Buying our First Camper...Advice/Options Wanted

[alayne]

Today my DH and I went shopping for our first Camper. We are a family of 3. Our DS is now 7 and we have been going camping with my parents. We sleep in a tent and they have a Coleman Camper. It sleeps 8, however, it's just too small and we find it works better if we just sleep in the tent. Well after long talks and several camping trips we realize how much we love it and that its time to take the next step.

After spending time in my parents there are two things that we knew we wanted that they don't have - two bedrooms and a bigger bath room. I wanted to make sure that my DS has room to grow. Being an only child I know that he is going to want to bring a friend and they are going to need their own space.

I also hate my parents bath tube/ shower and I find it very small and uncomfortable. I wanted a shower with no tube.

We found a 5th Wheeler today that has both. When you go in the front door to the right is a step up to the Master Bedroom. It has a king bed with a dresser, closet, and a nice walk-in shower with a private toilet. Disadvantage - shower is in the bedroom and when you are in the shower whoever is in the bedroom is going to be able see you.

To the left when you walk in is the kitchen with a sofa and table with four chairs. Its very open and has lots of storage space. Then at the very back is a door that opens to another bedroom. This room has a pull down twin bed that is over a sofa (also a bed) with it's own 1/2 bath. This room doesn't have a lot of storage but it's very open.

The 5th Wheeler is called Sydney by Outback.

This will be something that we will have for a long time and I want to make sure it's the right thing for us. So please provide advice, tips, suggestions, opinions, etc.

We went to Disney in April (my family, my DM, and two DN) in my parents camper and fell in love with Fort Wilderness. I know that if we get this camper we will be making a yearly trip to the Fort.

Thanks for reading this and posting any comments that you have.
Allison

 

[2goofycampers]

My best tip is get exactly what you want the first time. It gets very expensive to trade up.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

My best tip is get exactly what you want the first time. It gets very expensive to trade up.

Truer words were never spoken.

Take your time searching, DON'T be inna hurry. The sales people will try to sale you anything they can, (that's just their job).
Ya'll will know it when the right camper for you comes along,

Glad ya'll like the Fort, such a awesome place !

 

[tim5055]

I will second (or third) what others have said, make sure you buy what you will want for the long haul the first time. The advice I was given was "buy your second camper first".

Now, with that out of the way I will tell you to independently verify what the tow ratings are on the tow vehicle yo plan to use. DO NOT take the word of a camper salesman, if their lips are moving untruths and half truths are probably coming out of their mouth!!!! I tow with an F-250 Diesel and visiting RV shows/dealers I have been told many times I could tow a fifth wheel that was thousands of pounds over what the rating is for my vehicle. It is not an easy number to come up with because each vehicle is slightly different. I can't stress this enough, before you go any further, get your vehicle owners manual, and determine what your limits are. As towing capacities of vehicles are based on several factors including the vehicle frame type (unibody or frame), engine, transmission, rear end gear ratio, tires/load range, engine cooling capacity, transmission cooling capacity, alternator capacity as well as several other things. The deal you find on a camper can quickly fade when you find out you need a new tow vehicle to move it!

Check with your manufacturer to see if they have a separate towing manual. I will bring up a second group of people not to trust when determining your specific tow ratings; the folks at your car dealership! They are usually not trying to deceive you, they are usually just ignorant of the things involved in determining the exact tow rating of a vehicle. They look at a chart and say, you have a 2009 X, so the tow rating is Y. Usually the number is the highest available for a given model year. As an example, my F-250 looses tow capacity because it is a crew cab and because it is a 4X4. Both of these options take away form the tow capacity. As we have been considering a fifth wheel I have really been surprised at the smaller size of trailers we can safely tow. To get into a trailer we like we would have to trade up to an F-450 or F-550 to safely tow, and we really are not looking at huge campers!

Once you determining your tow capacity, please remember you do not want to buy right up to that capacity, always leave a margin of safety/error. The number I hear thrown around a lot is 10%, but only you can determine what you are comfortable with.

 

[amylevan]

My advice: find an rv show and walk through as many floorplans as you can. Make a "must-have" list, and a "wish" list.

We are a family of 3, who bought a 5th wheel assuming we'd either eventually have another child, or else the only child would bring friends along, so we have two bedrooms. We love being able to put DS to sleep in his room and being able to close the door. We can be up and around without distrubing him then.

Our 5th wheel has the master bedroom in the front with the shower in the bedroom. It is a pain because privacy becomes an issue while showering. However, when we looked at floorplans, there weren't any with "enclosed" bathrooms. There are quite a few more now.

We also have 1 1/2 bathrooms. In actuality, that is something we could live without. We always camp at campgrounds (no boondocking) so there are always the public bathrooms to use in the event of an emergency. (And really, I grew up in a house with 1 bathroom, why do you need 2 in your camper?) So we have an extra tank to empty that we don't really need.

 

[alayne]

We have been looking at floor plans for about 6 months and this 5th wheeler seems to be perfect minus the shower part. It's a really great price and after running through every situation I can think of I really think this will be perfect for our little family.

 

[CCIntrigue]

You will have it for a long time? Then do your homework. Study construction details. Will it hold up for the long haul? Just because it looks nice and has the amenities you want doesn't mean that's what you should purchase for the long haul.

We spent over 2 years researching our first trailer (Airstream) and 3 years researching our moho (Country Coach). We have been very satisfied with both. Kept the trailer 20 years and have had the moho for 6. Plan to keep it another 20 years. By that point we will be too old to camp.

Long story short, do your homework. And good luck!