Camper/travel trailer brands:

ATC and Featherlite will both make you what you want , the way you want it, no questions. Priced accordingly.

As they both have legitimate national racing teams as clients, their reputation for reliability is verified. Might be worth mentioning your intended use and potential "audience", as they may have some wiggle room for a true player such as yourself.

 

Grand design is the new company I was thinking of

 

They are relatively new....I think 2013 or 2014 was their first year of production. Here is a pic. of my Momentum triple axle Toy Hauler.....

 

Racing junk? Check there.

 

Trailers that mere mortals can afford are all of questionable quality. My Dutchman Voltage was wired by the Amish out in Indiana.....You know the Amish don't know sh*t about electricity, right? Wires just strung every which way! The plumbing was done by a blind man (or woman). They used an 8 ft piece of flex hose to connect the pump to the header. It resulted in a kink that obstructed the flow so there was no pressure. When I got to it so I could cut the hose down to the proper 3 feet, re-install the connectors and viola...it worked. Took all of 1 minute once I dug my way into the rats nest. Come-on man...1 minute...WTF!

 

LOL....they are all like that on the plumbing and wiring. On one of the RV forums I'm on, a guy posted up a question about how to get a schematic of the wiring for a trailer. Someone replies to his post with a picture of a huge plate of spaghetti. It was one of those moments when you are happy you don't have food or drink in your mouth when you see the reply.

 

To be fair to the Amish...the meth heads would have done the same thing.

If they didnt steal the wire to strip. You know to sell for meth.

 

Owned by Winnebago. So not that much of a truly new company. And all made in the RV Heartland of Indians.

 

best advice I can give you, get a toyhauler, or trailer with an aluminum roof. especially with you being in Florida. the rubber membranes are no better than regular shingles on a house, and last even less. 18 and older work n play's have the metal roofs. sundowner (horse trailer company known for longevity, and quality) makes toyhaulers now. atc, featherlite, a few other horse trailer companies are getting into toyhaulers now.

if the roof membrane needs replacement, you can figure as much or more, to replace it, than a house roof.

understand, they all leak, they all have their issues. pick the one you can deal with the best.

we bought a work n play last year, other than finding a storage space near home for it, we are enjoying it. Ski

 

I've had my ATC 20' toy hauler for over 4 years now. They've always been expensive, but last couple years the MSRP's have REALLY shot up.

If you can manage to find a used one the prices are much more palatable, but the market is still very hot right now. I could probably have cash buyers lined up if I wanted to sell it, and could very easily get what I paid for it 4 years ago, if not more.........and I got a pretty nice discount.

My 20' is perfect for the wife and I. Our kids are getting older and losing interest, but it had enough sleeping arrangements for all of us up until they got to be teenagers, then it started feeling cramped if we were stuck inside due to weather.

They make up to a 29' version of the bumper pull, and now have a full 5th-wheel line from 32'-40' if you really wanted to get silly with it.

 

They started out as a totally new company with I think three guys that left Keystone. Winnebago did buy them a few years back though, so that part of it is true. In my humble opinion, they are one of the better trailer manufacturers unless you get into the very high dollar Toy Haulers.

 

Id look for a used Work and Play, you have/had a neighbor selling one recently (Travis).

 

This is what we're looking to upgrade to. We're actually looking at a smaller version with 2 axles, though. Love the garage being separated from the living area unlike most other toyhauler floorplans.

How are you liking it? Any issues? I'm waiting for the market to 'cool off' and will probably make the upgrade next year.

To the OP: I've had a Forest River Stealth SK2112 since May 2012. Gets used very regularly and frequently has a cover when not in use. We had a few really annoying little things to fix when we first got it. The worst was a cross-threaded pipe that went into the freshwater tank, so there was a constant slow leak. It was covered under warranty and took the dealer a few attempts to get it right. Other than that, it has been solid. Had the water pump go out after ~ 5 years - easy fix that I did on my own. Propane regulator went out recently - easy fix that I did on my own. All 3 of the roof vents eventually cracked due to weathering - another easy fix that took me 5 minutes. Battery eventually went out - no explanation required and was a 1-minute swap. Everything has always worked as intended, and I've not had to deal with a major component failure, yet (e.g. refrigerator, water heater, etc.). It'll be 9 years old with year-round use this May, and I still have people ask me if it's new when they walk inside. Even the outside looks pretty damned good, but a lot of the white weather stripping has since yellowed. They started doing black stripping the year after I bought mine, and it ages much better. I don't know if I have just been lucky, but based on this ownership experience (really my first and only trailer), I wouldn't hesitate to go with a Forest River product again.

 

I've not really had any issues with it other than the auto reset breaker for the hydraulic pump circuit started tripping when running in the slides or using the 6 point levelling system. Grand Design installed the 50A breaker in them when built, then realized that many times that circuit will be pulling upper 60s to maybe 70 amps when the pump is working. They and Lippert (the manufacturer of the system) agreed that the breaker needed to be an 80A version, so when I contacted them about issues with mine, they did the usual verification of the VIN, got my name and address and mailed me a new one. I installed it and actually upgraded the cable size to reflect the higher current breaker capacity. Other than that, I've had zero issues other than a couple small things like some trim edging coming loose. Sometimes they aren't so good with the brad nailer, but again...that's an easy 5 minute fix.

And as far as going with the tandem axle vs. the triples.....I would personally not do it. The tandem axle Toy Haulers just don't have enough cargo carrying capacity for toys, etc. My Triple axle has right at 4500-4600 lbs of payload available when new. And realistically....at least for me, the difference between 38/39 feet (double axle) and the 42-44' triples just aren't that big. The one thing that will may affect your decision though, the big triple axle trailers are all GVWR at 20,000 lbs, so without a doubt the tow vehicle really need to be a Dually truck and not a SRW truck.

 

Good info! Glad to hear your experience has been pretty good overall.

Tow vehicle would be a 2017 2500HD 6.6l, SRW. I think I'd rather compromise on the fifth wheel versus upgrading to a dually. But, definitely food for thought when we go to make the purchase. Thanks!

 

We have a 2020 Momentum 21G bumper pull. We've used it probably close to 30 times and it's been an awesome rig. Had a couple warranty things taken care of by the dealer over the past year, but it's been stout overall. Only thing we're wishing now is maybe to have gone a little bit bigger since we just had a little one.

 

I don't know much about Chevy/GMC products....so is the 6.6 a gas or is it the Duramax diesel?

 

It's the diesel. The gas motor in 2017 was 6.0. The gas and diesel are 6.6 this year, so I can see how that might be confusing these days, haha.

Wife and I are looking at this one: https://www.lazydays.com/rvs/tucson...grand-design-momentum-g-class-21061988?ldcv=2

 

I was afraid you were going to say that.....it could be a real problem for you. 3/4T DIESEL trucks and 5th wheel camping type trailers are not a good match, and I'll try and explain why. First of all, I am a firm believer in staying within all the towing and load capacities for a truck/tow vehicle. That includes GVWR, FAWR, RAWR, GCVWR, PAYLOAD, and the Tire load capacity. All of the 3/4 Ton trucks....Ford Chevy, GMC Ram have very low payload numbers because of the diesel engine. The very FIRST thing I would look at is the sticker on the driver side door post of the truck and find out the Cargo Carrying Capacity for your truck. It is very likely that the number is going to be in the low 2000 lb range, depending on how the truck is equipped, bed configuration, 4x4, etc. I had a 2011 F250 diesel with a payload capacity of 2148 lbs. at one time. It had great towing power and torque, but the payload number IS the limiting factor when towing a 5ver camping type trailer.

So, with a 5th Wheel Camping trailer, the pin weight is going to be at a minimum of 20% of the trailer's weight....and many times it will be higher than that...22%, 23%...and sometimes up to almost 25% of the trailer weight. So for example, the Momentum 353G that you linked to, that trailer has an advertised EMPTY pin weight of 2450 lbs....and that is when the trailer is totally empty and as built....before propane in the tanks and a battery or batteries installed at the dealer. Realistically, you are looking at closer to another 100+ lbs on the pin. When that trailer is loaded up to the GVWR of the trailer (16,800 lbs) and you multiply that weight times the 20% number, you now will have a pin weight of 3360 lb being put on the bed of your truck. If you use the more likely factor of 22% of the trailer weight GVWR number of 16,800 lb, you now have a pin weight of almost 3700 lbs. The point I'm making here is that most 3/4 ton trucks just don't have the payload capacity for a 5th wheel camping trailer of that size. Many people will make the mistake of thinking....well, the towing capacity of my truck says it will tow up to let's say 17,000 lbs with a 5th wheel hitch. The problem with only thinking "towing capacity" is the fact that on a 5th wheel camping trailer, you will ALWAYS run out of payload capacity LONG BEFORE you reach the towing capacity of the truck.....and the reason is the pin weight of the trailer itself. Even if you only loaded that trailer (the G.D. 353G) up very lightly and it only weighs let's say 14,000 lbs, that will still put a pin weight on your truck of approx. 2800 lbs....so again, you need to check the payload sticker on the driver side door post of YOUR truck to see what kind of payload number you have BEFORE you seriously consider ANY fifth wheel camping trailer. Unfortunately, I did not learn that lesson before I bought my truck, and when it came time to start looking at 5th wheel camping trailers, I was screwed big time.....with the payload numbers. So I can safely say....I've been there and done that. I now have a Ford Dually with a payload capacity of 5270 lbs which is sufficient for the trailer that I have....even if the trailer is loaded all the way up to the 20,000 lb capacity of the trailer.

Holler at me if you have any questions about what I posted and I will try and help/explain it further. Sorry for the bad news, but I just don't want anyone to make the same mistake that I did, and unfortunately...a lot of people do....then the only option is to downsize the trailer they just bought or upgrade the truck that they had not planned on doing.

 

Yup. All of that.

The newest ATC 5th wheels are attracting a lot of new customers, and not enough dealers to be honest with their customers that their tow vehicles are woefully underequipped.