Front Living Rooms... yea or nay?

[Napria]

We are REALLY close to purchasing a Montana 3850FL.

We had a bunkhouse for the past nine years and this Montana seems to be a good transition for us. The teenage kids would use the opposing pullout couches as beds and we would not be stuck with a true bunkhouse when they no longer camp with us. I especially like how this particular model's front living room is more closed off to further give them a sense of their own room.

So if you have or have had a front living room fifth wheel, would you give me your thoughts, please?

[pigdoc]

We really liked the second outside door entrance, at the back of the 5er. Great for folks like us traveling with dogs. But the FL models we saw had a lot less storage space under the front. So we stuck with the bedroom in the front.

[2008Wildcat]

I haven't seen the Grand Design Solitude 379FL mentioned here either.

5 slides, 42 feet overall and 430 square feet of living space. 16,000lbs GVW

(RVIA limits an "RV" to 430 square feet of living space)

King bed option, self leveling, sleeps up to 6 easily.

[liske]

Kind of a sidequestion, but do any fleetwood 5th owners know what the up-down switch is near the sink? We just bought an 06 365BSQS

[spindrift]

Nutinelse2do wrote:

dbbls wrote:
I have never seen a front LR with two recliners and viewing the TV straight on. A must for us.

X2. Have bad necks already and TV has to be across from the recliners. Also, the models that have the TV across on the FL have a queen bed, no option of a king, which is another must have. Love the rear bedroom and " mud room " in the FL layout though.

I believe I've said this before...Redwood provides everything you've said isn't available.

[Nutinelse2do]

dbbls wrote:
I have never seen a front LR with two recliners and viewing the TV straight on. A must for us.

X2. Have bad necks already and TV has to be across from the recliners. Also, the models that have the TV across on the FL have a queen bed, no option of a king, which is another must have. Love the rear bedroom and " mud room " in the FL layout though.

[spindrift]

Congratulations!!

[Napria]

Well we bought the front living room. I'll tell you how we like it after we camp in it. One of my favorite things is the back door, off the back of the kitchen and just outside the bedroom door:


P3220303 by napria, on Flickr

[Rancher_Will]

Our Monty 3750FL is our 5th RV. It is the first FL that we have owned. We like it the best of the five.

There was more to our selection than just the Front Livingroom. We like the overall floor plan. The two entrance/exit doors are handy to make convenient traffic without interupting other activities. The five slides give much greater space in the portion of the RV where it is an advantage. For example, when we have guests the expanded Front room is more pleasant for convesations, etc.

The three steps into the front room are no more than the three steps entering the RV from outside, so that is not important. The furniture in the front room permits direct watching the TV and fireplace for pleasure. The front room keeps guests out of th way of the cook in the kitchcen while still engaging everyone in converstions.

Our Monty is properly built so that the weight is balanced. There is no more relative weight on the hitch than with our previous RVS. In fact the monty, at 40 ft length is overal ligher than our previous JayCo that was 8 feet shorter.

We like the floor plan that permits us to use either one or both Air Conditioners as desired with sections of the RV all open or partially closed off. The floor plan with our Monty also permits us to better regulate the heat, by sections, days and nights, when we camp in the winter at zero temperatures.

Get the RV that has the floor plan that you prefer, Front LR or other.

[Napria]

I had no idea this would be a topic that so many people had enough of an opinion on to make the thread 6 pages!

Thanks for all the replies!

[IRingTwyce]

It's an '04 Terry (Fleetwood) Quantum AX6 (365FLTS). Honestly, I feel more like I'm living in a 1-bedroom apartment than in a fifth wheel.

[spindrift]

IRingTwyce wrote:
Guess I'll throw in my $0.02. I just moved from a RK to a FL. The stairs aren't an issue for me. Same number in either trailer. Three. No big deal. As for storage, my FL has a huge basement in front. Much more storage than my old RK had. Plus I've got a full width closet in the bedroom, and both the bed and closet have outside storage access.

The big seller for me was head-room. I'm right at six foot. My old RK had low headroom in the front bedroom. I would have to get dressed in the bathroom, since I could actually stand fully upright in there. The FL has NO issues in that regard. There's a couple of inches of headroom in the LR, and once you step down into the kitchen, you can't even touch the ceiling until clear at the back by the closet.

Caveat: I live part-time in my 5'er due to work. So the layout works really well for me and I enjoy it. Views aren't a consideration. Were I camping in it, it's a 50/50 bet whether I would have gone FL or RL.

Interesting. What make and model?

[IRingTwyce]

Guess I'll throw in my $0.02. I just moved from a RK to a FL. The stairs aren't an issue for me. Same number in either trailer. Three. No big deal. As for storage, my FL has a huge basement in front. Much more storage than my old RK had. Plus I've got a full width closet in the bedroom, and both the bed and closet have outside storage access.

The big seller for me was head-room. I'm right at six foot. My old RK had low headroom in the front bedroom. I would have to get dressed in the bathroom, since I could actually stand fully upright in there. The FL has NO issues in that regard. There's a couple of inches of headroom in the LR, and once you step down into the kitchen, you can't even touch the ceiling until clear at the back by the closet.

Caveat: I live part-time in my 5'er due to work. So the layout works really well for me and I enjoy it. Views aren't a consideration. Were I camping in it, it's a 50/50 bet whether I would have gone FL or RL.

[SpoiledRotten]

donn0128 wrote:
Up and down a lot of stairs between the kitchen and living room and bathroom.

3 stairs? 😄

I do like the view from the upstairs living room, but then I don't like the downstairs bedroom, so we went with the upstairs BR and kept our LR down. We still have to travel up and down the stairs to get to the bathroom. 😉

We also love the huge back window for viewing.

[FlatBroke]

jamestn wrote:
We purchased the front living 2014 rushmore lincoln last year. We really like this unit. Our unit does have steps to the living and to the bedroom giving storage under living and bedroom. They have just actually changed the floor plan and removed the steps to the bedroom but now there is no storage under bedroom. I traded a cedar creek for this unit. We really liked the cedar creek but like the rushmore lincoln more. There is 2 sofa's in the living room. One sofa faces the tv and fireplace. This unit actually has a front windshield to look out. Again, everyone has their favorite RV and this unit meets everything we were looking for. picture

Very interesting floor plan and design. Glad to see some refreshing new ideas.