Why to Go to Class A from 5th Wheel Part 2

dahkota wrote:
We went from a diesel F250 pulling a trailer to a Bounder 33C pulling a jeep.

The road and engine noise is similar is both. When one is going uphill and the engine downshifts, either is pretty loud. The F250 had more power, but it wasn't pulling as much weight. The F250 got better mileage, but the fuel was more expensive. And, with the Jeep, we get better mileage and much easier parking once we get where we are going.

We went to a class A because it was more convenient. We can unhook the toad any time we want and go looking around an area without having to find a campground. Unless one finds a convenient place that allows one to leave an unhooked tt/5er, it can't be done. We are also a couple feet shorter when hooked up but, if necessary, we can unhook to become shorter which makes it much easier to get around. We often stay in areas where the recommendation is nothing longer than 35'. Sometimes there just isn't room to maneuver 54' but there is to maneuver 34'.

One poster mentioned not enough payload. In our 33C, we have 3500 lbs of payload. We haven't even come close to that yet and we full time.

It was also mentioned that the gas engines are noisy but we haven't really seen that - we previously had a diesel so that may be why. We looked at DPs but one of the things I found really annoying was the loud generator. They sit up front and, when one is parked and using the generator, make conversation difficult. The generator in a gas A is in the rear - we can close the bedroom door and don't hear it hardly at all.

I'm not sure how passengers in a truck would easily go to the bathroom while moving, unless you keep them in the 5er? But, even with a class A, you have to pull over if the driver has to go.

We have a little less storage inside our Class A than we did in our tt (there is no cabinet big enough to hold my crock pot and giant frying pan). But, we have about 4X the storage outside, and it is much easier to get to. Instead of 2 doors we now have 8. We also have a lot more room for batteries for our solar power system.

The front windshield is nice - we can pull into a site with a nice view in the back (such as Bahia Honda) or back into a site with a nice view in front. With a tt/5er, one doesn't have a choice. But, the front windshield does make the rig hotter when driving into the sun. The a/c and fans do an adequate job keeping up on really hot drives.

As for setting up: we can pull over in a fairly flat spot, turn on the generator to watch a little tv or use the microwave, eat, sleep, whatever, without having to level, move the slides out, hook up, or leave the rv at all. And we have done just that during huge downpours or just because we felt like it.

Class A motorhomes are more centered around moving and less around stopping. TTs/5ers are better when stopping and less when moving. It really depends on how you travel. Neither is better than the other but you will find one will be better for you.

I was the one that posted about the gas MH. We needed to be able to tow our Tahoe to fit all 5 - 6 people and gear in for side trips. No gas MH can do that except a very few Class C units. But with the Class C units you have major issues with GVWR and GAWR. Our unit had ~1800# of gross CCC not including water! Add water, additional fuel, people and now you are stuck with closer to ~500# of payload. You need to be very careful not to overload any part of the unit or poor handling can result.