Travel Trailer height - RV-Dreams Community Forum

SuzieQ · RV-Dreams Family Member

Travel Trailer height

The Bear II · RV-Dreams Family Member

The frame of a 5th wheel is not flat from front to back like a TT frame is.

The front of the 5th wheel frame is higher in the front and then drops at 90 degrees down about 3-4 feet to another level and is flat all the way to the rear. The raised portion of the frame is where the 5th wheel comes in. The pin box or goose neck is mounted to this raised area which allows the front of the 5th wheel to float over the pickup bed. When hitched, the hitch & pin box/gooseneck become the 5th wheel.

So the manufacturers usually use the raised area as the main bedroom which means they need to make the ceiling tall enough for 6ft Plus tall folks to stand up. This raises the roof of a 5th wheel to 12- 13 + feet.

Since the TT frame is flat the roof can be built at a lower level to allow a 6ft + tall person to stand up throughout the TT. TTs will be 8-10 + feet in height.

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

There have been a few attempts to build TTs taller and utilize the newly created space under for storage. Sort of like a semi trailer on steroids. If you build it as a travel trailer however, that could be a lot of weight on the bumper pull hitch and you could have the tail wagging the dog (a common issue with TTs over a 5er). Second, some people have an issue with stairs and in a configuration as you suggest there could 7 or 8 steps to climb to get the living space. Some motorhomes are a bit of a climb so I'm not sure this really that big an issue for most people. YMMV as they say. Personally I'd like to see more 5er floor plans that are essentially semi trailers (though lighter duty than a std semi trailer) with gobs of basement space. I think Jack Mayer was working on a design for one, he may chime in on it. The semi trailer design would allow moving the ACs off the roof allowing more room for solar. The extra basement space could also provide room for larger battery banks for the boondocker crowd. It would be an interesting unit to say the least.

FWIW, Brian

-- Edited by biggaRView on Friday 16th of October 2015 09:53:27 AM

SuzieQ · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks.
We live near a large dealership and when I drive by it seems that the Class A's are a couple of feet taller than the TT's. Seemed like there was an opportunity lost with the shorter TT's. Weight makes sense.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Susan,

Another possible reason for the lower height is that a travel trailer usually sets lower to the ground. Some are raised higher than others, and with respect to the length of the travel trailer, a long one needs to be setting higher to avoid dragging while going into driveways or across dips in the road. We used to have a 26-foot travel trailer and I managed to drag (and thus damage) the rear steps on the roadway as I pulled off. When the tires dropped "over the edge", the steps found the pavement. That was just another reason we traded for a 26-foot fifth wheel a year or two later.

As for a fifth wheel with lots of storage, it is a custom build, but Continental Coach seems to put in lots of storage space, both outside and inside. Check out the 49-footer with a three-bed bunk room and its own bathroom.

Terry

Sushidog · RV-Dreams Family Member

The Open Range JT340FLR travel trailer has a raised rear bedroom with basement storage underneath. Unfortunately for the full-timer, the CCC is only 2677 lbs. Making all this available storage space virtually unusable, as you will quickly exceed its carrying capacity before you fill the available volume.

Don't overlook the inherent advantage of being a couple feet lower in height. It comes in handy when pulling into gas stations with low overhead clearance, passing under trees with low hanging branches (common in the east, and south east), passing through low tunnels and bridges on secondary roads (like the Blue Ridge Parkway where I was at last week, where going from Cherokee, NC there are a series of low height tunnels, as low as 11' 1" - even too low for clearance of the rooftop ACs on most TTs). I was pulling an Aliner, so of course I had no problems with clearance. But If I were going to camp at Cataloochee in the GSMNP, or at many of the remote forest service campgrounds I frequent around Helen, Ga., the low hanging branches might surely be a problem even for a TT, let alone a taller fiver. I guess it depends on how far back in the woods you like to go, or if you just want to limit yourself to main roads and interstates. I guess we're more of the hermit type, who tries to avoid crowded RV parks and CGs, going to many places where taller, heavier RVs simply can't go, reducing the neighbors. biggrin Personalities vary.

Chip

Barbaraok · RV-Dreams Family Member

SuzieQ wrote:
Thanks.
We live near a large dealership and when I drive by it seems that the Class A's are a couple of feet taller than the TT's. Seemed like there was an opportunity lost with the shorter TT's. Weight makes sense.

Look at the size of the tires. That's where to start. And can you pull a Class A with a car? Travel trailers are designed to be light weight, pulled with car/light truck. Remember, originally these were designed for weekenders. You might want to look at some "park model" trailers which are designed for longer term living.

ticat900 · RV-Dreams Family Member

SuzieQ wrote:
The exterior height of travel trailers seems to be much less than 5th wheels or Class A's. Why is this? Seems like they're losing something with opportunities for additional interior height and/or basements.

they would be too heavy and require a mega mega hitch situation that's why when u go taller/heavier u go 5 wheel style hitch. they could build them taller and put bigger axles and tires for sure but the market for such is rather limited because of the weight on the hitch and overall towing requirements. The market for most travel trailers are deigned to be pulled by 1/2 ton pickups and larger SUV etc Also They would awefully top heavy for towing if built 11-feet tall

If you look theres some pretty big travel trailers available but not tall like a Diesel pusher

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

building a higher unit requires lowering it..........bridges and overpasses are non-adjustable !!!!!! so if you want it with a higher roof line for more comfort and head room........ it will get very uncomfortable in the drivers seat.........Jus' sayin !!!!!

-- Edited by Lucky Mike on Wednesday 21st of October 2015 02:32:10 PM

SuzieQ · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks Ticat900. I understand now. Just trying to explore all options

kb0zke · RV-Dreams Family Member

Several good points here.

Many travel trailers are closer to the ground than similar 5'ers because they don't have the basement storage that a 5'er has. That also means that there are fewer steps to deal with. You can't have both a floor close to the ground and a basement.

Weight: A 34' Airstream from the 90's has a gross weight of about 10,000 pounds. Newer ones are a bit heavier. An F250-class truck can easily handle one of these. The Open Range Journeyers are interesting coaches, but the TT versions are no longer made. They are a bit heavier than the Airstreams, but have some basement storage. More steps to climb, though.

Height: If the roof (that counts the a/c, vents, etc.) is closer to the ground than the roof of a semi you won't have any problems on the open highway. The closer you are to their height the more you will have to pay attention to the numbers on bridges. Many people have an actual measurement of their height taped to the dash. Going off of the highway, like home or to the campground, yes, branches can be a problem. Just follow a large MH, though, and you should be fine <grin>.

SuzieQ · RV-Dreams Family Member

The weight is probably the issue. The local dealership has all types of RV on their lot so it's easy to look at heights when I drive by. The TT's seem to have more ground clearance than the class A's & 5th's. With more ground clearance, seems like it would be easy to add a basement. But they are also shorter. Going under a bridge would be no problem. Weight is the only thing that makes sense.

kb0zke · RV-Dreams Family Member

Over on airforums there was a discussion about dragging the rear. Someone actually measured both a 34' (the longest TT airstream made) and the 31' (the longest currently made). They found that the distance from the back tire to the back bumper was actually less on the 34' than on the 31' coach. The suspicion for that was that the 34' is a triple axle, while the 31' is a double axle. Either way, an Airstream bumper is closer to the ground than most other trailers. That accounts for only two steps instead of 4-6 on taller coaches. Of course, there is little external storage. Their current largest coach is advertised as 9' 9.5" from ground to top of air conditioner.

A similar-sized Arctic Fox Silver Fox edition is 11' 7" tall. It has far more storage space than the Airstream, and more CCC to handle it. A similar AF 5'er is 13' 5" tall.