When it comes to RVing, there’s one particular dead horse that continues to get beaten on an almost weekly basis. It’s the “Motorhome(MH) vs. Fifth Wheel(FW)” discussion. Despite the countless pages of opinions and facts that have already been written on the subject, it’s easy to understand why this comes up so often. It’s a decision that every RVer must make and I think it might be an especially tough one for fulltimers.
I won’t rehash the most common points in the debate… Oh man, I had you going there for a second didn’t I? Of course I’ll rehash them! Hey, I deserve my turn drubbing the lifeless equine, don’t I?
Motorhome Pros
- It’s cool (well it is; admit it)
- Quicker setup/teardown at campsites
- “Every day” vehicle (toad/dinghy) is usually smaller, more economical, easier to get around town in
- Passengers are potentially more comfortable (although probably less safe)
- Usually more overall storage, although less actually inside the living area.
Motorhome Cons
- Limited floorplans
- A little less overall area
- Harder to find repair shops for MH
- When in need of repair, you often can’t stay in MH
- Higher overall insurance costs
- Two engines (MH and toad) to maintain
Fifth Wheel Pros
- Less expensive (although for fulltimers, the gap seems to shrink significantly; I’ll talk about this below)
- Much more “home” like
- Usually more overall area and higher ceilings in living and kitchen areas
- One engine (tow vehicle) to maintain instead of two
Fifth Wheel Cons
- Less likely to have a generator, or if it does have one, it’s adds significantly to weight, and limits storage
- Larger, and in some cases MUCH larger “every day” vehicle
- Harder to setup and tear down (although this can be helped some by the automatic leveling systems)
How one prioritizes the pros and cons is highly subjective. For me the big ones are: cost, every day vehicle, livability, and reliability.
Lets talk cost for a moment. At first blush, the FW would seem to be a much more economical choice, and for vacationers, I think that holds true, but for fulltimers, things change a bit. There are two parts to the FW cost equation, the FW itself and the tow vehicle. I’m not going to go into GVWR, CCC, GVCR, and all that jazz, but the bottom line is that most FWs that are appropriate for fulltiming are heavier. It makes sense really. If you’re going to live in something every day, it’s going to need to be of higher quality and when it comes to RVs, higher quality often means heavier. Then add in the fact that fulltimers usually need to carry a little more with them than vacationers and you have recipe for a very heavy trailer.
So fulltimers in a FW often need a fairly heavy unit. Guess what? You’re going to be pulling all that weight. If you don’t want it pushing you through an intersection when you’re trying to stop or killing your engine/transmission on a heavy grade, you’re going to need a fairly substantial tow vehicle. A one ton vehicle is sometimes “legally” enough according to the numbers, but in reality, a medium duty truck (MDT), or even a heavy duty(HDT) truck is used as they allow for a far safer and more enjoyable tow experience. Seriously, I had no idea before I started my research that some fulltimers use HDT’s to tow their RVs. Crazy!! Or maybe not…
Once you add the cost of a fulltiming appropriate FW to the cost of a a safe and effective tow vehicle, the cost gap between a MH-toad combo and a FW-tow vehicle combo shrinks. The difference is still there, to be sure, but it’s no longer the deal breaker (for me, anyway) that it might otherwise be.
Another important consideration for me is what will be my “every day” vehicle. I’ll just call it my EDV. At the moment, my current EDV is a 2008 F150 Limited, so I’m not exactly parallel parking in the “compact” only spots as it is, but I really don’t have any problems getting around. That said, I find it difficult to picture myself doing my normal daily errands in a MDT or HDT. Over the past two weeks I tried a little exercise. I put a post-it in my truck on the dash that said MDT/HDT. I used it to remind myself to think about what it would be like on that particular errand if I were in an MDT or HDT. I know that this is a bit facetious, because I haven’t driven either one, but I just try to imagine something one step (at least) bigger than my F150. This has been an interesting exercise. Most of the time, I could see using one of these larger trucks as my EDV as being technically possible, but it just seems so darn inconvenient. When I use MDT here, I’m more talking about Class 6 trucks. The Class 4 and 5 trucks would probably be a little closer to what I’d consider “normal” vehicles, but again, I’m speaking here from a position of ignorance. When you visit the web sites and forums of the MDT and HDT folks, they constantly say that these trucks really aren’t that much bigger. Having inspected a half dozen or so Class 6 RV haulers though, I still have a hard time with that line of thought. Maybe it’s just the height that is throwing me off.
Finally, there’s the livability. This is such a subjective area that there’s no way way to really quantify it. I’ll just throw around a few things I’ve noticed in the thirty or so hours I’ve spent walking through FWs and MHs. FWs feel more “homey”. The kitchens often have wrap-around sections or islands. The living area is three sided and feels very much like a normal room. In MHs, if you have a nice shade for the front windows, and the living area is in the front, then you can almost get a similar “enclosed” feel to the living area. Actually, I did end up being surprised with the roominess of some of the MHs I walked through. Online pictures don’t do them justice. If the living room section of the MH has slides on both sides, it really is spacious in there. I’m not terribly concerned about the spaciousness of the bedroom. Remember, it’s just me who will be using this. I have the bed all to myself (unless the beagle hops on, and she’s not generally very pushy). The high ceilings in FWs have a great aesthetic appeal for the same reason that they do in normal homes. That said, I’ve never felt claustrophobic, height-wise, in any of the MHs I visited.
Then there’s the “solidness” factor. Most of my time looking at MHs and FWs has been on the PPL consignment lot with used units. With only the rare exception, I didn’t bother looking at any of the cracker-box FW or MH brands. That said, even when limiting the comparison to the upper end FWs, the MHs generally felt more solid; more substantial. In most of the FWs, there were many things that just felt cheesy or cheap: cabinets, sliding doors, closet doors, walls between sections. The MHs, perhaps because they were already so expensive, didn’t seem to cut as many corners. Let me put it another way. When step into a five year old FW and then a MH of the same vintage, the MH looks and feels like it has held up much better.
Part of this difference is almost surely tied to the unfortunate fact that on all of the dealer lots I’ve been to, FWs are always on display with only the front jacks lowered. I haven’t stepped into a single FW that didn’t sway just a little (and some, a whole lot). The MHs were always rock solid. I’m certain that a FW “can” be just as stable if setup properly, but that sway just sits there in my subconscious as being associated with FWs.
There are a few other more personal considerations that will come into play with the MH vs. FW decision. I need a solid, extremely usable workspace. My workstation consists of a two 24” LCD monitors and I need a keyboard area wide enough for the keyboard and mouse to be on the same level. I don’t need a lot of actual desk space though. I don’t have anything on my desk beyond the monitors themselves. I’m not going to make any serious compromises when it comes to my workstation and I’ve already accepted that I may well need to have some custom work done regardless of my choice of FW or MH. FWs are a little more amenable to my workstation needs. I’ve seen a number of FW floorplans that would only require very minimal tweaks in order to become acceptable. Most of the MHs I’ve looked at had two opposing seating areas. I would need to use half of one of those seating areas for my my workstation needs. I’ve seen a few setups that other people have done that confirm that this is not that difficult to do.
The other thing to keep in mind is, again, that I’m going solo. There are compromises that I can make that would not be as easy to accept were I sharing the space with someone else. This fact bleeds into many areas: what about converting the dining area to meet my workstation needs; a queen bed is more than large enough for one person; perhaps I can get by with a little less storage; etc.
So after all of this, where is mind at? I’m leaning slightly towards the fifth wheel, but my mind is by no means made up. I could read a forum post tomorrow that tipped the balance of my preference the other way, and if I ran across a great deal on either a fifth wheel or a motorhome that met my livability requirements, I might find it difficult to pass up.
This has been quite an epic post so I’ll go ahead and cut it off here, but this is by no means my final thoughts on the matter. I’ll continue to research and talk to other folks, and I’m sure my preferences will shift accordingly.
Update: I’ve seen many sites and forum discussions on the MH vs. FW topic, but I just ran across a great page with nice details on all the basic advantages and disadvantages: http://www.macandchris.com/WhichRV.htm
