Front living

[00 DEAD ON]

Wanting to buy a new 5er. This is our first FL 5th wheel. I see many companies that have them we want 5-6 slides and the theater recliners. Also want it generator ready. We are wanting a full time 5er.
Which builder has the best chassis and stands behind there product. I'd rather spend the extra $$ and purchase a quality unit
Thx

[tuffr2]

There are custom builders Space Craft, New Horizons, and Forks RV.

Then there is DRV Elite Suites/Mobile Suites Peterson Excel Limited/Winslow.

Then LifeStyle, Trilogy, Landmark. Trilogy and Landmark use 12" I-Beam frame.

Not sure if any of any of the mentioned 5ers have a Front Living Room floor plan.

[suprdave1958]

Good question, there are many manufacturers that build the front living area 5th wheel. As far as the highest quality construction...you have to go Contenental Coach, then New Horizons, but your going to spend $150k or much more. Then Augusta RV Luxe (just came out), Redwood RV (Crossroads), then Evergreen (Bay Hill, Lifestyle, Alfa)....Then you drop down to everyone else (Hearltand, Keystone, Prime Time, Forest River, Jayco, and others). They all also have higher end models (Heartland has the Landmark, Forest River has the Cardinal), and these are both very nice units, but it still comes down to choosing a good dealer also.
I haven't seen the Augusta Luxe in person yet since theres only a couple of dealers that have one in stock because they are so new, but they do offer some very nice features. As as quality of construction of these middle $$$ range 5th wheels, for me at least...Evergreen does build a quality product, and the Bay Hill 379 has 5 slides (as most of the front living area units do), but include the large residential fridge (side by side with door icemaker/water dispenser) and dishwasher. I think the Redwood and Cardinal also offer the fridge and dishwasher, but the other front living area models do not. Of course your higher end models (Contenental Coach, New Horizons, etc.) will also offer these features. I left out DRV, a very nice unit, but to me not as high of quality as the New Horizons and Contenental...at least not for what they charge for the DRV. I been to many of the shows, and a couple of the factories where they are built, and for the value...personally I like the Bay Hill (higher end Evergreen Lifestyle is very nice too), the Cardinal, Redwood. I would go to a few RV shows and you'll see some nice "Montana's", "Big Country", Sanibel, and on and on and on. But look past all the eye candy and see how they wired electrically, plumbing, and AC. Then see how they are built structurally...are they double welded aluminum frame (the best), or partial aluminum frame walls and galvanized steel roof joists, or partial of all of the above. All use wood decking (5/8" most of the time)..some use cheaper decking materials...some insulate less than others..but again they all offer almost the same floor plans. Finally look at the quality of the finishes (cabinets screwed and glued, vs glued and stapled) you will see some very nice 5th wheels (they look nice to the eye) but with cheaper quality. Best advice I can give you...do your homework..don't get in a hurry. Good luck!

[00 DEAD ON]

Thanks suprdave1958

[JnKNjoylife]

The March 2015 Trailer Life has an article on FL 5ers and lists basic specs and list prices on 10 brands in the 41-42' range, You might want to look at the 8'-6" wide models for full timing.

[Iowa6.6]

Hi. We have owned a KZ front living room for 3 years. They are a nice rig. We recently traded for a Jayco Pinnacle With a bigger front living room. It is more money then the KZ. We got the Jayco 38flsa. Very good warranty with it.

[K0LCB]

We have a Grand Design Solitude 379FL. Love it, it is 101 inches wide and 42.5 long, 5 slides, reclining love seat as in lounge, large shower, fireplace, and well insulated


Leonard Boyer

[00 DEAD ON]

Thx KOLCB

[Dasmoeturhead]

We had a 2014 Montana mountaineer front living, and after a month of bumping our heads on the ceiling, very much cramped, and always way hotter than anywhere else in the rig we traded it for a rear living Landmark, and never looked back.

[Cumminsfan]

Originally Posted by jammer3025

We had a 2014 Montana mountaineer front living, and after a month of bumping our heads on the ceiling, very much cramped, and always way hotter than anywhere else in the rig we traded it for a rear living Landmark, and never looked back.

Always wondered about the heat. Our 5er bedroom is always hotter that the rest of the trailer. Heat rises.

[caissiel]

The days before the living room slides the front living area livingroom was very popular. I use to call it the trailer for those that wanted to look down on their neighbours. A co-worker had one and could snoop on everyone in the park. But the rear slides gave much more living space in the rear and the FL disappeared.
We looked seriously at one build by Fleetwood for years. It was 40 ft long and not heavy and washing machine in the kitchen area. It also had 5 slides.
But our present unit has a great living area with kitchen, living room and office on one level. Cannot see myself running up and down all day to get from kitchen to living area.
Yes the Bedroom now are getting a lot of attention these days as they rob space from the living area. That's why we love our unit that has much larger kitchen and living area with 3 slides in living area and still can be towed with my truck. No way we would go for larger bedroom area while stuck in an 8 ft long living room, even with 2 living room slides.
Besides with the bedroom in the back, it's next to impossible to go to the bedroom and bath without opening slides or having reduced dept slides like MH has for rear access.
Our unit closes right up to the rear during travel, while kitchen, bath and bedroom access is still available.
Reducing slide dept only reduces living space and that's the reason we love our 4 slide unit.

[Dasmoeturhead]

Originally Posted by caissiel

The days before the living room slides the front living area livingroom was very popular. I use to call it the trailer for those that wanted to look down on their neighbours. A co-worker had one and could snoop on everyone in the park. But the rear slides gave much more living space in the rear and the FL disappeared.
We looked seriously at one build by Fleetwood for years. It was 40 ft long and not heavy and washing machine in the kitchen area. It also had 5 slides.
But our present unit has a great living area with kitchen, living room and office on one level. Cannot see myself running up and down all day to get from kitchen to living area.
Yes the Bedroom now are getting a lot of attention these days as they rob space from the living area. That's why we love our unit that has much larger kitchen and living area with 3 slides in living area and still can be towed with my truck. No way we would go for larger bedroom area while stuck in an 8 ft long living room, even with 2 living room slides.
Besides with the bedroom in the back, it's next to impossible to go to the bedroom and bath without opening slides or having reduced dept slides like MH has for rear access.
Our unit closes right up to the rear during travel, while kitchen, bath and bedroom access is still available.
Reducing slide dept only reduces living space and that's the reason we love our 4 slide unit.

That's why Montana put a ceiling fan in. Ours came with one 13,500 but for a 38 ft 5th wheel. That's fine if you never go anywhere warm. I installed another one and that made a difference, but that small lv up front still got hot. The bedroom was large and cool. I thought that front living was kinda neat, until we started living in it.

Live and learn.

Originally Posted by Cumminsfan

Always wondered about the heat. Our 5er bedroom is always hotter that the rest of the trailer. Heat rises.

[Rob_Fla]

We have been fulltiming in our Front Living Redwood for 6 months now.

The Front Living layout on our Redwood works for us, we like the layout, space and features of our FL model.

It was a hard choice for us as there are a lot of good brands / models / floorplans out there today.

One thing to remember, in todays RV world, more money does not always get you better quality.

[00 DEAD ON]

Thx Rob_Fla
Which model do you have