Little or no time to buy, hate being rushed

[deltam]

Well shucks!

Our house sold faster than we wanted, or expected for more money than we expected. Bad news is we don't have a place to move too. Immediately after it sold, we had figured on living in a camper till we found land and I built a house.

Problem we did not anticipate is in modern times society hates people without a physical address. I've read a bit about full-timers here. We don't want full time, except for maybe 3-4-6 months or so. Once we found land, we could put our camper on it with a mailbox out front after digging a well, septic and power.

I hate being pushed into buying a 5th wheel in such a short period of time. We have 5 more weeks to get out, with all the house selling issues too. I'm kind of hoping the buyers decide not to buy.

We bought a Chevy diesel duelly last week. We first looked at a new Forest River 36 ft. Pretty much ruled it out in favor of a similar Montana (not their cheaper model) as it is rated for 4 seasons, if that means anything as it gets to upper single digits F every year or so and teens are common. There is a local dealer that sells Redwoods. An older thread said most all campers are built mostly the same way. Arctic Fox seems to be of better than average quality but no dealers in our area, hills of NC. We don't really have time to shop for used considering inspections, repairs, etc. Since we got more money for our house, we can put more money in a camper (twisted logic).

We don't want to throw away our money but don't need the best "deal" instead of better quality.

Actual length 37+- feet.

We do plan to travel a bit, once the dust settles on the home issues. We are both retired now.

We have had two 5th wheels in the past, shorter, lighter, noisier and sold them for a beach condo about 14 years ago. I would not recommend the beach condo thing. A real money pit. Sold the thing. Campers are the way to go.

Ideal budget is say $75k or so to put into a 5th wheel for four seasons. What would you buy?

[tuffr2]

75k should buy a very nice used high end 5th wheel. I would look at 4 - 5 year old Lifestyle, DRV, Luxe, Excel units and compare them to newer Montana, Landmark type 5th wheels.

You will need a 2011 or newer diesel dually to pull any of these high end / higher end 5th wheels.

On another note: consider a 3 slide trailer and tow with single rear wheel 1 ton (F-350 Ram/Chevy 3500) truck. Put a cap on the truck to add a lot of storage.

[redhooker]

We did the same thing as you and lived in RV parks for 2 1/2 years as staying on our property was not an option. Used a relatives address as the banks need a residential location (ups store mailbox no good) for any bank accounts due to patriot act.

I got quite an education on RVs during this period. Talked to hundreds of owners as they came and went, full timers to weekend warriors. We got lucky and picked a good model for us, with a small child and dog a toy hauler was perfect-we had a 43 foot KZ with a 14 foot garage with laundry in the back. The garage area was a blessing for us as the flexible space was great to set up for the little guy and whenever we traveled it was easy to pack up our outdoor items/bikes and head out (dodged two hurricanes).

A toy hauler is not for everyone though, and I will say that among the fiver models we found the happiest full timers in the afore mentioned Montanas, Cedar Creeks, and Landmarks. Believe it or not saw a ton of issues with some of the most expensive models and even had two Grand design owners stranded in the park for weeks waiting on major repairs.

Lots of issues with on demand water heaters as well (when used full time) and even with a family the standard 10-12 gallon heater with electric worked great.

If I speced one today for full time living (our now recreation only fiver is different) I would have:
Above mentioned WH
Convection Oven
Heat Strips in both ACs
Largest Basement I could find with Pull Out tray
Manual Awnings (best kind to leave out long term)
Drivers side kitchen
Residential Refrigerator
No slide under main awning
Laundry away from bedroom
Both ACs not in bedroom

[aknavy]

Originally Posted by tuffr2

75k should buy a very nice used high end 5th wheel. I would look at 4 - 5 year old Lifestyle, DRV, Luxe, Excel units and compare them to newer Montana, Landmark type 5th wheels.

This. If I was in your position, I'd be looking at Carriage Carri-Lite or Royals International, Lifestyle Luxury, Excel, and possibly the DRV's. Only problem with the older DRV's is that their interiors are dated. As good as Cedar Creek treated me recently, the older high end units are so much better built. The only reason I'd touch a new unit is for one of DRV's new toy hauler floor plans which just aren't available in older units.


Arctic Fox and Outdoors RV appear to be well built, but I can't get on board with the floor plans.


Redwoods are pretty, but from talking to an owner, I'd avoid them. That's one experience tho, so take it for what it's worth.


If I were willing to drive a medium duty truck, Teton Homes would be on the list as well. I recently saw one, and while it was old, it was in great shape. Just way to big!


Must haves for us:


Disc brakes
Dual pane/tinted windows
Big tanks - water/waste. Our current unit really sucks in this area.
Two/more A/C's, would prefer heat pump.
Residential Fridge - no RV fridges have enough space.


We don't want washer/dryer, we like the storage space and the convenience of doing a week or two of laundry in two hours at the laundromat.

[NevadaNick]

Go get a PO Box while you still have your current house and use it. Dont worry about changing physical until you have a new one. I still have a po box 2 yeats after we sold our last house.

[deltam]

Originally Posted by NevadaNick

Go get a PO Box while you still have your current house and use it. Dont worry about changing physical until you have a new one. I still have a po box 2 yeats after we sold our last house.

This makes me feel a bit better about my initial plan. We live in a PIA gated community. We have had to have all mail go to PO box for years. Banks, etc. still want a street address for their files. Never heard of the Patriot Act. I'll have to look it up.

Is double pane glass considered standard with four season packages?

[keymastr]

You might also look for Outdoors RV Glacier Peak units near you. Denver may be the closest dealer for new but there may be some used ones close by. They are a cousin to Arctic Fox and are also a true 4 season trailer and extremely well built and appointed. All ORV trailers come standard with double pane glass and all plumbing tanks and valves are on the insulated side of the trailer floor and say they are usable to 0* with little other prep. Here are a couple short videos explaining the difference in how they build Vs other manufacturers.

http://outdoorsrvmfg.com/video-four-seasons/
http://outdoorsrvmfg.com/video-built-tough/