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KendallP's avatar
KendallP
Explorer
Mar 17, 2016

Suggestions for a New (to us) Motorhome? (Wishlist Inside)

So I'm considering a modest upgrade from our little Eagle 5. My wishlist is below, but I'm hoping my budget will afford me a wide track with a decent suspension that won't have a tendency to wander so much. If such a thing doesn't exist within my budget, then please suggest alternatives to the current favorite, the 27' Superchief.

And if all I need for an old, inexpensive P30 is a little suspension maintenance, a rear trac bar and maybe a good steering stabilizer like a Steer Safe or something, please let me know that too.

Note: I would consider a Class C also.


Motorhome Wishlist (if I had my druthers)

Primary use: A camper. Some shore and a fair amount of dry.

Preferably under $7,500

Wide track or just a decent suspension

25 to 27’ maybe 31. Not too much hind end behind the axle.

Basement

Full or Queen bed

Fold-out sofa

Sleep 4+ comfortably

Comfortable Shower

Battery box big enough for at least 3 house batteries

Low house battery bank drain

Large Capacity Propane

Large Capacity Fuel Tank

Relatively safe, low-current LP fridge (it appears they may have taken a turn for the worse sometime after '86?)

3KW+ Genset that can run the A/C

Ideally no major, known issues like delaminating or what have you.

A friend of mine had a 27' Superchief. I really liked the floorplan and the basement, but no wide track. With the basement, it's taller than my '86 and he couldn't keep up with me on the interstate with a crosswind. And my '86, P30 suspension is NO prize as it is.

Superchief Brochure pdf with Floorplans

I hear a Bounder is pretty good bang for the buck. Don't know much about them or their floorplans though.

Perhaps someone could point me to a bunch of floorplans in my budget to peruse.
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Class A

3 Replies

  • KendallP's avatar
    KendallP
    Explorer
    Mar 29, 2016
    tatest wrote:
    By the late 1990s Fleetwood was making a lower cost basement model line called Southwind Storm that was almost equivalent to the late 1980s Bounders, sized to fit on a 16,000 pound P-series chassis. Also mostly non-slideout, like earlier Bounders, these "Stormy" motorhomes can often be found for about the same price as a Bounder that is ten years older.

    Thanks, tatest!

    The Bounders were on my radar, but hadn't seen a floorplan until now. That seems like a heckuva price for that rig, really. I'll look into those Storm too. That sounds real interesting.

    This is a camper for my young family. A place to sleep between fishing, crabbing, waterskiing, etc. We need slidouts about as much as we need MH payments. Much prefer to pay cash and put some money into the suspension.
  • CraneMan's avatar
    CraneMan
    Explorer
    Mar 28, 2016
    Wow, that Super chief looks like a nice little rig with the right options.
  • tatest's avatar
    tatest
    Explorer II
    Mar 18, 2016
    Superchief was Winnebago's earliest basement/large storage type A motorhome. As you get into later model years, and the other lines were redesigned as basement models, there are more choices.

    The Bounder was the equivalent at Fleetwood, and I think in the early '90s they were pretty well thought out, pretty well made. I don't know that there were any Bounders shorter than 30 feet, the ones I saw when shopping 2004-2005 were 32 or 34. Here is a link to a 1994 Bounder recently sold at PPL for $8000. Most Bounders later than this vintage will have slideouts, and will sell for at least twice as much. The non-slide models are much less expensive because nobody wants them today.

    By the late 1990s Fleetwood was making a lower cost basement model line called Southwind Storm that was almost equivalent to the late 1980s Bounders, sized to fit on a 16,000 pound P-series chassis. Also mostly non-slideout, like earlier Bounders, these "Stormy" motorhomes can often be found for about the same price as a Bounder that is ten years older.

    I suspect if might be easier to find an early Bounder, or somewhat newer Stormy, than to find a SuperChief. Winnebago did not sell a lot of SuperChief models before incorporating the storage features into the more popular Chieftain (still low profile in 1990).

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