While I don't know about the Mandalay or the Grand Junction, I do have some suggestions so you can start researching.  The first would be RV Consumer Group. RV Consumer Group - we rate new motorhomes, used motor homes, new fifth wheels, used fifth wheels, trailers.  

 I wouldn't consider buying any type of RV unless you order the reviews from them.  They are a non-profit group who are NOT affliated with any RV manufacter.  It may cost you $100. but you will get that back many times over by not making a mistake first time buying. They have done a lot to make RVs safer over the years. 

The next one is a Motorhome review page I found.  This is where owners can enter their opinions about their Motorhomes.  Motorhome Review Online Site Index Page    I bet there are "review" web pages out there but I haven't found them. Anyone else?

The other way to learn would be to attend a "Life On Wheels" program.  Howard and Linda will be there presenting their program.  Check it out.  Welcome to RV Life On Wheels   It will give you so much information on what to look for in an RV. 

This is just a start.  I'm hoping lots of other people have many more ideas for what to look for in selecting an RV.  Good luck.  Christine

Well, this is my first post ever... guess I'll have to go over to the other forum and introduce my wife and myself. I just bit the bullet and joined rv.org, ordering their towables ratings CD and some other stuff.

DW and I have decided that a fifth wheel and a big ugly truck to pull it are for us. We intend to be fulltimers, perhaps as soon as two years, so it's time to get serious. To save time when we visit rv shows we want to know going in what 5th wheels are rated as fulltime rigs by rv.org so that we don't waste a lot of time looking at unsuitable rigs, except maybe for floorplan ideas. Don't know if that's a viable strategy or not - we'll just have to see how it goes.

We've looked at some floorplans online and like the L-shaped kitchen -counters with overhead cabinets for the counter space and storage - kind of like Howard and Linda's Cambridge. But one thing that is important to us is can we get get to everything with the slides in? I'm just guessing, but it looks like with some of the L-shaped counter plans you'd have to move the dinette to get to a rear living room area.

Since there aren't many dealers near here, nor many shows (even though we're only 90 miles from Atlanta), I even thought about printing out some of the floor plans we've seen that we like, blowing them up on a Xerox machine, and taking a pair of scissors to the slideouts to, well, kind of slide them in to see what that does to the interior space. Of course that will only work if the floorplan printouts are accurate in scale in the first place.

Anyway, once I get the package from rv.org I'll be happy to share my impressions with anybody who's interested. The real proof of the puddin' will be when it comes time to buy... we're also hoping that there will be an LOW conference in our future before that day comes.

Happy traveling!

Tim and Robyn Fansler

 

 

Fansler, I agree. I love my L shaped kitchen (great counter space) but wish I could get to the refrigerator without having to climb over the dinette and couch area when traveling with both of the opposing slides in. It would be handy when traveling so I could make a quick lunch and it would be easier on the rare occasion when I have to fuel the truck with the 5er in tow to turn the refrigerator completely off.

The Cougar is my third RV and with each one I have learned a valuable lesson.

Okay, this is just my opinion, but I'm going to throw it out there anyway.

With all our slides in, we can access our refrigerator and the bathroom.  So models are available with the L-shaped counter to do that.  However, that being said, we have often heard people make a huge deal about not being able to walk through the entire rig with the slides in.  I guess this could be an issue if you park somewhere overnight where you are not allowed to have slides out or there is not enough room.  But on the rare occasions when we need to get to something while towing, it's just a quick push of a button to put out a slide while on the side of the road or in a rest area or a parking lot.  And we don't need to put the slides all the way out - just enough to get through.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but I haven't figured out exactly why, with push-button slides, not being able to walk through with the slides in is such a big deal.  I'm ready for my education. 

Well, Howard, it is rather difficult to run slides out in a crowded rest area (especially when there isn't a level spot in the place) or when sitting at the pumps in a service station.

We received our towables rating CD and other materials from rv.org a few days ago, and I am impressed. The amount of information is almost overwhelming, and looks to be extremely useful.

Tim and Robyn Fansler

Welcome Tim and Robyn, I remeber my first post which was on another forum and I got my head bit off, so I slicked away for over a year.  When this started I joined this forum and it is wonderful.  Noone will be anything but helpful I am sure.  I don't know about other places but there is a LOW in Bowling Green, KY in May (in past years) so watch for it.  It is not a very far drive from you.  We are searching too so I can't help you with 5th wheels because we are shopping for a MH.  We've had tents, pick-up camper shells, trailers and MH's, no 5th wheelers.  But good luck in your search.

Tim,

Rvnetlinx.com has a category called manufacturers.  They list them alphabetically and describe what each manufacturer builds.   You can select your manufacturer and look at their floor plans.  The neat thing about this is that there are manufacturers that I had never heard of and would never have visited their sites.

Good luck on your quest,

 

Hi Jerry and Dianne,

We hope to make it to LOW in Bowling Green next year. That's the closest one to us and we have a lot to learn. We could, of course, opt to learn everything the hard way, but that could be very expensive, not to mention downright dangerous to us and anybody unfortunate enough to be in our vicinity

Tim and Robyn

Hi Darrel and Judy,

Thanks for that link. It will come in handy. The rv.org material is very good, but as others have said in other places, it all depends on what their evaluation criteria are. Our thinking is to buy new if we can for warantee purposes and peace of mind. Right now I'm just trying to build a list of fulltime-rated fifth wheels, go wherever we have to go to look them over, and work our way down until we're within our budget range. Two years is the soonest we can do this, and that doesn't seem like a lot of time to me what with j-o-b and all. We want to be careful though about how much  gadding about we do in this research phase because we're also trying to put away as much as possible in savings. So I'm hoping your tip and the ratings CD will help us narrow down the choices beforehand.

Tim and Robyn

The Montana manufactured by Keystone has an L-shaped kitchen and also has easy access to fridge and bathroom.

Are there any Montana owners out there that have opinons good or bad about this RV? 

We are looking to purchase after first of year with a goal of becoming fulltimers next year.

Roland and Nancy Ballow

Harwood, TX

Hi,
We were very interested in the Montana until we visited their factory in Indiana and they told us in no uncertain terms that they didn't warrant it for full time use.

Not having ANY experience with either camping or RV's we looked elsewhere for a unit built for fulltiming.
We used the information from the RV Consumers Group to winnow down the choices.

Fred

Just to reply to Howard's comments regarding access when the slides are in.  Judy and I purchased a floorplan that allows for us to get access to the kitchen and livingroom area when the slides are in.  This is a good feature for us when we are traveling because we stay at Cracker Barrel, Fly-J, Wal-mart, etc..  But, you really need to evaluate how you are going to use your rig.  For instance, do you want to sacrifice extra counter space for a few nights of convience.  We plan to travel a lot and decided that we did, however; our first couple of years are going to be spent workamping.  This means that we will be staying put for months at a time and Judy has made the comment that it would be nice to have a little more counter space.  So, just some more food for thought.  By the way, there is no perfect RV just like there is no perfect house - unless you're loaded and can afford to keep making changes until you get it right.

We have decided to seriously consider full-timing and trading the motorhome for a new 5th wheel and truck.  I have always liked 5th wheels for their live-ability, but have never been a "pickup truck" person!

So far, we like the following 5th wheel manufacturers for quality and good floor plans in no particular order:

NuWa (HitchHiker Champagne)

Newmar 

Holiday Rambler

Teton (May be too pricey for us!)

Western RV (Alpenlite)

I would rather pay a little more, or maybe a lot more to get a good quality built fiver that can handle a fulltime lifestyle. 

Does anyone have any other candidates or any comments on the above manufacturers?

Regarding the truck, I like the Ford F350 with DRW, diesel engine, TowBoss, TowCommand, etc.

 

 

 

 

I too, have been looking real hard at 5'vers, have you checked our Heartland ? They are supposed to be fulltiming rigs.the link is HERE 

KZ Escalade , is also a very nice rig. And of course we can't forget The Keystone Cambridge.

And Carriage make a nice 5'ver also.

So many nice rigs out there !

 

There is also a new unit by Cedar Creek called Day Dreamer. It looks pretty nice.

We really like our Mckenzie Medallion, by Monoco fiver for this reason ...you can go thru the whole RV with slides in and reach anything you want, even sit on couch to eat if you want. This was very handy while the 4 of us were traveling together last wk  and we pulled off for lunch and all had plenty of room to sit down and eat.          

southwest Judy & Bob & 2blackdogs

wmalefyt:

Truck choice sounds good, it's what we have, but I would make the final decision on truck after you choose the 5er, because you need to make sure the truck is capable of towing the trailer you select.

As for the 5th wheel, I recommend you look at Carriage. They warrant all their trailers specifically for full timing--2 years bumper to bumper, and 5 year structural. We have their Cameo series because they had the floor plan we liked, the options we wanted, a weight we could pull with the F350, and the price was right.

Hi,

I think you should determine which manufacturers will warrant the trailer for full time use and then also look at the difference between the UVW and GVWR of each of the models your considering.
We saw a number of coaches we were interested in and then found out there was only about 1500# room for liquids and all of our personal stuff.

I also recommend joining the RV Consumer Group. You're going to be spending a lot of money.
Let us know what you choose. It's exc iting, isn't it?
Fred

Darrell And Judy,

                I see you pull a Cedar Creek Home, how do you like it and which model if you don't mind my asking. I visited a Cedar Creek dealer for the 1st time today and was quite impressed with the quality and floorplans.

                                             Thanks,

                                              Racerguy

Bill,

Just off the top of my head, you might as well throw in Mobile Suites and New Horizons (which makes custom fifth wheels and gets high ratings from RV Consumer Group).

George,

I sent you a separate message.

Darrell

If money is not a big issue ck out the 5 star rating of the New Horizons  it is the ONLY RV that has a 5tar ratng... You can design this RV (fiver) yourself and they will build it for you....we toured they're factory this summer at Junction City, Kansas...we were very inmpressed and it is a FULL TIME unit.

Southwest Judy & Bob & 2blackdogs

Thanks to everyone for the additional suggestions on 5th wheel manufacturers.  I had no idea there were so many quality makes out there so I guess our quest will not be an easy one!  We're heading over to the east coast of Florida next week to check out some models at a show in Ft. Lauderdale and at a couple of dealers nearby.

Darrell ,thanks for the reply. You have helped a bunch in helping me seriously concider the Cedar Creek line as A front runner in my choices. They seem to be well built with very attractive floor plans. Another plus is that many of the models you don't need a Semi to pull them.

                                                                                                     Thanks again,

                                                                                                      George

 

Judy wrote:

---

We really like our Mckenzie Medallion, by Monoco fiver for this reason ...you can go thru the whole RV with slides in and reach anything you want, even sit on couch to eat if you want. This was very handy while the 4 of us were traveling together last wk  and we pulled off for lunch and all had plenty of room to sit down and eat.          

southwest Judy & Bob & 2blackdogs

---

 Judy,

From what I can see on their website the Medallion appears to be identical to Holiday Rambler which is also owned by Monaco.   We were impressed with the Holiday Rambler Presidential 36RLT that we saw at North Trail RV in Ft. Myers, FL yesterday.

 

Hi Wmalefyt..you are so right about the Holiday Rambler Presid. rv you looked at, it is a sister to the Mckinzie Medaillion...and I think you will love it should you decide on it.

Southwest Judy & Bob & 2blackdogs

Hi,
We agree. We also have an island kitchen and like the "open" feeling. It's only a button and 10 seconds to get the swlide out to access the fridge. No big deal.
Fred