Advantage/Disadvantage of +30 ft TT

[Walholler]

Your always going to run into height, length, width or age limitations. Our 5th wheel is 31.8 ft. or rounded off to 32 ft. Never had a problem yet with any limitations. However I wanted to go Montana and drive the Going to the Sun road, vehicles are limited to a max length of 25 ft., our tow vehicle is a Chevrolet Crew Cab with a 8 ft. bed. Its total length comes in at 27 ft. Thought about renting, but not paying $600.00 for one day.

[CurtPutnam]

Our Sonoma 280RKS' rear kitchen has more usable counter space than any trailer we've looked at. As some else pointed out, the kitchen in the middle means everyone has to traipse through it to do anything. This true for TTs and class Cs but not necessarily 5vers. At 34' total length, it scares my wife now that she has to do the driving and parking. The other thing to consider is that if you and DW have wildly disparate bedtimes, the front bedroom with intervening bath allows the one party to sleep peacefully while the other is banging around the cabin.

Taking Ca 1 from/to Monterey - San Luis Obispo in almost any RV is going to get a whole lot of people irritated and is not advisable in sort of livable RV. As already stated, the biggest restrictions will occur in some state parks and some National Parks.
JMO/YMWV

[Reverse_snowbird]

From your profile, you're located in Pennsylvania.

We've noticed that as we travel from Texas to the northeast, the state and national campground sites get smaller since they were built when trailers were smaller. Thirty feet may be a problem. The turning radius were a bit tight for our 21ft trailer and 29 ft truck.

We ran into a fifth wheel camper in western New York who was complaining that he'd finally 'upsized' to a rig which wouldn't fit in his favorite parks.

The best thing to do would be to check that where you like to camp will fit your proposed rig.

[Chuckinca]

Originally Posted by HeyJude

We upgraded from a Shamrock 21ss to a Flagstaff SuperLite 29ksws, fits almost everywhere and we love the wide rear living!

Ditto - but from a Rockwood 2102W Windjammer.

[Tall frog]

Originally Posted by Walholler

Your always going to run into height, length, width or age limitations. Our 5th wheel is 31.8 ft. or rounded off to 32 ft. Never had a problem yet with any limitations. However I wanted to go Montana and drive the Going to the Sun road, vehicles are limited to a max length of 25 ft., our tow vehicle is a Chevrolet Crew Cab with a 8 ft. bed. Its total length comes in at 27 ft. Thought about renting, but not paying $600.00 for one day.

Walholler, you should check the length of your truck again, you should be under 23' long even with the 8' bed. I am under 21' and have driven the Road to the sun and done the Shaffer trailer in Canyon Land park with my GMC 2500HD crew cab.

[madatme]

we had a 23' TT not a lot of room to spare, upgraded to a 34' rear living and tons more room, big windows are cool, mid kitchen is very nice, we love it

[jwfrede]

Originally Posted by Reverse_snowbird

From your profile, you're located in Pennsylvania.

We've noticed that as we travel from Texas to the northeast, the state and national campground sites get smaller since they were built when trailers were smaller. Thirty feet may be a problem. The turning radius were a bit tight for our 21ft trailer and 29 ft truck.

We ran into a fifth wheel camper in western New York who was complaining that he'd finally 'upsized' to a rig which wouldn't fit in his favorite parks.

The best thing to do would be to check that where you like to camp will fit your proposed rig.

Actually I only camp a few days a year near home and I think the bigger rig would fit in the state parks I go to, at least in some of the spots. But good point, I want spend some time in New England so I may want to check on that.

I go on long trips of 6-8 weeks out west or to Florida a couple times per year and mostly stay in private campgrounds on the way so they would all work. I guess I'm really thinking of the national park campgrounds and national forest campgrounds in the west. Some have conveniently located private parks but some do not.

It's hard to check all the places at this point because I basically want to spend 6-12 weeks a year covering every state in the Rockies to the Pacific.

For some particular examples, the NP campgrounds of Gro Ventre and Colter Bay are fine in Grand Teton, but Yellowstone is a real problem. They screw the few campers in Yellowstone by cramming you into little tiny sites while the hotels have acres of blacktop. West Yellowstone works for private camping on the west side of the park but there is nothing close on the east side.

RMNP is not good for trailers bigger than a tent camper, but both ends of the park have very close private campgrounds so that works. I think Going to the Sun Road in Glacier prohibits all trailers so thats not an issue, taking a 30 trailer over Trail Ridge Road in RMNP might be an issue, first year I had my 25 ft trailer I was too chicken to drive over and went all the way around via I70 to get to Steamboat Springs. I've seen 25 ft trailers on that road and might think about it early in the am in the future, but not with +30 ft.

[sunnman]

We have the vibe 288rls, I think the new model is 28rl. Lots of space, tv right at the seating, large rear window, island in kitchen. Might be worth looking at.

[Jmeyers278]

Originally Posted by jwfrede

Spring fever time here in central PA. I've been thinking about getting a new travel trailer. I like my 25 ft APEX but I'm looking for something with a rear living space with lots of windows for those times you are hanging out in one place for a while, like when bad weather hits, etc, and you are spending some extra time in the trailer. There's a 31-32 ft APEX which looks like just what I want but its a bit long. I've never had trouble finding a site and am concerned about a 32 ft trailer. Also, there are some places where you can't take trailers that long, like through some tunnels in national parks, route 1 in California.

Anybody find that they had real limitations with a longer trailer?

I'm trying to decide if I should be focusing on some rear living area campers in the 27-28 ft range, but it looks like some compromises on some things I would like.

The main issue with a 32’+ tt is that they just don’t tow very well. They are long which creates more sway, catch more wind, and bounce around a lot more. My 29rkws is about as long a tt as I will own and even it can be a bear.

If I get something bigger down the road, it will be a half ton towable 5er with a gooseneck adapter. They are just much more pleasant to tow

[itat]

Originally Posted by Jmeyers278

The main issue with a 32’+ tt is that they just don’t tow very well. They are long which creates more sway, catch more wind, and bounce around a lot more. My 29rkws is about as long a tt as I will own and even it can be a bear.

If I get something bigger down the road, it will be a half ton towable 5er with a gooseneck adapter. They are just much more pleasant to tow

Jmeyers, it sounds like you need to upgrade your WDH. I pulled our 32’ TT with my previous ‘09 F-150 and a 4 point Equal-i-zer brand WDH. Sway wasn’t a problem even though payload definitely was.

[CurtPutnam]

Originally Posted by Jmeyers278

The main issue with a 32’+ tt is that they just don’t tow very well. They are long which creates more sway, catch more wind, and bounce around a lot more. My 29rkws is about as long a tt as I will own and even it can be a bear.

If I get something bigger down the road, it will be a half ton towable 5er with a gooseneck adapter. They are just much more pleasant to tow

I will have to disagree. My wife, a novice trailer puller, is able to drive our rig with relative comfort. Her major worries are backing up and maneuvering in traffic. Our 34' TT exhibits no sway and only the occasional bounce from a semi moving by at a high speed differential.

Not towing well generally suggests improper rig set up.

[gooiebob]

I'd have to agree with itat and curt. Our 32 pulled perfect after I spent along time setting the hitch after the dealer did it by looking at the rig and saying it looks level. Just went through the same thing with our new 35'. It took me many different attempts but I'm level and pulls perfect. I'm old school and have a trunnion and dual friction sway bars. Very happy.
Bob

[RACarvalho]

^^^this.
My camper is 34'11" hitch to bumper and I have a simple curt round bar WDH with two Curt sway control and the rig runs great.
I did spent time dialing in the hitch though...

[Crabman]

Also consider a rear kitchen layout for a roomy living area. We looked at rear living and rear kitchen and liked this layout better. But it's all personal preferences. Tour both floorplans. They are usually in the 30-32' range.

[RET.LEO]

Looking at different brands in the 32-34ft range with triple slides. My wife loves the openness of opposing slides in the LR area. I am the cook and bottle washer and it seems like that length range gives a large usable pantry and a kitchen island. All huge pluses for us.
I'm realistic enough to know that I will need a 3/4 ton truck.
Early in life I drove OTR with 48 & 53ft trailers so a couple extra feet in a TT doesn't bother me at all.

[Vimax]

We love our Freedom Express liberty Edition 281RLDSLE. I think you will like what they did with upgrades in this unit, check it out. But what ever you decide on, “Happy Glamping”.