Opinions wanted - 5th wheels suggestions

[wittmeba]

Posting in 5th wheels as this is where we have the most interest. Been away from this forum and Rving for about a year or so.

We are looking at some part time travel and need a new 5th wheel or TT. We were impressed with Heartland and Cedar Creek quality and looked pretty seriously at a couple of floor plans.

Our assessment at the time for quality was Heartland, Forest River and Jayco for the price range we are interested. We are considering 28-30 foot rear living 5th wheel and might consider a TT with the right floor plan.

We like the Rear living, center kitchen and front bedroom so you don't have to climb over guests to make morning coffee. I've always felt most traffic during the day is to the kitchen & bathroom 🙂

While looking we are seeing new names like Rockwood, ElkRidge and other new names to us. Who is building good quality rigs these days?

Reputable dealers within 200 miles of the Roanoke Va? Experience with RV Outlet in Ringgold Va?

Some considerations:
Elk Ridge
Rockwood
Cougar
Wildcat
Coachman

Suggestions?

[theczar]

Well we just purchased a Silverback yesterday. We bought at the Pomona RV show and the factory rep was there. My understanding is that both the CC and SB are built on the same line and have the same construction. the Gelcoat on these are the nicest I have seen other that the highest end coaches.

The real distinction that I could tell is there are more features / Options available on CC that are not available on the SB. The CC also appears to be marketed as a higher end unit and it is nicer on the inside.

The other item to note is the CC's seem to be longer that the SB's. Size was an important factor in our decision and all the CCs were too big for us. Another item to note, I took a tape measure to our model and the exterior length was right on with the published specs. This is NOT true for most trailers out there.

[ours]

Can anyone help me with the Silverback cedar creek or just the regular cedar creek. We now use our TT and want to move up to a 5th. Learned that CC is about the best for the money and are stuck between the two. Not sure which would be the best and last with little repairs.
Thanks

[ReneeG]

Happy Kansan wrote:
We just purchased our first 5th wheel after years of small trailer towing. After looking at Cougars and Augusta Flex, Palomino and Evergreen, we landed on Grand Design Reflection and never looked back. We love our 337RLS. Perfect size, and has the bed slide that we wanted for ventilation. We have been very impressed with the quality construction of this camper. Very sturdy but not so heavy that a 3/4 ton diesel can't pull it. The floor plan is perfect, the details are perfect. The refrig, stove and fireplace are in the slide and it has worked flawlessly.

I've seen a couple of comments here on a 3/4 ton easily pulling these units but not the Heartland Bighorn's. This all depends on the year of the 3/4 ton and the model of Bighorn. We have a 2011 3055RL Bighorn, dry weight of 11,028 and fully loaded of about 14K. We could not tow it "easily" with the 1999 3/4 ton PU we had. The GD Reflection noted here is a GVWR of 13,995. With that same PU/TV, we would not be able to tow the Reflection. The GD's seem comparable in weight to the Bighorn's. We currently tow our Bighorn with a 2011 F350 DRW Diesel.

[bobx2]

2hams wrote:
We went to the RV show in Raleigh last fall, then visited RV Outlet near Danville. It was a good place to look at lots of rigs. The Heartland were too long/heavy, as were the Montana, although the Montana High Country was our second choice and we did get a quote from them. We also looked at a couple of rigs at RB Taylor while we were visiting in Lynchburg. We eliminated the Silverback because we have to access the fridge with slides in to load/unload.

Once we found Grand Design we knew it was the length, weight, and floorplan that was perfect. We were concerned that it was a new company, but got excellent responses from the product line manager. We also looked at the owners forum.

We are very happy with Southern RV in Richmond. We looked at an Open Range there, and bought our Reflection from them. We only managed to get to one of their monthly campouts this year.

It appears a lot of people may be missing the boat with Heartland. The Big Country and Big Horn series are not the only ones out there. They are the big boys, and get the most attention, but there is also the Sundance series, as well as the Sundance XLT series, which are much more 3/4 ton TV friendly. The SD 3270RES sound like it fits the description of what the OP is looking for. Just throwing it out there. I really don't care what brand of RV someone buys. Just pointing to more options to look at.

Sundance 3270RES

[C-Bears]

AlmostBoatless wrote:
Interesting thread, thanks! We are looking for our first fiver.

Any Open Range owners would love to hear about any QC issues. A tech here in the northeast commented, 'don't buy one' and we stopped looking but maybe we should have researched further.

Any issues with the refrig in the slide? For some reason, this has bothered me and we stopped looking at units with refrig in the slide. Any thoughts and advice on this would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I haven't had a fiver that the frig wasn't in a slide. In the one we have now even a side-by-side washer/dryer is in a slide and never any issues.

[Happy_Kansan]

We just purchased our first 5th wheel after years of small trailer towing. After looking at Cougars and Augusta Flex, Palomino and Evergreen, we landed on Grand Design Reflection and never looked back. We love our 337RLS. Perfect size, and has the bed slide that we wanted for ventilation. We have been very impressed with the quality construction of this camper. Very sturdy but not so heavy that a 3/4 ton diesel can't pull it. The floor plan is perfect, the details are perfect. The refrig, stove and fireplace are in the slide and it has worked flawlessly.

[AlmostBoatless]

Interesting thread, thanks! We are looking for our first fiver.

Any Open Range owners would love to hear about any QC issues. A tech here in the northeast commented, 'don't buy one' and we stopped looking but maybe we should have researched further.

Any issues with the refrig in the slide? For some reason, this has bothered me and we stopped looking at units with refrig in the slide. Any thoughts and advice on this would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[ken_burke]

wittmeba wrote:
Posting in 5th wheels as this is where we have the most interest. Been away from this forum and Rving for about a year or so.

We are looking at some part time travel and need a new 5th wheel or TT. We were impressed with Heartland and Cedar Creek quality and looked pretty seriously at a couple of floor plans.

Our assessment at the time for quality was Heartland, Forest River and Jayco for the price range we are interested. We are considering 28-30 foot rear living 5th wheel and might consider a TT with the right floor plan.

We like the Rear living, center kitchen and front bedroom so you don't have to climb over guests to make morning coffee. I've always felt most traffic during the day is to the kitchen & bathroom 🙂

While looking we are seeing new names like Rockwood, ElkRidge and other new names to us. Who is building good quality rigs these days?

Reputable dealers within 200 miles of the Roanoke Va? Experience with RV Outlet in Ringgold Va?

Some considerations:
Elk Ridge
Rockwood
Cougar
Wildcat
Coachman

Suggestions?

We really like our Cedar Creek. Built well and priced fairly. Forest River makes very good trailers. The Silverback appears to be an excellent 5th wheel.
The most important factors would be a floor plan you like and the dealer where you bought the trailer. You want a dealer to help you with future problems. If you get a responsible dealer, you will love your trailer.
ken

[2hams]

We went to the RV show in Raleigh last fall, then visited RV Outlet near Danville. It was a good place to look at lots of rigs. The Heartland were too long/heavy, as were the Montana, although the Montana High Country was our second choice and we did get a quote from them. We also looked at a couple of rigs at RB Taylor while we were visiting in Lynchburg. We eliminated the Silverback because we have to access the fridge with slides in to load/unload.

Once we found Grand Design we knew it was the length, weight, and floorplan that was perfect. We were concerned that it was a new company, but got excellent responses from the product line manager. We also looked at the owners forum.

We are very happy with Southern RV in Richmond. We looked at an Open Range there, and bought our Reflection from them. We only managed to get to one of their monthly campouts this year.

[wittmeba]

Thanks to everyone for your input.

I used to feel pretty good about our knowledge of good quality rigs in the middle range of price and size. But now there are many new names, business bought out by others, etc and I'm not as comfortable. Fit and finish is visible, structural - you have to rely on their reputation of most. This is where new names/brands concern me.

I remember many of the horror stories of Lippert Frames issues. Don't know if they exist now or not. RV Salesmen have not changed 🙂

Open Range - we lost our local Open Range Dealer - Snyder's RV in Salem Va - they changed brands carried. Not sure why. We visited a few days back and the office door was locked but service was open. They seem to be focused on Motor Homes. Never saw a salesman so we left.

Cedar Creek/SilverBack have always been high on our list. We will revisit. The 29RE could be perfect. The Wildcat still draws our attention.

The Outback posted by DS is very much what we want. I'm not in favor of the Island Kitchen but mama is (gotta keep her happy). Minor changes we would like the bed to be part of the slide out for a little added space. We need to decide what is most important in floor plan and I want to keep the weight and length down.

2hams - who is your dealer?

Grand Designs looks great. This is a new name to use - who are they? What frames do they use?

Couple more questions.
- Any online price sheets for options
- Anyone use an RV Wholesaler

Anyone have experience with these RV supply locations?

- Bill Plemmons RV World, Rural Hall
6725 University Pkwy., Rural Hall, NC 27045, US (69.3 miles)

- Sonnys Camp N Travel of Concord, NC
304 Executive Park Drive, Concord, NC 28025, US (124.4 miles)

- Bill Plemmons RV World, Raleigh
4208 New Bern Ave., Raleigh, NC 27610, US (126.4 miles)

[mileshuff]

mslater wrote:
most of them have decent fit and finish , and use similar components the problems usually occur with the poorly built Lippert frames , chinese tires , Attwood ladders, junk beds and furniture .

I haven't heard much in the way of problems with Lippert frames in quite a few years. However, you will hear more issues with Lippert than others because of the simple fact they are on a far higher number of trailers on the road. I looked over the welds on my 2014 Winnebago with Lippert frame and was impressed. Excellent welds front to back. Very different than some I've seen from years past.

Nearly all major RV brands for low to mid levels seem to use chinese junk tires. I replaced mine with Ribs after just a few months.

I disagree that most have decent fit and finish. I saw major differences between the various manufactures. While certainly not as important as frames, suspension etc, I found the quality of interior components, trim and workmanship varied greatly.

[goducks10]

jnharley wrote:
Whatever brand you buy, look further than the pretty interiors. A good frame, solid suspension, and good tires are much more important to us. Then find the floor plan you like in the line you have chosen. Nowadays, they are all pretty inside. How many frame, tire, and susoension issues have you seen just on this forum.

That's why we went with a Northwood product. You almost never hear of a frame or suspension issue. When Northwood tried to enter the east coast market several years ago they were using Lippert frames. Typical frame issues popped up.

[neal10a]

jnharley wrote:
Whatever brand you buy, look further than the pretty interiors. A good frame, solid suspension, and good tires are much more important to us. Then find the floor plan you like in the line you have chosen. Nowadays, they are all pretty inside. How many frame, tire, and susoension issues have you seen just on this forum.

I agree, suspension is a place that many mfg skimp on because they put more effort in to glitz and things easily seem by the eye. Suspension components are where mfg's that are truly concerned about your welfare put their attention. frame, tires, wet bolts, capacity, hangers, pin box and all components are mostly the areas many mfg's skimp the most. Then if you want the best get independent suspension and disk breaks which is an option with some mfg's.
Every trailer I have looked at that provide a good over-suspension components, also provide good quality through-out the build. But not visa versa. However, they cost a little more, but safety and durability are the pay back.
BTY Lippert and Dexter do build good stuff, but they supply based on mfg specs so be ware--- look at the details.... If a mfg skimps on the specs Lippert and Dexter obliges by providing junk.

[mslater]

most of them have decent fit and finish , and use similar components the problems usually occur with the poorly built Lippert frames , chinese tires , Attwood ladders, junk beds and furniture .