40 ft compared to 45 ft
I have a 40 foot motorhome now. I am comfortable driving it. We do visit lots of state and federal campgrounds now. We often have to take special precautions and planning to be sure that this will fit...
Forum Discussion
No MATTER how you want to argue it, a 45' coach will not fit in every campground. Your County, State and National parks were not built for 45' coaches. Many of those parks do have several spots where a 45' will fit only because those particular sites had some extra overhang space or they cleared some spots when they could.
We've been traveling throughout the west for 40 years and a few times back east. The NORM is not to have 45' sites unless it's a private campground/resort or possibly one built in the last couple of years.
Sure, with a little work, you can plan ahead and find a 45' site, but you certainly aren't going to drive down the road and just pop into any campground and find a site that fits. When we had our 36' coach, we rarely found a park that couldn't fit us, even at the end of a travel day, without reservations. Now, with a 40' coach, it requires more planning to find a place that we'll fit. Remember, many people on here driving 45' coaches are full timers, know what parks they'll fit in and often stay at private campgrounds a little father away from their intended destination. A perfect example of this is Yellowstone. Their max limit at the interior campground (Fishing Bridge) is 40'. There is really no wiggle room there. I know that many with larger coaches like to stay at Grizzly, a private campground, on the west side. It's a nice campground, but requires you do a lot more driving in your toad.
This is not a put down of larger coaches, I personally wouldn't mind have a 45' with a 600 HP engine, but the reality is they require you to camp a little differently than coaches 36' and under. Typically, those driving that large of a coach are not wandering from County to County park, but driving to destinations and staying a little longer.
We've been traveling throughout the west for 40 years and a few times back east. The NORM is not to have 45' sites unless it's a private campground/resort or possibly one built in the last couple of years.
Sure, with a little work, you can plan ahead and find a 45' site, but you certainly aren't going to drive down the road and just pop into any campground and find a site that fits. When we had our 36' coach, we rarely found a park that couldn't fit us, even at the end of a travel day, without reservations. Now, with a 40' coach, it requires more planning to find a place that we'll fit. Remember, many people on here driving 45' coaches are full timers, know what parks they'll fit in and often stay at private campgrounds a little father away from their intended destination. A perfect example of this is Yellowstone. Their max limit at the interior campground (Fishing Bridge) is 40'. There is really no wiggle room there. I know that many with larger coaches like to stay at Grizzly, a private campground, on the west side. It's a nice campground, but requires you do a lot more driving in your toad.
This is not a put down of larger coaches, I personally wouldn't mind have a 45' with a 600 HP engine, but the reality is they require you to camp a little differently than coaches 36' and under. Typically, those driving that large of a coach are not wandering from County to County park, but driving to destinations and staying a little longer.
