Anyone switch from a motor home to a fifth wheel?

I went from a Class A 30' to a Travel Trailer 23' to 5th wheel...see signature.

This is my favorite of all 3 :)

Veebyes wrote:


Whatever floats your boat.

Floats your.....boat...:@

Purdy sure this was about switching from a MH to 5th wheel..:?

OP - nope, nobody has done that.

The "switchers" usually go from a MH to a pop-up for access to those remote campgrounds with no hook-ups and boondocking...:W

~

John&Joey wrote:
FWIW, when we owned the Class A most would comment on how nice it was to have a bathroom on board. Yes, my DW really misses that. On the other hand I had to develop a bladder the size of a basketball.

Now we all get to pee and gas up every 100 - 200 miles. Which for me is also a con for a 5'ver. With a MH you have a huge gas tank that can last all day, not so with a truck. Seems like I'm always in and out of gas stations.

John&Joey, Maybe you have the wrong truck.

We have three young kids so having them in a safe truck with airbags and their car seats/boosters is a big deal to us. Plus from a performance and ease of driving standpoint I don't imagine most motorhomes can match a newer diesel like our Ram.

And fifth wheels are just versatile. We mostly take ours camping which is nice because once camp is set up and the trailer is parked we've got a good 4wd truck that can handle the rugged forest service roads well. We're taking it down to southern Cal later this summer for a family vacation and once we're parked we've got a safe truck to get around in that's more comfortable for a family of 5 than most of the dingy type vehicles I've seen behind MHs. Plus I want a truck anyway for all the truck stuff that comes up all the time - hauling building materials from the home center, trees from the nursery, appliance purchases, and etc.

We are in the process of switching from a Class C to a 5th wheel. There are several reasons, but mainly because of the steep mountain passes here in Nevada and nearby California. Our poor Ford gas V10 screams bloody murder going up some of these mountains pulling our Liberty with the tach parked at 4800-5000 RPM for miles. Of course this contributes to the 7 mpg we get with it.

Also, the MH is just plain noisy, no matter how much we try and quiet it down. The last straw was on our last trip down hwy 95 with a fairly stiff crosswind. I didn't want to go much over 50, yet trucks with large fivers were passing us like we were parked. This was right after we spent a good chunk on HD sway bars, Bilstein's and had positive caster shims installed to help with the steering.

So, I sold my Hemi Ram 1500 gasser and bought a clean 2007 Ram 2500 5.9 Cummins 4x4 last week. Now just gotta get the MH sold and search for a fiver. I think the only thing we will miss is my wife taking potty breaks while we are on the road.

Yes, we did. After 22 years and 4 MH we switched to a 5th wheel. Pros and cons with each. Set up is the same for me. Major $$$ savings with the 5th wheel. Bottom line is you can have a ton of fun with either.
They are just different, not a big deal. More room in our 33 5th wheel than was in our 45' DP. yes really.

Didja ever wonder why you don't see many big purdy class As wandering around the secondary scenic roads but they are all over the interstates passing everything in sight in their rush to get to the next full service CG?

You don't see many big purdy class As at state parks or National Park CGs. You don't see many big 5ers at these CGs either. You don't see many big purdy class As on the road to Alaska. Those that do tend to travel in flocks of caravans led by somebody. You don't see many big purdy class As, or big purdy 5ers, for that matter, parked out in the dry camping section of big events, even though they are perfectly equipped for dry camping with their gennys & high water capacity.

Maybe it is because of the depth of the pockets of the big purdy class As vs the pockets of the 5er ownners.

To each his own. There are exceptions in every group.

RVing is similar to boating. There are various groups & types of boats to suit. There is the blowboat vs the stinkboat crowd. There is the go fast vs the go slow in each. There are the marina hoppers vs the 'on the hook' boaters. There are the weekend warriors vs the cruisers. There are those happy with their <$100,000 boat & those who must trade for the latest & greatest every few years. Some spend millions on something they only use a few weeks a year.

Whatever floats your boat.

John&Joey wrote:

With a MH you have a huge gas tank that can last all day, not so with a truck. Seems like I'm always in and out of gas stations.

This is true, but there are after market solutions. I have a 70 gallon aftermarket under bed fuel tank and still have all of my truck bed for 'whatever'. http://www.aerotanks.com/ My routine is to just un-hook at the park and just drive over to a local fuel station and top up the tank. I'm good for 600 miles on a fill-up.

We had a 35 ft class A and just bought a 40 ft 5th Montana..
I think you get more BANG for the buck with a 5th wheel and dont have to worry about another motor, drive train etc, less to go wrong.
still getting used to backing it up but will come with practice, practice , practice...
very happy

FWIW, when we owned the Class A most would comment on how nice it was to have a bathroom on board. Yes, my DW really misses that. On the other hand I had to develop a bladder the size of a basketball.

Now we all get to pee and gas up every 100 - 200 miles. Which for me is also a con for a 5'ver. With a MH you have a huge gas tank that can last all day, not so with a truck. Seems like I'm always in and out of gas stations.