First RV ever! Advice needed.

[ALScott]

My wife and I have some great friends who love camping and that has rubbed off on us. We love the outdoors and we thought what better way is there than to experience even more. Anyway.... I have quickly realized there is way more to choose from than I ever imagined. After a little looking I have more questions than I thought possible. Obviously since I am posting here we really liked the Imagine. At first we were set on 2800BH for grandkids but after getting a little advice to "buy for us" and not possibilities we narrowed down to 2500RL or 2600RB. I was hoping to get some guidance from people with experience which one may be better for a couple. How valuable is an outdoor kitchen? Also, I would like to get some honest, experienced feedback on why Grand Design over Coachmen Freedom Express, Heartland North Trail or Cruiser RV MPG. We looked at Jayco first and have decided we just like the look of fiberglass over Aluminum plus they seem to be a bit lighter too. I will be towing with a 2015 F150 and I know all about weighing etc, checking payload etc. 2500 or 2600 should be fine as I do have the tow package but I know loading will need careful consideration. And I know a 3/4 ton would be better but so would a 1 ton dually. Thanks!

[el Rojo]

Your best bet would be to rent a couple of times to see what you do and don't like. That will narrow it down considerably. Grand Designs brightest star is the customer service after the sale. Some dealers drop the ball after the title changes hands and GDRV will let you take it somewhere else to get things worked on. They will support non GD shops and overnight parts to them to get you up and running.

Hope that helps Red.

[LCBoyer]

Alscott! Red offers some good advice, see if you can rent a trailer for a trial. Some dealers have units they will rent. Some campground also have trailers for rent. Have fun

[sande005]

We jumped from tent camping to a small Jayco Fifth 4 years ago, so understand the questions! Due to unfortunate circumstances, we had to switch again, and settled on the GD 2670MK.
Think a bit about your potential use of the camper. Do you think it will mostly be weekend trips, long vacation-style trips, perhaps doing a seasonal rental and staying at one spot, or a mixture? The longer you intend to use it on any given trip, the more important configuration and layout become. Anything is useable for a couple of nights. But for a month....
Think about your daily routines, and how it may fit them. I, for example, tend to get up really early and therefore get to take the dogs out. The significant other likes to sleep in. So good separation between the bedroom and the rest of the space is a must. She likes that having the bedroom separated from the living area by the bathroom helps cut down on noise from the main area. Kitchen storage is a big item for her - so look critically at where you might put "stuff". For me, it is storage for camping gear, fishing gear, chairs, tools, etc. that is important. Are you TV watchers? If so, sightlines to the set become more important. Sit on the toilet in all campers, and see what bathroom space fits the best. Stand in the shower and see how well it does/doesn't work for you. We like, generally, Rear Living configurations, as it tends to give us a big picture window to look out of. You may not care about it as much if other layouts give advantages in other areas. And yes, think about taking the grandkids camping - can the dinette/fold out couches be made to work, or are the kids too soon going to get bigger and/or be with on longer trips, so better bed options become more important. If they are sleeping in the living area, is it OK that you have to sneak past to get to the bathroom?
We never had a full outdoor kitchen, but did have a mini one (cookstove and water) in the Jayco. Our Imagine has the cookstove and small fridge, plus storage. We only tended to use it when camping with the family - they would come over from their tents, and we would cook outside and use the picnic table. For just us, too much hassle bringing in and out the cookware, food, and taking back in all the dirty dishes. Just easier to use the inside kitchen. Although, we might convert our present one into a cool mini-bar......

[Ruach-Elisha]

Consensus between my wife and I and a few friends is that the built in outdoor kitchens are not worth it: mostly because my wife is 5'1" and her friend is 5'3" and they both complain that the outdoor kitchens are just too high for them to be useable. I could see an outdoor fridge being handy, but if you can spend that much I would just get a Yeti or RTCI https://www.rticcoolers.com/shop/coolers cooler that you can use in other places as well. I am a proponent of building your own outdoor kitchen if you want to cook outside (fold out table from Costco, portable grill of your choice, etc.). RVFTA has an entire podcast on outdoor kitchens (linked here) from a cook who is passionate about outdoor cooking.

Some points of advice I gave my parents (since they just bought our Airstream when we upgraded for more space with our 3 kids):
- Do not stress about gear (it accumulates over time and Walmart or sporting goods store is usually never too far away)
- Drive slow, Turn Wide, Look Twice
- Chock before disconnecting (my father-in-law forget that and almost had his trailer roll down into a lake: he got lucky)
- Be flexible
- Have fun

On a side note, most of the folks I have seen start camping end up changing travel trailers within the first 4 years: you may or may not.

[Cate&Rob]

ALScott,

Lots of good advice here already. We were in a very similar situation to yours just a few years ago. Who knew there were so many choices in the world of RV trailers !

WRT your F150 . . . check the label on the door of your truck to know exactly what your payload capacity is. Many F150s are built with the "towing" package but very few are built with the "heavy payload" package.

Consider where the windows in the trailer are predominately located. Your campsite will always be to the right (curb) side. Some layouts with outside kitchens switch most of the windows to the left (street) side . . . which means that from inside, you will be looking at your neighbour's campsite rather than yours.

Rob

[D2Reid]

Be sure it has a comfortable chair that you like.

Dallas

[ALScott]

Be sure it has a comfortable chair that you like.

Dallas

Funny you say that. My wife and I have actually discussed that very thing and wondered if we were being too picky. We both love the theater seating in the Grand Designs. If I could find it in another brand it would certainly open up our options. Also GD seems to be the only company that pays attention to where the TV is located in relation to the seating. So many companies have it placed on the same wall as all of the seating. I know they swivel but not that much. We don't plan on just watching TV but it would be short sighted, I think, to just ignore that set up.

[RamGunner]

TV placement is difficult but important. In the original 385TH, grand Design used a fixed "dowel" to mount the TV. It allowed the TV to pivot, but it didn't pivot enough. When they updated it, they replaced the mount with a wall mount that really improved the TV setup - it allowed it to pivot so that it's easily visible from all of the seating. Grand Design generally does a better job at "the little things", details that others often put in as an afterthought - things like placing the TV, having the gasoline fill ports behind a locked door (as well as the filling station nozzle), the layout of cabinets, locations of lights, etc.

[Bamaman]

We've got the Reflection 323BHS bunk house fifth wheel. We love having the separate bedrooms. My wife and I watch different television channels, and we keep different hours. The separation is great for our use--and our grandchildren have a place to stay when they're with us.

I love the outdoor kitchen with sink, microwave, 2 burner stovetop and 4.5 cubic foot dorm size refrigerator. We keep all our drinks outside, and find it great to have when we're waiting for our kitchen refrigerator to cool down when we first get to our trailer. We also have the optional LP gas grill on a swing out bracket on the rear bumper--and we use it constantly. We seldom even cook inside--just using the inside microwave to heat up food.