TC vs Small 5th wheel

Gjac wrote:
In researching smaller rv's the TC's TT's and short 5th wheels seem to have some advantages over larger RV's. Having never owned any of these, what I have surmised from this forum is if you want a TC with some storage and FW capacity a larger TC with a slide or two is required which would require a DRW truck. In looking at short 5th wheels say 24 ft I see more storage and more FW that can be towed with a SRW truck. In addition I see more storage in the bed of the truck for FW and other stuff. Some have said the CG was much higher in a TC making it top heavy around corners. You have to exit the truck to access the the camper section in both of these. Is a small 5th wheel or TT much more difficult to back into a site and level? Have any of you owed both a short 5th wheel and a TC that can comment on any advantages or disadvantages of each setup? I dry camp 95% of the time so water capacity is important I have 60 gals now which last me 7 days.

We purchased a new TC about 6 months ago and have already logged many thousands of miles on a number of cross-country trips with it. Previously we owned a 33 ft. bumper-pull TT, and prior to that a smaller 5th wheel. The increased mobility while on the road with the TC has been a blessing for us. With the TT's we'd tend to be less adventuresome while on the road. Now we don't hesitate to stop and go pretty much anywhere a car would. U-turns are now a piece-of-cake.

It does take some adjustment getting used to the limited living and storage space in a TC. If there's two of you, it definitely requires some practice to move about and do things efficiently. As for storage, we quickly discovered that we get by fine with less.

I think it goes without saying a TC is much easier to manuever than a TT. As for the hassles involved with unhitching/hitching/leveling a TT vs. unloading/loading/leveling a TC, well, I'd say it's more or less even. Some do find loading a TC a bit more challenging than others, however. Practice is key.

You mentioned that you dry camp a lot, so larger tanks will be a priority. Larger tanks generally mean a larger TC. There's a lot of debate here about what truck can carry which TC. IMO, if you're going all-in with a TC with larger tanks and several slides, a DRW is a good choice. We already owned an SRW, so we went with a TC with smaller tanks and no slides to stay within our personal comfort zone in terms of weight and ratings. Be VERY careful with the various weight claims various manufacturers make about their campers. Most of them are very misleading. Read the small print, ask lots of questions. If you're not careful, it's easy to end-up with TC that weighs 1,000 lbs. or more than you anticipated.

Good luck!