Motorhome Vs 5th Wheel Trailer

Since it's been a little over a year now in the 5th wheel full time, I think I am close enough to be educated in talking about the differences we have seen between having a motorhome and a 5th Wheel.  You might have other differences that you are welcome to share in the comments too.  So lets dive right in.

But first a little history on us...in case you didn't read it or forgot.  When Terry and I got into RVing, we started out with a Pop-up tent trailer (yes we did the tent thing to, but that is not an RV, now is it...or maybe it's a pooooor man's RV).  Anyway, the tent trailer was ok, but the only time you were warm in it was when the heater was running.  As soon as that heater stopped, it immediately got cold again.  The other issue, was there wasn't much room to move around.  We knew we wanted a motorhome, so the first thing we got was a Jeep Wrangler as a toad (Tow behind vehicle).  Once it was paid off, we were going to get a motorhome.  Just to make sure, we rented a motorhome (Class C) for a week and went to Lake City, Colorado to try it out.  It wasn't a long trip, but we knew we liked it.

When the time came to get our first motorhome, we looked around and ended up with a Fleetwood Southwind (about 5 years old).  This was a 34 foot gas motorhome that had only 20,000 miles on it when we got it.  The big drawback was it didn't have any slides, so it was also tight.  It did us good though with only two breakdowns.  After about 7 years, we decided we wanted to try out a diesel pusher.  So we found a nice 38 foot Coachmen Cross Country.  This had about 50,000 miles on it and it had 2 slides which gave it a lot of room.  The biggest drawback on that RV was it became a money pit.  It seemed that every time I started it, it would cost me $500 for something that broke.

So when it was time to retire, instead of getting another motorhome (definitely not keeping that money pit!),  we decided to get a 5th wheel instead.  Since we didn't know much about 5th wheels, and knew a lot about motorhomes, it was going to be a challenge to find something we liked within 1 year...but we did.  When we started looking, we noticed that most of the 5th Wheel RVs had similar floor plans.  We just needed to find one that had a floor plan that we liked with large tanks.  I don't know how we did it, but we stumbled on Grand Design for the manufacture.  I am glad we did.  I have talked to a lot of people since then and saw many facebook entries, and there is only a small number of people that dislike Grand Design compared to other companies.  And when we had issues, whether it was a fault of there's or ours, they took care of us.  I think all RVs will have issues.  It is what happens after the sale that makes the difference.

Ok, enough of that.  let's get in to the pros and cons of each.  I think I will start with Motorhomes.  Remember, this is just my opinion, you can have your own.

Pros of owning a Motorhome:

• The passengers can use the restroom without having to stop.
• If you get to your campsite and it's raining, you don't have to get out.  Just wait out the rain.
• The inside is quieter (at a campsite) than a 5th wheel.  (That could be that we don't have dual-pane windows in the 5th wheel but we did in the motorhomes.)
• You can have a small vehicle to drive when you get to your destination instead of a truck.  This makes for easier parking and maybe better gas mileage.
• You have a Large Propane tank.
• Might be easier to park.  Not for sure because we mostly used pull through camp sites.  If we had to back into a site, we would have to unhook the jeep first. But thinking about it, I think it was easier to back in too. 

Cons of owning a Motorhome:

• Surprisingly, we have more storage in the 5th wheel than the Motorhome (MH).  I am sure there are other Motorhomes that have large passthrough storage, but we didn't have those.
• The dash A/C doesn't work very well.  Most of the time, we had to run the generator and the roof A/C on warm/hot days when traveling.
• The windshield wipers don't work very well (at least when it was raining).
• Wind really affects the Motorhomes handling.  It was worse in the gas motorhome than in the diesel pusher.
• If you run low on propane, you have to take the RV to the propane store.  Easier said than done sometimes.
• You have to take the RV to the gas station to get filled up.  Sometimes that means a truck stop where you get to pay higher prices.
• If your RV breaks down, you lose your home until they get it fixed.
• Ever try to wash a MH windshield?  It's a chore, that's for sure.
• In the gas motor home, it was really noisy going up hills.  So much so, we had to speak really loud to hear each other.  In the pusher, it wasn't as bad, but still louder than the truck. 

Ok, now for the 5th wheel

Pros of owning a 5th Wheel:

• You have removable propane tanks, two of them.  So when one becomes empty, you can take it to the propane store to get filled, not the whole RV.
• You can just take the tow vehicle to the gas station for a fill up.  This allows you to get into smaller gas stations that are cheaper than truck stops.
• Lots of storage areas.
• More inside room...more spacious.
• If the truck breaks down, you don't loose your house.
• Wind doesn't affect the 5th wheel as much as it did in the motorhome.
• Way more comfortable driving the truck than the motorhome.  And way quieter.

Cons of owning a 5th Wheel:

• a 35 foot 5th wheel is not as maneuverable as a 35 foot motorhome.  I have more issues parking the 5th wheel than I ever did with the motorhome (either one of them).  Some parks give you a real challenge.
• You have to keep an eye on the trailer when traversing uneven terrain.  You have to make sure the RV doesn't hit the side of the truck bed. 
• Nosier when in a campground, again because of the single pane windows for one thing.  
• You feel the movement of others in the RV when they move around.
• You have to stop to use the restroom/make lunch...maybe reverse that. 

I don't know if this is a 5th wheel issue, or because we are in it all the time, but it seams that there is something to fix or do maint on alllll the time. Don't get me wrong, it's not like the trailer is falling apart or anything, but since it goes down the road (most are really bumpy) a lot, things shake, rattle and roll. We didn't noticed this as much in the motor homes, but they were only weekend adventure mobiles. 

That's all I have to say on this subject for now. Got your own opinion? Say it in the comments below.  Thanks for reading. 

We decided to get a new 35 foot Grand Design Solitude 310GK.