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Maximum length rig considerations

davelinde
Explorer
Explorer
After a few years hiatus from camping and finally getting our RV sold, DW is getting the bug again and we are shopping for a chapter 1 of retirement rig. Still a couple years in the future but planning is fun. The idea would be to go on a travel binge for maybe 3 years with at least one long trip and lots of bucket list trips. So the rig would need to be livable for months at a time, able to carry enough cargo for months, and still small enough to get everywhere.

DW has a 30' number as the max and I'm finding a few 33' motorhomes that could work.

We've had a triple axle hauler with an HDT tow vehicle and always found a place for everything, though some times it was tight. Only once we were stuck trying to maneuver the rig to back into a one lane access over a culvert from a narrow road with soft shoulders and a brick mail box in exactly the wrong place. For sure then a few feet shorter would have made it and we never got in and ended up camping dry instead.

So... for the US bucket list stuff, national parks, the keys, etc - is 30' really a hard limit? Can we push it to 33? 35? When is the rig just too big?
Dave Lindemulder
Tammy, Mark & Kirsten
04 Dodge 2500 4x4 SLT QC/SB HO-CTD/48RE
01 Volvo VNL660 singled VED12
09 Heartland Cyclone 3210
25 REPLIES 25

DrewE
Explorer
Explorer
GDS-3950BH wrote:

Lots is lots. Just because some online database, press release, or reservation site like reserve America or reservation.gov lists the equipment length as 40' or 40+', in the real world you just might find you're in for a surprise when you get there. IMO the folks that come up with those numbers never owned an RV or towed a trailer in their life. They do not look at the trees along the road, the site number poles across the road, the location of the utility posts that restrict turn radius on a pull thru or the fact if you get a tire off the gravel/paving your stuck, or anything else.

We almost never had an issue back when we had 28'ish or smaller bumper pulls anywhere, but have had "lots" of issues since we have had 5th wheels @ 35' bumper to pin or a little less.


Strange...with my 32' long (exactly) class C, I've never come upon a site advertised as long enough that was impossible to get into, and I think in general a class C is less maneuverable than a fifth wheel; for sure, its minimum turning radius is worse. Some sites are easier than others to get in, of course, and I have seen some pretty tight access roads, but nothing that's anything like false advertising.

I have, on the other hand, encountered a fair few sites where the length was understated by a little...or a lot. I've also found plenty of sites where they were admirably accurate.

I'm not discounting your experiences; there are far, far more campgrounds I have not stayed at than those that I have, and many parts of the country I have not been to at all with my RV, so we can very well have seen different things. They just don't jibe at all with my experiences so far.

GDS-3950BH
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Explorer
.:S

TechWriter
Explorer
Explorer
Veebyes wrote:
TechWriter, reservations work for the weekend warrior or the limited time vacationer. He knows where he will be, what day he will be there & what time he will get there.

I've been doing this as long as you have, and times have changed.

I full time and would like to wander. However, there is much more competition for campsites now than when I started.

If you have a big rig like I do, planning is now a must.
2004 - 2010 Part Timer (35โ€™ 2004 National RV Sea Breeze 8341 - Workhorse)
2010 - 2021 Full Timer (41โ€™ 2001 Newmar Mountain Aire 4095 DP - Cummins)
2021 - ??? Part Timer (31โ€™ 2001 National RV Sea View 8311 - Ford)
www.rvSeniorMoments.com
DISH TV for RVs

Veebyes
Explorer II
Explorer II
TechWriter, reservations work for the weekend warrior or the limited time vacationer. He knows where he will be, what day he will be there & what time he will get there.

Then there are the roamers out there. We might have a rough plan of when & where we are going but the whole trip is very loose, subject to weather & what catches our interest along the way that might demand a change of those loose plans.

Reservations are made for holiday weekends & for special events that we plan to attend.
Boat: 32' 1996 Albin 32+2, single Cummins 315hp
40+ night per year overnighter

2007 Alpenlite 34RLR
2006 Chevy 3500 LT, CC,LB 6.6L Diesel

Ham Radio: VP9KL, IRLP node 7995

TechWriter
Explorer
Explorer
GDS-3950BH wrote:

Doesn't really mean much. Define 40'+. Is that the parking pad length? How much is plus worth?

I go to lots of ACOE parks in the mid atlantic, that have sites our 40' 5r will fit in, but I can not get to them because . . .

Define "lots of ACOE parks" -- let's say you went to 1000 different sites. Since by my reckoning, there are over 40,000 sites that are 40 feet or greater, you would have gone to 2.5% of them.


Veebyes wrote:
Those are some interesting statistics TechWriter but they don't help much when you roll into a CG with your 40'plus triple axle bunkhouse, 2 bath rolling townhouse & all of the few sites that can accommodate it are occupied by somebody in a pickup with a doghouse in the bed or people in conversion vans.

Reservations?
2004 - 2010 Part Timer (35โ€™ 2004 National RV Sea Breeze 8341 - Workhorse)
2010 - 2021 Full Timer (41โ€™ 2001 Newmar Mountain Aire 4095 DP - Cummins)
2021 - ??? Part Timer (31โ€™ 2001 National RV Sea View 8311 - Ford)
www.rvSeniorMoments.com
DISH TV for RVs

davelinde
Explorer
Explorer
T18skyguy wrote:
Consider what you want in the interior, cause that also affects length. I have to have a couch, cause I hate sitting at the dinette. I found many more had a couch


Surprisingly I've found floorplans with either a couch or recliners and a king bed in the under 30 category. What I'm struggling to accept is GVWR that leave very little cargo capacity as well as very little room for cargo in general. Moving from 30' to 33' seems to matter a bit.
Dave Lindemulder
Tammy, Mark & Kirsten
04 Dodge 2500 4x4 SLT QC/SB HO-CTD/48RE
01 Volvo VNL660 singled VED12
09 Heartland Cyclone 3210

T18skyguy
Explorer
Explorer
Consider what you want in the interior, cause that also affects length. I have to have a couch, cause I hate sitting at the dinette. I found many more had a couch at a 32 foot length. I'm sure there are shorter ones that have it. Over the years, when this subject comes up, a good many members say 32 foot.
Retired Anesthetist. LTP. Pilot with mechanic/inspection ratings. Between rigs right now.. Wife and daughter. Four cats which we must obey.

davelinde
Explorer
Explorer
To clarify my issue here. The 30' number is out there and DW is attached to it. We are not looking to get another triple axle rig - we had one. However if we make a hard limit at 30' it takes DP MH off the table, which is fine. But I'm struggling to find a short gas rig with the ability to carry much and that's not fine.

If expanding our criteria to 35' won't lock us out of a lot of places I'll make the case to DW...
Dave Lindemulder
Tammy, Mark & Kirsten
04 Dodge 2500 4x4 SLT QC/SB HO-CTD/48RE
01 Volvo VNL660 singled VED12
09 Heartland Cyclone 3210

Veebyes
Explorer II
Explorer II
Those are some interesting statistics TechWriter but they don't help much when you roll into a CG with your 40'plus triple axle bunkhouse, 2 bath rolling townhouse & all of the few sites that can accommodate it are occupied by somebody in a pickup with a doghouse in the bed or people in conversion vans.

It is the way it is. No matter what they drive people will take the biggest site available. Nothing like seeing somebody with a popup trailer in a 75' pull through as you struggle, with your 38' FW, to back into a spot far more suitable for that popup.

This is why size matters. The bigger you are the tougher it is to get a site suitable for your size in CGs where people are allowed to pick whatever they want with no consideration for size requirements big or small.
Boat: 32' 1996 Albin 32+2, single Cummins 315hp
40+ night per year overnighter

2007 Alpenlite 34RLR
2006 Chevy 3500 LT, CC,LB 6.6L Diesel

Ham Radio: VP9KL, IRLP node 7995

Lwiddis
Explorer
Explorer
"In traveling coast to coast twice and in over 40 states I have not been in a park where I could not park my 40' coach and Jeep."

I must be visiting the little places you missed!
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, WindyNation 300 watt solar-Lossigy 200 AH Lithium battery. Prefer boondocking, USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state camps. Bicyclist. 14 yr. Army -11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad

GDS-3950BH
Explorer
Explorer
TechWriter wrote:
prichardson wrote:
For National Parks 30' is pretty much the limit especially in the dry camping areas. A few have some larger sites with hookups that accept longer. Quite often it is the road accessibility as much as the site size that creates the length limit.

Not true at all.




Doesn't really mean much. Define 40'+. Is that the parking pad length? How much is plus worth?

I go to lots of ACOE parks in the mid atlantic, that have sites our 40' 5r will fit in, but I can not get to them because of the narrow (usually one lane one way) roads lined with trees, or can not get backed into them for the same reasons. And thats not counting the 22' of truck pulling it.

TechWriter
Explorer
Explorer
prichardson wrote:
For National Parks 30' is pretty much the limit especially in the dry camping areas. A few have some larger sites with hookups that accept longer. Quite often it is the road accessibility as much as the site size that creates the length limit.

Not true at all.

2004 - 2010 Part Timer (35โ€™ 2004 National RV Sea Breeze 8341 - Workhorse)
2010 - 2021 Full Timer (41โ€™ 2001 Newmar Mountain Aire 4095 DP - Cummins)
2021 - ??? Part Timer (31โ€™ 2001 National RV Sea View 8311 - Ford)
www.rvSeniorMoments.com
DISH TV for RVs

davelinde
Explorer
Explorer
As I keep collecting info on this I'm finding that rigs designated <30', eg a "29M" are longer, eg 31' bumper to bumper on a motorhome. Keeping ourselves under 30' eliminates the possibility of any diesel pushers for consideration an also limits the number of gas motorhome floorplans. I was convinced that access to some parks might be worth adhering to a 30 hard limit in our search for the next RV... but if the limit is really a hard limit that does cut out a lot of options and I'm rethinking it.

So no... we have no interesting in going off road. We'd just hate to get somewhere and find that the lower cost and/or attractive parks could not accommodate us.
Dave Lindemulder
Tammy, Mark & Kirsten
04 Dodge 2500 4x4 SLT QC/SB HO-CTD/48RE
01 Volvo VNL660 singled VED12
09 Heartland Cyclone 3210

free_radical
Explorer
Explorer
I guess this would be too big then ?
:B
https://youtu.be/PbaaTlpL4mM