Garage (half-width) vs Toy Hauler

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Newt & Jan

Newt & Jan

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 29, 2007
Posts
407
Location
Concord, NC
We are looking for a 5th wheel design that is really hard for us to find - at least so far.  We need some open storage space but not nearly as much as the standard full-width toy hauler space.

I have seen one or two rigs advertised on the internet with a narrow bunk room taking up about half the rig's width and the other half a 'garage' space.  I'd love to find more to have a look at (in person or over the internet) but without knowing which company makes the things, every search combo I try give me mostly standard toy haulers with a very abbreviated main living space.
 
Thanks Karl.  Theirs seem to be more hauler and less living which makes me think (especially after rereading my opening post) that I was way less than clear about what we need.  Blame the awful hour of the morning and I should know better than to try and think at that time of day since I am basically a night person.

We are looking for a 5th wheel for full timing.  I plan to sell the house and go mobile next Spring although we will probably spend another year or two in Concord before I retire.  The Philip Morris plant here is closeing in 2010 and I want to get the house sold before the largest employer in the county leaves.  I will probably stay on until the very end since the younger IT guys will likely be leaving for other jobs and I expect it to be me and some temps for the last few months.  The contracting firm I work for has indicated they will offer a nice package if I stick around until we turn off the lights and lock the doors for the last time since they will need the computerized production automation until the very end and I'm a server/network guy.

We are looking for decent living space for the pair of us with some space to store and pack items we sell on the internet.

All of the standard toy haulers we saw had more space devoted to the storage/hauling part than we really need with 11ft being the shortest which takes a major chunk out of the living area.

The one rig that had a split with bunk house on one side and storage on the other and would have been ideal since the bunkhouse space will easily convert into an office but it sold and I'm having no luck trying to locate another one.  I neglected to write down who made the rig before the listing vanished.    ???

We will be looking at 37-40 ft rigs I think.  No need for super fancy but a need for comfortable and livable.
 
"The Philip Morris plant here is closeing "

Just wondering.. Are they shutting down and staying down or buliding a new plant in China or somewhere else to pack their poison with?
 
k-z new vision used to make a 37 foot model with a 6 foot side entry garage. Living area is the same as my 41 foot. atatched is a pic of my floorplan.  I see it is not on the website anymore. My garage is 10 feet. i have a large deep freeze in it as well as a workbenck along the opposite wall for building and fixing r/c aircraft. All my tools and spare parts for my aircraft are stored under the work bench. The garage is full... just enough room to enter the man door and comfortably remove my workwear and hang it up. I have only opened the 'garage' door once when i first bought it to see if it worked.

my new vision is built very well and i have no trouble with anything yet. I have been full-timing in it for 18 months. A word of caution, tho. My business partner bought the identicle fifth wheel at the same time (although the 2005 model - mine is 2006) His has been an absolute lemon. almost every appliance has failed, structural damage (cracked frame), leaky water system, and a bunch of other not so good things. I think he got the model thrown together on a friday afternoon.
 

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John - they are consolidating the operations in this area to the existing facility in Richmond, VA with about 30% (the part that is for sale in the European market already) being moved to a plant in Europe.

I think the main reason was that the US market is shrinking a bit and the Richmond facility has some room for expansion but is in an already industrial area.  The Concord site includes a huge amount of land that was low-cost farmland when they opened this facility but the area is building up so it is probably worth a large chunk of money so will be sold along with the current plant buildings & grounds.

The 'poison' part of your post was IMO a bit inappropriate for this discussion regardless of your feelings about the tobaco industry.

dirtdr - thank you.  I will search around for available units.
 
Hey Newt, I do not know if it is too far for you or not, but we got our Raptor from Smallwood's in Jackson, TN, and I drove from MD to get it. They beat everyone else I checked by a few thousand, and I have nothing but good things to say about my experience with them. My salesman was named Tony, and the manager is named Shane. Good luck hunting.
 
janpaul - thanks for the information.  I'm near Charlotte, NC so Jackson is probably a smidge closer to me than to you and certainly worth a trip if their prices are good.
 
Newt, good luck on your future.  I am an IT guy with Cat here in the Midwest.  We have a Raptor 3814 and overall we have been very happy with it. Since buying it in March, we have only experienced a couple of issues with it and they have been very fixable (cracked stereo speaker, broken trim).  It is full of storage and in fact, we have empty cabinets and we haul quite a bit of stuff.  The garage is air conditioned meaning you can work out there and or sleep people if need be.  In terms of room in the garage, I can put a big quad, a smaller quad, a youth quad and two dirtbikes and still have space for bikes, cooler, gear bags etc...  There is alot of space even with the hardwall between the living area and the garage.I think overall you will be happy with it although you will probably want to upgrade the mattress if you are full timing it.  Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.
 
Took the plunge today after a local dealer managed to get a Raptor 3600 RL set up for us to eyeball. 

A million thanks to janpaul for the information about Smallwoods.  We had spoken to them and gotten a quote of 45K for a new 2007 unit.  Since Keystone only started making them late in 2007, new is about the only option.

Our local dealer had a list of 60K but when I told them I could drive a bit and get it for 45K, they came way down in a hurry.  2008 for 46K and we signed the papers after spending about an hour looking it over.  It was one of those 'good fit' experiences where both SWMBO and I felt it was exactly what we wanted.  The small 'lounge' where half the garage area in a normal toy hauler is what did it for us.  Sofa in a slide, fridge, TV, 'wet bar' and privacy from the main living area was enough to make the unit seem amazingly roomy for a 37ft 5th wheel.

The only major issue was the lack of washer/dryer hookups (a lack I think the company needs to address) but the dealer quoted us a decent price for running the necessary lines to the very front section of the garage area where a stackable combo will fit nicely.

The little half-garage will be great not only for storage & work space but for a place to leave Beastly who, at age 19, is prone to make a mess and look very doggy-surprised and embarrassed that it happened.  When we have to be away for a few hours, it will be nice to have a space with a metal floor that can be easily cleaned.  Plenty of room to store packing materials, items for sale from our web page or eBay, and an area for packing them for shipment.

Delivery will be delayed a little because of the races at Lowe's Motor Speedway on the 12th/13th since the dealer is near the track and leases a lot from the speedway but has to clear it during race week (so lots of rig moving) plus the fact that their major sales times are when race fans are in town.  We opted to have the work done a little more slowly and the delivery held off until the next week since we aren't in any sort of hurry.

Now we can begin to sell everything in the house that isn't attached to the walls, repaint, re-carpet, and sell the house.  Yippee!!!!  Just gotta get an electrician to run 50A service in the garage so we have a place to plug in our new home.

p.s. - Big Dave, our 'sleep number' mattress will be among the first things we transfer from house to trailer.  I will certainly have questions and will certainly ask so thanks for the offer.

p.p.s. - Thanks to all who have answered a host of old-newby questions for me and posted such useful information in other topics to answer questions I didn't even know enough to ask.
 
I am alittle late but you can also look at Carri lite. I bought one and it has a small garage with a side door.. The garage size is approx 6X8.
 
Appears to be a perfect fit for you!  ;D

Congratulations. I have enjoyed reading your search. It seemed quicker than most. That's good, too!  ;D

Ray D  ;D
 
This subject always gets me.  There is so much space that is wasted in the garage area.  Some of the ME Motorhomes have addressed this issue quite well.  It would seem a 5r would be even easier to design a more  efficent design.  Congrats on the Raptor, I figure that is a move in the right direction and they are good rigs!

Phil
 
Thanks Phil.

I imagine if we were going to use it as a toy hauler, we would have needed the additional space but it certainly did offer the ideal amount of utility room for our needs.
 
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