I'm on the dark path many others have followed........

[BradW]

Seriously considering buying a mid-size 5th wheel next year. Seems like we just brought our new Lance home (in 1996) and its just barely getting broken in, but we are considering going semi-fulltime next year and 5th wheels are looking better and better.

Brad

[3_tons]

BradW wrote:
Seriously considering buying a mid-size 5th wheel next year. Seems like we just brought our new Lance home (in 1996) and its just barely getting broken in, but we are considering going semi-fulltime next year and 5th wheels are looking better and better.

Brad

Please, say it ain't so!!

[ReneeG]

The Mad Norsky wrote:
The problem you're gonna have is finding a fifth wheel with the same quality and dependability as your Lance camper you have now.

As others have already stated, I also urge keeping the Lance.

There was a poster here on the forum, way back now, believe he used the user name "Wheeler". Anyway, he modified I believe an Alpenlite fifth wheel and some of his photos/posts showed what one can accomplish, off road and off grid, with a fifth wheel.

So it is really just limited to your own imagination, but I fully believe a fifth wheel is capable of handling more than just paved roads. Mind you, the caveat here is of course speed off pavement will be greatly reduced.

Best of luck in your searches.

We boondocks on back roads. Not rough ones, but backroads.

[Reddog1]

BradW wrote:

Reddog1 wrote:
Oh no, not you brad. LOL How you gonna tow the Jeep?

Well, that is the problem and it's going to make things more complicated. When we go out west for 2 or 3 months, we will leave the offroad jeep home and take the stock Rubicon and tow our 16' jon boat behind it.

When we take the offroad jeep, we are usually just going for one day or we are going to places that rent cabins (like Harlan, Ky).

When you come out, let me know. I have plenty of room, and pretty well situated for a jump off point for sites. I could easily provide you a agenda for two months of sites within three hours drive. The Rubicon is less than a two hour drive.

[The_Mad_Norsky]

The problem you're gonna have is finding a fifth wheel with the same quality and dependability as your Lance camper you have now.

As others have already stated, I also urge keeping the Lance.

There was a poster here on the forum, way back now, believe he used the user name "Wheeler". Anyway, he modified I believe an Alpenlite fifth wheel and some of his photos/posts showed what one can accomplish, off road and off grid, with a fifth wheel.

So it is really just limited to your own imagination, but I fully believe a fifth wheel is capable of handling more than just paved roads. Mind you, the caveat here is of course speed off pavement will be greatly reduced.

Best of luck in your searches.

[DutchmenSport]

Kind of hard to loose an old faithful friend. As stated above, keep your Lance. No doubt, it's paid for. If you have somewhere to store it when not in use, and it costs no money, it would be well worth it to keep it. So you take off with the 5er half-time. Come home, get the Lance, park the 5er and go the other half! 🙂

[VTLee]

By all means keep the lance. We bought a fifth wheel and kept our TC and we are really glad that we did. The 5er is good if you are going somewhere and staying there but for traveling around it is a real PITA. It is good to have all your stuff with you too and not have to worry about packing things when you leave the campground for a day trip.

[BradW]

Grodyman wrote:
I would keep the Lance just in case....Good luck.

Yep, we are thinking about that.....but my yard is going to look like a used RV/Jeep/Truck/Tractor car lot.........

[BradW]

Reddog1 wrote:
Oh no, not you brad. LOL How you gonna tow the Jeep?

Well, that is the problem and it's going to make things more complicated. When we go out west for 2 or 3 months, we will leave the offroad jeep home and take the stock Rubicon and tow our 16' jon boat behind it.

When we take the offroad jeep, we are usually just going for one day or we are going to places that rent cabins (like Harlan, Ky).

[JoeChiOhki]

I've currently got three, one fifth wheel we use basically as a mobile home, and two truck campers.

Never hurts to have two, use the trailer for the full-timing and when you're staying closer to home, or want to tow something behind you, use the camper :).

[silversand]

....heck, I've seen 5th wheels boondocking perfectly well off the 313, in the back country just north of Moab (and, in many other remote locales).

When you think about it, there are quite a few shorty 5th wheels out there (some with full-wide rear panoramic windows), with combined length about the same as a Lance 1130 (or, equivalent) with toy trailer towable. If you play your cards right, you could even find some shorty 5th toy-hauler with beefed-up suspension and BFG TA/Ko's & 4-way pivoting head hitch (for tilted hook-up) you could put all your stuff in, and still be as long (or, a bit shorter) than a full-sized truck camper pulling a toy-hauler trailer with extension hitch.

Anyhow, how long would it take to disconnect a 5th, and be off 4-wheeling with the pickup? I'll bet it takes less time to unload/lock a 5th to the pick-up than dropping/reloading a truck camper (!).

...OK, ya'all can kill me now...

On edit: accessing back country with truck camper is in a nested scale like this: a pop-up 4-Wheel camper with no roof-top stuff can access almost anything a bare pick-up can; a narrow-frame hard-side without roof-top stuff can access less back country; a full-sized truck camper with a bunch of stuff on the roof can access way less back country than the two previous truck camper profiles; a 5th wheel (a shorty) can probably access as many back country areas as a 1130 truck camper towing a toy hauler trailer...

[joe_b_]

Having both works well for us. Our TC is our traveling machine, if we are going to be on the move most days, such as our trips to Alaska. If we are going to stop for several days or weeks, especially if our young grandsons go with us, then we take the 31 ft bunk room 5th wheel. The 5th wheel seldom gets out of SE US, as the summers we spend in Colorado, we will normally tow our Jeep behind our TC. We use the same truck for both rigs. Currently we have the TC on the truck as we plan to run over to South Texas for a couple of weeks, once the weather cools off a bit. Then the 5th wheel hitch will go back in the truck for a ten day Christmas time stay at Disney World with our daughters and their families.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

I think if we had been inclined to sit in one place longer, we might have kept our 28' 5er? It was perfect for us, like a small apartment when set up (we could exercise the dogs by playing "fetch") - but we HATED dragging that thing around. Parking was always an issue. Getting in and out of a campsite. Getting fuel. Granted, all these things can be overcome and people routinely haul MUCH bigger 5ers, but on our recent TC sightseeing tour of the Pacific NW, we were just giggling about being able to get fuel ANYWHERE; deciding to eat at some little hole-in-the-wall restaurant; not being worried about the width or the overhead branches of some twisty, scenic road...

Our daughter who lives in Portland took us to some wonderful places - each one had us saying "thank God we're not in a full-size RV".

But again - if we were planning on sitting in one place for a week or so, the TC would start feeling mighty small.....

[Grodyman]

I would keep the Lance just in case....Good luck.

Gman

[ReneeG]

Fifth Wheel owner here - our plan is to get a pickup camper, with three slides, when we feel we either can't handle the fifth wheel or don't want to anymore.

[jimh406]

I know what you mean. We are trying to hold out since even our last trip was so much easier than it would have been with a 5th wheel.