I showed my wife a Voltage 4000 Toy Hauler, a XLR, and a Road Warrier which she liked, but then she walked in the Columbus after and preferred the homier feel of the rear living room and kitchen. The lacking of an outside kitchen is the biggest problem. I tried to convince her to look at the Cedar Creek Silverback with a very similar floor plan, but she didn't like the interior. Jeff Couch called me today and spent a good 30mins telling me why Cedar Creek Fivers were built so much better than 90% of RVs on the market. Primarily due to the use of higher end gel coat fiberglass, hung walls on 16" centers, residential insulation, and the ability to flex and not ever delaminate. He made a compelling case......but the wife still likes the Columbus better..... Boss always wins.

Bruce, unfortunately it looks like we will need to order the unit we want and that will take up to 2-3months before we get it.

Oh... If someone's looking for a great deal on my current 2016 Vibe Travel Trailer, pm me! It would be great to see a FTE member pulling this one. Perfect for a 3/4 ton truck and 2-8 person family! Just sayin

 

I'm not a brand xx person, was most important to me to stay within what my preferred dealership can access. Bought all my RV stuff the last 20 years from the same shop, incredible service, helps the mgr is a buddy too. So many 5er options, you get dizzy searching them out. Worked on it for 6-8weeks, came down to Winnebago latitude 37BH, and the silverback. I liked the rear bunks, rear layout, and colours better in the latitude, both have 4 slides, outdoor kitchen, king beds etc, but the silverback has two slides in the main dining and kitchen, way bigger feel. Axles are 7,000lbs, and it has the 235/85-16 g rated tires Oem, only option I can find is Carlisle, had great luck with them, I hope they are.

 

Tonight I got to walk through our local RV camper show. Saw a 5th wheel with a master bath with twin vessel sinks, 5 or 6 foot shower, deepest slides I've ever seen, and unlimited head room (almost). $62,500 price so it's about the quality being discussed in this thread. I thought it was great! No bunk house. Kids stay home or stay in a tent. A very adult, quality RV.

Seemed like the show had more fancy tri-axle toy haulers than normal 5th wheels. Toy haulers with raised decks on both the sides and the back.

These are good days to be looking at campers. Plenty of sold signs and plenty of people at the show.

Saw only two pop-ups and two "A" frame campers.

bruce....

 

Hi Bruce........
Some really nice rigs out there..........

I started in a tent....then tent trailer........then 21 ft light travel trailer.....and on up the food chain........

 

I started in a tent with the parents, then they bought a small camper...very small.

Then I joined the army and had half a lean two for 21 years.

We then bought a TT, Then 5er.

 

We also walked through a few smaller motor-homes in the 23-30' range that were priced in the area of $60-$85,000. Close to what we pay for these fancy, highly optioned F250/350 trucks. Struck me as nice values if there are no kids in the picture. Seems like they would be easy to travel in when compared to a pickup and tri-axle 5th wheel.

You guys pulling these massive campers certainly have all my respect.

bruce...

 

It helps if you are crazy......................

 

Yeah, tell me about it. My wife has so much (misplaced) confidence in my towing that she doesn't even realize how long 42' Fiver is until I show her a side picture while connected to a truck. Then she just says "you'll be fine"

 

you will be fine. We tow ours all over the place. Just pay attention to the route you want to take.

 

Think.....Stay ahead of the rig. Not sure....get out and look.

Go practice in a big empty parking lot or field.

 

Justin, pull a tape with your current rig hooked up and them one with a 42 footer behind you. There will be a lot less difference than you think. Except for the height.

 

True.......

 

I just figure I'll be towing a car behind to drive when I get there, and since my preferred conveyance is a truck anyway, I'll just tow the RV.
And with our trucks Bruce, you get out on the open road and set the cruise. It's that easy. Hardest part is remembering your height restriction.

 

Had a 35' Winnebago Vectra, '95 ford chassis, no slides, nice machine after some hp mods, switched to a '07 Vectra, 40' 8.3L Cummins, great rig if you don't have kids. Plus the renting cars wherever we were, that gets irritating. Looked at how awful cars with flat tow rigging on them looks, and having to buy new gear when you switch vehicles, decided travel trailers and trucks, now a 5er. Looking forward to napping away from everyone. Excellent

 

I found that the Two key things to remember with towing my fiver -
1) When backing up, switch fom steer to follow mode a LOT quicker than you do with a bumper pull..
2) The tail swings a lot faster than you can imagine. A 1" adjustment at the front of the truck is multiplied several fold at the rear of the trailer..