Rear Kitchen Fifth Wheel Trailers Issues

[Camp CA]

Rear kitchen fifth wheel trailers are becoming very popular. We are considering moving from a center kitchen (20+ years in 4 trailers) to a rear kitchen (Pinnacle 39FBRK and others) to move the kitchen counter clutter into its own space and create a larger living room with full opposing slides. With the kitchen appliance / storage weight in the tail of the trailer is there more likelihood of damage, tail swag and other problems while towing?

[NLOVNIT]

I had a 30ft RK Cougar 5r. Yes, things really bounce/sway (I put a camera inside just to monitor) & I lost a couple Pyrex baking dishes because of all the bouncing. Our roads are terrible. Pack things tightly, though, & you should be fine. Never leave anything on the counters or when you arrive at your destination, you'll find them on the floor. Been there.

[R.M.A]

A friend had one, not a low end either. It bounced sooo bad that their recliners jumped around. Water tank full or empty no difference. He traded it off.

[Camp CA]

Curious why his recliners bounced since they are located in the middle of the trailer and generally secured?

[Old-Biscuit]

We had a center kitchen with a 'china hutch' which carried the Noritake China Set I had bought for my Mom back in 1972 in Hing Kong

Friend had a rear kitchen and regular stoneware that ended up bouncing around and broke several pieces

*Our 5th had rear living with opposing slides making for a large living area

Having had 4 center kitchen 5vrs I'm not sure you will really like that rear kitchen unit....but hey thats why there are rear kitchen, center kitchen, front living room even 6 slide out units

[NLOVNIT]

The 2 things I liked about the rear kitchen:
1. When you came in the entry door, you were right in the living room. The dirty dishes in the sink or messy counters weren't the first thing you see.
2. When going to bed, you don't have to traipse thru your kitchen to get to bed. You go right from your living room up to the bedroom.

Just make sure the stove, fridge or at least the microwave, is not on the back wall. All can be blocked by a slide out when it's pulled in if they are on that back wall. That can make it difficult to heat up something, or get something out of the fridge, when you stop in a rest area for a quick bite to eat - when you can't get next to a curb to deploy the slide blocking those appliances.

On my Cougar, I could get to the fridge with slides in, but not the stove. I could barely get to the microwave if I crawled up on the center penninsula & ducked under the overhead cabinets.

I'm sure you're well versed in making sure you can get to stuff with slides in, but thought I'd point this out.

[JIMNLIN]

our 1st 5er was a new 1984 26' rear bath. This trailer had no rear shocks and evry trip the rear bath med cabinet contents along with rear sink cabinet contents were scattered around the floor.
Bought4 Monroe shock kits for trailer service and no more scattered contents.

Nothing new about RK 5th wheel trailers...they've always been popular since the 80s/90s.
Our 2nd 5er was a 30' 1994 RK with factory shocks. No issues.
Same with our current 1997 12.2k 32' RK with shocks. Simply no issues with scattered or anything broken in the RK I've owned.

[Camp CA]

Originally Posted by NLOVNIT

The 2 things I liked about the rear kitchen........
I'm sure you're well versed in making sure you can get to stuff with slides.......

Agree on your likes. We have never had a need to access the stuff with slides in, albeit the one we are looking at has access to a 1/2 bath and bed.

[Skip426]

My DW is a " What if " packer ; in our RK , 5er she had so much packed in the cupboards and under the counter that the trailer was light on pin weight .

Had to move all her canned goods under the bed to balance the weight .

Now I have to change my password and cancel notifications from this thread to avoid , sudden

[hamm2018]

Originally Posted by Camp CA

Rear kitchen fifth wheel trailers are becoming very popular. We are considering moving from a center kitchen (20+ years in 4 trailers) to a rear kitchen (Pinnacle 39FBRK and others) to move the kitchen counter clutter into its own space and create a larger living room with full opposing slides. With the kitchen appliance / storage weight in the tail of the trailer is there more likelihood of damage, tail swag and other problems while towing?

When we first started looking for 5th wheel to retire in, wife wanted a rear kitchen. But after I talked to owners of different brands, ruled these out. The biggest issue was being concerned about placement of the dishes/weight in the wall cabinets with the movement of the rig.

[Camp CA]

Thanks for all feedback and considerations!! We will be looking at a Riverstone rear kitchen today. However, it has a smaller living room with less seating and refrig is at the end vs. the Pinnacle with a larger living room with less seating and refrig is in the passenger slide.

[mote]

We have an 2011 Montana with a rear kitchen. The only problem we've had so far is when we took a long trip to the U.P. I loaded down the fridge door with canned drinks so we'd have cold ones ready when we arrived. We went thru a really rough section of road that required us to slow down to 40mph. When we arrived two of the door shelves had sheared off. My fault for putting to much weight in there.
The dishes in the cabinets on the back wall were fine.

[jimcumminsw]

Our first 5er was a rear kitchen unit. Never had any breakage or items moving around in the cabinets.

Why?

Our dealer showed my wife and I how to pack the rear kitchen cabinets. He told us to carry small throw pillows, using these to take up the interior voids in the cabinets and cushioning the dishes. Also, to place any heavy items like toasters, mixers and such in the lower cabinets to prevent them from being bounced off of the counter tops.

We still pack our mid-kitchen 5er the same way when traveling. Anything heavy is placed in the lowest level cabinets and the upper cabinets are stuffed with throw pillows.

Just a suggestion.

[CecilD]

A minor point to consider is the view out the back. We have large rear and side windows and usually find the scenery out the rear is more enjoyable than out the side. This may be moot based on how and where you camp.