My husband and I are planning on full time rv travel starting in January when we sell the house and hit the road. We are researching 5th wheels and can't decide if it is worth going without a king bed and 12 cuft frig in order to get a shorter 5th wheel, 31' OR go for the 18' 5th wheel with the floorplan that has a king bed and 12cuft frig. Any thoughts or recommendations?
merlins said
01:27 PM Aug 9, 2014
I meant 38' 5th wheel.
BiggarView said
01:54 PM Aug 9, 2014
First, welcome to the forum. Lots of friendly and knowledgeable types here.
If you are going FT, you might find a smaller fridge will require more trips to the grocery store. Uness you are near one, long trips could get old real fast. As for a King Bed vs a smaller one, I'm guessing you already have a king, if your comfortable with it, you may find the closer sleeping arrangements not to your sleeping routines. King beds take up a lot of space in the bedroom of most 5ers, you'll have to decide if giving up that space to get around the bedroom is worth it. Also a 38' 5er will limit, to a degree, the number of places you can get your rig into.
Any choice will involve compromises, knowing what you are comfortable with will help you make the right choice.
FWIW
-- Edited by biggaRView on Saturday 9th of August 2014 01:56:35 PM
Bill and Linda said
02:23 PM Aug 9, 2014
Maxine:
I have a slightly different take on the size question.If you are going full-time, unless you are both minimalists by nature, don’t go too small.
IMO, and we travel a great deal and have throughout all the US and much of western Canada with a 39 foot 5th wheel, we haven’t been constrained as to where we can go. I also add that we don’t want anything larger – nor do we need it.Our new rig is slightly less than 39 feet at 38-1/2 and that was by design as it could be any length we wanted.
I agree, to a point with Brian, that there are a few places you can go with a smaller 5er that we can’t put our trailer. But those are very few and far between.Most state parks that say they limit the size actually don’t when you call or show up.
So, if you are planning on living in a 5er full time I’d be careful about going too small – especially in the fridge size department and also pantry space. As to bed size – make sure you get what you are comfortable with.We’re good with a queen.Others desire more.
Welcome
Terry and Jo said
06:24 PM Aug 9, 2014
Maxine,
Welcome to the RV Dreams forums. You've definitely found a good source for finding answers to your questions because the folks here are knowledgeable about all kinds of RV's.
We have a 38 1/2-foot fifth wheel and have been living in it full time for a bit over 3 years. To us, it is a very comfortable size of trailer. When we ordered ours back in 2010, we took the option of a queen-sized Select Comfort (Sleep Number) bed, and because we did we ended up with two nightstands; one on each side of the bed. If we had stayed with the standard king-sized bed, we would have lost the nightstand on the side nearest the closet. We are extremely glad we went that route.
As for the refrigerator, ours originally came with a 13-cu. ft RV refrigerator, but after having troubles with it after only two years, we modified our trailer so as to put in an 18-cu. ft. residential refrigerator. Of course, in our case we already had a 3000 watt inverter, so we didn't have to add either an inverter or the extra batteries.
Feel free to ask your questions. The only "dumb" questions are those that don't get asked and then one has to deal with either an expensive or a time consuming mistake.
Terry
mylittledogs said
07:08 PM Aug 9, 2014
We don't have a 5th wheel but we do have a class A. For us it is a king bed an double door refrigerator. I don't think the room we lost with the king bed hurt a bit. The double door refrigerator is great. At least for us it works. It is what will work for you.
Kenny & frances
RickandJanice said
09:27 PM Aug 9, 2014
First let me say we are both minimalist by nature. So our 33'8" rig with a queen bed and 9 cuft LP / AC refrigerator works great for us. We can get just about any place we want including most older state and national parks. We also went with a Splendide washer dryer one piece unit that only needs 120 V electric and uses less water which reduces the amount of power require to do the laundry and frees up more space for inside storage. Power needs can now be minimal if needed so we can get by easily on 30 Amp service, unless we want to run both AC's which is not often.
One size does not fit all, so you will need to look first hand and determine what fits you best. Also remember the bigger the rig, the bigger the truck needed to safely handle it in all situations. The tow rating of the rig does not necessarily mean it can stop it quickly or provide good stability in cross winds or down hill situations.
Just some information from someone who decided to stay a little shorter and are quite please with the choice.
The Schweitzers on the road said
10:11 PM Aug 9, 2014
We are only travelling (about 120 days per year), not fulltiming, but we dealt with the same question regarding the bed when buying our 5th wheel. We ended up with a solution in between. Our 5th wheel is 34' total length and came with a standard queen bed. But the bedroom slide was actually wider than the mattress, so we took the window boxes out and got ourselves a custom made memory foam mattress of 66" by 80", which is sometimes called a California Queen or Olympic Queen. The 6 inches make a lot of a difference and we don't miss our king bed from home when travelling.
Since most mattresses that come with the 5th wheel are crap or when buying used you may want to get a new mattress anyway.
SnowGypsy said
05:34 AM Aug 11, 2014
We are different. We would choose the smallest practical size for our use. We would also avoid RV refrigerators that are located in the slide since leveling can be problematic. When considering a refrigerator, the larger ones will be more expensive (suggest you price a replacement) and more of a hassle to replace and they do have a shorter lifespan than residential refrigerators. For a family of 4, an 8 cu ft worked fine for us with room to spare and it seems the space in the RV frig is much more efficient for some reason that I just can't figure out.
RickandJanice said
12:47 PM Aug 11, 2014
SnowGypsy, we have had refrigerators both inside and outside of the slides and see no difference in leveling the refrigerator or the rig???
Do agree that 8 -9 cu ft refrigerators are quite adequate for 2-4 people. Since the foods we refrigerate are mostly fresh type foods and drinks, we are ready to replenish them about the time there is room for more anyway so do not find ourselves short on any space. Also agree that the smaller refrigerators seam to last longer but feel that may be be due to being a long proved design and having no frills like ice makers, water dispensers or side by side doors which also make the larger ones more expensive.
Also will be interesting to see how long these residential refrigerators will take all the moving and shaking of travel. Besides requiring only A/C power, I'm sure there are other reasons they have not shown up earlier in the RV industry. DC to AC invertors have been around a long time also so I do not feel it was just a power thing.
Bill and Linda said
02:31 PM Aug 11, 2014
In today’s rigs I’m not sure what difference it makes whether a refrigerator is in a slide or not as pertains to leveling. Never seen this to be a problem. If you level the rig the slide should be level if the rig is properly constructed – even the kitchen slide.If it is not, I’d consider another rig.
With that said, back in days past (back when “slides” were actually referred to as “tip outs”) it was true some slides had to have outside jack supports to keep them from sagging which, to some extent, can cause a leveling issue for the refrigerator different from the coach.But I’ve never seen that to be the case with rigs manufactured in the last, say, 15 odd years. I'm referring to 5th wheels. Not super light weight tag trailers which are not as likely to have a refrigerator in a slide.Naturally you mileage may vary.
BTW, Cathy, nice to see you back on the forum
Bill and Linda said
02:37 PM Aug 11, 2014
RickandJanice wrote:
First let me say we are both minimalist by nature. So our 33'8" rig with a queen bed and 9 cuft LP / AC refrigerator works great for us.
Rick and Janice:
My Mom’s like you – a minimalist.That’s why I used the term.When she went from a 31’ to a 34’ trailer, full-time with my Dad, she thought it was “awfully big.”She lived for a lot of years, by specific choice, in a 26’.By her own definition she is still a minimalist and we love her for it.
Bill
Lynn and Ed said
07:20 PM Aug 12, 2014
Maxine,
I would suggest you prioritize the positives and negatives of a 31' versus 38' RV. The length difference will make a difference where you can stay and they type of options you can incorporate.
If staying in National Parks/State Parks (versus staying at a campground near by) is important to you, than 31' will have some significant positives. If you value comforts/conveniences such as the King bed and other items such as larger refrigerator, clothes washer and dryer, dishwasher --all of these items do take up some space/add weight and can be positives (i.e., this is your house). But at the end of the day, everyone priorities things differently.
We personally ended up with a 40' (plus a couple inches) to address our prioritized list (e.g., King Bed, residential refrigerator, clothes washer and dryer, dishwasher). Although it would simplify some of our park/campground searches if we were smaller -- when we are sitting in the coach (and using the options we incorporated), we would not have the coach any smaller (or larger for that matter).
Lynn
pkhalin said
07:59 PM Aug 12, 2014
Welcome Maxine,
It's always great to get input from folks that have been there done that. I think you're gonna find that there are about as many choices in 5th wheels as there are opinions. It's a daunting task. I have some friends looking at upgrading from a TT to a larger 5th wheel. Some other friends that initially went looking for a toy hauler 5th wheel, then re-assessed what they wanted to do and are now looking for a 5th wheel in the 40 foot range.
We started with a slide in truck camper, went to a 29 ft 5er, to a 35 footer, and now to one that is a shade over 39 feet.
I think what it's going to boil down to is, you'll walk into one and say 'Oh, yeah! This is IT!' You'll feel comfortable IN it, and hopefully comfortable hauling it.
Good luck on the search.
kb0zke said
02:24 PM Aug 13, 2014
Another welcome, merlins. It sounds like you have settled on one of two coaches. Since there are only so many ways to arrange the interior of a box, might I suggest that you step back a bit and look at all sorts of floor plans. Pretend to do your everyday activities ("wash" dishes, "take" a shower, "watch" tv, etc.) to see what really fits your needs and wants. Jo Ann and I moved from a double bed to a queen a few years ago, and that seemed huge to us. On a recent work trip we had a hotel room with a king, and we didn't care for it. For us, a queen with two nightstands is the way to go. Your needs and wants may vary. We replaced out RV refrigerator (it died) with an apartment-sized residential one. I think it is about 10 cu. ft. and it works well for the two of us. A little larger would have been helpful, but we couldn't find one that would go through the door.
Where you are going will influence the length of coach you can use. If you regularly go to older parks you might find that smaller is better. If some of your favorite parks are reasonably close to you (half a day's drive) go out and see what's there. Ask the owners of some of the longer rigs how difficult it is the maneuver them. If your favorite places are farther away, ask here whether anyone has been there with a larger rig.
Be sure to check the weight capacities of your truck before you buy a coach. If you're going to buy a new truck get the weights of the heaviest coach you are considering and use those numbers to spec the new truck.
Bob and Lindy said
06:39 PM Aug 13, 2014
We have a king bed in our current trailer. We had a queen most recently but had king beds in the s&b. We decided a couple of years ago that if & when we fulltime, we will change our mattress to a queen. We almost did that before we started fulltime in May but decided to wait. Our first long trip in June, after a few days on the road, Lindy shared with me that she felt extremely claustrophobic in bed. She was and always has, slept on the closet (front) side of the bed. We switched sides and everything is better. Now we are waiting on receiving a new Mobile Suites with a queen bed and lots of floor space in the bedroom. Its amazing how a few inches of width can make a bed so spacious and a floor so crowded.
Good luck in you research.
Terry and Jo said
02:15 PM Aug 16, 2014
As an aside comment that is in regard to "making changes," check the widths of door opening spaces. Since an RV door generally will open back against the outside wall, most cases will see that the opening of a door will be limited in comparison to a regular home. In our Mobile Suites, ours is about a 28" opening, but we were able to remove the doors from an 18 cubic foot Samsung refrigerator that we bought to replace the 13 cubic foot RV-style refrigerator. We didn't have any problems with getting that refrigerator through the door. It was the same by buying a La-Z-Boy Reclinaway love seat recliner to replace the two small "stock" recliners that came with the coach. All we had to do to get the love seat through the door was remove the backs.
If one decides to replace furniture or appliances, it really pays to measure carefully to see what will fit through the door, otherwise one might have to remove large windows to get the stuff inside.
Terry
Terry and Jo said
12:27 PM Aug 17, 2014
The purpose of my comment was to help those that want to change furniture or appliances after pickup of the RV. Not everyone has a fork lift, and on some long slides, some kind of platform for the slide to sit on would be needed to support the entire length.
In our case, all of our replacements were done after we took delivery. And, we didn't have to pay labor costs to a dealership for removing a slide to put in a loveseat or refrigerator.
My husband and I are planning on full time rv travel starting in January when we sell the house and hit the road. We are researching 5th wheels and can't decide if it is worth going without a king bed and 12 cuft frig in order to get a shorter 5th wheel, 31' OR go for the 18' 5th wheel with the floorplan that has a king bed and 12cuft frig. Any thoughts or recommendations?
First, welcome to the forum. Lots of friendly and knowledgeable types here.
If you are going FT, you might find a smaller fridge will require more trips to the grocery store. Uness you are near one, long trips could get old real fast. As for a King Bed vs a smaller one, I'm guessing you already have a king, if your comfortable with it, you may find the closer sleeping arrangements not to your sleeping routines. King beds take up a lot of space in the bedroom of most 5ers, you'll have to decide if giving up that space to get around the bedroom is worth it. Also a 38' 5er will limit, to a degree, the number of places you can get your rig into.
Any choice will involve compromises, knowing what you are comfortable with will help you make the right choice.
FWIW
-- Edited by biggaRView on Saturday 9th of August 2014 01:56:35 PM
Maxine:
I have a slightly different take on the size question. If you are going full-time, unless you are both minimalists by nature, don’t go too small.
IMO, and we travel a great deal and have throughout all the US and much of western Canada with a 39 foot 5th wheel, we haven’t been constrained as to where we can go. I also add that we don’t want anything larger – nor do we need it. Our new rig is slightly less than 39 feet at 38-1/2 and that was by design as it could be any length we wanted.
I agree, to a point with Brian, that there are a few places you can go with a smaller 5er that we can’t put our trailer. But those are very few and far between. Most state parks that say they limit the size actually don’t when you call or show up.
So, if you are planning on living in a 5er full time I’d be careful about going too small – especially in the fridge size department and also pantry space. As to bed size – make sure you get what you are comfortable with. We’re good with a queen. Others desire more.
Welcome
Maxine,
Welcome to the RV Dreams forums. You've definitely found a good source for finding answers to your questions because the folks here are knowledgeable about all kinds of RV's.
We have a 38 1/2-foot fifth wheel and have been living in it full time for a bit over 3 years. To us, it is a very comfortable size of trailer. When we ordered ours back in 2010, we took the option of a queen-sized Select Comfort (Sleep Number) bed, and because we did we ended up with two nightstands; one on each side of the bed. If we had stayed with the standard king-sized bed, we would have lost the nightstand on the side nearest the closet. We are extremely glad we went that route.
As for the refrigerator, ours originally came with a 13-cu. ft RV refrigerator, but after having troubles with it after only two years, we modified our trailer so as to put in an 18-cu. ft. residential refrigerator. Of course, in our case we already had a 3000 watt inverter, so we didn't have to add either an inverter or the extra batteries.
Feel free to ask your questions. The only "dumb" questions are those that don't get asked and then one has to deal with either an expensive or a time consuming mistake.
Terry
Kenny & frances
One size does not fit all, so you will need to look first hand and determine what fits you best. Also remember the bigger the rig, the bigger the truck needed to safely handle it in all situations. The tow rating of the rig does not necessarily mean it can stop it quickly or provide good stability in cross winds or down hill situations.
Just some information from someone who decided to stay a little shorter and are quite please with the choice.
We are only travelling (about 120 days per year), not fulltiming, but we dealt with the same question regarding the bed when buying our 5th wheel. We ended up with a solution in between. Our 5th wheel is 34' total length and came with a standard queen bed. But the bedroom slide was actually wider than the mattress, so we took the window boxes out and got ourselves a custom made memory foam mattress of 66" by 80", which is sometimes called a California Queen or Olympic Queen. The 6 inches make a lot of a difference and we don't miss our king bed from home when travelling.
Since most mattresses that come with the 5th wheel are crap or when buying used you may want to get a new mattress anyway.
Do agree that 8 -9 cu ft refrigerators are quite adequate for 2-4 people. Since the foods we refrigerate are mostly fresh type foods and drinks, we are ready to replenish them about the time there is room for more anyway so do not find ourselves short on any space. Also agree that the smaller refrigerators seam to last longer but feel that may be be due to being a long proved design and having no frills like ice makers, water dispensers or side by side doors which also make the larger ones more expensive.
Also will be interesting to see how long these residential refrigerators will take all the moving and shaking of travel. Besides requiring only A/C power, I'm sure there are other reasons they have not shown up earlier in the RV industry. DC to AC invertors have been around a long time also so I do not feel it was just a power thing.
In today’s rigs I’m not sure what difference it makes whether a refrigerator is in a slide or not as pertains to leveling. Never seen this to be a problem. If you level the rig the slide should be level if the rig is properly constructed – even the kitchen slide. If it is not, I’d consider another rig.
With that said, back in days past (back when “slides” were actually referred to as “tip outs”) it was true some slides had to have outside jack supports to keep them from sagging which, to some extent, can cause a leveling issue for the refrigerator different from the coach. But I’ve never seen that to be the case with rigs manufactured in the last, say, 15 odd years. I'm referring to 5th wheels. Not super light weight tag trailers which are not as likely to have a refrigerator in a slide. Naturally you mileage may vary.
BTW, Cathy, nice to see you back on the forum
Rick and Janice:
My Mom’s like you – a minimalist. That’s why I used the term. When she went from a 31’ to a 34’ trailer, full-time with my Dad, she thought it was “awfully big.” She lived for a lot of years, by specific choice, in a 26’. By her own definition she is still a minimalist and we love her for it.
Bill
Maxine,
I would suggest you prioritize the positives and negatives of a 31' versus 38' RV. The length difference will make a difference where you can stay and they type of options you can incorporate.
If staying in National Parks/State Parks (versus staying at a campground near by) is important to you, than 31' will have some significant positives. If you value comforts/conveniences such as the King bed and other items such as larger refrigerator, clothes washer and dryer, dishwasher --all of these items do take up some space/add weight and can be positives (i.e., this is your house). But at the end of the day, everyone priorities things differently.
We personally ended up with a 40' (plus a couple inches) to address our prioritized list (e.g., King Bed, residential refrigerator, clothes washer and dryer, dishwasher). Although it would simplify some of our park/campground searches if we were smaller -- when we are sitting in the coach (and using the options we incorporated), we would not have the coach any smaller (or larger for that matter).
Lynn
Welcome Maxine,
It's always great to get input from folks that have been there done that. I think you're gonna find that there are about as many choices in 5th wheels as there are opinions. It's a daunting task. I have some friends looking at upgrading from a TT to a larger 5th wheel. Some other friends that initially went looking for a toy hauler 5th wheel, then re-assessed what they wanted to do and are now looking for a 5th wheel in the 40 foot range.
We started with a slide in truck camper, went to a 29 ft 5er, to a 35 footer, and now to one that is a shade over 39 feet.
I think what it's going to boil down to is, you'll walk into one and say 'Oh, yeah! This is IT!' You'll feel comfortable IN it, and hopefully comfortable hauling it.
Good luck on the search.
Where you are going will influence the length of coach you can use. If you regularly go to older parks you might find that smaller is better. If some of your favorite parks are reasonably close to you (half a day's drive) go out and see what's there. Ask the owners of some of the longer rigs how difficult it is the maneuver them. If your favorite places are farther away, ask here whether anyone has been there with a larger rig.
Be sure to check the weight capacities of your truck before you buy a coach. If you're going to buy a new truck get the weights of the heaviest coach you are considering and use those numbers to spec the new truck.
Good luck in you research.
As an aside comment that is in regard to "making changes," check the widths of door opening spaces. Since an RV door generally will open back against the outside wall, most cases will see that the opening of a door will be limited in comparison to a regular home. In our Mobile Suites, ours is about a 28" opening, but we were able to remove the doors from an 18 cubic foot Samsung refrigerator that we bought to replace the 13 cubic foot RV-style refrigerator. We didn't have any problems with getting that refrigerator through the door. It was the same by buying a La-Z-Boy Reclinaway love seat recliner to replace the two small "stock" recliners that came with the coach. All we had to do to get the love seat through the door was remove the backs.
If one decides to replace furniture or appliances, it really pays to measure carefully to see what will fit through the door, otherwise one might have to remove large windows to get the stuff inside.
Terry
The purpose of my comment was to help those that want to change furniture or appliances after pickup of the RV. Not everyone has a fork lift, and on some long slides, some kind of platform for the slide to sit on would be needed to support the entire length.
In our case, all of our replacements were done after we took delivery. And, we didn't have to pay labor costs to a dealership for removing a slide to put in a loveseat or refrigerator.
Terry