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Just an update from a "wanna - be / gonna - be" full timer...
I've been doing research while I wait for the end of October, and the possibility to get serious. Among the "name" manufacturers, the Forest River Cedar Creek Hathaway series had seemed good. The problems that Hebard's Travels are hitting is painting them in a negative light
I just recently heard about the Outdoor RV Glacier Peak models. From the web descriptions, they have some good assets.
it's not a typical Lippert chassis. As I understand it, they are custom built by Northwood (the Arctic Fox manufacturer). The Glacier Peak chassis has real shock absorbers on the axles. They mention an option to have the chassis certified for off road use.
The 2 inch solid foam walls with high gloss fiberglass sound good.
Thermal pane windows are standard.
Drawer slides are high end with a hundred pound capacity.
Lengths are appropriate. I'd be a solo, probably with a cat. 40 foot and longer just seems "too long".
The factory is in La Grande Oregon. It might be possible to do a factory tour. They do have a local Portland area dealer; so I might be able to see one "soon", as long as they have one in stock.
I had never heard of this trailer manufacturer before. I did like the floor plans and enjoyed looking through the website and pulling some up at a few dealers. Looked good, at least on-line. For us, we did not want the frameless windows, which this brand appears to have. Have you eliminated the Arctic Fox from your list? They have some very popular under 30' models.
Thanks for the response. Right now my preference is for a length of 32-36 feet. That may change as I get closer to the point where I can start wandering.
I think that the "full profile" Glacier Peak fifth wheel's are only about 2 years old; and they are not trying to build them in volume. So they may be hard to find used.
Haven't seen the 5th wheel, but we owned an Outdoor RV travel trailer, Wind River, before we went full time. Loved it, and had great service from their dealer in Sumner WA when we owned it. If we hadn't decided to FT, we would still have that trailer. It felt like the storage was arranged better than most TT's. The 4 season rating on the Wind River was something we wanted and their insulation was good. We camped in the Tri Cities (WA), in triple digits and in the Cascades and Eastern WA in below freezing temps without issue. Just needed something bigger for FT for 2 of us who are both still working while on the road.
I've been researching 5th wheels for almost 2 years now. Looked at every brand. I decided on the Glacier Peak Mountain series F30 RLS. Will be ordering soon. I looked at several in Mesa AZ next to my house. There well built and I highly recommend this unit.
I've never heard of this manufacturer, so I have no comments on the quality. I wonder where you get one serviced when there are few dealers. I know that Heartland - my brand - allows you to take your trailer to any repair facility, with prior approval, even a mobile tech. You pay any cll out fees and Heartland picks up the repair costs.
There are three models that Heartland builds, Landmark, Big Horn and Big Country, that are rated and warranted for full time use. We are on our second Landmark and have had few problems with them.
Just to mention it, Thor bought up DRV Suites and placed it under the Heartland umbrella.
As for Outdoor RV, one of our camp hosts just traded their travel trailer for an Outdoor RV travel trailer. They are very pleased with the new rig, much more so than their previous rig. The construction and insulation is much better, and since this couple is one of the other camp hosts here at Kanab, Utah, they are really pleased with how much warmer it is than their old model. He also did research on recalls for the different brands/models, and where his old RV had something like 4 recalls on it, the Outdoor RV brand appears to have very little in the way of recalls.
Terry
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Terry and Jo
2010 Mobile Suites 38TKSB3 2008 Ford F450 2019 Ford Expedition Max as Tag-along or Scout
Not on our shortlist, but for Full Time use, I'd look for higher CCC numbers. the 250RDS, 250RKS and 260RLS have in excess of 3500 lbs.
Bulldog, you mentioned on your other post about adding solar and batteries... that will add plenty of weight, so higher CCC numbers should be on your radar too.