I am new to this forum and relatively new to the RV world. In June, my wife and I decided to purchase our first RV-a bunkhouse travel trailer. We have 2 children ages 7 and 2. Since July we have spent 26 nights camping and are ready to upgrade to either fifth wheel, which will entail purchasing larger truck and fifth wheel or we are thinking about a preowned class a DP. I am familiar with the FT name, but wanted to get recommendations on class A pre owned FT models that work well for young family. I would like to stay about $125,000 or under. Our youngest goes to bed early and still takes a nap.
I would appreciate any advice and plan on visiting MOT and FT in the coming weeks as they are about 2 hours from where I live.
Welcome aboard. The one thing Foretravels don't do well is baby quarters. Others with more experience in this area should chime in and advise what they have done. If you camp outside most of the time. The coach layout won't matter much if you are quiet getting in/out of the coach at nite when the small one is sleeping (until he gets older, and then they never want to come back in). Good hunting. Your budget is high enough to purchase a $100 thousand coach and then spend the rest upgrading and doing deferred maintenance.
Welcome to ForeForums!
If you haven't already come across it in your research, We have an excellent resource of FT floorplans on this site Foretravel Specifications, Floor Plans, Photos & Brochures by Year (https://wiki.foreforums.com/doku.php?id=through_the_years:specs)
As you'll see, all FTs are class A's. As with most diesel pushers they aren't really configured with families in mind, but not all families are the same. You may find a coach that works or allows creative modifications for your particular crew.
I have seen a few Foretravels with two bunks. You may find one if you have time to wait for one to come available.
Mark
I think FOT has a coach with bunks in it, however I believe it a lot more than $125K. And believe its a 45 footer.
Just looked, its an IH-45 going for $700K, not in your price range or a lot of other folks.
The earliest FT I recall seeing with bunks was the first Trevor Brazile demo Nimbus. I think it's a 42' 2009.
Greetings and Welcome,
We full time and have for years. Your challenge will be all the fun you will have.
Manage your spaces and remember everyone has a basic packing list, more on that later. Any Foretravel is more reliable than most others, just make sure that you seek advice and have someone look with that knows FORETRAVEL you before you buy.
Plenty of room for your kids! Important to have a booth or 2 couches for sleeping.
For 18 years and now with Grandkids we have Adventures all over the US in fact 34 states. In order to do this 10-24 day trip everyone had a packing list, assigned space for "their" stuff.
Limited underware 8
Limited socks 12 pair
T shirts 7
Shorts 7
Long pants or sweats 3
Long shirt or sweatshirts 3
Hat 2, sunglasses
Jacket
2 towels, one of them a beach
NO ELECTRONICS OF ANY KIND
You get the picture, all I can say is ALL thank us for what other kids never experienced.
Good Luck!
thank you all for the advice so far. we are still trying to determine if class a is the route we want to take. I did see the IH-45 and loved it, but that us just as more that i can afford at this time, maybe one day as i am still young. i am a believer in quality and i to not think that the newer homes by mass manufacturers will hold up. I will contact MOT and FT to see if they know if any models I should be on the lookout for. Please keep the thought and opinions coming as I am curious as to how class a owners travel with younger children.
ostendorff,
I just noticed on RVT.com they have an 01 U320 w/2 sleeper couches. Sleeps 6, 1 slideout. It is in Spicewood, TX. Might be worth a look. Welcome to the forum, and happy hunting.
Larry
Personally I think towing is better with small children in the family. Kids sit safely buckled in to their positions and cannot get the urge to move around. Towables offer significantly more floor plan options including bunks for when the kids want their friends or cousins to come along. You'll save on a toad because you'll want a car at your destinations. You won't have an expesnisve complex chassis to maintain...trust me this is important. Young families typically go for weekend camping and not lengthy excursions friendlier to motorhomes.
All the above said....If you're a gear-head, go for the motorhome and throw caution to the wind.
You might also want to take a look at Class C motorhomes, if you haven't already. They tend to be built with families with small children in mind. One of the best is Lazy Daze (Motorhome Dealer | Low Profile Motorhome | RV Manufacturer | Quality Motorhome (http://www.lazydaze.com)). You can have a new one made for less than $100,000 or search for a used one for quite a bit less.
Can't believe I am saying this....
here are a few "vintage" FT's out there with twin beds in the rear, but not much choice for a family that really needs multiple sleeping options. FT's are the best choice in Class "A" if that is what you want, and as previously mentioned, $125K will buy a 2000 - 2001 single slide 36 - 40' U-3230 these days and leave $25K for "stuff" to get it perfect.
I think a class A FT with a nice small toad is a better alternative to a 5'ver and a big truck. You are driving a nice toad for a first or second car, not a large 1 ton dually pickup.
That being said, the options for traveling with Kids in a FT are not perfect. THese coaches seemed top be organized for one couple to enjoy with perhaps an occasional guest couple.
So to go the FT route, one could buy a 200 or 2001, and get a floor plan that could be modified to have a convertible dinette and convertible sofa. David Flanigan at FT would be the right person to discuss which floor plans would lend themselves to that modification. Mom and Dad in the back, bathroom in the middle, kids on convertible sleepers up front. These era coaches are getting to the point where they are not going down in value very fast......
Or, (GASP!!!!!) buy a used quality fiver that gets you the floor plan that works, and trade out when the kids get to the age where they don't want to vacation with Mom and Dad....happens sooner than I imagined, and get your FT later when it is mostly you and your wife.
I am looking forward to Grand kid travel, and will just figure out how to stack them in the front of the coach, or have them fold down the seats in the Element and sleep in there, as the seats form two nice long beds when folded down.
Towing and setting up a fiver a LOT more hassle than parking and setting up a FT. Disconnect the toad - maybe 30 seconds. Back or pull into spot, maybe sixty seconds. Park buss, and put out slide, hit HWH level - and the Winegaurd sat dish - that might go three minutes - hook up water and electric - couple of minutes more. Enjoy. Fivers still disconnecting from truck and leveling manually at this point.
If you are young you will be traveling and driving a quite a bit m ore than a retired couple who will tend to stay in one spot longer. Fiver's fine if you don't tear down and set up a lot, FT beats the heck out of a fiver if you move and stop in different places regularly.
YMMV
In any event, Kids memories of camping - fiver of Classss A will be priceless. Good for you!
Hello again;
Grumbine RV in Harrisburg, PA has what looks like a 2001 U320 42' for sale. The pictures don't tell much nor does the description but the price is 119,000.
Our RVs over the years have included: Sear's X-Cargo trailer with tents and stuff (kids were age 4-12), 17' AMF Skamper pop-up (kids were age 8-16), 31' Airstream trailer (kids were age 18-32 and on their own), 37' Fleetwood Discovery, 36' Foretravel U295. Of that list, the best unit for our young family was the Skamper. It had more sleeping space than any other RV we've owned. Each newer, nicer, bigger RV was more suited to fewer people. The Foretravel provides room for: "drinks for six, dinner for four, beds for two."
During a three week trip in the Skamper, we saw and lusted after many Airstream trailers. When I really started looking at them, I found that they were a high quality unit built for two people. When I commented to the salesman that none were built for families, his reply was, "When you get an Airstream, it's wrinkle city." That seems to be true for most of the higher quality RVs
We have grandchildren and hope to take them traveling with us. However, we expect it to be crowded in the Foretravel.
As much as we like the Foretravel, we would probably consider something different if we were going to do most of our traveling with more than two humans in the coach.
The coach Michelle mentions is a bunkhouse model that was leased to a cowby, Trever Basile, has a Horse motif paint job, now belongs to a MC Member in TN. REally impressive.
Gary B
We take the grands on the sleeper couch. If you had two then you would be fine. I think there is a 07 Phenix or two with bunks. Also the older 42 foot with the big closet can be turned into a bunk set up but you lose the closet. I would talk with Tyle Fore or even David Flanigan and see if they gave any ideas.
We faced the same decision as you when we were looking for our Foretravel. However, our boys were older than your children (14 and 10). We all had been camping in a KZ Sportsmen 2405 travel trailer for 6 years and had great times in it. That model is a rear queen slide with bunks in the front, plus a sleeper sofa and convertible dinette. At 25 ft long, it packed a lot into a small package. we like it so much that we kept it.
We started looking at fifths, longer trailers, etc and I just couldn't get good with the shabby quality vs. the cost. We bought our 2002 trailer used in 2005 for $7900, and I'm good with low quality at that price but not at the $30-$40k, which is what we were going to spend for a new towable. Plus, I'd have to keep driving a heavy duty pickup every day and I was ready for a cushier ride.
So, since I always wanted a motorhome, we started looking at coaches. Thought I wanted a bluebird. Got scared of the complexity. Found Foretravel, loved the package, but also realized they weren't family-friendly. We bought one anyway because I had this dream of taking the boys on great cross-country driving trips - as opposed to the "tow it to the state park" stuff we'd enjoyed for years. To us, it's been worth the cost.
In your position, I'd buy a towable and make your memories while they are little and then look at something bigger later. Owning these coaches is expensive, and they just aren't friendly for younger families. We put our boys on the sofa, and under the dinette on a pallet. But, we are usually traveling, not camping for days at a time.. And remember - we still have the bunk trailer for those "state park camping trips" with friends. Also, we've used a tent for the boys and when the weather is good they really like that.
Long post, but thought our experience might be useful to you...
I saw a guy pulling a small pop out sides trailer behind his motorhome for the kids. They traveled the country that way and took the Motorhomers leave the campground. It is doable but it seemed harder than what I do. We spent quite a bit of time talking about and showing him my Foretravel.
I had a customer long ago that did the same thing. After years of the now bigger kids trashing the trailer he left it one day and drove off....
Bob
Thank you for all of your input. We currently are in a 2013 36' keystone sprinter bik. this bunkhouse is a great model, however there is just no room in the master bedroom to move around and the shower is great for kids but not so much adults. I believe a fifth wheel would be a good fit and i have found one that i like. however, i would like to do cross country trips and i feel a motorhome would be better suited to trips of that sort. we tend to take week long trips and if we had a motorhome it would be easier to go out west from louisiana. that being said, i am even contemplating other lesser dp motorhomes with bunks, as i might wait to get into a ft once kids are older. i am only looking for something for about 5-7 years as i like to trade out with things.
It's always better to try out tag along vs. 5th wheels vs class A's with lesser used RV's of any type if you plan on replacing often. Less monetary impact if that is of any concern. This way you get to try out the style of each unit and determine which you like best. I knew I did not want to tow an RV so we looked for motorized from day one. We are just the two of us and our 1st try was a used 1996 Fleetwood Jamboree class C. Learned to work on RV repais with this unit and then moved on to a new Class B 2000 Winnebago Rialta. After that we needed a larger unit to go long distances and good quality. I had seen enough of Winnebago and Fleetwood quality. Did the research for about a year and ended up with Foretravel. Dollar for dollar these are the best motorhomes on the market today and since its origins. Anything before the year 2000 is mostly depreciated and can be ready to go for your budget figure. If you move into units with slides, you may be $20 to $40 thousand short.
We've now had our Foretravel since May 2003 and we are still in love with our unit's quality, durability and chassis/build performance. Basically you can't go wrong with a Foretravel should you decide a motorhome is the way for your family to go enjoy recreation.
In your situation, a really good compromise might be buuying Gary B's coach and towing a volkswagon or other camper conversion as a toad vehicle, unless you have misgivings about having kids in a different sleeping unit than yours.
Way under your budget, heck of a lot of quality and capability for the money,
I have driven pick ups over 200,000 miles, towing and not towing. Give me my FT any day, with family inside. Bathroom, kitchen, all the comforts of home at 75 MPH.
When our 3 kids were younger we took them with us and carried a tent. They thought it was great fun to be in their own special area to sleep in ( and play in ). They still think that we don't know about the sleepover games that went on and we tolerated it as long as they stayed in the tent and did not disrupt the rest of the campers.
Later we have traveled with our four grandkids ( all boys ), they loved it, put two on the couch, one on the floor and they fought over who got to sleep in the recliner.
Even earlier we made 3000 mile trips in a Chevvy PU with a camper top and a foam mattress.
Oh, and the dogs were always with us.
Gary B
How about a Foretravel towing a pick-up with a truck camper in the bed?
My Wife and I are in a similar situation.
We have a very nice 36' U320 that we picked up before our family grew by two babies in 10 months (!!!!!!!!).
The biggest challenge I see is not the sleeping/camping arrangements but going down the road. It is not recommended to let little ones travel facing sideways... We have managed to secure a rear facing seat on the couch. (Have not made a trip since the 2nd baby was born in December). And can probably find a way for two rear facing seats for the next two years. When the kids hit the booster seat stage is when the problems start.
With this is mind I have put the coach up for sale (on this board...). We will probably not buy another motor-home for a while with the little ones but if we do it would likely be a "Super B" on a crew cab F550 or similar.
Another alternative which I am kicking around is pulling out the passenger seat, coffee-table-thing, and recliner. Then mounting three automotive buckets (rear seats out of a Toyota Sienna specifically) on swivel bases. Gives us a coach that travels well with 4 forward facing seats and still seats 7 in the living room. This does not do anything about the sleeping situation but I believe when the kids are small they can sleep head to toe on the couch and when they outgrow that a tent will be loads of fun for them.
Cheers
Chris
Chris, don't know if you noticed but someone was wanting to know if the rig was for sale today? Needed a way to contact you I think. Saw it in the classified section.
Larry
I'll second the recommendation for LazyDaze motor homes. We've had two: A Rear Bath and a Mid Bath
If you and your bride can sleep over the cab, the sofas in the rear of a Mid-Bath make a super-king bed that can sleep 4 kids. Here's a link to floor plans:
Lazy Daze - Floor Plans (http://www.lazydaze.com/flrplans.htm)
Lazy Daze are 5 star rigs so look for a used one for best bang per dollar. Be sure to get the V10 engine or later.
Unfortunately, they don't make a diesel powered MH.
See the tours we made in our LazyDaze here: Kathleen & Paul Smith's RV Travelblog (http://www.LazyDazers.com)
best, paul
ostendorff, I know this is more than you said your budget was but there is now a U320 with bunk beds for sale at FOT.
Foretravel Texas (http://www.foretraveloftexas.com/view-inventory.php?id=566)
Mark
MAZ- thank you for the update. That is a good looking coach. More $ than I can spend but I like it from the pictures. Does the bathroom close off from the bunks- hard to tell from the pictures.
ostendorff... if you click on "view floorplan" in the link, you will see the dotted lines, which indicate pocket doors (we have 3 of them in our bath area). There are two on either side of the shower, which shows that the bunks can indeed be closed off from the master bedroom and master bath - and thus the kids in the bunks would use the forward toilet room. Seems very family friendly.
Just my two cents worth (and may certainly not be applicable in your situation).... Our coach was on the FOT consignment lot, and we walked by it many times thinking the listed/posted price was well beyond what we had budgeted to spend. Once inside "for a peek," it just felt right... and we knew it was "the one." And we told Tyle Fore that our offer probably wasn't anywhere close to what the owner would accept... but he encouraged us to at least give it a try. Surprisingly, their counter offer was manageable. And we found our "last coach" first! :))
There is a U320 with bunks at Luxury Coaches in Marion Ohio. They took it in on trade. The precious owner had a custom made prevot done. I did see it had a headlight conversion, other than that I know nothing more about the coach. Their number is 740 382-0051. David
Must have just gotten it. I don't see it on their website yet.