 miles away from 'everything', in a unmarked camping area, sort of overflow parking area on the side of a wooded mountain.
Yes I would say that a 40' fifth wheel will cut out about 25% of all Forest campgrounds. You should be able to find something Sunday afternoon to Thursday in them. Yet many sites will be for the 30 something and under length. Only about 5 - 8 sites will be for 40' long RV's. They where built in the 1930's for the most part, and many have a huge tree or bolder on one side of the parking area, to prevent people from crowding in 2 cars to each site.
BLM sites? Probably much less restrictive for parking a 40' long RV. In Quartzsite, you can fit hundreds of 50' long RV's (if they built them that long) in the many open BLM camping areas. Because they are not 'camping sites' per se, they are not marked off or restrictive to length.
Forest roads? I have camped on several forest service roads, after checking with the rangers. You don't want to park and spend 15 minutes setting up only to find that fire crews are using this road to transport water to a nearby burn area, or that bears are being seen in the area, or something like that. I have parked along side the roadway in a small clearing, set up for that reason.
What is needed for boondocking?
Water : I think that some toyhaulers can have factory twin 100 gallon fresh water tanks, so that ends that restriction.
Electric: Install a 400 - 600 watt solar system, and your laptops and satellite receiver will have plenty of power to run 24/7. Even in sites that are slightly shaded, a large enough solar system will keep the batteries full enough, and all that solar panels on the roof is shading the RV anyway, so it will basically be in 50% shade when parked in a parking lot without trees.
SunElec.com Get some 100 - 150 watt solar panels, for close to $1 per rated watt here. Pick 12 volt models and PWM controllers. It is less expensive to get 3 or 4 of the 30 amp controllers than to buy one big 60 amp MPPT controller. Solar panels prices are such that MPPT controllers no longer save the money that they once did.
Factory solar system usually is something like a single 100 watt panel for an additional $1200, and 'they' think they are giving you a deal for the panel!
Batteries to store that power? 4 golf cart batteries is plenty, and more will just be extra weight. They are 67 pounds each, and each store about 1,000 watts. If you need more power daily, then the generator can supply that.
Generator? Noisy air cooled or very quiet Honda water cooled RV generator? I have not found any RV's that come from the factory with a Honda water cooled generator, but they should. The advantage to a toyhauler is they normally can have a 18 gallon gasoline tank, and that can connect to the generator. Why the Cyclone has a LP 5500 watt generator is beyond my ability to understand what they are thinking. LP tanks are difficult to refill, and 4.5 gallons goes in no time when the generator is running! Honda makes a 6 KW water cooled RV generator that will support a pair of rooftop A/C units and all your other power needs.
50 or 30 amp electrical service? Well you are running a Business. The Business should be buying the RV as a business expense - perhaps? You will have more than the average power needs, and as such should not be limited to 30 amps. The 50 amp service, you will be happy with in a campground in the middle of winter, when you will not need to tell the wife "Unplug the heater before using the hair dryer or we might trip the 30 amp breaker".
You are limited while using a 30 amp service, such as when visiting a rare forest campground that has electric. So you can only run two high wattage things at once, such as: 12 amp coffee maker, 12 amp microwave, 12 amp A/C unit, 13 amp electric heater or hair dryer. Things that are less amperage include the 3 amp refrigerator (that can be changed to gas when on low voltage or dry camping) 1-4 amp battery charger (that can be shut off with a solar system) and TV set, computers, ect that might add up to 1 or 2 amps at 120 volts.
Good luck with your selection!
Happy camping! FreeCampgounds.com
Fred.
As for internet access, you might want to consider a satellite receiver, it will give high speed access anyplace that you park and set up the dish. If you need a cell phone access, or other local Wi-Fi, you might not find those in any state campgrounds (well cell might be limited in some, free Wi-Fi is not something that I camp across in Federal Parks, they are not into Wi-Fi yet, but more back to nature). . ..
I have met some wonderful people while out boondocking. Some great places to camp, like overlooking Horseshoe bend on the Colorado River. Spent a couple of weeks at North Rim of the Grand Canyon where you could camp all summer in the forests, (outside the National Park).
I was looking at a Cyclone by Heartland RV.
IT sure seems spacious, and will give you two or three separate living areas. Yet a t 44 feet and 16000 pounds empty is also a significant load for even the dually trucks today. Parking in some forest service campgrounds would be out of the question, so I think it is to large for my needs and desires to camp in National Forest campgrounds.
I have parked my buddies 40' long Country Coach, and that was easy. No need to hitch it up to a 20' long truck than tow a combined length into the places and angle it just right to back into the site. If the conditions are right, you can pull a motorhome into or back into a site. Normally if you are long, then backing into a site can have the advantage of the rear axle being 8 or 10 feet in front of the bumper, that can hang over the parking stops several feet, giving clearance to the front of the site.
Yet if we had arrived late on a Friday, we might not have found a site at Sequoia National Park. I had a back up plan, and arrived early on Friday to get a good site. The first place we parked, then looked around the campground with the Jeep we towed, and did not find anything else that his motorhome might have fit into. The back up plan was boondocking on the other side of the park, about 10 miles away from 'everything', in a unmarked camping area, sort of overflow parking area on the side of a wooded mountain.
Yes I would say that a 40' fifth wheel will cut out about 25% of all Forest campgrounds. You should be able to find something Sunday afternoon to Thursday in them. Yet many sites will be for the 30 something and under length. Only about 5 - 8 sites will be for 40' long RV's. They where built in the 1930's for the most part, and many have a huge tree or bolder on one side of the parking area, to prevent people from crowding in 2 cars to each site.
BLM sites? Probably much less restrictive for parking a 40' long RV. In Quartzsite, you can fit hundreds of 50' long RV's (if they built them that long) in the many open BLM camping areas. Because they are not 'camping sites' per se, they are not marked off or restrictive to length.
Forest roads? I have camped on several forest service roads, after checking with the rangers. You don't want to park and spend 15 minutes setting up only to find that fire crews are using this road to transport water to a nearby burn area, or that bears are being seen in the area, or something like that. I have parked along side the roadway in a small clearing, set up for that reason.
What is needed for boondocking?
Water : I think that some toyhaulers can have factory twin 100 gallon fresh water tanks, so that ends that restriction.
Electric: Install a 400 - 600 watt solar system, and your laptops and satellite receiver will have plenty of power to run 24/7. Even in sites that are slightly shaded, a large enough solar system will keep the batteries full enough, and all that solar panels on the roof is shading the RV anyway, so it will basically be in 50% shade when parked in a parking lot without trees.
SunElec.com Get some 100 - 150 watt solar panels, for close to $1 per rated watt here. Pick 12 volt models and PWM controllers. It is less expensive to get 3 or 4 of the 30 amp controllers than to buy one big 60 amp MPPT controller. Solar panels prices are such that MPPT controllers no longer save the money that they once did.
Factory solar system usually is something like a single 100 watt panel for an additional $1200, and 'they' think they are giving you a deal for the panel!
Batteries to store that power? 4 golf cart batteries is plenty, and more will just be extra weight. They are 67 pounds each, and each store about 1,000 watts. If you need more power daily, then the generator can supply that.
Generator? Noisy air cooled or very quiet Honda water cooled RV generator? I have not found any RV's that come from the factory with a Honda water cooled generator, but they should. The advantage to a toyhauler is they normally can have a 18 gallon gasoline tank, and that can connect to the generator. Why the Cyclone has a LP 5500 watt generator is beyond my ability to understand what they are thinking. LP tanks are difficult to refill, and 4.5 gallons goes in no time when the generator is running! Honda makes a 6 KW water cooled RV generator that will support a pair of rooftop A/C units and all your other power needs.
50 or 30 amp electrical service? Well you are running a Business. The Business should be buying the RV as a business expense - perhaps? You will have more than the average power needs, and as such should not be limited to 30 amps. The 50 amp service, you will be happy with in a campground in the middle of winter, when you will not need to tell the wife "Unplug the heater before using the hair dryer or we might trip the 30 amp breaker".
You are limited while using a 30 amp service, such as when visiting a rare forest campground that has electric. So you can only run two high wattage things at once, such as: 12 amp coffee maker, 12 amp microwave, 12 amp A/C unit, 13 amp electric heater or hair dryer. Things that are less amperage include the 3 amp refrigerator (that can be changed to gas when on low voltage or dry camping) 1-4 amp battery charger (that can be shut off with a solar system) and TV set, computers, ect that might add up to 1 or 2 amps at 120 volts.
Good luck with your selection!
Happy camping! FreeCampgounds.com
Fred.
