Motor home vs Fifth Wheel
My wife and I are in the planning stages of going on the open road , if not full time, for long periods at a time. When it comes to maintenance and fuel costs, what would be the better route, A motor ...
Forum Discussion
TXiceman wrote:
This is hard to evaluate as many post with only the experience in one type of RV. So they bias all comments to what they decided was best for them and never have any experience on the other side of the coin.
We have had pop ups, travel trailers, class C, class A and 5th wheels. We have lived long term in a class and a 5er. When we decided to go full time, my wife and I discussed the cost and the limitations each would place on out travels.
On the plus side for the 5er was better floor plans, more storage and only one vehicle to maintain and insure as a tow vehicle. The trailer still needed insurance and tags but minimal maintenance.
The down side was the convenience of the motorhome during travel days.
The motorhome was higher maintenance cost, lower fuel mileage (our 16,000#, 38' 5er and 1 ton diesel dually gets 10 to 11 mpg at 63 mph), higher insurance, less storage, you had to tow and maintain a towed vehicle and more limited access to service facilities. My Ford diesel truck can be serviced at any Ford dealer and a lot of independent shops.
A big negative on the motorhome was the fact that if you had mechanical problems with the chassis, you home went to the shop. With the 5er, ERS will tow the truck to a repair shop and the trailer to a campground.
But for each person, the choice is yours. All you can do is to weigh the information from everyone and weed out the BS.
Oh, our pets ride in the back seat of the truck...NO ONE EVER RIDES IN THE TRAILER.
Ken
Your 5er must be one of a kind. Our friends have a 36 5er and we have 3 times the storage in our DP. When we set up for a week or a month we get 28 mpg so it equals out.
