We're going to start full timing in July up in N. Iowa for two years. We are a family of 4 (one kid is 3 years old and our baby is 4 months). We need (in order of importance to us):
1. A true four season
2. Two bedroom (any suggestions re this would be most helpful!)
3. Washer / Dryer ready (our commercial size in our stick house gets used every single day so this little apartment size pup better be a work horse)
4. 1 1/2 bath
5. Bathtub (would make it easier to bathe the baby but we could always use a storage tote type tub for her)
6. Generator ready
7. Wired for two air conditioners
Any and all advice is really appreciated. We are up to our ears in options. We don't want to spend over $40k. Are there good used ones we should look at - any particular year?
53 Merc said
06:53 AM May 21, 2012
At first glance, your list of required items puts your choices well above your budget. Fully four season is difficult to find unless you are in Mobile Suite or New Horizon's baliwick. And the bad news is, them puppies ain't cheap, even used. Excel used to be in that market, but sadly they have gone out of business, but, good used ones can still be found. Two bedroom? Now you place yourself in a really small niche. 1 and 1/2 bath? Smaller niche yet.
All I can do at this point is to refer you to a couple of on-line sources. Try www.rollingretreats.com to start. They are resellers of Mobile Suites selections. They buy repo or foreclosed rigs, fully restore and repair what is broke and offer them for sale at good prices. (the prices ain't cheap, they are fair). The next is www.pplmotorhomes.com They are a consignment lot and have a great searchable website of trailers, fifthwheels and motorhomes of all sizes and quality. I have looked (in person) and their assessments of the rigs seem to be reasonable. If they say excellent condition, it is. If they say good, it might be an overstatement.
With enough searching, you will be able to find what you need. Just don't hurry into anything and make sure you get what you pay for. An outside assessor (inspector) is probably a good investment unless you have a LOT of RVing experience.
If you select a towable rig, make the trailer selection first and then do the research required to get a tow vehicle appropriately sized to handle the load. No, your favorite 1/2 ton Tundra is not big enoughr for that 40 foot New Horizon, no matter what the salesman says. ;) Seriously, get a tow vehicle that is adequate. Good luck in your search.
Edit by moderator: Activated links. Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Monday 21st of May 2012 07:59:06 AM
Terry and Jo said
08:22 AM May 21, 2012
Ken is giving you some good advice. I will add that Rolling Retreats is now full fledged DRV (Mobile Suites, Elite Suites, etc.) dealer now. So in addition to having some used units, they can also order parts or whatever needed to replace anything on the coach.
PPL Motorhomes is also a good source, although I've not had any dealings with them personally.
While they aren't making them anymore, Open Range used to have a toy hauler that had a loft bed and a second bathroom in the "garage" area. You might get lucky and find a used one somewhere if you liked the floorplan otherwise.
I also just went to their website and found some units that seem to have a 2nd bedroom with bunk sized beds and a second bathroom. First, the home page for Open Range:
This next one is the page with the 2 bedroom unit. It is model 427BHS at the bottom of the page. It has options for the dinette area; booth style or table and 4 chairs.
Two more, but they are in a much lighter class, so it is doubtful that it would even be close to being a 4-season unit, would be the RF395BHS and RF329BHS on this page:
(That page has both travel trailers and fifth wheels on it. The fifth wheels are down towards the bottom of the page. Of the two on that page, only the RF395BHS has a second bathroom.)
OK. I just looked again and the 427BHS and the RF395BHS are the only ones that also have the ability of putting in a washer and dryer.
The main thing to do is to take your time and really do the research. It would get expensive really fast if one buys the wrong RV and correct truck to pull it and then find out that it isn't going to match up to your needs and need to upgrade both the RV and the truck.
Also, be prepared to really look at the furniture in the units because one can find a situation where the furniture (even in the higher priced units) are uncomfortable. We replace both the couch and the two recliners in our Mobile Suites.
Good luck with the research and planning.
Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Monday 21st of May 2012 09:24:08 AM
FourMore said
04:27 PM May 21, 2012
Thank you! I will look at these today.
I was looking last night and found a 2000 King of the Roads for a great price. My instinct says 'if it's too good to be true - it is'. My husband and I are going to go look at it and of course we will hire an inspector to give it a go over. Anyone here have any knowledge on these? It's got everything we need except the second bedroom but we are willing to convert the double recliner area into a bunk. The baby will be in a portable crib for awhile and our toddler could sleep with us or on the pull out sofa.
Terry and Jo said
05:23 PM May 21, 2012
OK. I found a link to one of those Open Range toy haulers with the second bathroom. It is the Rolling Thunder H396RGR and a 2012 model could be found here:
The first unit on that page is the one with the loft bed area and the garage bathroom. I would imagine that one might be able to find some used ones somewhere by using the search engines and looking for that particular model number as the search phrase.
Terry
Gary said
05:36 PM May 21, 2012
You can look at Heartland also. I believe they make a 2 BR 1.5 bath "Bighorn" unit and, if I remember right (which is questionable at times) they are 4 season.
FourMore said
07:36 PM May 21, 2012
That Open Range is nice. I found a 2010 in our price range too. Definitely an option. I need to look into them more. It's certainly a nice looking camper, maybe too nice for my rough and tumble gang. I haven't heard of Open Range before. Do you know anyone that owns one?
makntracks said
07:40 PM May 21, 2012
I'm in NC so good distance from you but I just looked at a used 2011 Montana Mountaineer Edition 5er at Tom Johnson Camping Center in Concord this weekend, they are asking $39,900. It looked immaculate! It has the back bedroom with 1/2 bath, main shower has the "garden tub" bottom so will work nicely for small children. It meets all your other requirements as well. If your budget is for trailer only then your are fine. We have been looking for used and have no problems within that range. I did see a FSBO rig with a Chevy CC dually and a big Sierra 5th wheel at the campground and they were asking $58k for both.
FourMore said
08:08 PM May 21, 2012
I have seen the Montana Mountaineer. It has an ideal floorplan for us. The 346LBQ is perfect. It is the peak of our price range, we don't have something to pull it so we might have it towed up. I found one locally for $37,900. I'm reluctant to go look at it because I worry about how robust it would be in the cold Northern Iowa winter. We looked at some Keystone Cougars with the Polar Plus package, they're within our price range but I'm not seeing Montana or Keystone's names coming up when I search for extreme weather RV's.
Terry and Jo said
08:53 PM May 21, 2012
FourMore wrote:
That Open Range is nice. I found a 2010 in our price range too. Definitely an option. I need to look into them more. It's certainly a nice looking camper, maybe too nice for my rough and tumble gang. I haven't heard of Open Range before. Do you know anyone that owns one?
We have a neighbor that has one, but I've never talked to him about his RV. However, there is an owner's forum for Open Range owners out there where you might do some reading on comments. It is at:
If you just read comments, you will be able to learn a lot. Then if you become more serious about researching one, you can register there and ask questions for yourself. We did that on an owner's forums for our brand and we got a lot of help from the folks on that forum.
Good luck.
Terry
makntracks said
09:03 PM May 21, 2012
I wish I could tell you more about the Montana but we are still in the research phase ourselves. We currently have a TT due to the accomodations fit our needs with a toddler better than the fifth wheels. But the back bedrooms with 1/2 baths are looking good for us, too. I just know several people that have Montana's and love them. One person I know is a full-timer and has an older one. His decals were looking bad so he called the company and they sent him brand new decals for the entire thing. From what I understand they have good customer service.
Good luck with your search!
janieD said
07:00 AM May 22, 2012
I don't know where they found the info that Excel is out of business but that is totally not true. We have one and the factory is open and still producing excellent four season rigs. We have one person we know who lives in the Des Moines area full time in their Excel.We have had ours in temperatures in the teens and it was nice and toasty inside. Here is the link to their site:
Have fun looking. Iowa is a great place, lived in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City for 30+ years.
Edit by moderator: Activated link. Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Tuesday 22nd of May 2012 10:31:56 AM
53 Merc said
02:04 PM May 22, 2012
Well Dang!!! I saw on the internet that Excel was out of business, so it must be true ;)/ I hate that I posted incorrect information. The Excels that I have seen were excellent units, and am glad they are still working. Mea Culpa
FourMore said
09:45 PM May 23, 2012
Seems like some companies had gone on hiatus for a bit.
I've read in several places that there is too much manufacturing capacity in the RV industry right now, and several companies are cutting back on production. In some cases they are still building units at the same speed, just not as many of them. Others have gone to a slower pace, and are trying to improve the quality of the coaches that go out the door. I suspect that those are going to be the companies that not only survive but thrive.
We're going to start full timing in July up in N. Iowa for two years. We are a family of 4 (one kid is 3 years old and our baby is 4 months). We need (in order of importance to us):
1. A true four season
2. Two bedroom (any suggestions re this would be most helpful!)
3. Washer / Dryer ready (our commercial size in our stick house gets used every single day so this little apartment size pup better be a work horse)
4. 1 1/2 bath
5. Bathtub (would make it easier to bathe the baby but we could always use a storage tote type tub for her)
6. Generator ready
7. Wired for two air conditioners
Any and all advice is really appreciated. We are up to our ears in options. We don't want to spend over $40k. Are there good used ones we should look at - any particular year?
At first glance, your list of required items puts your choices well above your budget. Fully four season is difficult to find unless you are in Mobile Suite or New Horizon's baliwick. And the bad news is, them puppies ain't cheap, even used. Excel used to be in that market, but sadly they have gone out of business, but, good used ones can still be found.
Two bedroom? Now you place yourself in a really small niche. 1 and 1/2 bath? Smaller niche yet.
All I can do at this point is to refer you to a couple of on-line sources. Try www.rollingretreats.com to start. They are resellers of Mobile Suites selections. They buy repo or foreclosed rigs, fully restore and repair what is broke and offer them for sale at good prices. (the prices ain't cheap, they are fair).
The next is www.pplmotorhomes.com They are a consignment lot and have a great searchable website of trailers, fifthwheels and motorhomes of all sizes and quality. I have looked (in person) and their assessments of the rigs seem to be reasonable. If they say excellent condition, it is. If they say good, it might be an overstatement.
With enough searching, you will be able to find what you need. Just don't hurry into anything and make sure you get what you pay for. An outside assessor (inspector) is probably a good investment unless you have a LOT of RVing experience.
If you select a towable rig, make the trailer selection first and then do the research required to get a tow vehicle appropriately sized to handle the load. No, your favorite 1/2 ton Tundra is not big enoughr for that 40 foot New Horizon, no matter what the salesman says. ;) Seriously, get a tow vehicle that is adequate. Good luck in your search.
Edit by moderator: Activated links. Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Monday 21st of May 2012 07:59:06 AM
Ken is giving you some good advice. I will add that Rolling Retreats is now full fledged DRV (Mobile Suites, Elite Suites, etc.) dealer now. So in addition to having some used units, they can also order parts or whatever needed to replace anything on the coach.
PPL Motorhomes is also a good source, although I've not had any dealings with them personally.
While they aren't making them anymore, Open Range used to have a toy hauler that had a loft bed and a second bathroom in the "garage" area. You might get lucky and find a used one somewhere if you liked the floorplan otherwise.
I also just went to their website and found some units that seem to have a 2nd bedroom with bunk sized beds and a second bathroom. First, the home page for Open Range:
Open Range RV
This next one is the page with the 2 bedroom unit. It is model 427BHS at the bottom of the page. It has options for the dinette area; booth style or table and 4 chairs.
Two Bedroom/Two Bath Open Range 427BHS
Two more, but they are in a much lighter class, so it is doubtful that it would even be close to being a 4-season unit, would be the RF395BHS and RF329BHS on this page:
RF395BHS and RF329BHS page for Open Range
(That page has both travel trailers and fifth wheels on it. The fifth wheels are down towards the bottom of the page. Of the two on that page, only the RF395BHS has a second bathroom.)
OK. I just looked again and the 427BHS and the RF395BHS are the only ones that also have the ability of putting in a washer and dryer.
The main thing to do is to take your time and really do the research. It would get expensive really fast if one buys the wrong RV and correct truck to pull it and then find out that it isn't going to match up to your needs and need to upgrade both the RV and the truck.
Also, be prepared to really look at the furniture in the units because one can find a situation where the furniture (even in the higher priced units) are uncomfortable. We replace both the couch and the two recliners in our Mobile Suites.
Good luck with the research and planning.
Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Monday 21st of May 2012 09:24:08 AM
I was looking last night and found a 2000 King of the Roads for a great price. My instinct says 'if it's too good to be true - it is'. My husband and I are going to go look at it and of course we will hire an inspector to give it a go over. Anyone here have any knowledge on these? It's got everything we need except the second bedroom but we are willing to convert the double recliner area into a bunk. The baby will be in a portable crib for awhile and our toddler could sleep with us or on the pull out sofa.
OK. I found a link to one of those Open Range toy haulers with the second bathroom. It is the Rolling Thunder H396RGR and a 2012 model could be found here:
General RV Center's Rolling Thunder Toy Hauler
The first unit on that page is the one with the loft bed area and the garage bathroom. I would imagine that one might be able to find some used ones somewhere by using the search engines and looking for that particular model number as the search phrase.
Terry
We have a neighbor that has one, but I've never talked to him about his RV. However, there is an owner's forum for Open Range owners out there where you might do some reading on comments. It is at:
Open Range Owner's Forums
If you just read comments, you will be able to learn a lot. Then if you become more serious about researching one, you can register there and ask questions for yourself. We did that on an owner's forums for our brand and we got a lot of help from the folks on that forum.
Good luck.
Terry
Good luck with your search!
I don't know where they found the info that Excel is out of business but that is totally not true. We have one and the factory is open and still producing excellent four season rigs. We have one person we know who lives in the Des Moines area full time in their Excel.We have had ours in temperatures in the teens and it was nice and toasty inside. Here is the link to their site:
http://www.excelrvs.com/
Have fun looking. Iowa is a great place, lived in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City for 30+ years.
Edit by moderator: Activated link. Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Tuesday 22nd of May 2012 10:31:56 AM
Seems like some companies had gone on hiatus for a bit.
makntraks - I did find some seemingly useful information. It may help you too. I found it on a forum (perhaps this one?) that someone was sharing.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0AvEDJnVFaozKdDVLSF9UZ1JXQ1JpamM0UzFicUFodEE