Motorhome or Fifth Wheel?

[kandb]

Our family (DH, me, 13, 13 and 7 year olds) are considering buying a motorhome or fifth wheel. We would love to have one to tour the country. We have a 12 year old minivan that we were thinking of replacing, so perhaps we could get a truck with a fifth wheel motor home. I like the idea of a fifth wheel, so when we arrive at our destination we can tour the area. We live in NJ and this idea is new to us. Anyone have any advice or info as to where is the best way to get advice/recommendations? Thanks!

 

[NinaBella]

Our family (DH, me, 13, 13 and 7 year olds) are considering buying a motorhome or fifth wheel. We would love to have one to tour the country. We have a 12 year old minivan that we were thinking of replacing, so perhaps we could get a truck with a fifth wheel motor home. I like the idea of a fifth wheel, so when we arrive at our destination we can tour the area. We live in NJ and this idea is new to us. Anyone have any advice or info as to where is the best way to get advice/recommendations? Thanks!

I like 5th wheels for having the truck to drive. To me a 6th wheeel would be less maintenance as far as oil changes, brakes, etc.

Also, I know my auto insurance covers 5th wheels but not a motor home. So check with your insurance company on coverage.

 

[pampam]

Keep in mind that if you get a fifth wheel, you will always need to use a pick up with it. Have you considered getting a RV trailer? If you got a trailer you could pull it with whatever vehicle you have at the time, as long as it has a hitch on it. Of course you could always get a motor home and tow a small car behind it, like lots of folks do. I just think the selection is greater if you get a travel trailer.

 

[NinaBella]

Travel trailer = 5th Wheel. All travel trailers are pulled by another vehicle.

Motor Home = RV. All motor homes are self-propelled.

 

[SunnieRN]

I've had both and definitely preferred my 5th wheel!

 

[Judique]

What did you like better about the 5th wheel?

 

[chicagoshannon]

We've thought about this a lot. We'd get a 5th wheel. You get so much more room for your money. A lot of them have really cool bunk houses for the kids. If you have a chance check out an RV show. Around here they are in late January/early February.

 

[havaneselover]

One of my closest friends bought a Class B RV (it's a Nissan that basically looks like a big van) recently to drive across the country then take to Fort Wilderness at some point.

She brought it to my house and they slept in it (two adults, a 13 year old, a 9 year old, and a 7 year old). Basically it had a sink, a microwave, a fridge, and space to sleep 5 but not much else. It did look like a comfortable way to travel, but I'm not sure I would want to sleep in it. They just got back from their cross country trip (including a stop at DLR) and seemed to have a wonderful time. I do think they stayed in some hotels on the way home.

 

[kandb]

We will most likely get a fifth wheel. Will we get a decent one for around $15K. There are so many nice ones we see online but I am sure they are $50K or more. Where is the best place to look for them? I guess we will keep it in the driveway and take it when we travel.

 

[kandb]

If we got a pickup and pulled a fifth wheel, do we have to insure that as well? Anyone know if the insurance is a lot for fifth wheels?

 

[pampam]

If you want insurance coverage, yes, you should insure it. Your pickup would have one policy, and your 5th wheel would have another in case of accident, if a tree falls on it, someone breaks into it and steals the contents, any number of things that could happen to it.

 

[kellia]

If we got a pickup and pulled a fifth wheel, do we have to insure that as well? Anyone know if the insurance is a lot for fifth wheels?

Like anything else, it depends on how much it's worth and where you live. We call AAA when we are done for the season and putting it into storage . They take collision off and it saves us money. It's still covered for theft, fire, just not collision. Then call them in the spring when we are ready to use it. You might want to consider putting it in storage. Not only won't you have the thing in your driveway, but that being gone is a big flag to thieves that you aren't home.

 

[mousefanmichelle]

The best part about a 5th wheel is that you can park it and detatch your truck and go where you want. With an RV you drive that instead and if you have your site all set up - why would you want to move it to go see something unless you tow a car behind it? We've had 5th wheels and I loved it.

 

[ajwolfe]

We have a bumper hitch travel trailer and love it. Plenty of room for what we need and DH didn't want to mess with having to install the hitch for a 5th wheel in his truck. When we camp I always look at the folks in the motorhomes and think how much it would suck (unless they have a tow vehicle) because if you want to do any wandering around you have to unhook everything and go.
Your $15k budget isn't going to go terribly far with a 5th wheel, unless you are going several years old or small.
You do want to insure it and it requires tags just like a vehicle.
Have you all pulled a trailer of any sort before?

 

[pk1959]

We are going through this same thought process. Have been for a while now. Not any closer to making a decision either. There are pros and cons to both. I think a motorhome would be really nice during the "traveling" part of the trip and a 5th wheel would be nice during the "camping" part of the trip. I am one who HATES sitting in the car for hour after hour trying to make it to where ever we are going, so a motorhome would make it to where at least I could get up and move around some during the trip. We would definitely buy some sort of tow vehicle to take along with it. My DH drives semi's, so for him driving that combination would be no problem. For me, most likely a BIG problem. I don't know if I would be comfortable driving EITHER combination honestly!

5th wheels we have looked at tend to have a better layout than the motorhomes that we have seen, so that is a plus. Our plans after retirement are to travel throughout the country and see the sites, not just go park somewhere for a month or two, so I guess we just have to decide do we want to be more comfortable during travel or have more comfortable accommodations once stopped. We are also the kind of people who would have no problem pulling into a rest area and sleeping for a few hours, (or at a Walmart) so having a motorhome would be nicer for that since you wouldn't have to leave one vehicle and go inside another for a rest. That just seems safer to me for some reason. I do think that a 5th wheel/truck combo would most likely be less expensive though than a motorhome/tow vehicle combination.

Decisions, decisions. I will be very interested in everyone's replies with their experiences!!

 

[tvguy]

I prefer the layout of a 5th wheel over a travel trailer and with either you can leave your home behind and go places. With either you really need a full sized truck or van. Most folks pull a 5th wheel with a full size truck, but I sure see some scary sights on roads with Explorers, 4Runners, Pathfinders, Tacomas and Frontiers pulling WAY more trailer than they can safely pull. My wife's MOuntaineer (Mercury's version of the Explorer) is rated to pull 5,740 pounds, I wouldn't be comfortable with more than about 3,000 pounds.

 

[manning]

Here are things to consider. This site will help you decide

https://hensleymfg.com/travel-trailer-vs-5th-wheel/

I have a friend who bought a travel trailer to travel. He ended up parking it in a trailer park. He said it became a pain in the butt.

I asked him why he bought it. He said he got caught up in the moment. I was going to get one and he said to think about it twice.

The choice is yours.

 

[smokeyblue]

I would sincerely encourage you to rent an RV and go on two trips before you buy. One weekend trip to a local campground and one decent length and distance trip before you buy. There should be a local RV store that rents both motor homes and trailers. This is what my parents did over 30 years ago, and they haven't stopped camping since. They spend their winters in a campground in Florida now.

Some people don't catch the bug though. I see lots of trailers on Facebook and Craigslist with the headline "Never Used" or "Only Used Once". I've had two friends sell brand new, never used trailers at a loss.

The other consideration is are you skilled enough to handle the rig? My parents have got in some majorly sketchy situations driving from Michigan to Florida. You can't stop on a dime and people don't care! You have to be an excessively defensive driver. Also, my parents axle blew in the middle of nowhere in a podunk town in Indiana. By some miracle, they were pulling in an exit to get gas when it happened and there was a truck stop that repaired semi trucks. The guy welded the heck out of it so they could get home.

Also, I think $15,000 is pretty unrealistic. If you want to pull a 5th wheel cross-country, you will need one heck of a truck too. There are a lot of mountains in this country and a regular old truck won't cut it.

 

[we3peas]

We are a family that started with a fifth wheel. Bought it for the layout and my dh was excited to upgrade his truck. We were stupid and bought a Forest River product. Pure junk. Spent as much time at the dealer getting fixed as we did trying to use it. (When we bought we decided we would use it at least once a month and for a few long trips a year). Had it 3 years and sold it to someone at the storage lot that would live in it there and never move it. Also agree that $15,000 is too little unless you are buying used/older.

We started looking for a MH and decided the best for us was an Itasca(Winnebago). The quality difference was astounding. We had it in for work once in the 7 years of owning it. Did regular maintenance and it performed great. Had 2 bunks and room to sleep/ seat 7 (seatbelts). Lots of room and I got a bathroom on the road and no more constant stopping for me. I could feed the family while driving, dd could sleep comfortably or watch a movie while enroute and we could talk w/o disturbing her. I even homeschooled while on our long trip around the US. The storage inside and outside was so much more than any 5th we ever looked at. They try to sell you on the one large outside storage area but that's really all you get. Our Itasca had so much more outside overall and lots of cubbies/cabinets inside it was heaven.

Also we loved if when we pulled in if it was raining we didn't have to get out right away and set everything up because it was all inside with us. Rain happens a lot in FL and we were comfy until it passed. Never had that option with the 5th wheel. We got stuck in Winslow, AZ at a Walmart when they closed the road to high winds. Felt really sorry for all the people in the parking lot with the trailers and no generator onboard. We just touched a button and our stabilizing jacks went down. Another button and the generator came on and we sat tight for 18 hours until they winds died down. We had full access to our kitchen, bath and beds.

It's true you have to tow a car for complete freedom but our insurance went way down with a smaller older car w/o all the fancy stuff our diesel truck had. You can always call a car rental company lots of places we went and many National Parks have shuttles services nowadays so we never needed a car there. We also camped lots with a group and if someone needed a ride to the store there was usually someone going soon.

Whatever you decide I hope you enjoy it thoroughly and use it a lot!

 

[Allison]

We will most likely get a fifth wheel. Will we get a decent one for around $15K. There are so many nice ones we see online but I am sure they are $50K or more. Where is the best place to look for them? I guess we will keep it in the driveway and take it when we travel.

Make sure there isn't a city ordinance against keeping a trailer stored in the driveway.