My Wife dropped a bomb on me.

[grizz272]

We have been camping for over 20 yrs. My wife has never had a interest in a fifth wheel or snow birding. Now how ever I am retiring in less than a year and she brings up fifthwheels and snow birding. So in a year or two it looks like this is going to happen. Right now I have a 2014 2500 HD Duramax short box 4x4. My questions are.
1 What is a comfortable size fithwheel to live in for 3-4 months?
2. What kind of safe for papers valuables?
3. What kind of parking fees in Texas, Louisiana am I looking at?
4. Anything else I should look at, at this stage of the game?

[Shepherd]

Just search the area's you are planning to visit. As for fifthwheel size it's to each it's own.:C

[tsetsaf]

There are some smaller manufacturers putting out very nice, lightweight, and large units. We just bought a Hi line inc Premier Elite. I have now been over, under, and inside of this thing and can tell you for certain it is a well made unit that makes our previous Keystone look amateurish. It is 44' long with 4 slides and just under 500 sqft of space... gvwr 15k. As for your truck you can pull anything problem is you can not put a lot of weight in your bed (payload). Look up your gross combined weight rating and your gvwr. Then take your truck down to the scales and find out how much it weighs. When we went fulltime a neighbor who had experience told us this " buy the biggest thing you can safely tow and afford. In that order".

[Golden_HVAC]

You might also want to check into the Escapees.com Club. While they are mostly targeting full timers, they are willing to accept vacationers and part timers too.

I would be looking at Montana, Grand Teton, and other larger fifth wheels. The problem is the short box and 2500 series.

There are fifth wheel hitches that will automatically slide forward when you make a turn over about 25 degrees. This will keep the front of the fifth wheel from joining you in the cab through the back window.

If you do pick out a really heavy fifth wheel, you might be also picking out a dually truck. So keep that in mind. You might start out with a fifth wheel that is in the 30 - 34' range, then move up later with a dually truck. But you might find with dual slide outs, that there will be plenty of room for two in a 34' fifth wheel, and you can watch the front end weight to reduce the pin weight, and keep using the 2500 truck for a while.

To bad that the Titanium is still not being made, it has a well balanced fifth wheel, and does not have a super high hitch weight. They sell a 34 - 36' with only a 1,800 pound pin weight, in part because the fresh water tank is near the trailer axles.

You might check RvSearch.com and look for Glendale RV or Titanium fifth wheels, and see if one is for sale in your area. Take a look at one, it will work well with your truck.

Fred.

[jalichty]

Make sure you get something with a couple of slides, at least one big slide in the living area and one, wardrobe or bed, in the bedroom. Some trailers in the 30-32 foot range, overall length, are pretty roomy and comfortable. We have a Jayco Eagle HT 26.5 RLS that is almost 30' long and is very comfortable when we camp for a week to eight days but have not yet done the two to three month deal. One couple on the Jayco Owners web site said they spent almost three months in Florida in a 23.5 with is about 26' long. Said they enjoyed it very much. Jayco has some touring models that have a pretty large fresh water capacity and fit in the 30-32 foot range. As do a number of other manufacturers.

[Veebyes]

Depends on what your needs are. Like SPs & NPs? Then you had better stay under the mid 30s in LOA. Plan to have most meals 'at home'? Then you need something with lots of galley space. Want to get out & do things like bluegrass festivals the Oskosh Air Show or Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta? Then you need something with more than a piddly 60gal water capacity it you want to live comphy.

Make the list of needs. Start with a bunch of floorplans that you like & start eliminating.

The galley space & water capacity cuts a bunch from the herd right away. We would settle for nothing less than 100gal fresh water & nothing over 36' pin to bumper. We were down to less than 4 models in no time at all.

[grizz272]

I have a safe at home. I was thinking about in the trailer. What sucks we just bought a new 25ft tow behind last year. I mentioned the fifth wheel then but no interest at all. I was thinking about a 30fter and Keystone is on the list. Just curious what others have and how they like them.

[edbehnke]

just do it. I'd recommend a 5th wheel. keystone has lots of models....just pick one you like. I'd suggest you get a used 5th wheel for your first trailer. get one with a fireplace, nice when the cool nights are there.

your truck can pull just about anything.

[n7bsn]

It really does depend on your expectations and requirements.
An old buddy full-timed in a Scamp 13 ft trailer, just he and his pet rat.
I know one couple that full-timed in an Arctic Fox 24-5N. Which is a bit over 25 ft long.
A (former) co-worker full-times in a 40 ft motor-home, that tows a hard-side cargo trailer that carries his shop and their SmartKar/
An old friend was telling me about someone in their snow-bird park. They had two trailers, one 38 ft one they lived in and a 25 ft "office" he ran his business out of.

[TucsonJim]

We're kind of in the same boat. I just retired in January, and we're going to hit the road for 4-5 months a year starting in June. We just bought this fiver and so far, we're very impressed with it:

Grand Design Reflection

As for safekeeping important papers and valuables are you talking about home or on the road? For the house, we had a Liberty safe delivered this week to protect important items from fire and theft. It's expensive, but gives me good piece of mind.

I have no clue about camping/parking fees in your area, but I'm sure somebody on here will have some ideas.