jplante4 wrote:
The idea really has nothing to do with setup time but rather relative comfort on the road vs. at a camp site. Now, I'll preface this by saying that I've never had a RV with slideouts, but I think fivers are more comfy than a motorhome and 1 ton pickups don't have the smooth ride of a motorhome. Therefore, if you're on the road a lot, a motorhome will likely be more comfortable whereas the extra room in a fiver (per foot, not needing room for propulsion) would be more comfortable on the campsite.
And maybe you guys are the exception to the setup time, but if it takes me more than 15 minutes from backing in the motorhome to drinks in hand, I'm doing something wrong. I haven't personally witnessed a fiver setup taking anywhere near that short.
The crush zone argument is moot when several tons of trailer comes through your back window.
Actually towing, the ride quality in a big pickup gets better as there is enough weight to make springs work. Then again modern pickups are pretty plush compared to what you got back in the 70's. After a rental car, I'm always happy to have my truck back.
I've driven a couple MH (A & C) and didn't see any major advantage as a driver. Maybe if you go up to top of the line diesel pushers but no way I can justify $200-400k for slight improvement in driving.
As far as scenery...usually we take the truck by itself if just out for a scenic drive.
Yeah, around 15-20min to set up our 5er and it doesn't have auto levelers, so we could trim a few minutes off if we added them. Of course, by starting the clock as you are backing, you omit a few minutes to unhook the toad (if you don't have a toad, you are eating up more time every time you take the MH out for a day trip)...really, it's pretty much a wash.
