Any 37 DP owners wish you got a 40 or longer?

[TonyDi]

At 43' I have a lot of room to stretch out and have my own space. Being able to carry more stuff is good too. The advantage of the TAG axle can't be emphasized enough. I love it.
Can I fit in small National parks? No. Has it stopped me from staying close enough to one that it doesn't matter? No.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by Contender

Any 37 DP owners wish you got a 40 or longer? Yes, bigger is always better - looking for our first DP. Is the 40 stability & ride that much better +/- TAG? Understand the obvious maneuverability and storage issues and leaning towards the 37 DSDP.

Not now! We went from a 38' DSDP to a 40' DSDP in 2002 and in 2015 up to a 45'

[Contender]

What is your current DP size?
I am leaning toward 40 for obvious reasons, but 37 may work also - what do you see as the 'cutoff' for Nat. Parks?

[cruzbill]

No cutoff for NP, if you fit into the site, you are good to go. There are (a few) sites in Yosemite that can accommodate a 45'er. No hookups, though.

[Buly]

Nat Park system was designed to accommodate VW Van[emoji23]

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by lefield

As a followup to the tag answer some coaches have a steering component w the tag that allows for slightly better steering than without. Foe example the 2017 ventanna does.

Or you can have a lifting tag like my rig does. Either way it's better than dragging the tag tires sideways.

[valentob]

Originally Posted by Contender

I am leaning toward 40 for obvious reasons, but 37 may work also - what do you see as the 'cutoff' for Nat. Parks?

"Best RV Lengths for National Parks
All of the numbers included here are the COMBINED lengths of the tow vehicle and the trailer/fifth wheel, or the motorhome and the towed vehicle. So you need to add the length of the RV and the vehicle together.
Also, keep in mind that RV companies often fudge the numbers on the length of their RVs. Get out a tape measure and actually measure your RV to know–it’s probably longer than what the manufacturer advertised.
Here are the averages:
RVs up to 12′ in length fit in every national park campground in the United States, although there are a few campgrounds that don’t allow RVs at all and are tent only.
RVs up to 19′ in length fit in 98% of all national park service campgrounds.
RVs up to 25′ in length fit in 93% of all national park campgrounds
RVs up to 29′ in length fit in 84% of all national park campgrounds
RVs up to 32′ in length fit in 81% of all national park campgrounds
RVs up to 35′ in length fit in 73% of all national park campgrounds
RVs up to 37′ in length fit in 60% of all national park campgrounds
RVs up to 40′ in length fit in 53% of all national park campgrounds (Remember that many of the parks will only have a few sites this size, however. Book long in advance if reservations are available–otherwise you run the risk of not having a spot)
RVs up to 41′ in length fit in 7% of all national park campgrounds (Remember that many of the parks will only have a few sites this size, however. Book long in advance if reservations are available–otherwise you run the risk of not having a spot)" from Ideal RV Length for Fitting into National Park Campsites - Camper Report

[FLJOE]

Originally Posted by Contender

Any 37 DP owners wish you got a 40 or longer? Yes, bigger is always better - looking for our first DP. Is the 40 stability & ride that much better +/- TAG? Understand the obvious maneuverability and storage issues and leaning towards the 37 DSDP.

There has been a lot of extremely accurate information posted already in response to your question.

Our experience was in larger fiver's, then a 37' gas MH. I drove some pretty large stuff as my primary job when I was a kid in the military so the driving part has come very easy for me. However, some of the larger dealers offer classes/instruction when purchasing large DP's from them.

Our 2014 gas MH was a pig to drive down the interstate with any wind. I had over $2,000 worth of modifications done to the suspension and it was 75% better. Problem was we were selling our home and going full time and it would only tow 5,000 max and wasn't big enough.

If we were staying as "long timers", keeping the house and only traveling 3 or 4 months then we probably would have targeted a 40' DP. But when you are full time we felt we needed 1.5 baths, washer/dryer, king bed, tow rating 15,000, and at least a 42' length.

We don't plan for days much over 250 or 300 miles and like to be off the road by 3pm. We wanted a coach that when you did stop for the day you still had some energy left and were not all beat up from driving the thing 6 or 7 hours.

Having a 43' coach and pulling a 24' enclosed trailer I accept the fact that we will be staying on all interstates, or at least federally classified I highways. We won't try to squeeze into any state parks or COE stops. We were able to do that type of camping when we had our fivers. Now we will just set up for a week or more in a CG, unload the car and Harley, and explore out from there during the days.

So for us the exact coach selection depends on what type of camping you will be doing.

[Dutch Star Don]

We owned a 36' DP for 10 years. It's true overall length was 37'. We loved that coach, but it was time to move on to a newer coach. Our 36' only had one living room slide and we were looking for more room. We wanted to stay at 40' because of California restrictions.

The 40 Newmar fit what we wanted when we went looking. Mechanically....for me...that included a tag axle, side radiator, engine brake, independent front suspension, Comfort Steer and several other items.

Inside the coach, we found the additional space we were looking for. That three additional feet gave us a washer/dryer combo, a king bed a large living room with a good size kitchen.

For us, the 40' model gave us the things we wanted and where they worked best (not shoved to an odd corner so they fit in a smaller coach).

There was not a huge difference in storage between our old coach and new coach. Due to design changes from a rear radiator to side radiator, we had space in different places. We gained 3/4's of a full bay over our previous coach.

On our previous coach, a Monaco Diplomat, I did a lot of suspension work and it handled nicely. With that said, I still wanted the next coach to have a tag axle for stability and braking reasons.

[NealC]

I've only owned 1 MH - my current Ventana 4037. I wanted the steerable tag axle, I wanted all electric and not have to deal with propane. I absolutely love it! Perfect space in the basement, perfect space in the coach, king bed, residential frig, washer/dryer, perfectly sized shower, bath and a half, on and on. Pleasure to drive, not claustrophobic, very happy with this forever coach.