Advice on new RV

Hi folks, newbie here.

Looking for some advice. I have owned several travel trailers thru the years and 2 class A motor homes and one class C. The motor homes being mid 1980's models with gas engines.
We had a 2004 28' Airstream Classic, which we sold last year and also sold our F250 Super Duty.  Went to a 1/2 ton truck and bought a cheap 26' Flagstaff Micro Lite , which we absolutely can't stand.

So, here we are looking for another RV again. We have gone back to a 2500 Duramax and are looking for a larger travel trailer again.  We have been entertaining a 5th wheel but know very little about them.  So my question is, could you guys give us some guidance as to size, brand, etc.  Would like to stay around 30 to 35 ft.  We are not retired and use is vacations, weekends etc.

Apologize for the crazy long post. Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Bob

Hi and Welcome

Perhaps the first thing to determine is the capacity of that new truck. You did not state what year it is but since 2007 or so the load capacity for many pickups has been stated on a yellow sticker located on the drivers door post.  It is the capacity of that specific truck and takes into account the trim levels etc as it came from the factory. You need this information before you start shopping for a trailer or a 5th wheel. 35 feet will likely be a bit much for a 2500 series truck.

That post is FAR from "crazy long" ... browse around here for awhile and you'll see what I mean. 

Sounds like you are definitely an RV ownership veteran already, so you probably have an idea of your wants, needs, and must-have's.  But writing them down won't hurt.  How many bodies will you be camping with (kids, pets?) on your weekends/vacations?  What makes you lean toward 5W over TT?  What have you liked about previous models that you want back, and what do you dislike about your Micro Lite that you want to exceed?

Budget/floorplan/options/condition will be much more important factors than year/make/model in most cases.

Thanks for the come back guys.  First off, it is just the wife and I. Leaning toward travel trailer, have no experience with 5th wheel, but willing to look at that as well.
My truck is a 2017 SRW, 6 1/2 ft bed.  As for likes, the Airstream we had was high in quality, fit and finish.  Not crazy about the aluminum skin. Got hot as blazes down here in South Texas. We are looking at a Grand Design, 32' TT. Understand the quality is pretty good as compared to a lot of other mfgs. No experience with them though.

Thanks for the help guys.  Please reply if you have something to add.

The DW and I are returning to RVing and with a 1/2 ton we are limited but after a lot of looking we have decided on a Grand Design 2500RL. We have been impressed with the quality and features for the price.

There are basically two ways of doing this...
1.  Find the trailer/5ver that you like/want/can't live without and make plans to purchase it.  Also, when you do it this way, you have to be willing and able to upgrade your truck if need be, to be able to handle the size of the trailer.
2.  Find a truck.....whatever size, and be willing to buy a trailer that will be able to be towed by the truck of the size you just bought.

Once you get in the 5vers, because of the amount of pin weight that they put on a truck (typically 20% of the GVWR of the trailer....not the empty weight), you many times are into the 1Ton truck arena and sometimes you are into Dually territory.....it just depends on the GVWR of the trailer and the amount of pin weight it puts on the truck.

Travel trailer (tow behind) you are usually looking at 10% minimum tongue weight, and up to about 14-15% of the trailer GVWR for the tongue.....which traditionally allows you to pull the same weight with a bit less truck.  Of course there are advantages and disadvantages to each type of trailer....tow behind or 5ver, but suffice to say that it is the wise man/woman that looks at ALL the numbers BEFORE the purchase and make decisions that will allow safe towing with lots of stability, and nothing being overloaded.

A quick example of my situation......
I had a 2011 F250 CrewCab 4x4 XLT Diesel truck.  The payload on that truck was....2148 lbs.  That number alone took me out of contention for buying a 5ver Toy Hauler that I was interested in.  The pin weight of many of the 35-38' T.H. were in the 3000 lb range.....so I would have been overloaded by at least 800 lbs, plus another 175-200 lbs for the hitch, so a 1000 lbs overloaded before I even put in passengers, cargo, tools, firewood, a grill, whatever.