Advice on first 5th wheel purchase

[rcpetty]

First of all, thanks for whatever information you give, I have been reading for several months and appreciate the professionalism of this forum...

My wife and I will be retiring next year (not that long away now that I think about it!) in late fall or so...
We have been to a few "sales" at Arizona Cardinals Football Stadium. (We live in Phoenix, AZ)
We purchased a 2012 F-250 6.7 PowerStroke supercab... with the 6.5 ft. bed.
I have some experience with the RV community, so I know I want a 5th wheel with three slides.
My desire is to travel most of the summer (obviously to get out of the heat here in summertime!) to cooler climates... probably start the the mountain southwest.

My request would be for those of you who have Heartland (I am thinking Elkridge or Sundance)... or other units... for your advice.

I am thinking of trying to stay in as short a unit as possible... perhaps 28foot to 31foot? trying to stay in the "under 30K" price range... hopefully.
We are hoping for several years worth of travel, mainly summer, but will be taking several two week to two month trips during non-summer...

Thanks in advance for your help...

Bob Petty

 

[JohnDar]

Most of the Sundance's on the Heartland website are a bit larger than 31 feet, but not much. Don't know what the price range is, however, but if you search the Internet for different models that interest you, you'll probably find some dealers that actually quote a price. The other option is to visit RV shows and find Heartland dealers that are trying to move some of their unsold stock at "show prices." Good luck with your search.

http://www.heartlandrvs.com/index.php?p=35&c=midprofile&sc=SD&i=Sundance

 

[piet10]

We went through the same thought process you did. We also wanted the 30 foot range because we like to stay in state parks which sometimes have a length restriction. We settled on the Greystone 29MK because it fit the length requirement, and we love the mid kitchen floor plan. I have been very happy with the quality, and we had only three very minor warranty issues which Heartland took care of promptly. I pull it with a Ram 2500 Cummins, and it pulls like a dream. At times on the highway I forget it is behind me. We bought one model year behind (new 2011) and came in at just a tad over your budget.

Good Luck, Al

 

[floridarandy]

Bob -

Caveat - everyone in this forum loves what they have. There's no right or wrong rig...just what you love. Same for trucks by the way. So my comments are my own only and since your post sounds a lot like us I want to add my 2 cents.

Karen and I have been camping for 30+ years....tents in college...popup with the kids, and now that they're gone we wanted to camp more comfortably. We have always enjoyed camping in state parks and knew that length would be a factor. Although we live in Florida we love the mountains and didn't want length to be a factor for us there either. We wanted as much "home" per foot as possible.

Like you we started at the RV shows. A dizzying number of choices. After some research we were intrigued with the Sundance 2900MK. After a visit to a local dealer Karen knew immediately it met her needs (kitchen, storage, etc) Now, if you're like me you have discovered that a happy marriage is about figuring out what you want AFTER your wife knows what she wants. The 2900MK was OK with me. 3 slides...queen bed...room for flat screen TV's...you get the idea.

We didn't want to spend the dough for a new rig and were overjoyed to find a 2009 (this was 2010) Sundance 2900MK being sold by a happy owner on this site's "For Sale" section. They've become good friends and Rally buddies and actually delivered the Sundance to us here in Florida. NOTE: The 2900MK is made in Sundance and Greystone versions. The Greystone has more upscale paint/finishes but is essentialy the same floor plan and "guts".

Here are the pictures Eric and Dorothy sent us of the rig before we took delivery:

http://sundance.campnut.airpost.net/Pics/#

Like you we actually bought our truck first. We got a great deal in 2010 on a 2008 F250 King Ranch 4x2 with less than 20,000 miles. Although we though the F250 was overkill after we got our Sundance I soon began to research weights. Again this is my opinion as many here successfully tow much larger rigs than ours with an F250. I wanted to know that I was within ALL specs, regardless of what would work.

There's a great tool here posted by a Heartland user that helped me. Its a spreadsheet and its located here:

http://www.graystarcity.info/Truck%2...%29%20v1.0.xls

My numbers are here:

//heartlandowners.org/showthread.ph...d-Sundance-2900MK-Weights?highlight=DW_Gray's

My opinion was that our F250 was just barely "OK" in terms of rear axle and pin weights. Others may, and probably will chime in, but these are my feelings.

We've had the rig now for 2 years and love it. We've pulled a 1000 miles round trip and had NO difficulties. I'm a nut for preventive maintenance and would be happy to share what we've done. We've also added MANY improvements to the truck and camper...some safety and utility...some comfort and fun. Most of that stuff you can see on our blog:

5thwheelcamping.wordpress.com

Let me know if we can help. You'll love Heartland and 5th wheeling.

Randy and Karen
Sarasota, Florida

 

[Rrloren]

We also have the 2900MK because we wanted a shorter to pull trailer than our previous 34' very heavy travel trailer. This unit serves the purpose. It is quite a bit shorter since 4 feet is in the truck bed and it's a little lighter and pulls very easy behind our truck.
We did have to upgrade the swivel chairs to Laz-e-boys to suit us.

 

[rarnold]

Welcome to our forum, Bob. Glad to have you aboard. As you can see, we have an '11 Sundance 2900MK. My wife loves the kitchen set-up with the curved & spacious counter. I had to have the large rear window to stare out of. The size & weight is perfect. The rig tows like a dream and we have had zero issues with it over the last two summers. The Sundance/Greystone should fit your needs.

Good luck with your searching and enjoy the hunt.

Rod

 

[TravelTiger]

Welcome to the forum!

As ElkRidge owners, let me tell you we love our rig. But ours is probably too long and out of that price-range. Since we bought ours, HL has introduced ElkRidge express, with shorter units and lower prices.

We went to the RV show in September, and I must say I was very impressed with the latest Sundance 5vers.

I think you can't go wrong with any of them!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wdk450]

Bob:
When you get ready to "pull the trigger" get on this forum and ask/find a good PDI checklist. If you are financing see if you can roll in some upgrades like premium tires, suspension upgrades, pinbox upgrades into the purchase price. Feel free to ask for recommendations here, or search what has been previously posted.

Happy RVing !!!

 

[rcpetty]

Thank you all, seems like the 2900 MK may be the ticket. I look forward to someday traveling and meeting up with many of you. I am almost afraid to get in the "negotiating" phase, mainly because we have some time (15 months) before I turn 62. Seems like a good age to "pull the the trigger" for retirement. Right now health is good and looking forward to next step of life after retirement.
Next RV show here in Phoenix my wife and I will look for the 2900 MK.
pray that I don't buy too early!