Buying New Fifth Wheel

[JCasper]

After the first of the year we will be buying a new Fifth Wheel. I've had a Springdale 267 bumper pull for the last 6 years and it's been great, but we have outgrown it.

We are really contemplating between a bunkhouse fifth wheel and a toyhauler.

We do a lot of weekend and weeklong or longer trips. We've been to Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Disneyland, Moab, all over the place. When doing these types of trips a bunkhouse would be perfect. When we go on weekend trips or to the lake we usually have the back of the truck full of stuff. With a fifth wheel I will struggle bringing things that we usually take.

A couple of the bunk houses I am looking at right now are the Keystone 320QBS and a Jayco 34.5BHTS.

I'm looking for other peoples opinions of bunk houses vs. Toy Haulers. I have 3 girls that are 12, 7 and 4.

The closer to 35' I can get the better. I really don't want a 40' long fifth wheel, some of the places we like to go are kind of tight.

Any of your opinions are greatly appreciated.

[Mik68]

JCasper wrote:

donn0128 wrote:
Since your a local, go to Apache Camping Center and look at the Northwood line of products. You get far more bang for the buck that you will get from the mass produced offerings your considering. Plus it is Oregon made and has far better quality than either of those.
Arctic Fox is their top of the line. Nice thing is they do not use Lippert frames.

yes, but every time I look they are limited in bunk house stuff. I'll look again.

X2, they don't cater very well for families.

[Mik68]

We are a family exactly the same as yourselves & have been researching for many months now on floor plans & we like the look of the Sunnybrook 2980 BH by Winnebago. It has a storage door on back side opposite to outdoor kitchen with a fourth bunk that folds up to make way for storage. 35 foot long. This is our favourite at the moment & from what I can gather Winnebago have a good name as does Sunnybrook.

[jalichty]

I pull double and would second Curtisfamily above, if you can pull double. That way, when you want to take the ATVs somewhere else, you don't have to break camp to take them elsewhere. Are you sure you can't double tow in Oregon? I believe that a large number of states allow double-towing but with lengths restricted and also needing brakes on each of the towed trailers. Some also restrict double-towing to only with fifth-wheel trailers. Here in Wyoming, we can double tow up to, I think, 75' as long as all the towed vehicles have brakes.

[JCasper]

Today I looked at a Cyclone 3100 that we really liked but damn it was expensive.

We then went and looked at a Cougar SRX Fifth wheel toy hauler, doesn't have near the features of the Cyclone, but 25K cheaper.

We also looked at a used Komfort bunkhouse and one other that wasn't too bad, I think it was a heartland Gateway.

the price of these is pretty steap. I'm hoping to get in to something around the $40-45,000 price range which rules out the cyclone.

[texasclarks]

I am in a very similar boat. We want a 5'er but are trying to determine between a bunk house and a toy hauler. The toy hauler would be nice in some aspects with the option to make it a raised deck or turn it into an enclosed room with the pull down screen door.

I only have two kids - girl 11 & boy 6, but they are quickly outgrowing our current TT.

[lenr]

Check out the really nice bike rack on the back Palomino Sabre fifth wheels.

[tnclays]

jmtandem wrote:
For the bicycles you can get a Yakima or Thule rack for the top of your truck's roof. It will not interere with the hitch or the fifth wheel. Firewood and a propane tank can usually fit around the hitch. Your bbq smoker and dog crate might be an issue but I would not get a toyhauler for only bicycles and firewood unless you just want a toyhauler. Then the decision is made.

Another option is to get a large 30-34 foot travel trailer bunkhouse model and still have the truck's bed for all the stuff. There are also many bumper pull toy haulers that would still give you the use of your truck bed if that is an option. One thing to think about with a toyhauler is that in some cases the beds for the kids would also occupy the space for the bikes and other stuff.

x2 on the Yakima truck roof top bike rack--I carry 3 bikes up there, then squeeze the two more we need in the truck bed up against the cab. I also have a 2" receiver welded to the frame with a hanging bike rack--but try to carry no more than one bike there as that place takes a beating on the road. We have twin 11-year old daughters and a 12-year old son. Our 32' Rockwood 8281SS (now WS on newer models) continues to be a good floor plan for us. The girls use the bunkhouse room that also has a 1/2 bath; and our son bunks on the dinette bed. Don't know how big the dog is, but we found a collapsible crate made by Pet Gear that is a breeze to set up and collapse and slides under the dinette table for travel. Just completed 4 years with our fiver, and travelled Florida to Massachusetts with minimal issues. We have a great local dealer for any service we've needed.

Good luck with your search.

[CurtisFamily]

JCasper wrote:
I'm looking for other peoples opinions of bunk houses vs. Toy Haulers. I have 3 girls that are 12, 7 and 4.

Wow, our girls are the exact same age as your's. Talk about DRAMA!

If you're not hauling ATV's, and don't need the fueling station, I wouldn't go with a toy hauler. You can get a generator prep in a fifth wheel as well, or we'll go with a Honda with a remote start in the bed of our truck.

Since we had a receiver on the rear of our last Jayco, I used a Thule bike rack for the pedal bikes. Canoe went on top of the Suburban.

With a rear receiver and different racks available for the truck, you have a lot of options beyond putting stuff inside the fifth wheel.

[JCasper]

donn0128 wrote:
Since your a local, go to Apache Camping Center and look at the Northwood line of products. You get far more bang for the buck that you will get from the mass produced offerings your considering. Plus it is Oregon made and has far better quality than either of those.
Arctic Fox is their top of the line. Nice thing is they do not use Lippert frames.

yes, but every time I look they are limited in bunk house stuff. I'll look again.

[JCasper]

jmtandem wrote:
For the bicycles you can get a Yakima or Thule rack for the top of your truck's roof. It will not interere with the hitch or the fifth wheel. Firewood and a propane tank can usually fit around the hitch. Your bbq smoker and dog crate might be an issue but I would not get a toyhauler for only bicycles and firewood unless you just want a toyhauler. Then the decision is made.

Another option is to get a large 30-34 foot travel trailer bunkhouse model and still have the truck's bed for all the stuff. There are also many bumper pull toy haulers that would still give you the use of your truck bed if that is an option. One thing to think about with a toyhauler is that in some cases the beds for the kids would also occupy the space for the bikes and other stuff.

The bikes and the dog are the hardest to deal with. The dog could ride in the fifth wheel if necessary. The bikes can go on the back of the fifth wheel also. There's lots of ways to make it all work.

The only other thing a toyhauler has is the on board generator. I think I can solve that with a pair of honda 2000

[donn0128]

Since your a local, go to Apache Camping Center and look at the Northwood line of products. You get far more bang for the buck that you will get from the mass produced offerings your considering. Plus it is Oregon made and has far better quality than either of those.
Arctic Fox is their top of the line. Nice thing is they do not use Lippert frames.

[jmtandem]

For the bicycles you can get a Yakima or Thule rack for the top of your truck's roof. It will not interere with the hitch or the fifth wheel. Firewood and a propane tank can usually fit around the hitch. Your bbq smoker and dog crate might be an issue but I would not get a toyhauler for only bicycles and firewood unless you just want a toyhauler. Then the decision is made.

Another option is to get a large 30-34 foot travel trailer bunkhouse model and still have the truck's bed for all the stuff. There are also many bumper pull toy haulers that would still give you the use of your truck bed if that is an option. One thing to think about with a toyhauler is that in some cases the beds for the kids would also occupy the space for the bikes and other stuff.

[JCasper]

CurtisFamily wrote:
We started with a Jayco Jayflight bumper pull back in 2003. When we got our first ATV, I would double pull with a tiny utility trailer, but when we added another ATV, I didn't want to attempt a larger second trailer. So, we went the toy hauler route. The issues we've had is the lack of room you gain with slides. And the big one, if we want to take the bikes to different locations, say when we're in Moab riding different trails, we have to break camp. I've decided to go with a fifth wheel and pull a utility trailer behind it. That way we have the second trailer, and won't need to break camp to ride different trails.

Since I plan on pulling double, we're going with the shorter bunkhouse, Jayco Eagle 30.5BHLT to save on weight. We like the horse shoe dinette too. And I really like the larger fresh water tank since we dry camp as much as we can. We loved our Jayco and can't wait to get another one.

you're lucky that you're allowed to double tow. I cannot do that in Oregon or I would.

That is one other great feature on the jayco, the larger water tank

[CurtisFamily]

We started with a Jayco Jayflight bumper pull back in 2003. When we got our first ATV, I would double pull with a tiny utility trailer, but when we added another ATV, I didn't want to attempt a larger second trailer. So, we went the toy hauler route. The issues we've had is the lack of room you gain with slides. And the big one, if we want to take the bikes to different locations, say when we're in Moab riding different trails, we have to break camp. I've decided to go with a fifth wheel and pull a utility trailer behind it. That way we have the second trailer, and won't need to break camp to ride different trails.

Since I plan on pulling double, we're going with the shorter bunkhouse, Jayco Eagle 30.5BHLT to save on weight. We like the horse shoe dinette too. And I really like the larger fresh water tank since we dry camp as much as we can. We loved our Jayco and can't wait to get another one.