How would you compare the FR3 to the Thor Hurricane?

[QC2018]

Hello -

As my wife and I want bath-and-a-half and king bed, we have been looking at FR3 34DS and the Hurricane 35M units.

Anyone have any opinions / experience / etc. with both of these? We can see some obvious differences, but trying to be as informed as possible before we make a decision.

We have (and are) looking at some MHs that are a step or two above these, but these seem to be at the sweet spot of our budget.

We have previously owned a couple of Class C units and have spent the last 7 years owning a TT that has mostly stayed on our property. Now that we are retired and have more time we are ready to start driving the roads again.

Thanks!

Martin

[NXR]

New or used? If used, what model years are you considering?

Ray

[QC2018]

Was looking at new 2024's

[Adam Pursehouse]

Hello Martin,

I hope this finds you doing well and thank you for your interest in FR3. Here are some of the items that FR3 will have that Hurricane does not.

- 15 cubic foot refrigerator versus a 12 cubic foot in the Hurricane. Both are 12 volt.

- The FR3 has a larger oven. The oven used in the Hurricane is comparable to what you would find in a travel trailer.

- FR3 comes standard with a 200 watt solar panel, charge controller, and a 100 amp lithium ion Battle Born battery with heater. FR3 can be optioned with the Power Pack which will give you 400 watts of solar and two lithium batteries. Hurricane comes standard with 100 watts of solar, a controller, and deep cell batteries.

- FR3 has a 6,000 watt NPS Generator while Hurricane has a 5,500 watt Onan.

- FR3 has a 15k A/C with heat pump & a 13.5k A/C where Hurricane has two 13.5k A/C's.

- FR3 has a one piece fiberglass roof where as Hurricane has a membrane.

- FR3 has a flush floor where as Hurricane has a step up in the cockpit.

- The doghouse is very minimal in the FR3 so it is easier to get into the driver and passenger seats.

- FR3 has a larger booth.

- FR3 has power theater recliners where as Hurricane has a couch.

- FR3 has hidden storage behind the T.V.

- The overhead bunk in FR3 can be all the way down while driving so it can be used for extra storage. The Hurricane bunk does not give you this feature.

- FR3 has a larger kitchen sink compared to the Hurricane.

If you have any additional questions just let me know.

Adam Pursehouse

[NXR]

Adam missed a biggie.

The Thor Hurricane 35M floorplan: https://www.thormotorcoach.com/hurri...loor-plans/35m

The Hurricane 35M has what's known as an RV Short King bed. It's 72" wide by 76" long.

The FR3 34DS floorplan: https://forestriverinc.com/rvs/fr3/34DS/8547

The FR3 has an RV King bed. It's also 72" wide but 80" long.

A home King sized bed is 76" wide and 80" long. We use regular home King bedding and just tuck the fitted sheet in more.

We also replaced our mattress with one from the same company that we use for the home mattress, The Original Mattress Factory. They will build custom mattress sizes and they only charged $50 extra to lop off that extra 4" on the side. (Other mattress companies also will build custom sizes but it may cost more.)

You'll have an "interesting" time finding bedding for that 72" x 76" mattress. Plus, unless you're both about 5' 4" at most it may be uncomfortable.

Ray

[Adam Pursehouse]

Thanks Ray! I'll have to keep that company in mind if this comes up again.

[QC2018]

Thanks to you both!

[NXR]

And now for the one big item that even a lot of current owners do not know to ask for and that is critical to ask about because no motorhome manufacturer except Newmar even lists it in their specs and they call is NCC:

Occupant and Cargo Carrying Capacity or OCCC

By law, every motorhome is weighed when it leaves the factory and a sticker is printed and attached, usually to the door frame or the entry door. Ours is attached for reference so you know what to look for.

OCCC IS CRITICAL. It lists to the pound how much weight the owner can add in people, food, fresh water in the tank, pets, stuff, napkins, everything, before the motorhome is overloaded.

ABSOLUTELY look at the OCCC sticker on both the FR3 and the 35M BEFORE you buy. If nothing else, tell the seller you want a picture of the sticker before you come to visit their dealership. DO NOT FORGET.

Other than the obvious reason of being overloaded, why is OCCC so critical?

Because different motorhome manufacturers build different models differently. The OCCC also includes all factory-installed options.

To us, a good OCCC number is around 3,000 lbs. Ours is 2,838 lbs.

But other similarly-sized and even shorter motorhomes are around 2,000 lbs. For example, the Fleetwood Bounder is notorious for a low OCCC, somewhat below 2,000 lbs. People will do their first weighing on a CAT Scale on their new Bounder and to their horror will discover they are several hundred pounds to a thousand or more pounds overweight.

If this is your first motorhome we all know what you're thinking right now and you're almost certainly wrong.

We use our Georgetown for long trips over the weekend and it, too, uses the 22,000 GVWR chassis. We are within a few hundred pounds of being overloaded.

Gas motorhomes also can have problematic handling and ride characteristics to many people. So they'll add things like a steering stabilizer, better shocks, better sway bars (even on the V8 chassis), etc.

We also changed to a good home mattress instead of a thin RV mattress, added sliding shelves under the dinette and other items. That all adds weight

My paperwork exercise says we've added about 600 lbs of permanently installed items to ours and that weight subtracts from what the owner can add. That's why you must know what you're starting OCCC is and why this actually is a case of "more is better".

To me, the best chassis to buy is the Ford F53 24,000 GVWR or 26,000 GVWR chassis because it provides a lot of excess capacity. It's not uncommon for motorhomes built on that chassis to have an OCCC in the upper 3,000 to lower 4,000 lb range.

I think the 2024 FR3 35G, the bunk bed model, uses that chassis.

Bottom line: no matter how much you like a floorplan, a low OCCC should be a showstopper.

Hope this helps rather than confuses,

Ray

[NXR]

And now for my favorite "lies by omission that motorhome manufacturers tell", towing capacity.

Virtually every motorhome manufacturer lists the hitch weight rating they install and calls it "towing capacity" but the hitch weight rating NEVER establishes the safe towing capacity. NEVER.

Forest River, to their credit, refuses to install a hitch that is way more than the motorhome can safely tow and call it towing capacity. Forest River understands that owners almost never know how much weight can be safely towed so they install a 5,000 lb rated hitch. They know if they install a 7,500 lb rated hitch or higher the average owner will believe they can tow that amount of weight.

Thor and REV Group? Not so much.

This is from the page for the Hurricane 35M specs: 8,000-lb. Trailer Hitch with 7-pin Round Connector.

They even tagged it "HOT FEATURE" when it is almost meaningless.


Here is the formula for the absolute maximum that can ever be safely towed:

Chassis GCWR minus GVWR plus OCCC

The 22,000 GVWR chassis used on ours and the 35M you're looking at has a GCWR of 26,000 lbs.

26,000 minus 22,000 = 4,000 lbs

4,000 plus our OCCC of 2,838 lbs = 6,838 lbs

BUT that's only if the motorhome is being pulled by a tow truck and you never put anything inside, not even a can of beer.


So the true unrestricted safe towing capacity is GCWR minus GVWR

Thus, there is NO WAY that Hurricane could ever safely tow 8,000 lbs.

Installing an 8,000 lb rated hitch is not a bad thing for an educated buyer because they understand the hitch never establishes the safe towing capacity. It gives them a lot of safety margin against a hitch failure.

But to a regular owner it is very misleading (to me, anyway).

The 20,500 GVWR chassis on the F53 also has a GCWR of 26,00 lbs. That means its unrestricted towing capacity actually exceed the hitch rating by 500 lbs and that's a good thing because you can safely tow between 4,000 lbs and 5,000 lbs.

Ray

[NXR]

Originally Posted by Adam Pursehouse

Thanks Ray! I'll have to keep that company in mind if this comes up again.

Several of the mattress chains will build custom sizes but you may have to ask.

My canned response on this subject because there are other considerations:

Our 2020 Georgetown mattress size is an RV King and it's 72" x 80" versus a true home King size of 76" x 80"

My tale of woe for our 2020 GT5 34H5 is that I believed the online recommendations and bought an alleged top-of-the-line RV mattress online.

It. Was. Horrible. (for us)

We used it for three months and flipped it over after a month (it was one-sided) to try and make it more firm (we bought Firm). When we got back after the winter we went to the same company we bought our home mattress from, The Original Mattress Factory.

We went to their store, tried out several mattresses, selected one, and they built it in a custom size of 72" x 80" for an extra $50. It's perfect for us.

I would have saved myself over $900 if I had just done that the first time.

Many mattress stores will build custom sizes. Our custom size fee was a whopping $50 (not a typo). They delivered it, removed the old one, and set the new one in place for an extra $100.

Just be careful getting it into the bedroom because it can easily hit the pocket door trim at the roof level and bend the screws loose...

The Original Mattress Factory always hinges their Queen and King sizes in the middle to help them go around corners so that made it easier to get through the door and into the bedroom.

If you do order a custom size from a mattress store, be aware that an RV bed is considered a "platform bed". That means the mattress sits on plywood and not a box spring. That means that however it feels in the store, it will be somewhat firmer in the motorhome. Not massively to us but definitely noticeable.

Be aware of the mattress thickness if your mattress has to slide underneath cabinets, as ours does. The factory thickness is 8". The junk online mattress was 10". The new one is 12" thick.

Thickness is measured in the center so the edges are not quite as tall due to the stitching. BUT the corners of the mattress on a Georgetown 34H5 still need to slide under the two cabinets.

When we retract the slides the corners on our 12" thick mattress do get smashed down a bit but the mattress slides under the cabinets without bogging the slide down. I do assure we have as little of the blankets or comforter on the corners and we also put an old bedspread on top to help keep the bottom of the cabinet wood from abrading the top of the mattress.

The cubbyholes are a bit harder to get into but still accessible.

I will never buy a mattress again that we could not try out first.

Hope this helps.

Ray

[Twinboat]

Back in 2018 I looked at new 25ft Thors and they all needed fixing before delivery. Broken mirrors, trim cracked, cabinets falling off, in-operative slides. Rather then buy a broken motorhome , I found a 1 year old, used one, that didn't need fixing.

Last fall, we moved up to a 30 ft motorhome from Forest River. After looking at a few brand new models and finding the same rash of broken and damaged things, we found a 1 year old used model and bought that. We are very happy that we didn't need to deal with different dealers as we traveled to fix stuff.

[RVwino]

Besides what is mentioned above:

• Check out the hidden pantry storage in the FR3 34DS. This is the most useful kitchen storage area that we have ever had in a motorhome.
• The FR3 has a wide kitchen sink with one bowl. This makes cleaning pots and pans a lot easier. When needing to conserve gray water while boon-docking, we insert a small (collapsible) tub on one side. The Thor website states it has a single bowl, but their walk-thru pics show double bowls. You may want to check that out further.
• The FR3 is a foot shorter. It isn’t a deal breaker, but I find it much easier to navigate a shorter mh in older campgrounds compared to the 40’ diesel pushers we previously owned.
• The two pass-through storage compartments allow us to bring a ladder, screen tent, 3-burner grill, and other awkward items, just like in our previous dp’s. I couldn’t tell how many there were on the Thor.
• The “guest bath” on the Thor looks a bit cramped. Make sure you can sit down on the throne and get back up again without hitting your head on the sink.
• If either are using Furion brand 12v refrigerators, you may want to ask about replacing them. Use google and you’ll see that there have been lots of complaints of failures after a short period of time.
• If you plan to boondock a lot, look into how long the batteries will power the fridge. Even with a solar charger, there may be more limitations than with using a two-way (propane/AC) fridge.
• Being able to drive with the front bed down paid off last summer. We spent four months on an island with limited shopping. We left the mattress at home and used that space as additional pantry storage after making shopping trips to the mainland.
• I like that the Thor has solid-surface kitchen counters. Our FR3 has plastic over MDF. Poor sealing has allowed water to soak into the MDF and bubble up. In addition, the plastic has chipped in places, allowing more water seepage. I’m not happy that we will need to replace our countertop soon.
• The cabinets in our FR3 are vinyl-clad. Even with an aftermarket bathroom fan, the vinyl is bubbling and peeling off the cabinet frames. In heavy traffic areas (dining booth, sink cabinet, & pantry door), the edges and corners have frayed.

It really comes down to knowing what is important to you. Do you plan on many short trips, a few long trips, or almost full-timing? Knowing the answer to that question will help you determine which pros and cons matter to you.

Best wishes for making the right decision for you!

[NXR]

Originally Posted by RVwino

The FR3 is a foot shorter. It isn’t a deal breaker, but I find it much easier to navigate a shorter mh in older campgrounds compared to the 40’ diesel pushers we previously owned.

The devil truly is in the details on this one. I don't know what size wheels the Thor uses, 19.5" or 22.5", on their 22,000 GVWR chassis.

ALL F53 chassis versions have a 50-degree front wheel cut EXCEPT for the 22,000 GVWR chassis with 22.5" wheels.

22.5" wheels ride a lot better but Ford restricted the front wheel cut to 42 degrees on just that chassis, probably because of clearance problems due to the larger tires. See the pic. The highlighted one is our Georgetown.

I think the Georgetown and FR3 are built on the same production line by the same people so there is a lot of commonality.

If either are using Furrion brand 12v refrigerators, you may want to ask about replacing them. Use google and you’ll see that there have been lots of complaints of failures after a short period of time.

Furrion actually issued a TSB for one of those problems but you gotta know it exists: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...42572-0001.pdf

BTW, that TSB is total BS because the so-called "workload" cannot be that different between storage and using the motorhome. When it's parked on a trip it's effectively stored.

It really comes down to knowing what is important to you. Do you plan on many short trips, a few long trips, or almost full-timing? Knowing the answer to that question will help you determine which pros and cons matter to you.!

Great point.

Ray

[RVwino]

Originally Posted by NXR

Furrion actually issued a TSB for one of those problems but you gotta know it exists: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...42572-0001.pdf

BTW, that TSB is total BS because the so-called "workload" cannot be that different between storage and using the motorhome. When it's parked on a trip it's effectively stored.

Ray, great info as always!

After reading that TSB, I became a bit confused. Does that fridge have its own internal battery? That’s the only way I can figure that its control panel would still have power after the battery disconnect is thrown. But design-wise, it sounds like a bad “feature” for them to have.

[NXR]

Originally Posted by RVwino

After reading that TSB, I became a bit confused. Does that fridge have its own internal battery? That’s the only way I can figure that its control panel would still have power after the battery disconnect is thrown. But design-wise, it sounds like a bad “feature” for them to have.

Who knows? "Furrion" should be a clue, though.

Ray

[csmfish]

We have a FR3 2017 with 6,700 miles on it. We don't use it, purchased it new in 2018. Its a 32DS in excellent condition. If interested, its in Washington State.

[RVwino]

Originally Posted by csmfish

We have a FR3 2017 with 6,700 miles on it. We don't use it, purchased it new in 2018. Its a 32DS in excellent condition. If interested, its in Washington State.

You may have better luck posting in the classifieds forum
https://www.forestriverforums.com/forums/f246/