new to RVs and to the group

[gemmari]

I used to travel as a child/teen in my grandparents RV. Gram & Granddad have a BornFree class C, though they're in their 80's and only use it a few weeks a year now. They used to do the snowbird thing in the winter and take the grandkids for a month or more in the summer. They lived in the RV more than at home once they retired. We are me (Marie), my long term boyfriend, a medium size doodle (don't tell him he's a senior dog; he hasn't figured it out yet), and sometimes a young-teen child. Currently living in central PA. We have been doing some car camping with a tent but finally decided to take the plunge on getting a used RV. So we traded in the little civic for a 2003 Ram 2500 that's all set up for towing already (something about the rear end that I don't fully understand) and has under 100,000 miles.

We've narrowed the choice down to two potential RV trailers at a specific dealership: a 2004 Forest River Wildcat (29 BHBP)- 29 foot 5th wheel with a huge ton of storage space and a gigantic slide and a whole second bedroom with a door for storage or to put the young-teen child when she comes with us. Downsides: the carpet looks like crap and doesn't feel good underfoot plus is probably full of allergens and the fully loaded weight (including full fresh water tank) will be pushing the top end of what the truck can pull according to the documentation we can find AND we'll need to get a fifth wheel hitch installed in the truck AND when we put the slide in, the sound was kinda scary. Other option that I really like is a 2007 Gulf Stream Conquest (275 FBS) - enough beds but MUCH less storage space and a smaller slide (which was quiet going in). It is much lighter and well within the listed towing capacity of the truck. The roof is lower though and it does feel a little cramped without the huge slide. And while there are the same number of beds, the lack of a distinct second bedroom doesn't make the teen-drama-queen very happy. *shrugs* It never bothered me as a kid to sleep on the couch or the above cab bunk so I don't know what her deal is. AND we have to either choose today or take our chances that one won't be there next time we check back. Wish us luck choosing!

[Acadianmom]

I don't know where you are but there are a million used travel trailers and 5-th wheels out there. Well, at least thousands. Don't think there are only 2 you have to choose from. You need to do more research and don't overload your truck. Many have said when they walked in their RV they knew it was the one. I looked for 2 years for the right one and bought it in a couple of hours when I found it.

Good luck with your search.

[BirdbyBird]

What Martha said. Maybe look some more instead of regretting later. Melissa is one of resident truck as a tow vehicle experts and if you ask she can give you specifics but I have read enough posts to know that you do not want to tow a 5th wheel or TT when you now you are pushing your limits. A lot of storage does not one any good when you can't carry any extra weight anyway. Do some more research and looking. You will find one that fills most of the bills and like Martha says grabs you when you walk inside. (I say fills most of your wishes because life is like that...there are usually a couple of trade off that you give up because they really aren't the priority at the time.)

Regarding teen girl....how much longer do you figure she will travel with you? How long do you figure on keeping this unit? Do you really want to haul the extra length/weight down the road when you don't need it in the near future. For privacy she could always pitch a tent and sleep on an air mattress. That would be very private.

[gemmari]

It feels like we've been looking forever - starting with the RV show in Hershey last September and then studying layouts online. And then when we felt we had enough saved, looking more in person. I think we've been in dozens of RVs over the last few months. With the agreed upon 'must haves' list, it's way more difficult than we expected. Half the time, we go look at one and the floors are soft or there's evidence of roof leaks or...other obvious bad stuff not even mentioned in the ads.

In order of importance:
1 - at a price point that we can pay cash for it right now (so under $10,000)
2 - everything must work as intended right now - we don't want to deal with major repairs first thing
2 - a main bedroom with a bed that you can walk the whole way around
3 - a second bed large enough for a tall teen or an adult friend who decides to join us for the weekend or whatever that is a distinct bed, NOT the couch. Just tiny bunks isn't big enough. (note: the teen probably won't join us often or for any really long trips but we have had other adult friends/family members express an interest)
4 - Must be able to access the bathroom AND use the kitchen with all slides fully in if slides are present. This is proving to be MUCH harder to find than expected
5- already having some sort of non-fuzzy floor is ideal; I can rip out & replace carpet if necessary but I'd rather not have to.
6 - under 30 feet (this might be wishful thinking on my part; he's comfortable towing and parking pretty much anything but I might have to drive at some point, right?)
7 - born after 2000
8 - does not make me sneeze when I enter it. Apparently lots of RVers travel with cats and I haven't figured out how to get cat dander out of upholstery enough to make me able to live with it for any stretch of time without wheezing. I've tried. Even if there's not visible fur anywhere, I still know.
9 - An actual bathTUB, not just a shower. It only has to be large enough for a 25 pound dog, not a person.
10 - Ideally appears like it has a few years (3-5?) of frequent use left in it.

It's a super difficult list to fill apparently. Maybe we need to lower expectations? I got frustrated with looking. Then boyfriend and his dad were at a dealership last weekend and boyfriend came home thrilled with this fifth wheel they found. Awesome in the pictures so I went to see. The fifth wheel doesn't make me sneeze and there is a lot a like about it...but when I looked at other stuff in the lot, the travel trailer I mentioned seemed closer to perfect. And we're kinda running out of time. We booked a campsite at the campground several of my relatives use second week in August to go be with them...and it has taken us forever to find something that even ALMOST fits everything and there are TWO on one lot with a salesman who's cheerful and almost eager to drop the prices a little bit.

[avalen]

just wanted to say welcome, enjoy your search for the perfect rv, unless you plan on living in it for cross country trips for months at a time, I think the storage part is not so important. Certainly don't want to get something thats too big for the
truck to tow because we want to be safe, especially when stopping. I agree with the rest of the girls, do a ton of research
and visit some rv shows.

[IrishIroamed]

Welcome to the forum from Illinois. I started my search for a C class for (hopefully sooner rather than later) retirement almost 2 yrs ago and couldn't make up my mind. I do agree that when you see it, you'll just know. I happened to walk into a TT at an RV show and loved it, so I'm rethinking my plans. Bought a used F-150 that could haul the weight and hope to buy it next year so I can practice for a few years and figure out what I'm doing before retirement, then upgrade to a C when the time comes.

Absolutely, see what MelissaD says about towing capacity. She answered tons of my questions before I bought the truck.

Just me, but I wouldn't buy anything just because you have a campground booked. Can you find somewhere close by where you can rent one? In my area, a TT for about a week was $900 and a C was around $3000 (more to break), but I'd rent instead of buying something just to get one.

Good luck on the decision - it's a big one - take your time.

[MelissaD]

2003 Ram 2500 that's all set up for towing already (something about the rear end that I don't fully understand) and has under 100,000 miles.

Hoosier Welcome

Trucks set up to tow have rear ends (axles) with high ratios. A 4.10:1 will tow much better than a 3.35:1 (4.10:1 means engine turns 4.1 times for every time the tire turns. More turns, more torque to pull with). Probably also has a larger oil and transmission coolers.

First step: I'd take is to load up my truck full of fuel and people as if I was going somewhere and weight the truck at a truck stop. If you open the drivers door there should be a sticker which states the VIN number, tire ratings and pressure and it should list you GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating). GVWR (probably around 9,000#) - truck weight (guess around 7,000# with people and stuff) = 2,000# cargo you can put in bed of truck.

Hitch weights about 300# so you have (using fuzzy math) about 1700# for the pin of hitch weight of a 5th wheel. Pin weight is about 20% of what the trailer actually weighs with your stuff in it (propane, food, beer, clothes, etc.) 1,700# / 20% = 8,500# 5th wheel which is a light 5th wheel. While the specs list a heavier tow capacity the problems with 2500's is they run out of cargo capacity to carry the 5th wheel hitch/pin weight. A travel trailer hitch is lighter in the 10-15% ball park.

GCVWR (gross combined vehicle weight rating) is the most the truck and trailer combination can weight.

http://dodgeram.info/2004/load-tow/2500.html

If you look at the rig in my signature the truck weights 8,000#, the trailer 12,000# for a total of 20,000#. GWVR is 11,500# - 8,000# (us and full of fuel) = 3,500# of cargo. My pin weight is 2,600#. The GCWVR is 20,000# and I'm there. GCVWR is a manufacture's recommendation but since she'll run at 60 mph on the cruise up and down hills (drops 1 gear to climb) I'm not worried about the 20,000# limit. What I am concerned about is tire and axle ratings. Over loading axles/tires can get me a ticket. Exceeding GCVWR could void a warranty which timed out years ago.

If you have a question feel free to ask or PM me.

[cnq50b]

Welcome from the midwest, Marie.

Wise gals on this forum.

Looking forward to see what you decide to do/buy & then follow along on your adventures.
Wishing you safe travels,
Catherine

[Deeann]

You'll rue the day you buy one that needs repairs right off the bat. Don't do it.

[Bethers]

Marie,
You say the teen won't come often. I would think about really how important an actual 2nd bed is - as most people that say they'll come later, well, simply, don't. And after you get on the road, you might discover it's a small home and maybe another person for any length of time wouldn't work well. When my sis and bil came to visit me in PA, they rented a motel room, for example. It's small spaces, one bathroom, etc. So, having something that can be used for guests - whether a couch, etc ... works for me - even if it means I take the couch. Just something you should think about. And toss it out if you really need the bed

Actually, at your price point, you shouldn't have trouble finding a really nice tt, just maybe not close to you. Have you extended your search?

[Othersharon]

Welcome from another central PA member! Where in PA are you? If you are close enough and can wait the fair starts 8/21 in Centre Hall and they always have a large area set aside for dealers with lots of units to look at and buy. I know you are looking to buy sooner but if you can wait they sometimes have some great pricing. I've seen many units with sold signs on them so it might be an option for you. Plus you can take your time looking at what they have and talk to them about what they may have left behind without running from one place to another. PM me if you want and I can fill you in more. You've gotten some good advise here! Have fun on your search!

[gemmari]

Thanks for the welcome everyone!

Especially than you MelissaD for that simple explanation of how tow weights vs axle weights vs total weights work. I was finding weight charts and ratings and stuff okay but I couldn't put them into something that made sense and applied to specific vehicles. Your fuzzy math and examples helped a LOT. Will the truck stop think we're nuts if we go through the big-rig weigh scales with a pickup?

Othersharon - We're just a few minutes outside of Hershey so only about 90 minutes from Centre Hall, I think. We didn't commit to anything last night so I may end up there. The campground will allow us to tent at the RV site but *sniffles* I really wanted to have my own RV by then. Extending the search is definitely going to be necessary. We have been looking within about an hour or so of home but realistically that's a pretty small limit.

And on the other bed thing, given the amount of friends who end up crashing on our couch for a night or a weekend or whatever when they're in town (and the times we have visited friends in fun places for the weekend and crashed on their couches), I fully expect that we will have adult people along on some of our trips. Back in June, we managed to squish 5 adults and 3 smallish kids (ages 3 months, 2 years, and 4 years) and 4 dogs at a friend's seasonal campsite near Rehoboth, DE. That's one of those big 40' park models with a screened porch but we managed not to kill each other for a long weekend. Four days was ENOUGH but it was okay. Sleeping places were a lot more important than bathrooms; the campground had toilets and showers fairly close. We (me and boyfriend) are in our 30's and a lot of our close group of friends has kinda spread out for grad school and careers and stuff but we try to visit each other and get caught up before we separate again. Facebook just isn't enough.

[MelissaD]

Your welcome and if you get a chance to meet up with othersharon I hope you have as enjoyable time as we did this summer.

Truck stop does not care as long as you have your money. I think the going CAT Scale rate is $10 for a 1st weigh and a $1 for each reweigh. So if you wanted to weigh truck with and without trailer it's $11.

The advantage to a CAT Scale is they are certified to be accurate. http://catscale.com/