Possible to install W/D? Full timers. First RV.

[acemyers]

This is mine and my wife's first RV purchase. We haven't got one yet, but we have an eye on one right now. It's a 2011 Copper Canyon 314FWRLS 5th Wheel in case anyone needs to know. It doesn't have a washer dryer already nor does it have hookups installed. It has 3 slides. There isn't really a closet big enough for the w/d unit. We don't care if it's in the living room as long as we have one. However, we were told that it has to be fairly close to the toilet in order to install one. Is that a must? Or can it be in the bedroom or living room? We aren't set n stone about this purchase because of that reason. From reading all the reviews, it's a very good thing to have one. I'm in the military and we are saving a ton of money living out of an RV for the time that I'm in and it's just my wife and I; no kids. We are looking at 5 wheel only because of the great price for a much larger RV. Weight of the w/d doesn't matter. After 3-5 years of living RV style, I'm sure the laundromat isn't going to be pleasant. I'm open to any suggestions anyone may have. Even telling me that the RV of choice is crappy if you think so. Also, we were looking at years 2010-2012. We wanted a fairly new one, but not brand new as they depreciate as much as cars do. Would it hurt any to get a 2007-2009 for a bigger/better unit at around the same price as the 2011 we are looking at? Or stick with a newer one? Can't really get much bigger than 3 slides and still be at our price though, but I mean with 2-3 slides and a w/d unit. I do know how much the w/d units cost, so buying one is completely fine. Thanks in advance to everyone!

[The_Works]

I would keep looking for the best unit for your needs, don't compromise on anything, the right unit is out there. It took us 9 months to decide on the unit we have now and we still have it after 6 years. We have a portable cloths washer that connects to the kitchen sink and drains into the sink. Works good. We full time and camp in only full hookup campgrounds so sewage is no issue. We have a collapsible cloths hangar that the cloths hang on in the living room over night. Normally they are dry in the morning unless we are in a humid area. Look around for your unit but don't buy it at RV Solutions in Cheaspeake, Va, they have little support and no sympathy for you after the purchase.

[acemyers]

I think we decided we don't care to have a w/d unless they are separated or stackable. The combined w/d would just seem like a waste of space since I see more people saying they'd rather have the space of the one that is combined. I have heard about PPL in TX, but I don't see us taking a 20 hour trip to just go and check out an RV. Even worse, only to find out we still like the other one better we are looking at already. We also don't have a truck and would have to pay out of pocket for someone to tow it to us.

[kakampers]

trying to plumb a washer/dryer into a unit without hookups for it is gonna be a little iffy....I would suggest you find an older, more upper end fiver with the hookups already available. One, it will save you the install problems and two, a more upper end unit will hold up better under daily use.

You should be able to find something in your price range...try PPL motors in Houston, TX...Try This One

[acemyers]

You sure seem to think everything I'm doing is pretty stupid. Yet, if you would just read the entire article about what I've previously written, you might just have your questions answered for you and understand there's a reason.

acemyers wrote:
We are military as well and some parks only allow us to stay for 3 months then we have to leave for 1 day to 2 weeks at some places. Bouncing back and forth making reservations a lot.

Obviously it doesn't make sense does it? The campgrounds here only allow you to live there for 60 days at a time. Sometimes you can fill out extensions to stay longer, but sometimes they are full or on peak seasons you are required to move anyways. Or at least leave for 1 day (some are 2 weeks) then you can come back. So we have to hop to different campgrounds making reservations at them when we know we are going to have to move on a certain day.

[BarbaraOK]

acemyers wrote:
Yes, we have got firm quotes on it costing only $125. Yes again, it's only going to be moved at most 15 miles each time. So nothing surprising about that since we called to confirm.

If you are moving only 15 miles, why bother? That means in a year you would only move 60 miles? Seriously? Again, why bother moving?

Barb

[acemyers]

Yes, we have got firm quotes on it costing only $125. Yes again, it's only going to be moved at most 15 miles each time. So nothing surprising about that since we called to confirm.

[acemyers]

Park models are out of the question. The campgrounds here don't accept park models because they aren't self contained. Some of them you have to dump it yourself or pay $6 for someone else to dump it for you in the sewer every time. Sucks, because I just found one I liked with a w/d and lots of space, but the CG won't accept it. Ugh.

[BarbaraOK]

I missed your post saying you weren't getting a truck, just paying someone else to haul the trailer to the next place. Some of us actually enjoy the trip, sitting up in a Class A with a big panorama in front of us as we move down the road towards a new place to set for a while and explore an area before we move on again. We stay various lengths of time, including 3-4 months in the winter, and the MH does just fine, and it is DESIGNED to handle the load of the w/d along with having the proper plumbing and electrical in it. You really should look for units that have the plumbing/wiring already done - - most better ones now include the plumbing/wiring already in wether or not a unit is installed. That is a way to know that it can handled the w/d.

Have you got firm quotes on it only costing $125 to move from place to place - - because that isn't one tank of fuel, so either you are only moving 25 miles down the road, or you are really, really in for a great surprise.

Barb

[acemyers]

I'm currently looking for a park model right now to see if there is one available that has stackable w/d unit. Are there any makes/models that I should stay away from? How is Monte Carlo? Seems like there are many of them in park models than anything else I've seen.

[DianneOK]

I agree with the OP....a MOTORHOME would not be the best thing to have. MHs need to be used....why not buy a PARK MODEL instead? They can be moved and you plan on having someone haul it anyway. They have real toilets so you need not learn the RV sewage system ritual, etc......

[acemyers]

So tell me the benefit of having a motorhome when the engine is going to be sitting there for months at a time. I have looked enough to know what a motorhome is, but not when you say "MH" Yes, we totally "dismissed" "MH" because I don't want to have to rely on the engine to have a place to live. Excuse me for not knowing that MH = motorhome. Having a MH, to me, seems like a lot of extra problems and more possibilities of that many more things able to tear up.

[BarbaraOK]

acemyers wrote:
MH = Mobile Homes?

No, MH = Motorhomes, specifically Class A motorhomes.

I would say that you really haven't looked enough to see all of the different types of layouts and different configurations possible, especially since you seem to have totally dismissed motorhomes.

But it is your dollars, if you want to waste it, go ahead. I don't think you will be happy with the end result.

Barb

[acemyers]

That does sound like MH parks offer more hookups since it's more full-timers, but there aren't any MH parks nearby and the only one we've seen is about 30 miles away and it's 100% ghetto; bad neighborhood.

[hitchup]

acemyers: These are Mobile Home Parks that have many RV Sites for overnighters or for those who need to stay monthly like we do. They are in Travel Trailers or 5th wheels like us. Some of the MH Parks have much larger sites than some of the private RV Parks. We don't mind staying where we aren't always on top of the guy next to us.

I never looked at all of their setups. The W/D's can feed either into the sewer drop with a 3" hard pipe. We always hard pipe instead of using a sloppy slinky. The one soldier kept his in the cargo trailer and ran his drain hose into a Blue Tank on wheels that he later drained into the sewer on the other side of his TT.

DH would have offered to help him hard pipe, but we were heading out the next few days and didn't have time to help.

[acemyers]

The layout we are looking at has the bedroom slide and 2 slides in the living room. There's so much space and drawers and cabinets to put stuff. Other units with the w/d already were smaller or didn't have a bedroom slide so it was very tiny and even though it was good living space in the LR, there isn't as near as many storage compartments. Another thing is, when we see a smaller 2004 with a w/d and then we see our large 3 slide RV w/o a w/d and they are both priced at $20k, we tend to go towards the one that isn't 10 years old. Even if it was a couple thousands less, it just doesn't seem worth it to have that old of an RV with a w/d.