25-footer vs 30/31 footer fultime on the road

[Journalist]

I've full-timed with my wife in a 1973 31' Sovereign and we now use our 1969 25' Tradewind for camping. So, I speak from experience on the sizes you are comparing. We would kill each other if we moved into the Tradewind full time. The extra length on the 30+ foot trailers is used almost entirely for extra floor space in comparison to a 25. The furniture is pretty much the same between them, only it's crammed into a smaller space in the smaller trailer. Not a big deal for a week, but it starts to close in on you when you're forced indoors due to bad weather etc.

[Wingeezer]

Our experience mirrors a number of others here. we have owned trailers in 20, 27, and now 31' overall length and each step up has made the experience more enjoyable for us. Granted there is a trade off in the size sites you can get into but in most of the type of parks we stop at, it hasn't been a major issue.

We do like stopping at State or Provincial parks now and then, and admit that we are sometimes limited now, but the added creature comforts i our case outweigh that.

We are not full timers, and not likely ever to be I'm afraid as my wife just wouldn't accept that lifestyle. But I believe that if we ever were to give it a try it wouldn't be i anything less than we have now, in fact would more likely be in a multislide motorhome or fifth wheel.

We have met folks full timing in some pretty small trailers though so I suppose it is a very personal decision.

Maybe best to give it a try with what you have and then decide?


Brian

[Garfield]

We traded in a 30 foot SOB for our 25 Safari and couldn't be happier. The 30 footer with dedicated bunks was nice when the kids came camping, but they're off doing their own things now so most of the time it's just my DW and I. We LOVE our 25 footer....though there's really no difference when towing, it's much easier to manouver campgrounds and fit the 25 footer into the medium sized provincial park sites we prefer.

That said, I wouldn't consider full timing in anything less than a 35 foot fiver! ;o)

[kingfisher24]

REDNAX has submitted a textbook on the proper techniques of driving...I am still trying to move all these points around in my mind to see how I do it...I suppose as a driver of these giant log trucks one has the experience that I don't and I respect that. Yet, I have always prided my self on being able to compently drive anything that I sat on or in and have been doing so all my 65 years, well from 12 or so on....and never had an accident or moving violation citation of any type....

So I find myself more after digestation

[kingfisher24]

My current TV has All wheel Drive that is alltime, fulltime and four wheel steering, so I am trying to put this in context with some of REDNAX comments such as .....

"Nothing is what should be happening with the trailer direction UNTIL the TV drive axle begins its turn. (And why best shock absorbers and scale-derived tire pressure numbers are also an ideal: transient response). The driver of the TV's distance-to-the-drive-axle is where everything occurs, in a manner of speaking. What happens at the steer axle is secondary to where the drive axle is located at any given moment. From driver seat to drive axle is the crucial location. The drivers concern is with where the drive axle is located . . if that is right then the trailer will be fine."

And I found my self particulary astute as I forged down the first part of the Coastal Highway...after reading here of its trecherousness...and to be concerned about it as I go down it...but it is just a road ; narrow, windy with steep grades ...but the greatest danger I will encounter on my trek down the 1 , as with any other road I travel...will be the traffic I encounter coming from the oppisite direction

and if My vehicle is in MY control, regardless if I am using right foot, right hand or what ever.....my greatest concern is the OTHER DRIVER

[dkottum]

A larger truck and trailer means not only less agility with the trailer hooked up, but also less when unhooked. Many full-timers spend considerable time at one place, then move on. Will the big diesel satisfy as a daily driver?

We have made many months long trips. No doubt more living space would be great, and there is no end to that reasoning, but it is maneuverability that makes travel (not on interstates, but the interesting out-of-the-way places) possible.

We have decided a bigger rig limits the reason we leave home, and have traveled lightly. The large expenditure to trade may also be used in other ways . . . a few days now and then at a nice resort to stretch out, a cruise, been to Europe lately?

It is unlikely a few more feet will greatly alter trailer life, one way or the other. They are all small. Adapting to what we have is the answer to successful travel life.

Doug

[kingfisher24]

DKTTOUM...you have aced'd... it....put the peg in the hole....said everything that needs to be said...the more we talk about it the more we come to the same conclusion...a few more feet would afford a little more comfort...but for the expenditure of 20 or 30 thousand to trade up and the same amount to trade Tow Vehicles and the loss of my Truck now, that I love so dearly....the 25ft airstream is just the ticket for our exploration of this great land......

the dw just doesn't know it yet

[dkottum]

Thanks Kingfisher . . . just restated what you have been saying all along. We'll be in the Southwest this winter, and traveling up the west coast towards spring. Hope to see that nice GMC/Airstream combo of yours along the way.

Doug

[craftsman]

25' is fine with us and have zero desire to go larger.I've known of just two people living in a 3000+ sg ft house and putting an addition on it. It's the American Way: if big is good, bigger must be better.

[the wb]

I put 25k miles in under a year on a 29ft Ambassador. It limited some of the places we stayed due to size. We did a lot of boondocking. I have since replaced it with 22 ft Safari and don't miss the extra length. I wouldn't worry about your tow rig either way.