Black Stone vs Glacier Peak

[NW_Traveler]

Hunting for our next RV and looking at both the ORV Blackstone and Glacier Peak lines.

I'm curious to hear from owners why they choose a 5'ver over a bumper pull or vice versa. I see pro's & con's of each, and everyone has different wants/needs, but I'd like to hear what steered you in one direction or another.

[Rickeoni]

We chose our fiver for a variety of reasons, ease of backing, big storage, head room and mostly the DW said it was the one. Had a TC before wih a cargo trailer in tow length was 40 feet with the fiver we only added 8 feet still managable in provincial parks, an equivalent floor plan in a trailer would add 5 feet to the length.

The cons are height and the GPs are heavy critters. The height has never been an issue as our TC is tall, and as for weight, if you have the right truck you will never know it's back there.

We are very happy wih her choice, as promised the fiver is very easy to tow and backing is so easy and it fits in anywhere we had our previous combo in.

[bucknaz]

We went with a bumper pull this time over the 5'ver for one reason, its what the better half wanted.
I have had several of both and lean more towards a 5'ver, as you say they both have there pros and con's. It might be worth taking a look at how you plan to use it. If most of the time you are taking short weekend trips and camping in the rough I would suggest a tow behind. If you tend to take longer trips, 5th wheel. If you only plan to use it once a year for a weeks vacation, consider a motel or renting a class C.

[brulaz]

Wanted something smaller than most 5ers, not as tall, so we could get into some of our favourite campsites. Also wanted the back of the truck for a topper with bikes& gear secure inside and kayaks on top.

[fisher99]

I like 5th wheels for all of the reasons that Rickeoni stated. However, I went with a bumper tow because I wanted my truck's bed for hauling all of the ancillary stuff that I take along when we do long road trips. And I wanted to be able to load the dual-sport motorcycle in the truck bed when we are boondocking and want to run around back roads and trails on the bike. I also don't like the idea of that large 5th wheel hitch consuming a big chunk of my bed when I'm not towing, and I'm getting too old to be wrestling something that heavy out of the bed to free up the space.

Plus (and there seems to be a spousal theme in these decisions) my wife, for some reason that she isn't able to fully articulate, doesn't like 5th wheels...

[Natebert]

Been back and forth on this one ourselves many times.

We chose the bumper pull because there is typically more storage in an 8' truck bed w/shell than most 5er basements (plus some TT's have a nice sized pass through too) to haul all of our schtuffs.

Fit the following in the truck, no problem, last fall;
300g portable hottub, 70g freshwater tank, twin honda generators, 4x5g gas tanks, 4x5g propane tanks, biggasgrill, portal gas powered water pump, chairs, coolers, dog kennel, fishing gear, plus 2 personal pontoon boats, and other misc truck/camping stuff.

The extra bed space allows me to boondock for 10+ days straight without any regard to consumption of supplies and keep it dry and dust free.




Plus you have space on the rack on top of the shell.



And you don't have to deal with one of these:

[PRT]

Originally Posted by NW_Traveler

Hunting for our next RV and looking at both the ORV Blackstone and Glacier Peak lines.

I'm curious to hear from owners why they choose a 5'ver over a bumper pull or vice versa. I see pro's & con's of each, and everyone has different wants/needs, but I'd like to hear what steered you in one direction or another.

Hi there, We have had 3 bumper pulls so far and now the G P 5th wheel. The 5th wheel hands down handles far superior than any of the bumper pulls we have had and that was with using a Pro-Pride hitch. Using Pro-Pride was good but 5er is still even better. Far less fatigue when pulling longer distances with 5er. Don't even feel if windy or when trucks pass. Backing for me wasn't quite so easy to switch over and just starting to feel more comfortable now. I have been backing some sort of pull trailer for 45 years, backing a 5th is a little different. Also we wanted the overall length shorter. With our last bumper pull we were about 58 ft overall vs 48 ft with 5th wheel. Both coaches were about same length inside. We switched over also for outside storage and love the high ceiling, was starting to feel a little claustrophobic in the travel trailer but the ORV products would be better with there arched ceilings. ORV trailers probably only need 3/4 truck but the GP will defiantly need a 3500 as Riceoni said they are heavy beasts.
Pete

[Rickeoni]

Originally Posted by PRT

as Riceoni said they are heavy beasts.
Pete

That's Rickeoni...Riceoni is the San-Francisco Treat

[PRT]

Originally Posted by Rickeoni

That's Rickeoni...Riceoni is the San-Francisco Treat

Sorry my bad. I was close though

[fisher99]

Originally Posted by Natebert

[snip]
Fit the following in the truck, no problem, last fall;
300g portable hottub, 70g freshwater tank, twin honda generators, 4x5g gas tanks, 4x5g propane tanks, biggasgrill, portal gas powered water pump, chairs, coolers, dog kennel, fishing gear, plus 2 personal pontoon boats, and other misc truck/camping stuff.

[snip]

You, sir, know how to boondock...

[Natebert]

Originally Posted by fisher99

You, sir, know how to boondock...

[Off Road]

Originally Posted by fisher99

You, sir, know how to boondock...

X2 you take boondocking to a whole new level.

[ricndot]

we miss the ease of towing our past 5er's for sure. but we enjoy the additional cargo space in the truck bed kept dry and out of sight by the soft roll up tonneau. after adapting our tv roof rack system to an "over the tonneau cover" system we are able to carry more junk strapped down to a cargo rack, and added 2 bike racks for added weight on the 1500

ps i see natebert found a new use for the bubble wrap insulation from his rig

[Superslif]

We'll be looking at the ORV's when we go out west in May. Were on our 2nd bumper tow. The next RV will be a bumper tow in the 25' to 29' range. With only a Tundra, even a ORV bumper tow unit I'll have to watch weight.

It all comes down to the floorplan to fit our family of 3. Here in the Midwest 90% of bumper tows are made for a certain price point, meaning "cheap". We did look at the Arctic Fox line while in MT. last year.

What is the basic difference between Outdoors RV and Arctic Fox. Are they owned by the same parent company? Have the same warranty?