Who Wants To Try a DIS-Meet At Gulf State Park In May-June 2016?

[Teamubr]

Tiggerdad gave me a idea on how to save some money on the toll roads....

I don't know. They may charge double for dragging those stabilizers and tearing up the road.

j

 

[Teamubr]

Who ever they are they will have some good cheap quality entertainment!

Who are you calling cheap?

j

 

[tiggerdad]

Who ever they are they will have some good cheap quality entertainment!

Probably be the one that gets interviewed on the local news...

 

[tiggerdad]

Well Randy, good to know you are considering joining me in the "pay the toll for using the expressway" group.

I think they charge by the axle, not by the tires. We'll still need to remove the axle at that rate. You should save enough to pay for a burger and fries.

Although, at what, 15,000# and 40+ foot length I still can't believe that rig isn't tri-axle.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Although, at what, 15,000# and 40+ foot length I still can't believe that rig isn't tri-axle.

Ha I'm glad it's not that's two more tires to replace, to get rid of them cheap China bombs!

 

[Flametamr]

Speaking of tires. If one were so inclined what is the best brand of tires to switch to ?

 

[dmaxphil]

Speaking of tires. If one were so inclined what is the best brand of tires to switch to ?

I'm assuming you're running 225/75R15 now, so if you were going to stick with the same wheel size I'd encourage you to look at the 10ply Maxxis in that size.

Maxxis Tire

If you are thinking of going to a 16" wheel, I'd look at the Michelin XPS Rib LT tire.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

I agree with Dmax. I don't know what size tire your 5er has. The Maxxis and the XPS Rib have the best reviews I've seen online. With my trailer weight I went with Goodyear G614's, a 14 ply tire. 235/85R16. It I had a smaller trailer I would of went with the Maxxis or XPS Rib.
Flametamr, if your thinking of replacing your 5er tires call and price them at Airport Salvage, that's were I got my Goodyears from. They beat every ones price around Mobile. I replaced mine this morning.

 

[tiggerdad]

Change in course from the tire discussion, Randy, I found us a 5th wheel.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

I can see Ms Stacey now shaking her head no and saying "NOT NO BUT ....!!!!" (I'll let you use your imagination to finish that).

But it sure would be easy to back up/drive in/reverse/ forward/park... what ever you call that maneuver! Your neighbors would be caught off guard for sure

 

[Teamubr]

I figured I'd give this topic a little bump. I didn't want to start a new topic that wasn't about the Fort and this seems like a good place to get a wide range of thoughts. Besides, this group would likely be the first to see.

OK, so to the question. I am strongly considering replacing my, much loved, 13 year old bunk house. My DW has said she didn't want another 10 years of payments, but she is softening with starting a new job today (with my hospital system) and the significant raise she got. It has been 13 years since I seriously considered a new camper. I do go to the shows and have been looking for over a year, but I haven't talked to anyone that actually owns or has recently purchased and looked at various models.

I want a mid bunk floor plan. I need a dedicated place for DS17 and enough room for friends to come along. The mid-bunk models have a large living area at the rear in addition to a bunk room in the middle. Some have a loft bed above the bunk room, giving even more sleeping options. There are starting to be many more available. Most are in the mid and mid-upper lines. I have it narrowed down to a half dozen or so and wanted to throw it out to get peoples opinions and/or experiences with any of them. The only one I have actually seen in person is a Sandpiper. I really liked it, but it is one of the most expensive of the group.

There are 2 trailers that are $5-7000 less than the rest. The first is a Keystone Sprinter 347FWLFT. A well known wholesale RV site puts this in the upper $30s. It also has the loft bedroom. Plusses on this are: loft BR, huge holding tanks, better than average published insulation and price. Negatives: The fit/finish in web site pics doesn't look as nice as higher priced trailers. No king bed option and I don't know anything about Keystone. There is a dealer in the StL area that I'll check out.

The other lower priced RV is a Forest River Wildwood Heritage Glen 368RLBHK. Price on this one is about the same as the Sprinter. Plusses: Fit/finish seems a little better in pics. King bed option. I am familiar with FR products and generally like the quality/price. Negatives: No loft BR, smaller holding tanks, unclear of insulation ratings and no obvious "polar" option to increase insulation.

Next group is in the $42-45k range.

Heartland Elkridge 39MBHS. Plusses: Loft BR, King option, The toy hauler for the race team was a Heartland Cyclone and the fit/finish on it was very good for the price range. Negatives: Very small holding tanks (47 gal water).

Palomino Columbus Compass 377MBC. This looks to be identical to the Palomino Sabre I looked at last year at a local dealer. I very much liked it. Plusses: saw one (Sabre) in person, favorably impressed. Loft BR, King bed. Good insulation. Negatives: Palomino recently purchased by Forest River. Recently told by factory connected friend that FR is still trying to decide what to do with Sabre. Not sure if that translates to other Palomino lines. I don't want an orphaned trailer.

Forest River Sandpiper 371REBH. I saw this trailer at the RV show last winter and REALLY liked it. Fit and finish were one of the best in class for the price. Decent holding tanks and insulation. I had 2 negatives: Price was a few $1000 more than others and no loft. But I see a new floorplan not listed on their website yet. 372LOK with a loft BR and slightly different living space layout. Still several grand over others.

OK, that's the short list. Let me know your thoughts, experiences, opinions. Also, big holding tanks and good insulation are important because I dry camp (or at least electric only) most of the time, in the midwest summer (98 degrees/98% humidity). I have a generator in my current 5er. It has decent insulation, but many times camping in July, in the sun, the A/C has a hard time staying on top of the heat/humidity. And I have had a King bed for the entire 34 years I've been married. DW "needs" a king bed. She says so I don't snore in her ear.

We have our annual RV show in January. I plan on looking at as many of these as I can. I will try to work out a n equitable deal with a local dealer (I prefer to shop locally), but I have been chatting with a well known wholesaler in Ohio and know what I can buy all the above trailers from them. I towed all over the country for racing. A quick run to Ohio is worth it if I can save a few thousand.

j

 

[PaHunter]

Ours is a Keystone Bullet it's a 2015. We have not had any major problems, a couple minors ones. The fridge pulled the screws thru the trim on the trip to the Fort last year that was the biggest. Again fit and finish could be improved some but overall not bad, but even looking this past summer at higher priced 5'ers also found this. I owned a Layton in the mid 90's that was worse. Insulation is good, we camp from March to November and it's comfortable.

Good luck to you and the DW on this decision.

 

[Flametamr]

We had the first Keystone Bullet sold in Alabama in 2012 and had nothing but problems. It leaked on each end even with the slides closed. The first major leak in the front was covered under warranty. The second leak on the rear slide was not. Bad design and poor craftmanship. I won't ever buy Keystone again. But that's just my experience.

 

[bjschil]

I am only going to share what I know about the "loft" in a fifth wheel. Our son and his wife had a loft in the back bedroom/den area, with a 1/2 bath attached to an outside entrance. The den turned into a nice comfortable queen air bed with storage and a small closet. Above the den was a narrow walk-up stairs with a large loft, which fit the smaller kids. It was beastly hot, and really never cooled down. Even with the ceiling fans running in the living room, and air conditioning going, it was very hot. The loft room had a rectangle large sky light, so it was very bright. Tall enough for five year olds to sit up, but not for ten year old kids. Seemed like a solution for two age groups of kids, but in hindsight, sold it two years later! Good luck in your search.

 

[dmaxphil]

Will spend more time reading your post when I get a moment - but... The Columbus, unless something has changed recently, has 1" thick sidewalls. So it should not be on your "best insulated" list. Not sure how they arrive at an r-11 sidewall as that's basically impossible unless you have 3"+ sidewalls like the Mobile Suites or the Open Range 3X

K-Z Durango is coming out with a cool mid-bunk that has a rear patio deck off the back. Price will be mid 40's to 50's however. Based on my experiences I would say the Elkridge is probably the highest quality rig on your list.

Most others I've seen are closer to $50k. Happy shopping!!

 

[PaHunter]

Just received this months Trailer Life, Jan 2016, and the last article in it is about Gulf State Park. Nice little one page write up.

 

[Flametamr]

Okay I just have to tell someone. So as a little Christmas gift to the family since we now have APs I decided to do an unscheduled trip to the World the last couple of days for my daughters Christmas break. I looked and found an exceptional deal for two nights on Jan 2&3 in Kissimee with breakfast for under $100.00. So far so good. Well after searching for a week to find a deal on New Years day I was about to give up and got a idea. What if I could rent points and treat everyone to a deluxe villa for a few more dollars. Just when all hope was about lost a nice lady at the rental place said the only thing close to what I wanted was a dedicated one day rental at Beach Club on New Years Day. I about chocked and said sold. Just waiting on the owner to transfer the reservation now. It's going to be awesome to stay the night at Beach Club and finally get to try Stormalong Bay too. Even better I had already booked fast passes at Epcot just in case we made it in that day. I'm going to about burst keeping this from the wife and kids. She knows I was looking for a hotel but not at Disney and a deluxe to boot. She's never stayed in a Disney hotel period.

 

[bama_ed]

I'm going to about burst keeping this from the wife and kids. She knows I was looking for a hotel but not at Disney and a deluxe to boot. She's never stayed in a Disney hotel period.

Flametamr, if anyone in your family has a conflict with the calendar, I can clear mine in case the villa has an empty room....

Congrats, seriously. That's the beauty of having APs I guess - it makes it easier to "just up and go". Have fun!

Bama Ed

 

[dmaxphil]

Okay I just have to tell someone. So as a little Christmas gift to the family since we now have APs I decided to do an unscheduled trip to the World the last couple of days for my daughters Christmas break. I looked and found an exceptional deal for two nights on Jan 2&3 in Kissimee with breakfast for under $100.00. So far so good. Well after searching for a week to find a deal on New Years day I was about to give up and got a idea. What if I could rent points and treat everyone to a deluxe villa for a few more dollars. Just when all hope was about lost a nice lady at the rental place said the only thing close to what I wanted was a dedicated one day rental at Beach Club on New Years Day. I about chocked and said sold. Just waiting on the owner to transfer the reservation now. It's going to be awesome to stay the night at Beach Club and finally get to try Stormalong Bay too. Even better I had already booked fast passes at Epcot just in case we made it in that day. I'm going to about burst keeping this from the wife and kids. She knows I was looking for a hotel but not at Disney and a deluxe to boot. She's never stayed in a Disney hotel period.

Awesome! You will love BCV.

 

[Teamubr]

Okay I just have to tell someone.

Oh, if only I lived closer. This is so cool. Have a great time.

j