Smaller Bunkhouse vs Larger Bunkhouse

[getpower89]

Hello all, 

I’ve been a member in the past but it looks like I haven’t logged in for a while and some changes happened around here. Even had to setup a new account to post. Maybe someone can give me some insight on that.

Ive been camping all of my life and now am married with two young boys. I didn’t get along well with camping in a tent and when I could I bought a truck camper and a dually to haul it with. Since then, I bought a new Ram 3500 srw truck in 2018, got rid of the camper and dually, got a travel trailer, we started having kids, then went to a 39 foot fifth wheel toy hauler with a garage and two drop down beds plus the master bedroom. 

We like the toy hauler and have used it a lot, but it’s just too huge and kind of a pain to move, but great when it’s at the spot and setup.  We are ready to move onto something else. We are starting to look at trailer options so we are ready to move on something after the fifth wheel sells. 

My wife likes the bunkhouse models with the bathroom access straight through the second door on the outside. But it’s not a deal breaker. I don’t have an opinion on that as much as I’d like to move to something smaller for access in camp sites, ease of towing (and I drive big trucks for work, so I can move trailers just fine), ease of putting it away, etc…

We are looking for something that will last quite a while this time. So the Northwood Nash trailers have stood out because of their pricing and build quality. Have also looked into Alliance, and Outdoors Rv. 

Between two trailers such as the Nash 29s and the 24b bunkhouse models, it seems that on the interior we are just losing a couch. But I was hoping people would have some insight as to being between two models similar to the ones I listed and what made the final decisions for you. 

In the end I feel as if we haven’t gone out and gotten away from the house as much as we could have because I didn’t want to deal with yanking out our huge trailer. So the idea of smaller sounds better to me, but I’m worried about going that much smaller, and not entirely sure why, or if that’s a real thing to be worried about. 

Comments, questions, other concerns???

[getpower89]

Thank you for the replies so far. I thought I posited a reply earlier today but this new website setup is a trip compared to how it used to be. 

As far as getting a fifth wheel again, it’s not something I’m interested in. Few reasons, I’ve had the same truck with the travel trailer and I really wouldn’t say that the fifth wheel tows that much different. Only thing I noticed was that expansion joints in the freeway aren’t felt for as long as they were with a travel trailer. But I also hadn’t really set up the weight distribution because the truck is so big. Another reason is that yes, we want to move away from a toy hauler and also want the bed space in the truck. It’ll open up camping more for us. The last reason is that I want to get away from the size.  There’s also some licensing stuff within my state that I don’t want to deal with because I have a CDL and not the right one for towing a fifth wheel. You can’t just upgrade the license a little bit and I need it for work so I don’t want to risk it anymore. Just want a shorter length so things are easier to use for us and we aren’t limited with our camp sites. 

Wife says that no couch wouldn’t be a deal breaker. I think I’d still like to have it, but it adds a few feet to the trailer in a length limit that may be right there in terms of accessing some places. 

[StirCrazy]

ya the truck bed space is useal the only reason not to go to a fith.  I had a 28 foot trailer before the 5th wheel and I could get into anywhere with that behind my short box f250 I had back then, funny thing is with the new long box f350 and a 40 foot 5th wheel Im only 5 feet longer when hooked up, but it is a bit hard to take in the bush hence I bought a truck camper for thoes trips.  

but ya I find that 28/29 foor size the biggest for still being able to go pretty much anywhere.  mine was a 2006 thor wave 28bhs, it had a slide that was only the size of the couch and only went out about 12"  on a trailer that size now days I would be looking for a full slide or two to open up more space.  

[bid_time]

I have a trailer very much similar to the 29S. For us, not having the couch would absolutely  be a deal breaker (been there, done that, got the T-Shirt to prove it). Ours is a 28 footer (we previously had a 25 footer), I don’t think you would find the extra footage of the 29B over the 24B to be any disadvantage; and will certainly be a lot easier than the 39 footer. We also have two outside entrance doors, one into the bathroom. We find we rarely use but at times it does come in handy, (a lot of times I don’t even but the steps down), we could take it or leave it, no real concern either way. 

[StirCrazy]

I would stay with a 5th wheel myself and just look for a 5th wheel bunk house.  one of the reasons you already know, they tow better, but the other is you can go a bit bigger and stay the same overall lenght, now if losing the toy haulter means you need the bed for hauling "toys" then I understand.  as for thoes two there is no question, not having the couch would be a deal breaker, but I don't like the open bunks so I wouldn't be interested in either myself.  every manufactur has "quality" brands and I found a lot of us are holding older brands that used to be high quality before they were sold to large companies, to still be that exact quality.  When I look for a new unit I look for layouts I like then I look at the quality of the little things, like the kitchen cabnets and drawers, the fit and finish and stuff like that.  with moderen materials the gap between high quality and mid has closed on the rv its self, I find now the difference is in the interior and finishing.