We have a 2002 Cedar Creek but only since this past February. We plan to fulltime in 15 months and will use it for a while. At some point we will upgrade. So, we have not had experience of living in it in cold weather. But we were quite pleased with the A/C and all other aspects. It tows well and is comfortable for now. Good luck in whatever your choice will be.

I'm not familiar with the Conestoga model, but don't think you can go wrong with a Carriage product. They are made for full time, 4 season use. After almost 2 years we are very pleased with our Carriage Cameo. Good luck, this is an exiting time for you. Fred

Also, I would recommend not rushing, but taking your time to find the right coach.  Fortunately we were ready to order our Cameo as soon as we got the offer on our condo.  But the buyer wanted to close quickly, so we moved to a motel until our Cameo arrived.  It was one of those Extended Stay places so we had a little kitchenette and it was comfortable enough.  Also, they allowed us to stay there with our cats.  So just saying, it's not the end of the world if you have to do that.  Better that, then jumping in and buying the wrong thing.

We have a 2007 Doubletree Elite (like Judy) but think ours is junk. We have had a zillion things go wrong, received little dealer or manufacturer support etc. I think what you will find is lots of answers to your question. What was right for Judy does not work for me etc. It's a crap shoot. You are doing the right thing asking around. All info is good...once you make a decision...make the best of what comes....its still a great lifestyle even with the problems.

We have a 38 ft New Vision Sportster and love it. We have had a few small problems but KZ is quick to fix them. They really stand behind their product.

After almost 2 years of research we have narrowed our short list down to three makes of 5th wheels:  Carriage Cameo, Excel Classic by Peterson Industries and  HitchHiker Discover America by NuWa , Inc. 

For my money, these three manufacturers build quality into their products which are all "rated" for full-time use.  You really have to look behind the "glitz" and see how they are really built where it doesn't show.  In addition, you have to get a feel for how their after sale customer service is for both the dealers and the manufacturer.  Things will go wrong so you want the support when needed.  From what I have read these three companies do a pretty good job of doing the right thing for their customers.

Good luck!  We hope to be in your position some day soon!

I have to concur with Bill & Linda about HitchHiker & Excel. I know nothing about Carriage other than I see a lot of them. We toured HitchHiker & Excel factories and were impressed with the workers interest in their product. Everyone in the plants were proud of their work and seemed to take an interest in producing a quality product. We also toured 3 manufactures in the Elkhart, In. area and our impression was all they wanted to do was get the product out the door as fast as possible! I have serious reservations about buying any product made in Indiana. Check out RV Consumers www.rv.org for very good unbiased info about RV quality & safety. It will cost you about $100 to join and get their CD listing just about all RV's but when you are looking to spend $40k to $100k for a 5th wheel and lots more for a motorhome, a hundred dollars is a small investment.

We're traveling in a 2007 HitchHiker Champagne 35 CKQG and are very happy with it.  If you check out www.nuwaowners.org. you'll see lots of useful information and experience from other owners.  Although the site is independent and not affiliated with the manufacturer, the CEO even posts there. 

Leslie & Retired Guy
Traveling with Molly & Cody - Two Oci-cats

Hi Leslie,
We keep coming back to Hitchhiker, Excel and Doubletree, but the Hitchhiker still seems to be our first choice. Robyn's aunt has been fulltiming for years - she hit the road when she retired. We just found out she has had a Hitchhiker for 12 years...  we don't know if it was new when she bought it, so it might be even older than that... it has no slideouts. We seem to be leaning towards a rear kitchen because  of comments we've read here and elsewhere about how rear kitchens seem to have more storage space.

One thing we're curious about... I've looked at your floorplan and am wondering where you put the litter box (we have cats too)!

Hi Robyn & Tim,

Our cats use a covered liter box.  When we're parked and the slides are out, it sits just to the left of the stairs, betweent he stairs and the pantry.  There is sufficient room to open the pantry door without hitting the liter box.  When we're driving, the box sits in front of the sink in the bath area.  The cats travel with us in the truck although they complain every mile of the journey.  They have another liter box on the rear floor of the truck.

I was also concerned about kitchen storage.  That's why it was important to me that the overhead cabinets actually wrap around the pennisula.  We looked seriously at a Titanium but the overhead cabinet didn't wrap. We really like the big picture window in the rear.

Hope that helps.

Leslie

-- Edited by LeslieW at 17:40, 2007-11-05

We moved our couch to the rear and put a covered litter box on one side. We keep a decorative table tray on top and use it as an end table. Works well for us. Fred

I have been researching 5th wheels for the past year or so. I have looked at the Heartland models and really liked the Landmark models. They have an owners website, http://www.heartlandowners.org/forum/ and they have some pretty good information on it. You might also, if you haven't already, look at Hitchhiker, www.nuwa.com, they also have an owners forum, http://nuwaowners.org/forum//index.php. If you have deep pockets another good unit is New Horizon, http://www.horizonsrv.com/, they also have an owners forum, http://www.horizonsrv.com/.
Excel, New Horizon, and Hitchhiker all built in Kansas and one could visit all three factories in one trip.
Only 770 more days and I begin to get real serious about which unit I want.

I need info on what age used travel trailer hubby and I should buy. Never done this before so I have all kinds of questions. Also what length for two old people. Hubby will retire May 1st. We will be taking a Jack Russel dog with us too. Help!

Tim and Cathy,

We are fulltiming in a 2006 Cedar Creek Custom.  This is the third Cedar Creek that we have owned with our first being a travel trailer, our second being a 30RLBS and this one is a 36 RLTS.  The first two were very well constructed but I can't say the same for this one.  We have had a lot of minor issues with this unit, mostly with the vendor supplied equipment but we are now getting some annoying squeaks in the kitchen floor.  Supposedly the flooring is 5/8 inch tongue and groove marine plywood, glued to the floor joists (which are 16" on center) and then screwed every 5".  I have a sneaking suspicion that they missed the floor joists when screwing the flooring down (this is not good).

Anyway, as others have suggested, take your time and don't be in a hurry.  Do your homework and buy the highest quality coach you can afford.  Every brand has its share of issues (personally I don't think this is acceptable, but it is the fact).  And keep in mind your towing capacity - generally speaking, the higher the quality the heavier the coach and the bigger the truck needed to tow it.

IN the process of still looking for a 5th wheel, does anyone own or know of the KZ Escalade 5th wheel and how they perform?

We are real happy with our Newmar, Torrey Pine. Its pretty heavy though !

We have a KZ New Vision and I know the Escalade is their top of the line product. KZ builds an excellent product and they stand behind it. We had a few minor problems and KZ did not hesitate to correct the issues without any hassles or argument. I would not hesitate to buy another KZ product.

Some full-timer friends who have a National RV Palisades fifth-wheel (now a defunct company) went to the Tampa RV Show on Thursday and looked at about every fifth-wheel they could find. The one they liked was the Heartland RV Landmark, Augusta floorplan - Landmark floorplans. They said it was a floorplan that they think would work well for a full-timer.
I know Heartland makes a quality product.

edit: Fixed the link.
-- Edited by bjoyce at 07:30, 2008-01-19

-- Edited by bjoyce at 07:30, 2008-01-19

-- Edited by bjoyce at 11:23, 2008-01-19

We have a Heartland Bighorn model 3055RL that we are going to full time in soon. We have some friends that just bought a new Landmark Augusta, which is the same floorplan as the Bighorn 3670 and they love it! We were going to buy the 3670, but it weighs too much for my GMC 2500 and I didn't want to buy a new truck.

We went to the Tampa RV show on Thursday and dodged a few raindrops most of the day.

We walked and walked and looked at lots of RV's, mostly 5th wheels.  After a lot of looking and research over the last 2 years we have zeroed in on HitchHiker Discover America.  This is their middle brand with Champagne being the top of the line and HitchHiker II being the lower priced line.

We feel that NuWa, the manufacturer, makes a quality RV.  They have been making 5th wheels for 30+ years and they only make 5th wheels.  After monitoring the NuWa Owner's Forum http://www.nuwaowners.org/ we feel that their construction and customer service is among the best in the business. 

When we sell our condo (we hope soon) we will be ordering a Discover America Model 348.   This has a rear entertainment center and 3 slides and a total length of 36'5" and 382 square feet.

We're hoping all this happens in time to make the first RV-Dreams Rally in June.  We're keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for the best!

Bill and Linda

Don't want to miss a chance to give my two cents worth, we own a Bighorn 3670RL and really like it, we looked at a lot of RV's over a long period after awhile they start to look alike. What we looked for was something that fit for us, and would be the best buy for our limited funds. I really don't care what trailer, coach, 5th wheel, house on wheels or any other name you have for them there will be issues, it just happens when something is bouncing down the road. We are very happy with our Heartland product and it seems that we have a company that is 100% behind it, that makes me feel a lot better. Would we change anything, yes not the make or model just some options. However to your question as far as the 3670RL it's great the bath layout is what got me, and the kitchen sold the DW, storage is unbelievable in the amount they have. Good luck in your continued search and have fun doing it.