Purchased truck - Now shopping for a Toy Hauler

[Wildhorse]

Well I'm committed now.... I bought a GMC Duramax 3500 4x4 (not dually) thinking that it wouldn't limit my choices terribly if we find a Toy Hauler that we like that happens to be just a little on the fat side. But with that said I have no idea what trailer to shop for.

My wife is all in on this with me and excited to start the adventure, but in order to use it for travel as well as camping in the desert to ride SxS's it needs to be pretty comfortable to keep her invested. We've hit a few lots and what works for her perceived needs seem to translate to trailers that are friggin huge and it has taken me back somewhat. One of them had a dishwasher in it, that's how big it was. My thoughts seem to focus on the garage. I'm thinking that anything under about 12 feet for a garage will have us restricted and could prove to be problematic should we upgrade SxS's in the future. I'm hoping for advice on all of this, but just trying to outline a few thoughts I have going in. I don't want to be, or need to be right with my assumptions and would prefer a short trailer for easy parking and storing, but I'd like huge living area at the same time. Somewhere there's got to be a sweet spot.

For those of you who pull those land yachts 40 plus feet, well what it is like? I'm talking about the overall experience from how they pull, turn, stop, etc... Also where do you park it/store it? If you go to campgrounds or do traveling vacations do you have trouble finding places that will let you in? How about your tow vehicles, do they survive the punishment? In my mind I'd like one of these giants (within the abilities of our truck) to please my wife. I just fear the sheer size of these trailers and dealing with it.

For those of you with smaller Toy Haulers what works for you? I looked at a Fuzion that is 36 feet long with an 11 foot garage that has my interest. 36 feet still seems long, but that seems to be when the garages jump above 10 feet. Anything smaller that would work? An example of where my head is currently I've found a meticulously kept used Rapter that is 35 feet long, but the garage is only 10 feet long. I don't think it'll work for us. Really, I need advice.....

 

[jajl22]

For me personally i never liked the toy haulers with the garage built in them, it always felt too limiting to me, but on the other hand i didn't have a wife to keep happy.

A 35' or 36' trailer in a 5th wheel set up should pull really nice, i personally would not want to pull much over about 26' bumper pull.

In retrospect if i had to buy again i think i would go around a 30'-32' 5th wheel trailer, still get the over head bedroom and all the storage but it also long enough to keep the toys to the back portion of the trailer (no garage) and with it being a 5th wheel at that length would pull sweet and be easy to swing around.

If your going to get a really long trailer your definitely going to want to map out your routes a bit and choose gas stations that you know you fit in for the early stages of the journey till you get more confident in it, they can be a pain in the butt some places.

 

[Wfs Chris]

We have an attitude eclpise 2014, my experiance is its hard to store cause overall length is about 37' as far as towing its a little different for me cause i have a 14" lift on my dually so its pretty white knuckle for me .the swing when it turns is very wide and extremely hard to get into the storage spot, I would deffenetly say plan your routes carefully and no what gas stations your comfortable getting in and out of over all im roughly 60' when im hooked up mine is a bumper pull too so its harder to get into and out of camping places especially at beach places,the garage has plenty of room but like i did i would add more tie down spots to the floor for easier tieing down of your toys,our trailer does have a slide on the driver side so its a little heavier too .

 

[fesco70]

Don't go to big - We had a 43' Voltage and towed with the same truck and even though it had enough power and handled the weight I was on edge every trip. No one else in the family would tow it so I was always the driver everywhere we went. We went to a motorhome now but if I went back to a 5th wheel it would be a tandem axle and no longer than 35'

 

[george.felix]

Justin Lambert has a decent 28' toy hauler bumper pull for sale. I have a 26' and it's no problem pulling or getting around. I don't have to plan my routes. I like having the bed open. Mine is old beater so looking for a new one might go 5th wheel for the lady but I'm ok w the little bumper pull.

 

[dude1782]

We're on our second toy hauler now. First was a 27' sandsport pulling with a raptor and the second is a 43' voltage pulling with a drw f350. The voltage is really nice but the sheer size makes it a PITA. When we go camping sometimes it is hard to find spots that fit. Navigating around parking lots, neighborhoods, and tight areas sucks with it. We were lucky to get a good spot at our storage that's on the end and we can pull it all the way through.

IMO for our family of 3 we really don't need one that big. However, finding one with enough space for our xp 4 1000 was difficult. I think you should go for the smallest one that has enough space and is comfortable enough for you. All that extra space is wasted money and more inconvenience when you're towing around.

Both times we purchased our trailers our friends told us to go for a used one but we didn't listen. The reasoning behind it is that a gently used one will have all the kinks worked out of it. We definitely payed the price because our voltage spent months at the shop getting things fixed from the refrigerator to 2 inoperable slides which have no manual way of operating.

 

[XPirate]

All good suggestions so far, one thing I'll add, if you want to go to any state parks or fed campgrounds you can't be longer than 34ft i believe, maybe 36... we had a 34ft crsg attitude, no garage, but had a living room slide... real big inside without the toys... my personal prefernce was big open trailer, the more walls the more cramped I felt... now we have a motorhome, but stayed at 34 ft so we can camp anywhere and tow more

 

[Wildhorse]

We almost bought a Fuzion 38 footer today, but we are going to drive to Fresno to check out the dealers up there this weekend. Anybody have experience with Keystone products?

 

[Scott Tenney]

I personally have a 2005 Keystone Raptor 3612DS. It has a lot of room and can sleep up to 8 or more people which is nice at times. the kids love the loft and my garage is 12' and has 2 slides. also have a 2015 Can-am Maverick that fits well inside. The new Raptors are way pricey in my opinion and I think they are coming in around the 80K mark for a new one.... the keystone Carbon model would be my choice if I was buying new. A lot of luxury for the money... and the size doesn't really bother me to much since I drive semis quite often. Just my $.02

 

[megadesertdiesel]

i have am 03 35' weekend warrior fifthwheel. i love the interior room. I can get my LT canam maverick and my teryx4 inside. I use mine for camping not Glamping, these new trailers sure are nice but why stay inside when camping? I get happy wife, happy life. But at some point you have to think with your man parts and tell the wife you are going out in the wilderness where its dirty.

Just find a good non garage model used unit in the 30-35' range and pull doubles if you expand your toys in the future. Buying used you will more than likely buy one that all of the new coach bugs have been worked out.. I hear soo many horeror stiries about new coach owners and their 7+ trips back to the dealeer to fix stuff. Buy used that has already been proven and fixed.


one big word of advice is upgrade to 16" light truck tires right away, anything less will have you replacing tires every 3 years.

 

[Wildhorse]

Well we did it so here's to throwing caution to the wind and pulling the trigger I guess. We bought a Raptor and last night I had some buyers remorse and had to get out of bed and watch infomercials for a couple of hours. I've never experienced this before and I've done a lot of stupid things over the years. It's the little things regarding this purchase that I'm thinking and worrying about. For instance my SxS has doors and will be a snug fit in the Toy Hauler without added grief of not being able to open them in the trailer. Now that I own this I can't see how I can physically get to all the wheels to tie it down or even get in and out of it to put it in and out of the trailer. I tie down over the wheels instead of compressing the suspension and whether or not the tie downs in the trailer will align for this is freaking me out now as well. Oh well, I guess I can always sit up front and watch TV instead if I can't figure it out. Anyway, lots of anxiety over likely ridicoulous stuff. I think in truth the purchase experience set me up for this anxiety.

The buying process feels pretty dirty if the truth be told and by the time I was finished I wasn't sure it was worth it. There was at least a dozen times we caught the sales staff at several locations lying to us which had us moving on to the next. At one place we were almost there when they tried to charge us $1200 for shop labor so that they could fix everything that they found wrong with it from the factory before delivering it to us. I asked him if I was understanding him correctly, as if I'm paying in advance of taking delivery to repair warranty items that would be free to me if they just handed the thing over to me. He told me that " Yes you could look at it that way." We were right there when he pulled that on us so we walked, or drove I should say. In the end this process sucked worse than buying a car because there were so many things where I didn't know what I didn't know and that's a weak position to buy from.

But with that behind us it's time to move on and make this positive. I think we're going over to the coast to stay in a civilized campground for a few days to find out what supplies we might need to add by living in it before heading out into the desert. Then off to Arizona for the use it as intended with some friends in about three weeks.

 

[///Airdam Clutches]

put Etrack in the floor the same width as your tires are from each other. i have Etrack in mine and i drive over the top of the Etrack and strap the wheels down. the same way a true car hauler does. man its a world of difference and almost any RV place or trailer place has Etrack. i have the straps that have the Etrack buckles at each end. so you snap one in right behind the tire and one right in front of the tire and rachet it down. it wont go anywhere. and its the best way to lock a machine to the trailer. i haul cross country 10 times a year and i have never had a problem doing it this way. in my opinion there are plenty of ways to do it, but this is the fastest and easiest and works like a champ.

i looked at the raptors recently. they are pricey but they seem to do very well. whatever i get WILL have a 2nd bathroom in the garage area. dunno if you sprung for that option or not but its one that i definitely will need.

 

[Wildhorse]

Thanks for the recommendation on the tie down system. As for the rear bath.... Yep.

 

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