Overwhelmed (soon to be) newbie

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Lizn8r

New member
Joined
Mar 11, 2007
Posts
4
Location
Southern NH
Hi everyone,

I have pored through several forums and have yet to read of anyone in the same dilemma I am in.  This seems to be one of the best , so I would like to ask you all for a little help.

First, my "history".  I am a middle-aged (gosh, do I hate to say that) woman who has just recently become enthralled with the RV lifestyle.  When I was growing up, my parents would pack up our station wagon with a pop-up in tow, and we'd take off for a month to see the country.  By the time I was 17, I'd been camping in 39 states and 9 Canadian provinces!  Unfortunately, life got in the way and I broke away from that type of travel, settling for the hotels and cruises most of my generation uses for 'get-aways'.  Very recently I had to take a business trip to Arizona and was absolutely AMAZED at the number of RV on the road.  The job I had to do was at the Yuma Proving Ground, so I wound up staying in Quartzsite ... right in the middle of the January RV rally and Gem show!!  Needless to say, seeing all the RVs on the road and in the parks rekindled the travel bug in me.  Rekindled?! Hah! It's more like a raging inferno!!!

Anyway, when I returned to NH (in the middle of a snowstorm, mind you) I succeeded in sparking the same kind of fire in my SO.  We are now in the process of picking out our very first 5er.  Being engineers, we're doing all the research we can, both on-line and by visiting dealers and owners.  We had purchased a brand new Ford F150 Supercab before I went to AZ, but when I came back we immediately traded that in for the 2008 F350 6.4l turbo-diesel SRW in preparation for the big purchase. In retrospect, we probably should have gotten the dually, but it is what it is.  I am NOT going back to the dealer to trade up again!!

So now to the 5er.  It has to be a toy-hauler ... we won't leave home without our Victory motorcycles ... so we are somewhat limited in manufacturer.  Even so, there are just so many to choose from; all of them that we have researched have some features we like and some we don't.  Size is another factor; I am just not comfortable with the idea of jumping into a 42 foot 5er for my first ever towing experience.  And the 'garage' has to be walled off.  I love my bike, but I don't want to sleep with it!!

This brings me to my dilemma.  Thanks for the patience in getting to this point!!  We have narrowed our search down to 2 or 3 brands. One, the Heartland Cyclone 3210, is right at the top of that list. My problem is that I can't find one locally.  Heck, checking dealers on-line inventory, I can't even find one east of the Mississippi river!  I was able to check out a different model ... the Bighorn ... so I'm fairly confident of Heartland's quality.  I'm sure my dealer would have no problem with ordering one for us ... he is a Heartland dealer ... but he won't do that unless I basically agree to purchase it.  Although I am somewhat impulsive, I will not by something of this magnitude without "kicking the tires"!  There are also other brands that I can't find locally, so I am not able to compare any of the ones on my short list. 

Hae any of you ever been in this situation? How do you get through it?  Do I go to a dealer who caims to have one on his lot (the nearest one is in Utah!!).  Or do I go take a tour of the manufacturer (not a bad option, I'd like to see how they are made)?  Or do I just wait until one appears on a lot close by?  Waiting patiently is not my strong point.  Do I just order this model from the dealer, relying on the quality of the different model I saw?  This goes against every grain of my being!!

Any advice anyone could give me ... even the opinion of someone who owns a Cyclone... would be a huge help! Thanks for listening!!

Liz
 
Hi Liz, Welcome to the forum. Lots of knowledgable folks here. I'm sure someone can answer your questions.

Enjoy the search for that perfect RV
Wendy
 
Hi Liz,

I would do the factory tour bit - in fact we're going to - I'm considering a NuWa and dealers and inventory are sparce.

Meantime do some heavy thinking about GVWRs and GCWRs of your 1 ton SRW and the weghts of the toy hauler.

Suggestion: Load your SO, a full tank of deisel and everything else you already own that you will take with you & go weigh it.
 
Hae any of you ever been in this situation? How do you get through it?  Do I go to a dealer who caims to have one on his lot (the nearest one is in Utah!!).  Or do I go take a tour of the manufacturer (not a bad option, I'd like to see how they are made)?  Or do I just wait until one appears on a lot close by?  Waiting patiently is not my strong point.  Do I just order this model from the dealer, relying on the quality of the different model I saw?  This goes against every grain of my being!!

I would probably order it sight unseen IF I had assured myself through research that it was the one for me.  And I might order it from a dealer close to the factory or at least one that handles that model regularly - buying close to home is not (in my opinion) a priority for RVs.  It's the assurance part you have to get comfortable with.  If that takes a visit to a dealer who has one or the factory (or both), do it.  You really do not want to have remorseful thoughts afterwards, whether justified or not, so do what you need to do to make yourself comfortable.

A factory visit will be quite interesting and generally instructive about RV construction, but I doubt if you will learn anything about comparative quality. You would have to visit several different factories to do so and even then I'm skeptical.  I've been to four different RV plants and can tell you that their processes are all very much alike. The difference is in the attention to detail, good vs sloppy workmanship, quality of materials used and willingness to spend a few dollars on  features that will only be of value over a fairly long time. Few, if any, of these attributes can be ascertained while walking around a factory floor on a 45 minute tour.

Visiting a dealer who has one will let you inspect it closely, but do you know what to look for? Your engineering training will help some, but lack of RV experience will be an inhibitor. There are some lists in our site library with some tips that may help, though.
 
We had purchased a brand new Ford F150 Supercab before I went to AZ, but when I came back we immediately traded that in for the 2008 F350 6.4l turbo-diesel SRW in preparation for the big purchase. In retrospect, we probably should have gotten the dually, but it is what it is.  I am NOT going back to the dealer to trade up again!!

So now to the 5er.  It has to be a toy-hauler ... we won't leave home without our Victory motorcycles ... so we are somewhat limited in manufacturer.

Have you engineers done the weight calcs on that F-350 yet?  Toy haulers do tend to weigh up in the gross vehicle weight rating department.  I have seen folks here proposing toy haulers that would strain a medium duty truck.    You should be evaluating your trailer in terms of whether it us appropriate for your tow vehicle.
 
Thanks for all your input.  Yes, GCWR has been weighing heavily on my mind ... pun intended.  I found a website with an Excel spreadsheet that would do the calculations for me. All the weights and ratios started to jumble around in my head, so putting it on virtual paper was perfect.  This is another reason that I feel I need to keep those 40 ft'ers off my wish lists.  Someday, most definitely.  Right now, with the TV I have, no way!
Just for an update ... I went out today to my local dealer just to look at any other TH he might have on the lot ... no Cyclone, but he did have the new Keystone Raptor 299MP.  My first impression ... it's the perfect choice.  It has all the features I want  (and some I didn't know I wanted) including length and decent floorplan.  There's plenty of room for me, the SO, and the 70lb fur-bearer, even if we get trapped inside during a stretch of bad weather.  The BIG plus is that the GVWR of this Raptor is less than what my TV is rated to tow ... 14445 vs 15700, so I should be in great shape unless I do something stupid.  The bad news is  ... well, I don't really think there is any bad news except now I have one more RV to research!!

Once again I thank you for the feedback.  I did look around in the forum's library and all I can say is WOW! It's great to know that If I ever have a question or a problem or anything at all, I have an instant place to start!  I really am lookng forward to the adventures ahead!

Liz
 
The BIG plus is that the GVWR of this Raptor is less than what my TV is rated to tow ... 14445 vs 15700, so I should be in great shape unless I do something stupid.  The bad news is  ... well, I don't really think there is any bad news except now I have one more RV to research!!

Actually, we generally like to allow a 10% safety factor on tow ratings, which would knock that F350 rating down to 14130 lbs.   (You do have the turbo diesel, ja?)   But hell, you are within 300lbs of that.  Just don't go berserk piling goodies into the trailer -- or the truck.

When you get the rig, load it up for travel, complete with toys on board and get it weighed at a public scale.  We have a run down on weighing trailers in the Library.   I would really recommend this with a toy hauler.   You will probably load more after weighing in on actual trilps (food etc.).   However, a weigh in with tell you how much caution you should have -- especially if you tow in the mountain or Pacific west.   
 
Hi Carl,
Yep, we got the 6.4l twin turbo diesel, and boy is that sweet! But that's for another part of the forum!
We don't have a public scale very close by, but the local Readi-Mix Cement vendor has graciously allowed us the opportunity to weigh anything we want on his scale.  Tomorrow I plan on fueling up the truck and taking it down to find out EXACTLY how much it weighs alone.  Then I can use the GCWV number to determine exactly how much I can haul.  Question, though.  Do you take the 10% safety factor off of EVERY number rating, like TV GVWR, FW GWVR, AND GCWR? Or do you do your calculations with the "brochure" numbers, then subtract the 10% off that? 

In any case, I'm one of those people who'd rather be safe than sorry.  I really don't want to find out that my truck won't haul a 5er up a mountain when I'm half way up!

Thanks for your help!
 
Lizn8r said:
Hi Carl,
Yep, we got the 6.4l twin turbo diesel, and boy is that sweet! But that's for another part of the forum!
We don't have a public scale very close by, but the local Readi-Mix Cement vendor has graciously allowed us the opportunity to weigh anything we want on his scale.  Tomorrow I plan on fueling up the truck and taking it down to find out EXACTLY how much it weighs alone.  Then I can use the GCWV number to determine exactly how much I can haul.  Question, though.  Do you take the 10% safety factor off of EVERY number rating, like TV GVWR, FW GWVR, AND GCWR? Or do you do your calculations with the "brochure" numbers, then subtract the 10% off that? 

In any case, I'm one of those people who'd rather be safe than sorry.  I really don't want to find out that my truck won't haul a 5er up a mountain when I'm half way up!

Thanks for your help!

You are overcomplicating it.  The numbers that count are the tow rating of the truck and the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating of the trailer.  Just deduct 10% from the tow rating and fit the GVWR of the trailer to that.  WEIGH THE TRAILER.  The truck alone is of interest but the trailer is critical.  See the weighing procedure in the library HERE.
 
We just got a Raptor 299MP and although we haven't gotten to camp in it yet, except at home, we love it already. Where did you look at one? I did a lot of pricing research and got a pretty good deal on ours. When I was bringing it home, I pulled onto a truck stop scale and the weight of truck and trailer together was 18,000 lbs, the GCVWR for mine is 22000 lbs, that was also before I drained out the freshwater tank. I do not have any motorcycles, and wanted a toy hauler extra room for other purposes. I will never load the trailer close to its gross weight capacity. I plan to do the outlined weight procedure on this sight when I load it to camp, just to double check myself and keep the weight where I want it to allow for safety margins. When I discussed weight with the experts here previously, 12000 lbs was my max camper target weight for my truck which is Chevy 2500HD with Duramax diesel, and I will have no problem keeping under that by using good common sense. I also plan on installing an exhaust brake on the truck by the end of the summer.
 
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