BunkHouse RV's, why so many more TT, then Fifth wheels?

wrong thread. oops

gtsum wrote:
There are quite a few floorplans in a trailer that would work for you. You would need a bed slide (for the storage and dresser in the bedroom), and then maybe a rear lounge type layout. The issue of course will be TT length and weight...a bed slide layout is likely to be at least 35 ft long and weigh 7500lbs dry. Ie, a 1/2 ton truck is not going to do for a TT that long and maybe 8500-9000lbs rolling down the road.

While at the show yesterday, talking with a rep from the largest local dealer around here and we were talking weights, and lengths and differences between fifths and trailers. I told him I had a 2013 1500 and was selling it for a 2014 3500 because of my limited payload capacity....he went on to say my 1500 could tow the 34ft BH trailer we were standing in....it had a yellow sticker weight of 8260 I think. He said they use WD hitches and that "pretty much eliminated the tongue weight on my truck". I almost laughed out loud and proceeded to thank him and left. It is true...it seems they will tell you anything and everything to get a sale...sad state of affairs really

I feel like what we want could be done in 25’, 5000 pounds dry weight, and 7000 GVWR.

Our current 19-foot TT has the queen bed turned sideways in front and along the front wall is a dresser and built-in hamper. No bedroom slide. In ours, add a couple of feet to the kitchen area to make some more counter space and a pantry, put the dinette in a slide for a little more room and Bob’s your uncle. We don't need the rear lounge.

Problem is that you couldn’t also put in a sofa and an entertainment center in that length. I guess most people are content to do without a proper place to store clothes for a lengthy stay, so long as they can sit on the sofa and watch television. I don’t know what else to think.

I guess my priorities are out of whack, so far as the TT market is concerned.

Wayne

Empty Nest, Soon wrote:
It is tough finding a good floor plan when you don’t fit the niche that defines the highest volume market for your particular type of RV.

In our case, we’re a retired couple. We want to travel some. We like spending time in the mountains (National Forest) near here hiking, biking, and fishing. We want a nice kitchen, walk-around bed, bedroom dresser. Our wish list pretty much fits the bill for a fifth wheel. I can’t consider a fifth wheel because my bad back won’t stand the harsh ride from a HD truck, and besides I need the bed of the truck for lots of other things on a daily basis and cluttering it up with a hitch doesn’t work. And, I have a hard time with the alternative idea of buying a dedicated HD truck that would get used for nothing else but towing a fifth wheel.

I would love to keep it simple and find a new TT with more room without giving up some of the things that have made our current little TT so good.

The toughest thing to find in a TT has been bedroom dresser drawers. Our little 19-foot box has a dresser with 6 drawers across the front and a walk-around queen bed. That part is great. We refuse to give up drawers and live out of a suitcase.

It seems that when TT’s are made a little bigger the first thing to be added is a sofa, maybe some side chairs, too, and an entertainment center with maybe a fake fireplace. A couple of comfortable side chairs would be okay, but the rest of that stuff is of no value to us when camping. We go camping to get outdoors. Our evening entertainment is more likely to be sitting outside by a fire.

I don't know of even one half-ton towable TT with a few dresser drawers made today.

Since we cannot do a fifth wheel and it seems impossible to find a suitable TT floor plan, we may need to go to a Class A where we can at least have a little kitchen space and some drawers to put our clothes in.

This is frustrating.

Wayne

There are quite a few floorplans in a trailer that would work for you. You would need a bed slide (for the storage and dresser in the bedroom), and then maybe a rear lounge type layout. The issue of course will be TT length and weight...a bed slide layout is likely to be at least 35 ft long and weigh 7500lbs dry. Ie, a 1/2 ton truck is not going to do for a TT that long and maybe 8500-9000lbs rolling down the road.

While at the show yesterday, talking with a rep from the largest local dealer around here and we were talking weights, and lengths and differences between fifths and trailers. I told him I had a 2013 1500 and was selling it for a 2014 3500 because of my limited payload capacity....he went on to say my 1500 could tow the 34ft BH trailer we were standing in....it had a yellow sticker weight of 8260 I think. He said they use WD hitches and that "pretty much eliminated the tongue weight on my truck". I almost laughed out loud and proceeded to thank him and left. It is true...it seems they will tell you anything and everything to get a sale...sad state of affairs really

It is tough finding a good floor plan when you don’t fit the niche that defines the highest volume market for your particular type of RV.

In our case, we’re a retired couple. We want to travel some. We like spending time in the mountains (National Forest) near here hiking, biking, and fishing. We want a nice kitchen, walk-around bed, bedroom dresser. Our wish list pretty much fits the bill for a fifth wheel. I can’t consider a fifth wheel because my bad back won’t stand the harsh ride from a HD truck, and besides I need the bed of the truck for lots of other things on a daily basis and cluttering it up with a hitch doesn’t work. And, I have a hard time with the alternative idea of buying a dedicated HD truck that would get used for nothing else but towing a fifth wheel.

I would love to keep it simple and find a new TT with more room without giving up some of the things that have made our current little TT so good.

The toughest thing to find in a TT has been bedroom dresser drawers. Our little 19-foot box has a dresser with 6 drawers across the front and a walk-around queen bed. That part is great. We refuse to give up drawers and live out of a suitcase.

It seems that when TT’s are made a little bigger the first thing to be added is a sofa, maybe some side chairs, too, and an entertainment center with maybe a fake fireplace. A couple of comfortable side chairs would be okay, but the rest of that stuff is of no value to us when camping. We go camping to get outdoors. Our evening entertainment is more likely to be sitting outside by a fire.

I don't know of even one half-ton towable TT with a few dresser drawers made today.

Since we cannot do a fifth wheel and it seems impossible to find a suitable TT floor plan, we may need to go to a Class A where we can at least have a little kitchen space and some drawers to put our clothes in.

This is frustrating.

Wayne

Going through the same dilemma myself..started with travel trailer, then decided I wanted a BH fifth...We have a 3 and 6 year old, and the 6 year old will bring friends at times, so a BH is a must. All the fifths we like are 37-38ft. Tow vehicle is not an issue as I am trading in my 2013 Ram 1500 and ordering a 2014 Ram 3500 CTD SRW here in couple weeks (so I can leave my options open on campers, and I was bitten by inadequate payload with the 1500)....but the more I started looking at how much we would use the camper (maybe 2 weekends a month in the spring and summer, and then a larger trip in the summer), spending 50k on a fifth...when I can get very similar floor plans in a TT for 30k or less...its not making too much sense to me now. If I do go with a BH TT, it will dang sure be equipped with a ProPride hitch though...I will have more truck than trailer (a good thing), but the PP hitch just makes sense to have I guess

Jcasper, you probably know there's the big RV show coming up in March. Might be worth cruising thru. We went last year and it's an all day deal. http://www.expocenter.org/events/portland-metro-rv-dealers-presents-spring-rv-show-shows-1

We have 3 kids. BH was a must. I have plenty of TV for either one. We found a floorplan we liked and bought it. Just happened to be a TT. I would have loved to have the same layout in a 5er as mine is 38ft long. A 5er would have shortened that considerably.

Another factor is the tow vehicle. If you are looking for a bunkhouse, that typically means you have multiple children. Often, for a BH consumer, that can be 3 or more children. We have three kids - which means a BH. But, it also means an SUV or van as a TV (we do 5-6k miles per year, and won't do that with three in the back of a pick-up). We love FW's, and looked at them. But, for us, the determining factor was comfort of travel in the TV - which left us with a TT.

I've towed both a 31 foot TT and a 34 ft. 5ver. Properly set up, I prefer towing a TT. When we had our 5ver, it was a Cougar bunkhouse model. Our kids loved it b/c they had their own room with a door, storage, and t.v. The bunks were also oversized - important for older children.

5vers tend to be more expensive than TTs, and a bigger truck is usually needed. Growing families often can't afford this, IMHO.

No problem towing our 36' TT that weight 9k lbs with an Equalizer hitch. TV is a 2009 F-250 Crew Cab v-10.