Motorhome with a family....

[PrincessMom98]

I have to second the vote for the safety of a truck and 5th wheel. We have a crew cab diesel truck and a 30ft 5th wheel with a queen up front and quad bunks in the back. We traveled cross country this summer with 3 kids and an Akita (big dog) and had a great time. My kids are younger (1, 4 and 8) but we fit 2 car seats and a booster in the back seat with plenty of room. We removed the console between the front bucket seats and the dog lays there. I feel much safer in the truck with high seat backs and shoulder belts than I would with them at a dinette or on a couch facing sideways.
I love the layout of our trailer (Crossroads Cruiser CF30QB), with the kids room in the back it gives them their own place to play or watch tv and there is a ton of storage. The covenience of traveling in a motorhome is very appealing, but I can't give up the safety of real seats and seatbelts.

 

[lisa8200]

I have been trying to come up with a way to approach DW about upgrading to a MH .In her mind we need to keep something longer than a year,,, what kind of a thought process is that .We have a 38' 5er after recalculating our mileage, it seems like a MH would be comparable. I understand the safety stuff that the others have mentioned but, anything can be dangerous if your not careful ( even if you are careful ). A one ton crew cab may be safer in an accident but, don't forget that you have to consider that the trailer behind you is an additional vehicle to include. The truck may handle a roll better but, how about when the equivalent of a MH is rolling over the top of it as well. I know that all things are not equal and I have not done the research to back all of this up but with vehicles inertia, even with the safety brakes I think that all things have a scenario that makes them the more dangerous option.Just try to find what you like and are comfortable with, and most of all USE CAUTION. I have ridden Harleys for quite come time and the one thing I always tell someone that wants to get a bike is you have to pay attention for you AND everyone else and I think the same thing goes for an MH,tt,5er, etc..If your MH has seat belts in the back and you don't use them you are greatly increasing you chance of injury or worse in a accident.
OK done with my rant. I accept that my thinking could be very wrong and I hope that you can accept that my thinking could be very wrong as well.

 

[GreatLakes5]

I have to second the vote for the safety of a truck and 5th wheel. We have a crew cab diesel truck and a 30ft 5th wheel with a queen up front and quad bunks in the back. We traveled cross country this summer with 3 kids and an Akita (big dog) and had a great time. My kids are younger (1, 4 and 8) but we fit 2 car seats and a booster in the back seat with plenty of room. We removed the console between the front bucket seats and the dog lays there. I feel much safer in the truck with high seat backs and shoulder belts than I would with them at a dinette or on a couch facing sideways.
I love the layout of our trailer (Crossroads Cruiser CF30QB), with the kids room in the back it gives them their own place to play or watch tv and there is a ton of storage. The covenience of traveling in a motorhome is very appealing, but I can't give up the safety of real seats and seatbelts.

I love the layout of our 5th wheel as well - we picked it specifically because of the rear bunk house and the white interior cupboards (I know - seemingly insignificant to many ) I also like the economics of having our tow vehicle there as our move about vehicle rather than purchasing something to tow behind a MH. YET (thus my initial question) I'm not feeling the space in our cab anymore. We have a full cab and all but the kids are just plain getting bigger....we tried the 'don't feed 'em' route but then they're too tired to go camping. Then there's the matter of our terrier and our labradoodle (again, a 'problem' not all understand).

Given that we live in Michigan and my husband is a builder the MH purchase will not happen until the ol' economy improves around here (so, this could be quite a while).....

I'm not sure I feel much safer in a big, strong truck with a trailer which could result in a flip - and either way I feel safer on the road rather than in a plane though statistics prove that otherwise. To each his (or her) own....

 

[mamaloya]

Ya know, I saw a 6 door crew cab truck once. I wonder how much those are? If we had one of those, we could get a 5er. For now, we are stuck in a full size van. I want dh to move up to the 3500 at some point so we can get a bigger TT at least. No 5ers or MHs in our near future.

I was looking around the internet last night and found a Coachmen Class C with a 4 bunk kids room and the queen bed over the cab. It seemed spacious. The kids room also had 4 drawers and a closet. It was something like $64K new. Not too bad. If I had a minivan to tow behind it, I might consider it. I think it was almost 32'.

For now I am happy with my Kodiak. The kids have their bedroom with a closet and dh and I have a bed that slides out. Since it has a GVWR of 6000lb, it is our limit for now. Just wish the cabinetry was better made. I keep have to adjust the catches and have a drawer that I need to fix.

 

[LarryJ]

Ya know, I saw a 6 door crew cab truck once. I wonder how much those are? If we had one of those, we could get a 5er. For now, we are stuck in a full size van. I want dh to move up to the 3500 at some point so we can get a bigger TT at least. No 5ers or MHs in our near future.

I was looking around the internet last night and found a Coachmen Class C with a 4 bunk kids room and the queen bed over the cab. It seemed spacious. The kids room also had 4 drawers and a closet. It was something like $64K new. Not too bad. If I had a minivan to tow behind it, I might consider it. I think it was almost 32'.

For now I am happy with my Kodiak. The kids have their bedroom with a closet and dh and I have a bed that slides out. Since it has a GVWR of 6000lb, it is our limit for now. Just wish the cabinetry was better made. I keep have to adjust the catches and have a drawer that I need to fix.

A new crew cab diesel dually will run you north of 40K and the 5er in the 30' range about 20 to 30 for a new last year model. You can spend upwards of 60K for a current new model year 5er in the 35' range for a upper level model. I bought our current tow vehicle in 2001 new and it was a cargo Van that I finished off inside for a total with the finishing (except for the sofa/bed that I already had and transfered from my old Van for under 22K. That is with like the $4,000 diesel option, the V10 would have been around $2000 to $2500 less for just the vehicle. You can see pics of what I did to our Van in the following album. We absolutely love what we have now and enjoy traveling in it and towing I get around 11-12 mpg and without the trailer close to 18-19 freeway mpg.

http://rides.webshots.com/album/56834818uviDLb

What you need to member is that ours is a regular WB Van and that storage area in the back takes off another 2 ft from the Cargo Area. You can tow longer trailers with an Ford extended body Van, but I would say with kids and for safety you should invest in either a Hensley Arrow or Pullrite hitch which will run you between $3000 and $4000 plus installed. Since your DH is in construction finishing off a base line cargo van would be a no brainer.

Larry

 

[wrongagain]

buy the motorhome you will not regret it.

 

[mdoc]

We traded our 33' travel trailer (which had been to Disney several times) for a motorhome (actually a toterhome) earlier this year. For long trips, the motorhome is great. We definitely gave up living space, but on prior trips to WDW, some of us had to fly. This was a combination of DH not wanting to drive 20 hours with the kids and not wanting to pull the trailer that distance with our Suburban (all 7 of us don't fit in the truck). On our spring break trip this year, all 7 of us comfortably rode in the MH. We didn't have to make very many stops (only 2 each way), and everyone could be on different eating and bathroom schedules without it being a problem. All in all it was a much better travel experience. Of course there was a downside. Instead of sleeping everyone in the quad bunk room, queen bed and jackknife sofa of our trailer, we now have to break down the dinette every night, fold out a sofa bed and blow up its air mattress and jackknife a sofa. We also sleep two in a cabover bed. And we gave up a lot of storage space. Ultimately, though, I think it was worth it for the traveling convenience. If we did all our camping locally, I wouldn't have made the trade, but for long trips the MH is the way to go.

 

[SteveH]

GreatLakes5 - We also have a Winnebago Sightseer 35J, same floorplan as Shannone1. We've had it since December of 06 and love it. I traded off our 39' 5er and F350 for it and haven't looked back. Our kids love the bunks and as a parent I love being able to get to where I am going without the frequent stops for bathrooms, meals, etc. On one of our regular trips of about 8 hours I think we can cut out about an hour worth of stops. The kids love being able to play, read, sleep and I like that I don't hear the dreaded "he's touching me" comments.

This summer we headed out to Souther Utah with ours, about a 15 day trip and on the last day my wife and I commented how there wasn't any fighting from the kids and no arguing amongst ourselves as we backed into a camp site, etc.

I looked at most of the other brands that make the bunk bed Class A's and Class C's and felt the Winnebago was the best bang for the buck, best fit and finish and best features for the dollar. The king bed is a huge hit for my wife and I, and for our dog too.

I only have two regrets; First I should have done it sooner and two, driving from the NW to Orlando just isn't in the cards for us.

PS: Shannone1 - Hi ya from Y-Guy on RV.net ant iRV2.com - good to see you here too!

 

[Buzzcut]

We've had our 5th wheel for several years and really love all the room that we have once we get to our location. Most of our trips are only a few hours away from home with the exception of WDW. The wife and kids would talk about how nice it would be to have a motorhome when we do longer trips but I'd really hate to give up all of the room that our fifth wheel offers. I must say though that those bunk models look very interesting. I sold my dually and bought our Volvo two years ago. I guess that is kinda like a motorhome since we have a bunk and a folding bed sofa in there along with a microwave and refrigerator and porta potti for emergencies. Oh well, I guess awhat ever makes you happy.

 

[Shannone1]

I only have two regrets; First I should have done it sooner and two, driving from the NW to Orlando just isn't in the cards for us.

PS: Shannone1 - Hi ya from Y-Guy on RV.net ant iRV2.com - good to see you here too!

Hi there !! What are you doing on the DIS boards ?? Have you ever been to the fort ?? You should come out in Dec '08 and we can have a mini Winnie rally We'll be heading out your way in July '09.

But back to the topic...ITA agree about the motorhomes...can't beat it when traveling long distances with kids.

 

[SteveH]

Goingtoseethemouse - I was going to say that Sightseers are not that much more expensive really, ours was in the low 80s. Some units like the Damon Daybreak can be had for the lower 70s.

Buzzcut - Good point about the living space, it does depend on what you get. We really didn't lose any living space when we changed to our motorhome, on our 5er we had a dinette and couch, on the motorhome I think we actually gained space, same dinette and couch, but we also got a swivel rocker and we can turn the two front seats for more seating.

Shannone1 - I actually used to be a mod here years ago, when we lived in Missouri, alas when we returned to the Left Coast going to WDW wasn't in the cards, thankfully we had two years in CA and were Disneyland AP holders. Where are you going out here?

 

[heatair]

with the topic, kinda....

We took a trip from the metro Atlanta area to the panhandle of Florida. We stopped on the way down and picked up my Dad, as he would be staying with my brother while we were 'camping.'

On the trip down, I was much less than happy because Dad, my Bride, and our 2 kids were sitting at the dinette playing Uno and I had to drive.

Yes, the 2 rear facing seats don't have seatbelts, but they did it anyway.

It was a fun trip.

 

[newharmony]

We don't have it yet but are planning on buying a Winnebago Voyage or Adventurer 38J. It has two slides in the front, TV on the floor, lots of counter space (what I wanted) and the motor, tranny, roof material, etc that DH wanted. We're near retirement and have been shopping for a couple of years. This model looks perfect. We're only buying one (no trades in the future) so it has to be right. Check out the major manufacturers' floor plans online at their sites.