trailer/5th wheel/motorhome

[mrbillr]

Brand new here, and here is a Hello!<br /><br />I have been toying the idea to get an RV. What do I get and why?<br /><br />5th wheel - I originally thought, a 5th wheel. Then I could keep upgrading the truck as the years go by and still have the RV.&nbsp; And still have a vehicle available to drive around once camp is set up.<br /><br />motorhome - i kind of nixed this one because I tend to hang onto stuff a long time.&nbsp; If the motor or tranny goes out then the whole RV is scrap price.&nbsp; However, wife and others and&nbsp;animals could all spread out while traveling down the road.&nbsp; A car would have to be towed along to be able to scoot into town.<br /><br />trailer - i am not too keen on these simply because that makes your rig so much longer<br /><br />But then I got to second guessing my decision. Going down the road, my wife, dogs&nbsp;and everybody else would be riding in the truck.&nbsp; Dogs, etc. would be in the truck.<br /><br />What feedback do you guys have?

 

[cyndi]

Mr. Bill, whem i was shopping I looked at everything, just in case there was a deal I couldn't turn down. I had my list of priorities and looked at all models that fit: vans, fivers, TTs, Cs and As. I ended up with a Class C, which was what I wanted. Most RVers will tell you that your first RV is just for learning. As soon as you get the hang of it, learn what you like and don't like you'll trade it in for something that suits you better.<br /><br />I REALLY like the idea of a 5th wheel!

 

[mrbillr]

<p>Thanks. I just got to questioning getting on down the road. Is it traveliing that is important or the stay?&nbsp; 5th wheel keeps coming out on top on the pros and cons.</p>

 

[akrvbob]

Once gas hits $10 a gallon you might be wishing you had a car getting 40 mpg behind a Class C or Class A. Towing a car is much easier than you think and well worth the slight trouble it causes. <br /><br />I have a good friend with an older Class C towing an old Ford Festiva. It gets an honest 40 mpg. I think that is an ideal combination. Bob

 

[wandering mike]

This is something I feel depends on how you are going to travel and how long you are going to stay places. &nbsp;<br /><br />If you travel every other week or less frequently, a fifth wheel trailer or bumper pull trailer makes sense to me. &nbsp;(I distinguish between a fifth wheel and trailer more on the basis of if you want to haul anything in the bed of the truck pulling the trailer than anything else). &nbsp;The hooking up and unhooking adds a bit to the travel effort with those rigs.<br /><br />If you are parked between 4 days and 10 days to two weeks at a time, the motor home and toad can make sense. &nbsp;And as &nbsp;Bob points out, you may start to save on gas enough to offset the additional maintenance, insurance, registration, etc. associated with a second vehicle. &nbsp;You also can get underway, IMHO, quicker with a motor home and a toad than a trailer of either variety.<br /><br />If you travel more more frequently than every 4 days on average, the toad can also get in the way since you can't back up. &nbsp;You also need to unhook to get in spaces that are not pull throughs. &nbsp;<br /><br />As far as the toad goes, I have done it both ways for the last 5 years when I have been in my class C on a "most time" basis. &nbsp;Most recently, I am presently without a toad having left it in Denver at my son's for the winter but having had it for most of the spring and summer. &nbsp;There have been times I miss it and times I am happy not to have it. &nbsp;I do carry a bicycle with a rack and panniers and enjoy rides of up to say 30 miles or so, so getting groceries and such is not a tough problem. &nbsp;I also take these issues into account when and where I choose to park and think ahead about such matters as I am traveling.<br /><br />Good luck.<br /><br /><br /><br />

 

[Seraphim]

It depends on you if the travel or stay is more important. Mike makes some good points.

With a crew cab truck, you could remove the rear seat for the dogs. I didn't see children mentioned on the equation

We started with a B, and could pull our Beetle. We generally didn't Always had our bikes. A B sounds too small for you, with animals.

We recently upgraded to a good sized truck camper. Can still tow the bug, if we wish. We can drop the house and drive the truck, if we wish. Mostly we bike. The TC is versatile.

We almost bought a C, but realized it wouldn't go to some of the remote places we enjoy. That is our travel passion; up in the mountains where most RVs won't make it.

Your selection depends on what's important to you.

 

[bk2valve]

I agree with our compadres Mrbillr. It totally depends on your needs and desires. You obviously have done some thinking on it and have some ideas but it will need to be refined a bit more.<br /><br />I have a home base, am a traveler type and am on the road for a month or two at a time and am partial to longer distances and new places, some fairly remote, including Mexico. When I travel alone, I currently use a shorty Astro/Chinook conversion van. I now get between 18 and 20 MPG and would be a lot happier with 40+ miles for long range travels.... <br /><br />I am seriously thinking of something smaller and way better mileage for a lot of my solo traveling...like a Prius or Honda Civic wagon...<br /><br />When my bride travels with me, we have a pop-up FourWheel camper shell on a mid size 4wd 6 cyl pickup.<br /><br />Since I own my own inexpensive home in an inexpensive little town where I pay low taxes and my home is paid for, I find it much cheaper to stay home than be on the road, so I come home to pay down my travel credit card and to enjoy being in a very peaceful and beautiful, serene place amongst close friends.&nbsp; <br /><br />With a 40+ mpg vehicle I would give up some comfort for cheaper travel.... I may go more and further afield. It is a big world!<br /><br />So as folks have said, what seems right today, may change in a few years or it just may need some tweaking. I have had many different&nbsp; vehicles for traveling and living in over the years and they were all pretty good for my needs at the time.<br /><br />Cheers and welcome to the family...<br />Bri

 

[Pikachu711]

<p>I'll agree more with "wandering mike" when it comes to what type rig you want to buy. If you're planning on not doing a great deal of driving and spending a great deal of time in one part of the country a 5th wheel might be a better option. But if you're not sure as to how much travel you anticipate I'd consider the MPG factor to some degree.<br /><br />Personally, I'm planning on buying either a full size van or an Astro van. Once I hit the road I'm going to be doing a bit of traveling when I'm not working. The more economical a vehicle the less I'll be spending on gas. I don't see the price of gas going down anytime soon so I'm opting for a van. Again, it all comes back to how much traveling do you anticipate doing towing your 5th wheel? Give this issue some thought beforehand.<br /><br />Eventually I'd like to travel a bit and visit relatives on the east coast. Along the way I'll just enjoy the ride and the sights along the way. In my case a regular or astro van is a better option for me. But we all have to decide how much travel is in our future.<br /><br />Just my opinion FWIW!</p>

 

[owl]

&nbsp;&nbsp; I have lived in all three and currently live in a 5th whl. Class A motorhomes, unless they are recent and have slides (expensive) don't have a lot of living space for the footprint. 5th whls require a large pickup with a special hitch. If your tow rig breaks down or dies the fiver can't be moved by just anything. TT's, even with slides, are quite affordable and can be pulled by most anything that has a hitch. When I do it again I think I will go with a 3/4 ton van towing a TT. The trailer can stay or go and the van can be used for trips away from the mother ship.

 

[accrete]

reading through the above posts full of good info.<br><br>One other idea to throw into the mix is what i have set up for my wife and i (no kids, no pets). A full size van pulling a small TT. What this allows is two separate living areas for privacy and whatever else. Potentially both the tow vehicle (Van) and trailer can do all things. We can bathe/sleep/cook/relax in either rig. Makes for a nice set up. ALSO, we chose this set up because we can leave the TT at camp and go into town once a week and resupply.<br><br>Good luck on your shopping.<br>Thom

 

[akrvbob]

Like Thom, I pull a small trailer with a 1 ton van. it works great for me for the reasons he stated.<br>Bob

 

[accrete]

on van size...<br>I wish we could have gone with a 1ton like Bob did for its pulling power!<br><br>Here on the Oregon Coast our first concern is wet road conditions and all our larger vehicles have been AWD (Volvo XC wagons). Then we got into a Tacoma 4x4 and that really was worse for us here. We average ~80+ inches a year and AWD adds a nice safety factor. So we looked at the AWD full size Chevy. Sometime (2007 or 2008) Chevy made a 3/4 ton AWD Express. Oh what i would have done to have one of those back in the day! Now the AWD is only available in 1/2 ton. So far we've been fine, but you do need to thing like you were driving/designing a VW WESTY Syncro as far as what you can haul. Our max GCVWR is 12000, and the van fully loaded comes in at ~7k. . . so you are left with ~5k for TT. So in our case we have lots of wiggle room with a small fiberglass TT with a dry weight of 2100lbs and GVWR of 3500lbs.

 

[Cubey]

In some ways, I wish I had kept the '99 4.6L V8 F150 I had and gotten a better travel trailer than I had. But since I wanted to take a scooter with me... the biggest I could load myself easily in the back of the truck was a small 50cc. I have a 125cc now which I like better... but weights a lot more. So I am pulling a trailer behind the already low mpg Class B van which is NOT what I wanted to do originally but... it means i can carry the scooter and extra cargo I don't want to part with and have no space for in the van.<br><br>Being a fulltime setup I am making, I feel it's an acceptable tradeoff. <br><br>The van has a 1 ton chassis... and probably have a heavier duty transmission (A727) than the 1/2 ton F150 had. Biggest tradeoff is all-weather driving MPG with the truck (with the trailer left at an RV park) is a lot higher.. probably close to twice the gas usage. But.. my living space is fully self contained, and I don't have to go outside to drive away, should I stop someplace overnight, which I really like and why I went with a motorhome instead of a travel trailer.<br><br>The van gets much worse MPG towing or not... but it's heavier duty in pretty much every way.

 

[Seraphim]

MrBill appears to have left, but this is still a nice thread for anyone else having the same conundrum (sp?).<br><br>We based out truck selection partly on the weight of the camper in the bed, but also with the thought we would eventually get to the age we would be less adventuresome in our choices of camping locations, and decide to go to a 5th wheel for comfort. The 3500 diesel will pull anything we decide to tow. With the TC in place, we can still tow our old VW, if we decide to.&nbsp; Mostly now, we use our bikes.&nbsp; That, too, will probably change one day.<br><br>We almost bought a Class C. Right now, we're glad we didn't.<br><br>Consider all the options, present and future.

 

[highdesertranger]

just a note.&nbsp; if i were going to buy new, i would go with a gooseneck over a 5th wheel keeps the bed open when not towing.&nbsp; the hitch sit under the bed not in it. &nbsp;unfortunately there aren't many used ones out there farmers and ranchers seem to be the only ones buying this set up.&nbsp; highdesertranger

 

[owl]

Gooseneck is a hitch and can be added to any pickup or flatbed new or used. Then the 5th wheel hitch is changed out and you're good to go.