Linda and Larry,

The Escalade was one we were seriously considering. They are beautiful and well built. I loved all their floor plans.

We have a KZ New Vision toyhauler that we have lived in fulltime for two years. We love it! KZ customer service has been outstanding.

Thanks to you both.... the Escalade is truly beautiful isn't it.... but probably more than we'll want to spend.  We'll see.....

It's good to know that you both feel K-Z is a well made product -- owning one is the proof of the pudding isn't it?

Thanks again. 

Dave and Sammie...

Now this isn't a bad idea!  You carry your "toad" with you!  Which model do you have?  Only problem is the weight -- probably more than our Chevy 2500 Duramax will haul.  Certainly something to consider!!

-- Edited by Acorn at 19:31, 2008-09-01

You may want to consider Cedar Creek ,They are fairly light but well build. Many folks on this forum full time with them. They are also very reasonably priced compared to others. My Wife and I have decided to go with them even though they are a little  short on carrying capacity. Life is full of trade offs and for the money and the nice floorplans we feel we can work around that. Good luck on your decision.

-- Edited by Racerguy at 21:26, 2008-09-01

Our toy we haul is the Goldwing Trike. We pull it with an F-350 Ford dually with a Banks chip. It pulls fine, no problem. Our trailer is a 2007 New Vision Sportster 38SB. Fully loaded, with the trike, it weighs 18,000 lbs.  Some have an elevated bed in the back but we decided against that.  When the trike isn't in the trailer, we set up the computer and make it an office area.  It also gives us a separate room to get away from each other once in awhile. Actually, to tell everyone the truth, its my "doghouse".

-- Edited by DaveSam at 22:16, 2008-09-01

We're going to look at both the K-Z and the Cedar Creek a little closer. We've seen a couple of Cedar Creeks locally, and they are nice. Lots to consider isn't there? Hopefully we'll be able to see more at the RV show.

Acorn wrote:

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We're going to look at both the K-Z and the Cedar Creek a little closer. We've seen a couple of Cedar Creeks locally, and they are nice. Lots to consider isn't there? Hopefully we'll be able to see more at the RV show.

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If you're looking for high end full-time 5th wheels I would recommend you look at HitchHiker Champagne Edition by NuWa.  They've been building 5th wheels for 40+ years and their customer service has a great reputation. 

Thanks Bill and Linda... we looked over their website.  They seem to have a good selection of shorter lengths, which is hard to come by.  They certainly are beautiful fifth wheels!

That brings up another question -- is it wise to stay with a shorter length so campsites are more available?  We hear that in some places, especially national parks, it's hard to find sites that will accommodate longer rigs.

Any comments on this point?

-- Edited by Acorn at 21:55, 2008-09-02

If you're going to be living in this, you should only be considering what you'll be comfortable in. Going to something shorter to accomodate an imagined problem with campground availability is shortsighted in my opinion. We see 40 and 42 foot motorhomes all over the place. You may not be able to get into every campground and state park, but here are many alternatives to choose from. Good luck, Fred

Good point Fred.  Some fulltimer friends of ours had warned us against getting something too big .... but others have agreed with your advice. 

I see you are a Cameo owner -- I've read your posts on the Carriage RV Yahoo Group as well.  As a matter of fact you just replied to my post there about bedroom windows and A/C..... sounds like you're pretty happy with your Cameo. 

We're really impressed with Cameos -- and are getting down to the nitty gritty on what we want and hope to find.

Thanks,
Lynne (aka Linda) and Larry

Yes, we couldn't be happier, with either the full time life style, or our choice of home.

If you're looking at fifth wheels, I would definitely recommend looking at the Carriage line and especially the Cameo. It's a good bargain for the money and can be custom tailored to your needs. They are very good at letting you build it the way you want.

Even though RV Consumer Group only rates the Cameo as "snow bird", we ordered it with the extra astrofoil insulation and dual pane windows and it's been four season for us. We've been as low as -14 and as high as +102 without any problems.

Good luck with full timing,

Fred

-- Edited by Luvglass at 12:36, 2008-09-03

We are looking at the Cameo for our next 5th wheel trailer. We are interested in the full side slide that just came out last year. As Fred said...the Cameo is a great trailer for fulltiming and at a reasonable price. I like the new 7 year warranty they have now. Joe and Sherri

Joe and Sherri...

Wow! 7 year warranty!  That's amazing!  We thought 2 years was generous!

That full wall slide is really nice -- and also the 37 footer with the bathroom sink as part of the bed slide.  They both really open the bedroom up. 

It's good to hear from folks who have been fulltiming for awhile that they like the Cameo.  The quality appears to be superior -- and they are designed intelligently.  Plus the price is good.  Hopefully there will be a selection of Cameos at the Hershey show for us to poke through.

Thanks,
Lynne and Larry

-- Edited by Acorn at 17:58, 2008-09-03

I would 2nd the accolades on the Carriage lines. They are our 2nd choice behind The Cedar Creek. The only reason the Creek is number 1 choice right now is the fact that we found a floor plan that has as Howard says the "IT" factor for us and the unit seems to be well built.( Local Dealer just laughs and waves at me now when I show up to measure something or crawl under the 5ver to check it out.) Once again good luck on your choice.

We have been fulltiming in a Cedar Creek for two years now and have had very few issues with it. The issues we have had are with "vendor supplied" items. We had had two other Cedar Creeks before this one so we were familiar with the product, but the main reason we purchased it was the weight issue. Carriage is a better built unit than a Cedar Creek but the floor plan we wanted was too heavy for our 2500 Duramax Diesel truck. We also like the Mobile Suites, which is also better built, but the same issue. I don't know anything about the K-Z line but take a look a the Landmark by Heartland as they are very good units as well. Feel free to email me if you want some detailed answers regarding our Cedar Creek. By the way, we'll be attending the RV Show as well - on Wednesday ("Old Folks" Day - half price). Maybe we'll bump into you.

Speedhitch is this 7 year a factory warranty or an EXTENDED warranty that the buyer can purchase??
southwestjudy

According to their brochure it looks like it's 2 year, bumper to bumper and 5 year structural.
Fred

Hey that is still a good deal any way you add it. Really it is all in what you care for and how well you treat it. Take care of any trailer and it will last you a long time. I have owned RV since 1970 and we have put a lot of miles on all of them. Sherri and I took real good care of them and we got years of use out of them in return. Believe me non of them were top of the line RVs because we could not afford them. We kept them clean and serviced and never had any major problems with them. We now own a Open Road by Pilgram and have enjoyed it so much. It has all the name brand equipment that the big boys do and with the tripple axel we can carry a good load...much more than the big boys can. Have fun looking and don't pass up a good deal cause it doen't have a Star name by it. Joe and Sherri

We chose the DRV Select Suite because it had the lighter frame than the Mobile Suite. We added a couple of items such as the auto leveling system and a bigger HD TV. We were able to get what we wanted and stay within our budget.

Cedar Creek is really nice too. When we went to the RV show last year and looked at all of them we left there very confused.

Wow a 7 year warranty is amazing. You wouldn't even need to buy an extended warranty with that.

Acorn wrote:

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Is anyone familiar with the K-Z Fifth Wheel Products? How do they compare with the Carriage Cameos?

We're going to Hershey next week -- any other recommended fifth wheel products?

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You might also want to check out Nu Wa's line of 5vrs.  They're 4 season,  well built, very well insulated and offer great customer service.  All they build are 5th wheels.  (We looked at the Montego Bay from K-Z ~ beautiful, but I didn't find a lot of history or much info in the owner's forum for this model or for full timing.) 

There's a great group of folks on the owner's forum at www.nuwaowners.org with lots of info, and even the CEO of Nu Wa will post answers to owner's questions (Nu Wa does not run or own the forum).  I had some questions about a 5vr we were looking at and sent an email to the Nu Wa plant and got a response back in 1 day with my answer ~ it's nice to know there's a company that is interested in what it's customers need and want.  We'll be picking up our '05 35' Champagne in a couple of weeks and will be on the road f/t by November. 

Good luck with your choice!!
Carole =)

We bought a used 2005 KZ Durango 285RL 5th wheel and have been fulltiming in it for over two months.  We had thought about trading up, but we haven't found any mid-profile fifth wheels that we like better. 

-Colleen

I agree with Luvglass.  Be careful about buying a smaller unit just because you are worried about camp site size.  

We have a 40 ft motorhome and have traveled nearly 3500 miles since the first of June, staying in National Forests, state parks and Corps of Engineer parks and really haven't had any problems with finding sites that are actually more than adequate for our length.  Many sites are pull-through, too. 

I check out the campground maps on  http://www.recreation.gov/ for national forests and COE parks.  Each site has a detailed description which includes site length.   And sometimes I call the park for more details.   I also use the book "Camping with the Corps of Engineers" by S. L. Hinkle.  Site length is not given, but he will state "Recreational vehicle maximum length 30' ".  Sometimes the site length is not the issue as much as the narrow, twisting roads in the campground.  That's why I usually call ahead and talk with a ranger or campground host, if possible.  


Next week we'll be returning to Redstone campground in the White River National Forest just south of Carbondale, CO.  Our site is listed as 100 ft pull-through with maximum vehicle length of 60 ft. with both electric and water.  There are showers (solar heated water).  Many national forest campgrounds don't have dump stations, but that hasn't really been a problem.  We just be sure we have empty waste tanks before we get there, and we are careful with our water usage.

Good luck on your decision.

Gail

Gail, that's a great link to the national parks, etc.  Really good information.  It's good to know that most of you agree that length isn't really an issue -- there will always be a place to stay.

Carol and "wmalefyt", those NuWa's are sure nice.  I've been looking over their website.  I guess we've still got some homework to do, but whatever our decision, sounds like there are many quality fifth wheels out there. 

Thanks to ALL of you for your comments and good information.  We're heading to the RV Show Wednesday morning too -- so we may run into you there Darrell and Judy -- and maybe some other RV-Dreams members -- you'll be the ones with the big happy smiles on your face, right?  I'll bet full timing does that to you!    Can't wait!

LeslieW wrote:

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We got real storm windows instead of dual pane. It makes a huge difference in insulation values. Also we don’t get road dirt or condensation. We rarely remove the storm windows. If we want more ventilation, we merely run the fantastic fans. They move an incredible amount of air. We love our NUWA Hitchhiker Champagne 35 CKQG.

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Leslie,
Do these fit on the outside or inside? Where would one find them?
Thanks,
Fred

Okay, so we are just getting back from the RV Show in Hershey, PA. Having looked at the Cedar Creek, Escalade, Landmark, and Mobile Suites I can honestly say that for the money Heartland's Landmark would be an excellent choice. The Escalade is beautiful and very well built as is the Mobile Suite but they sell in the 80 to 90k price range. Cedar Creek (and we have owned three of them) don't hold a candle to the Landmark and they both sell for in the 50 to 60k range.

Luvglass wrote:

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LeslieW wrote:

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We got real storm windows instead of dual pane.

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Leslie,
Do these fit on the outside or inside? Where would one find them?
Thanks,
Fred

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Real storm windows are a complete dual paned window with gas between the panes.   So they are a new installation.  Happy Trails, Penny, TX

Hi Fred, We ordered our storm windows from the factory. They fit inside and are held in with tabs and screws. On some of the larger windows, such as the side windows next to the dinette and recliners, there are two peices to the storms windows. The top piece covers the unopenable window and would likely never be removed. The bottom piece covers the opening window and could be removed if desired for additional ventilation. The only window without a storm window is the bedroom escape window -- and I can certainly tell the difference. Wish we'd talked about them when we met, they would have been easier to show than describe! Leslie

Penny,

Our storm windows aren't what one might call dual pane with gas in between.  They are actually separate storm windows.  They can be removed, if desired and I would think could be added on to any rig.  Many years ago  people had exterior storm windows that went up in the winter and exterior screens that went up in the summer.  These storm windows are similar except they are mounted on the inside instead of the outside.

Leslie

-- Edited by LeslieW at 23:39, 2008-09-10

Well, we also found a new brand to consider at the Hershey Show.... we were impressed by the Grand Junction fifth wheels.  They appear to be near the quality of the Cameos, but they only carry a one year warranty.  They tend to run maybe $5K less for comparable rigs.

What drew us to them were the high vaulted ceilings which make them appear roomier.  They also have a couple of standard features like MOR/ryde suspension and pin box that are usually optional.  They are pretty spectacular -- like the Cameos -- with gorgeous cabinets, solid surface counters, and lots of nice features.

Anyone have any experience with the Grand Junctions?  Can anyone tell us more -- good or bad?