We moved into a 1996 28 foot Fleetwood Bounder April 1, 2010. We traveled from Washington through British Columbia, Yukon Territories, Alaska, Alberta and into Montana. The inside had a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and dining area. There was only one lounge chair, and the other person had to try to get comfortable in the dinette to relax in the evening. Driving just the motor home was OK on good roads, but when the roads got bumpy, the entire unit would rock back and forth and seemed top heavy. When we pulled the car behind, the motor home would sway and took concentrated effort to maneuver on the road. I found backing and maneuvering into small spaces fairly easy in the motor home. I now believe that this size motor home would be great for shorter trips when not pulling a car if you planned to park in one area, or were going in the summer time when you can spend most of your time outside. If you want to pull a vehicle, I would suggest a motor home that is longer and heavier and the diesel powered bus-sized motor homes would be better for towing cars. We averaged about 6 miles to the gallon in this motor home. I, being the slow riser in the morning that I am, loved the fact that I could walk to the passenger chair in my bathrobe and slippers and drink my coffee as Mike drove in the morning. After I had an hour or two to wake up, we would stop so that I could shower and get dressed. I do miss that!
We sold the motor home in Montana by sitting in a store parking lot with an "open house" sign in the second week of July and we moved into a 28 foot Holiday Rambler Savoy fifth wheel. With it we traveled through Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and into Pennsylvania in the fifth wheel. We hit some debris in Massachusetts and had to have the shackle welded back on in Massachusetts. We learned after arriving in Pennsylvania that we had actually bent the frame on the Savoy beyond repair. The insurance company totaled it.
The fifth wheel had a slide out that made the unit feel more roomy. It also had a couch and two recliners in the back. We loved the rear window which often had great views as we backed into campsites. If it weren't for the frame, we would still be quite happy in the fifth wheel. On the downside, we learned later, that without a sliding hitch, it is pretty easy to put the trailer through the back window of the truck. (We replaced it twice.) Getting used to the maneuvering of the trailer was difficult. Many people swear by the ease of maneuvering a fifth wheel. But you have to make wide turns because the back of the trailer will swing way in on turns. Mike demonstrated this when he knocked down an outhouse. We averaged 13 to 14 miles per gallon with the fifth wheel which was quite an improvement over the motor home.
We then bought a 24 foot Sunline travel trailer built in 2007. We have traveled from Pennsylvania back to New York, and then through Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and into North Carolina in the travel trailer. The trailer does not have a dinette but instead has a table between the couch and chair. But for our lifestyle the smaller size works well. Additionally, when shopping for the trailer, we were looking at another 4+ months on this journey rather than a year, as we were planning while shopping at first so the smaller size didn't seem so intimidating. Both Mike and I prefer driving the trailer to the fifth wheel. Maybe it is because we are old and learning new things is harder at our ages.
After our experience with the fifth wheel, before we bought the trailer, I did some research regarding RV frames. Most dealers will tell you that they are all the same. To me, it seemed like it was just too easy to bend the frame on the Savoy and I didn't want that to happen again. I found that the Internet is full of complaints about Lippert frames and Lippert builds about 80 - 85% of all RV frames including the one on the Savoy. They are spot welded and the welds frequently fail, and they are made of lighter weight steel than some others. The ones made in 2004 and 2005 seem to be the worst. (The Savoy was a 2004) The Lippert frames are probably great if you want to use your RV a few times a year and not go great distances. However, if you want to do extended travel, I do not recommend them. When we would ask RV salesmen for trailers without Lippert frames, they usually indicated that all frames were the same, and that we didn't know what we were talking about. I read lots of stories about people who tried to get their warranties to cover their problems with the frames and when that didn't work, would have them welded as best they could and then traded them in on something more sturdy. Watch out for those trade-ins! Our Sunline trailer has a solid I beam frame made of heavier metal than the Lipperts. Dealers thought we were crazy crawling around under possible purchases, but we weren't going to get burned again! We average 14 - 15 miles to the gallon with the Sunline which is about 4000 pounds lighter than the Savoy.
With both trailers, we really appreciate being able to park the trailer in camp and disconnect the truck to drive around the area we are in. It is not very practical to have to maneuver your gas guzzling motor home into strip malls and small historical sites near camp.
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