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About to GO Full Time

sgtcoffey
Explorer
Explorer
We are about to start full time RVing. We are looking at upgrading to a 5th wheel Toy Hauler. (We currently have a Fuzion 301). What is the best 5th Wheel Toy Hauler to full time in?? Thank you in advance for all your assistance!!
30 REPLIES 30

Nicodemus
Explorer
Explorer
We have a FR/PT Spartan. And while it has had it's problems it's not a bad rig at all. Certainly the insulation is good. I love the island. But it doesn't have a dedicated dining area, and I miss that. Looked at the front living room models and it was a hard choice, but we went with the Spartan. Kind of wish we had gone with the front living room model instead since we don't have toys per se. Oh well - live and learn!

nayther
Explorer
Explorer
I think having 3 AC is getting more common and with load management I can see how it might work. Inrush current is the killer so if that's managed by compressor cycling it should work. Remember 50 amp service is actually two 50 amp legs for 100 amps total, 3x what you get with 30 amps.
DIRT BIKES RULE

'12 Duramax CC short bed
2019 Wildcat Maxx 285RKX

ependydad
Explorer
Explorer
dedmiston wrote:
Ours have three, but you can only run two at a time. There's a switch in the bedroom that toggles between the bedroom and garage AC. Sometimes it's a tough choice.

The furnace doesn't make it to the garage either, so the garage gets the shaft for both seasons (we only have two seasons in SoCal).


Nice part about my rig is I can run all 3 on 50amp service. I just have to watch total amps being used on the leg with 2 A/Cs.
2017 Spartan 1245 by Prime Time
2018 Ram 3500 Crew Cab DRW w/ 4.10 gears and 8' bed
FW Hitch: TrailerSaver TS3
Learn to RV- learn about RVing - Towing Planner Calculators - Family Fulltiming FB page

RoyBell
Explorer
Explorer
dedmiston wrote:
RoyBell wrote:
6- Option it up. Make sure you have 3 AC units. If you travel somewhere warm, you will have enough cooling. If one goes down, you still have 2. Adding a 3rd to ours was only about $800 from the factory. Also make sure you have slide toppers. Full timing you will stay at CGs longer and all sorts of stuff will fall on your slide. The toppers will keep the slides clean of debris. Get the 3 season door so your deck is usable as a deck.


Ours have three, but you can only run two at a time. There's a switch in the bedroom that toggles between the bedroom and garage AC. Sometimes it's a tough choice.

The furnace doesn't make it to the garage either, so the garage gets the shaft for both seasons (we only have two seasons in SoCal).


I can't comment since we haven't ran our AC yet, but supposedly it's designed to run all 3 or cycle between all 3 automatically. I am not sure how the system works because we haven't needed the AC yet. They are all linked together though, so you will get some output from the one that isn't running.

When I ordered mine, there were 2 AC options. Just adding the third one, and this was the $300 more option: 3rd A/C Garage 15K BTU w/Load Management System

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K02WmNbz59k

There is heat in my garage and it's insulated...but there is only a single vent on the inside wall. IMO not enough for a space that size. We ran an oil filled electric heater in ours to supplement the vent and it kept the garage toasty down to 18 degrees outside.

dedmiston
Moderator
Moderator
RoyBell wrote:
6- Option it up. Make sure you have 3 AC units. If you travel somewhere warm, you will have enough cooling. If one goes down, you still have 2. Adding a 3rd to ours was only about $800 from the factory. Also make sure you have slide toppers. Full timing you will stay at CGs longer and all sorts of stuff will fall on your slide. The toppers will keep the slides clean of debris. Get the 3 season door so your deck is usable as a deck.


Ours have three, but you can only run two at a time. There's a switch in the bedroom that toggles between the bedroom and garage AC. Sometimes it's a tough choice.

The furnace doesn't make it to the garage either, so the garage gets the shaft for both seasons (we only have two seasons in SoCal).

2014 RAM 3500 Diesel 4x4 Dually long bed. B&W RVK3600 hitch โ€ข 2015 Crossroads Elevation Homestead Toy Hauler ("The Taj Mahauler") โ€ข <\br >Toys:

  • 18 Can Am Maverick x3
  • 05 Yamaha WR450
  • 07 Honda CRF250X
  • 05 Honda CRF230
  • 06 Honda CRF230

RoyBell
Explorer
Explorer
If full timing, I would want these things:

1- 2 separate baths, or at least a half bath. My wife is a mess in the bathroom. We have separate bathrooms at home and it works very well for us :). Our camper has the bath and a half which is nice because I can do my business in the rear half bath.

2- Make sure your tanks are large enough that you don't need to worry about finding a hookup or cleanout. Our blacks @ 40 gallon each lasted us a full 2 weeks (80 gal total between the 2). Our grey is 40 I think? It lasts us 4 normal showers (ie: water running not turning it off) and some dishes before it's full. I would had preferred a 60-80 gallon but we only have a 36' camper. 100+ fresh water is ideal so you aren't freaking out if you can't find water. Most triple axle trailer double the capacity of all those tanks.

3- Kitchen or open floor plan kitchen is a must for full time I think. We have a peninsula style kitchen. It's functional and fine for our weekend style camping, but I could not live with that full time.

4- Figure out the length you will need. Shorter is better for campsites. Longer is better for full time. Our garage is 11' and my Ultra fits fine. I hold it far enough back that the antenna has to come off the rear pack or it will rub on the 3 season doors. That allows plenty of room for walking in front of the bike and getting to the half bath.

5- Check the stove. Some campers (like ours) has no counter space on either side of the stove. That is OK for our type of camping since most of the cooking is done outside and it was a compromise to keep the length short as possible with a full garage. However, for full time, that would drive me nuts.

6- Option it up. Make sure you have 3 AC units. If you travel somewhere warm, you will have enough cooling. If one goes down, you still have 2. Adding a 3rd to ours was only about $800 from the factory. Also make sure you have slide toppers. Full timing you will stay at CGs longer and all sorts of stuff will fall on your slide. The toppers will keep the slides clean of debris. Get the 3 season door so your deck is usable as a deck.

7- Forget the "residential fridge". I know they are likely better quality than an RV fridge, but I like having the propane option when traveling vs running the generator to keep it going. We have a 12 CF fridge and I think the largest on the market is 18CF which is pretty dang big.

8- Make sure you get a generator. Nothing worse than having no power at the campground and it allows our more places to camp (ie boondocking)

As far as brands go, we settled on a Grand Design. We are happy with it. The specs were better than other models we looked at. Better tires (G rated vs F rated), upgraded suspension with wet bolts, higher CCC, more cabinets, ducted heat/ac (no floor vents), more ambient lighting (under counter, above cabinet, etc).

nayther
Explorer
Explorer
Y-Guy wrote:
nayther wrote:
If Winnebago did buy GD then the QC will be in the toilet as FR or THOR bought Winnebago I believe. Regardless we when we were shopping for our current 5er we looked at Winnebago and the quality was worse than most.

Winnebago is not part of either Forest River or Thor they are traded on the NYSE as WGO. They bought the assets of SunnyBrook RV Inc, then in 2016 they bought Grand Design, in 2019 the assets of Chris-Craft, and just recently Newmar.


Thanks guys, I stand corrected. However I do stand by my statement regarding QC, the 3 or 4 that we looked at, a couple had not been prepped, were terrible.
DIRT BIKES RULE

'12 Duramax CC short bed
2019 Wildcat Maxx 285RKX

Y-Guy
Moderator
Moderator
nayther wrote:
If Winnebago did buy GD then the QC will be in the toilet as FR or THOR bought Winnebago I believe. Regardless we when we were shopping for our current 5er we looked at Winnebago and the quality was worse than most.

Winnebago is not part of either Forest River or Thor they are traded on the NYSE as WGO. They bought the assets of SunnyBrook RV Inc, then in 2016 they bought Grand Design, in 2019 the assets of Chris-Craft, and just recently Newmar.

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2007 Winnebago Sightseer 35J

2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon

Blackdiamond
Explorer
Explorer
nayther wrote:
JKJavelin wrote:
We almost bought a Grand Design 3 years ago and while we were looking I joined their owners forum and I'm still a member and frequent that forum occasionally.
Owners were once in heaven there but it seems that now the honeymoon may be over with people complaining like all the other brands. If I was looking right now I would take a good look at KZ. They've been around long enough to be past the honeymoon stage.
JK


If Winnebago did buy GD then the QC will be in the toilet as FR or THOR bought Winnebago I believe. Regardless we when we were shopping for our current 5er we looked at Winnebago and the quality was worse than most.
Winnie is still a stand alone, though publicly traded company and i would put them way above Thor or FR. They just bought Newmar.
03' Fleetwood Southwind 32VS
Enclosed Trailer hauling the toys
05 525 EXC KTM
15' FE350s Husqvarna/KTM
07 Rhino, long travel, 4 seater

jbc28
Explorer
Explorer
I'd have no problem full timing in our 2019 Momentum 381M....if only our work and finances would allow. It is built well enough, imho, to handle full time living. If money wasn't an issue I'd have a New Horizons.
2018 F450 Lariat Ultimate
2019 Momentum 381M

nayther
Explorer
Explorer
JKJavelin wrote:
We almost bought a Grand Design 3 years ago and while we were looking I joined their owners forum and I'm still a member and frequent that forum occasionally.
Owners were once in heaven there but it seems that now the honeymoon may be over with people complaining like all the other brands. If I was looking right now I would take a good look at KZ. They've been around long enough to be past the honeymoon stage.
JK


If Winnebago did buy GD then the QC will be in the toilet as FR or THOR bought Winnebago I believe. Regardless we when we were shopping for our current 5er we looked at Winnebago and the quality was worse than most.
DIRT BIKES RULE

'12 Duramax CC short bed
2019 Wildcat Maxx 285RKX

JKJavelin
Explorer III
Explorer III
We almost bought a Grand Design 3 years ago and while we were looking I joined their owners forum and I'm still a member and frequent that forum occasionally.
Owners were once in heaven there but it seems that now the honeymoon may be over with people complaining like all the other brands. If I was looking right now I would take a good look at KZ. They've been around long enough to be past the honeymoon stage.
JK
2018 Ram 3500 Laramie Cummins 6.7
2016 Open Range RF316RLS
Titan Disc Brakes
Trailair pinbox
Morryde AllTrek 4000 w/ wetbolt kit
Demco Autoslide
570 watts of Solar

2017-2022 555 Nights
2023- 106 Nights

ORbiker
Explorer
Explorer
sgtcoffey wrote:
We are about to start full time RVing. We are looking at upgrading to a 5th wheel Toy Hauler. (We currently have a Fuzion 301). What is the best 5th Wheel Toy Hauler to full time in?? Thank you in advance for all your assistance!!


What are you going to put in the garage?

We had a 2016 Grand Design 380TH with a 11ft garage, separated by a sliding glass door to the living area. It was nice. The deck (ramp) was nice to hang out on too.
My wife saw a Solitude 374 with the front living room. Very,very spacious living space compared to the 380TH. Yep. That's what we have now. The garage is under the bedroom and will barely hold the Victory street cruiser.

Riverstone makes a nice front living room and so does Montana.

Take your time and pick the right one. It really hurts the pocketbook buying the wrong one first. KEN
Backpacker and tent camper all my life. Motorcycle trips with a tent too 1978 to Present. 2016 Grand Design 380TH as of 10-29-2015. Now a New 2018 374TH-R Solitude as of 3-16-19. 10-19-18-traded truck for a 2016 Ram 3500 DRW Laramie Crew Cab 4x4 Long Box.

chiefneon
Explorer
Explorer
Howdy!

We have a 2014 Heartland Cyclone 4000 we fulltime In. If I had it to do over today I would be looking at a DRV Fullhouse at the very least. The next step would be to spend the money on a custom one from New Horizon.

โ€œHappy Trailsโ€
Chiefneon