Suggest a used 30' Fifth wheel under $40k

Hello. New to RV's, but Looking to get into camping and will likely be doing 6+ week at a time stays in it, so not just weekend stuff. Will initially do some east coast things, Likely FL in winter, but will be going to National parks out west, so AZ, UT, WY, MO, etc.

It will be just Me and Wife, and 2 Labradors. So not looking for any bunkhouses.

I have a  08 Silverado 3500 DRW Diesel truck to pull it. Being that I only want a 30' trailer and have a big truck, I don't need an x-lite version.

I really like the Arctic Fox 27-5L from my online searches. It looks like a really high quality Unit, with great insulation for 4 season camping. Don't know if I'd take it for a ski trip, but I would like the possibility. Seems like a good few year old unit can be had under $40k. Biggest problem is I live in Charlotte NC, and there are no Arctic Fox's for sale on my side of the country. (i'm not opposed to buying one across the country, but it certainly would be nicer to buy something locally)

What other models should I be looking at that would be comparable? I don't know all the brands and models, but I'd rather buy a 3 year old Lexus than a brand new Toyota. I want something 2010+ as anything older just seems so dated interior wise.

Look for used Alpenlites (Western RV is out of business but they are well built) and also the Canadian built units like Glendale RV. Older Sunnybrooks were good too. However, trotting off somewhere for a good used Northwood products fifth wheel might not be a bad idea either. Finding a quality 30-32 ft and under fifth wheel these days is a challenge.

Welcome to the Forum!

You are off to a great start looking at gently used units!  In your price range you will have many good options.

Any product from Thor or Forest River or any of their MANY subsidiaries, you pretty much get what you pay for with new units.  Comparing new prices is thus a way of comparing initial quality with adjustments for model year.  This is easily done with   

http://www.nadaguides.com/RVs

Smaller companies like Fox River do not necessarily fall into this box.

With any choice, the most important factor is FLOOR PLAN, FLOOR PLAN!  The second most important factor is condition!  A high end model "ridden hard and put up wet"  is likely a worse choice than a mid range model gently used and well maintained.

With respect to floor plan, look at lots of units.  You will quickly develop a list of "Must Have" features and Do Not Want" features.  You already put bunk house on the second list.  Write out the lists to help with the choices.  Note too, some Must Have can be added, others can not.  If lots of countertop space is important, it must be there already.  It is not easily added.  Washer and dryer are easily added IF the camper has the hook ups installed, and hard to add otherwise.

The Library (see tab at top of page) has some great articles and check lists for inspecting campers before purchase.

Lots of research is your friend!

TimbrSS said:

Hello. New to RV's, but Looking to get into camping and will likely be doing 6+ week at a time stays in it, so not just weekend stuff. Will initially do some east coast things, Likely FL in winter, but will be going to National parks out west, so AZ, UT, WY, MO, etc.

It will be just Me and Wife, and 2 Labradors. So not looking for any bunkhouses.

I have a  08 Silverado 3500 DRW Diesel truck to pull it. Being that I only want a 30' trailer and have a big truck, I don't need an x-lite version.

I really like the Arctic Fox 27-5L from my online searches. It looks like a really high quality Unit, with great insulation for 4 season camping. Don't know if I'd take it for a ski trip, but I would like the possibility. Seems like a good few year old unit can be had under $40k. Biggest problem is I live in Charlotte NC, and there are no Arctic Fox's for sale on my side of the country. (i'm not opposed to buying one across the country, but it certainly would be nicer to buy something locally)

What other models should I be looking at that would be comparable? I don't know all the brands and models, but I'd rather buy a 3 year old Lexus than a brand new Toyota. I want something 2010+ as anything older just seems so dated interior wise.

Click to expand...

Arctic Fox is made by Northwood Manufacturing in LaGrande, Oregon. A good company with great customer service. High quality products and not fancy with a lot of bling. I have been to their plant and will tell you that their people are as happy as any business I have ever visited.
The 27-5 is a great unit that you would be happy with.
Good luck, Stan

donuts said:

Arctic Fox is made by Northwood Manufacturing in LaGrande, Oregon. A good company with great customer service. High quality products and not fancy with a lot of bling. I have been to their plant and will tell you that their people are as happy as any business I have ever visited.
The 27-5 is a great unit that you would be happy with.
Good luck, Stan

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I, too, toured their plant.  I agree with everything Stan said.  I have owned my Arctic Fox TT for the last seven years, and I am still very happy with it.

You will definitely notice the difference in quality when you walk in the door of an Arctic Fox 27-5L compared to most of the ones built in Indiana.

I would suggest looking at a used Glacier Peak fiver 8) by Outdoor RV...made in Oregon.  Smaller company, great construction and quality.  Great floor plans at length you are looking for, worth taking a look at.

Thought I'd update this thread. Thanks for all the help here, and on other posts too. The more research I did, told me to look specifically at the layout of the unit, as pretty much everything else was the same at each price point. I know from working in the auto industry that they all use the same suppliers as well. My wife and I knew that we wanted a 5-10 year old used Mid level unit, under 34 feet, and light enough to not be a pain to move across the country a few times a year.  That left out some of the nicer DRV, Carriage, etc units that are more suited for long term camping in one spot at a time. Even more threads said don't even mess with winter camping, and it convinced me that it would be better to just rent a cabin or make other arrangements for snow sports.

My research showed that the $20-$30k range could get me what I wanted, which is better than the $40k I thought initially... 2011+ model in great condition. I upped the search from 28-30' to 34', as it seamed the more mid level stuff didn't come at 30' and under... Just less inventory on the market, and several threads on here saying no regrets going bigger.

After really considering the layouts, I mostly didn't like the ones with the TV towards the front of the unit (other side of bathroom wall), kitchen in the middle, LR in rear.  I thought it would be awkward If I was trying to watch TV with the wife either cooking, or using the dining table as a desk while I was watching TV on the other side of her. I wanted to have a more separated living zones.

So that left me with either a rear kitchen, or a mid kitchen with the a rear LR that had a TV location that was in the back half of the RV. Since we wanted something above the entry level stuff, we kind of gravitated towards the Montana, Bighorn, Big Country, Open Range, as that is what's most popular in my area.

So for an HGTV house hunters episode, we were looking at what happened to come down to 3 different 2011 models. Montana High Country 303RK, Open Range Roamer 316RLS, and Heartland Big Country M-3250ts. We like all of them because they were 34' or less mid level units, and the interior decor of the 2011+ models seemed to be much less "grandma" looking, i.e. flower curtains, etc. (we're under 40 afterall). Our 3 finalist units all ended up being more of a grey exterior than white or beige.

The Open Range was from a private seller, really competitively priced. My wife didn't like a center island, and that is what ultimately ruled that one out. The Montana was really nice (from a private seller too) and without cost being an issue, I liked that best... but to save $9,000 (from a used RV dealer) for nearly the same thing, we decided on the Heartland Big Country 3250TS. 33' unit. 10,500#. Happened to be right at the bottom of our price range too, which usually never happens. This saves a lot of money for some upgrades... batteries, generator, solar, etc. We plan on a couple short trips to break it in and sort out all the details before going to FL for Thanksgiving-New Years.

Just need to get a 5th wheel hitch for the truck. Looking hard at B&W turn over ball and Companion Hitch. Expensive setup, but I like the idea of removing the 5er hitch in a few minutes without having rails in the way.

Take a long look at the Andersen Ultimate hitch.  One  version connects directly to your gooseneck ball.  It only weighs 40# and can be installed or removed in under 5 minutes.

I suggest your first outing be in your driveway.  Make a list of all the stuff you "borrowed" from the house.  Leave that stuff in the camper and go shopping for replacements for the house.  You may have a second list of things you want to get for the camper.

You should have no issues towing that FW with your truck.

TimbrSS said:

Just need to get a 5th wheel hitch for the truck. Looking hard at B&W turn over ball and Companion Hitch. Expensive setup, but I like the idea of removing the 5er hitch in a few minutes without having rails in the way.

Click to expand...

I just bought/installed this very setup for my 2016 GMC Sierra 2500HD CCab, Duramax, and for the same reasons you mention - I work with wood, and can't be bringing back boards that have been damaged/dented by rails in the bed.

I'm no mechanic, but I installed it on my driveway in around 2hrs, from start to finish. VERY straight-forward, and using relatively simple tools (I did have to buy a 4" hole saw from HD to drill the bed for the gooseneck ball). I also ran the truck 'round to my buddy's auto shop and used his hoist to make my life a little easier when torquing the bolts to spec

Etrailer.com has some excellent videos that detail the installation steps to follow, and made the whole install process pain-free.

The hitch works very well (so far) in conjunction with our 3-week-new '17 Jayco Eagle HT 29.5BHDS

To simplify removing the hitch from the bed, I have a 2-ton block and tackle hoist in the ceiling trusses in my workshop. I'll weld either an old king pin to it (if I can find one!), or a section of steel pipe the same length/diameter, with a couple of large washers welded to the bottom... reverse in, lock jaws, lift, pull ahead, lower to ground.