RV hunting

RoadLife wrote:

Snowman9000 wrote:
If you are going to be driving much as a FT, scratch the TT off your list and move on to the fivers. OTOH if you are only going to break camp a few times a year, you can ignore my advice. It still applies, but won't come into play as often.

The reason I say the above is that a TT with the size and amenities you want is going to be much more work and "adventure" to tow with than a similar fiver. In my experience.

I agree. Fivers are much easier to tow and much less likely to jackknife. Their layouts are much nicer too.

Well now that depends... If you purchase a zero sway hitch like a Hensley Arrow or Pro-Pride then you get the same stability of a 5er with a TT. There are other advantages of a TT, like a single level floorplan. My DW has a bad knee, making stairs doable, but challenging - the fewer the better. The height of 5ers may also be a problem in the east, excluding some roads with low bridges and low hanging trees from consideration. If you like to boondock in remote locations, down fire roads in heavy woods this additional height may be an issue, as well as hitting the front of the 5er on the bed climbing out of steep gullies. Of course most people with 5ers don't travel this way - just too big and heavy for poor road conditions/off road camping. The biggest drawback of a 5er (other than weight) in my book is the loss of your truck bed to haul fun stuff, like motorcycles, ATVs, etc. We plan on taking 2 small motorcycles with us when we full-time for saving gas on short local errands, sightseeing, recreation, etc. vs firing up the expensive to operate diesel for most short trips - sort of like class-A/C folks use a toad.

One of the drawbacks of most TTs (and many 5ers too) is carrying capacity. Most full-timing couples say they need at least 3,000 lbs of CCC. This disqualifies many fine TTs like the Jayco line, as none have sufficient CCC for all your worldly possessions.

I have just purchased a 2008 Ford F-250 Diesel for pulling a full-time travel trailer. If you are looking at a fiver, you'll need a 1-ton TV as just the pin weight will max out the capacity of a 3/4 ton.

Some of the TTs I'm looking at for FT snowbirding (I hate the cold) are: the Dutchman Denali 287re, the Puma Palomino 31-FKBS, the Forest River Salem/Wildwood 30-FKBS,the Coachman Freedom Express 305-RKDS, and the Palomino Thoroughbred 829RK. I am shopping for late model used which of course vary in price quite a bit based upon overall quality features, age and condition. None of the TTs I listed are suitable for 4 season use. If this is your plan then there's a much shorter list of heavy, expensive TTs to choose from.

Good Luck in your search!

Chip

Free Range Human wrote:

covetsthesun wrote:
Laundry options seemed limited too. Not crazy about laundromats.

We haven't even been able to narrow down which type of rig we want yet, but I'd already decided there was no way I was going back to a laundromat, no matter what. So I'm not letting that influence our choice.

If when it's time to fork over the cash the closest we can get to "perfect" doesn't happen to have a W/D or space for one, I'm getting these:

Washer Dryer

Both portable enough to move around/store anywhere. The dryer might not even be necessary, as the spin dryer side of the washer extracts almost all the water.

FRH...love the tag line! Thanks for the link to the portable washer/dryer. Do you know anyone who's used them?
cts

covetsthesun wrote:
Laundry options seemed limited too. Not crazy about laundromats.

We haven't even been able to narrow down which type of rig we want yet, but I'd already decided there was no way I was going back to a laundromat, no matter what. So I'm not letting that influence our choice.

If when it's time to fork over the cash the closest we can get to "perfect" doesn't happen to have a W/D or space for one, I'm getting these:

Washer Dryer

Both portable enough to move around/store anywhere. The dryer might not even be necessary, as the spin dryer side of the washer extracts almost all the water.

Snowman9000 wrote:
If you are going to be driving much as a FT, scratch the TT off your list and move on to the fivers. OTOH if you are only going to break camp a few times a year, you can ignore my advice. It still applies, but won't come into play as often.

The reason I say the above is that a TT with the size and amenities you want is going to be much more work and "adventure" to tow with than a similar fiver. In my experience.

I agree. Fivers are much easier to tow and much less likely to jackknife. Their layouts are much nicer too.

If you are going to be driving much as a FT, scratch the TT off your list and move on to the fivers. OTOH if you are only going to break camp a few times a year, you can ignore my advice. It still applies, but won't come into play as often.

The reason I say the above is that a TT with the size and amenities you want is going to be much more work and "adventure" to tow with than a similar fiver. In my experience.

fordsooperdooty wrote:
When you get more serious about buying, and want to see just about every floorplan, brand and model of RV made in one place...a 16 hour drive to Tampa Florida "LazyDaze RV" is in order. 500 Travel Trailers on their lot. You tell them what you're loking for and they'll have it. Focus on the Jayco and Forest River products...I went to a couple of big west coast rv shows recently, and these 2 brands seem to have the better thought out and roomy floorplans, Heartland too. I thought the number of 5ers and TT's proportions were about 50/50.

We went to a Lazy Days Rv off I-4 near Tampa (used to be Camping World). I thought it was LazyDaze...but not. Googled LazyDaze and all it kicks back is Lazy Days RV.

They had a bunch of 5vers.. some TT's.. but not many Jayco's. A few Forest Rivers. Place is HUGE! Saw a few "pre owned" Prevost MH's clocking 1.2 mil... didn't go in... drooling uncool.

cts

When you get more serious about buying, and want to see just about every floorplan, brand and model of RV made in one place...a 16 hour drive to Tampa Florida "LazyDaze RV" is in order. 500 Travel Trailers on their lot. You tell them what you're loking for and they'll have it. Focus on the Jayco and Forest River products...I went to a couple of big west coast rv shows recently, and these 2 brands seem to have the better thought out and roomy floorplans, Heartland too. I thought the number of 5ers and TT's proportions were about 50/50.

Hi there are a few trailer companies with TT layouts like you see in fifth wheels but are travel trailers....I have seen a few and the one I can remember is made by Jayco. It is basically laid out with the floor plan like you would find in a fifth wheel just no stairs leading to bedroom and the one I saw was a full queen and access on both sides of the bed. Good luck

We had the same bath/bedroom considerations you have when on the hunt for a new 5th wheel last summer. We settled on the Sabre 33RETS.

This unit has a nightstand and an outlet on either side of the bed and plenty of walk around space, without sacrificing bathroom area.

I would like at Evergreen trailers. I had one and they are really well made. I had the Everlite series.