So the time has come to stop envying all those people who tow their living quarters while chasing their dreams about the countryside, and join them. Congratulations!

If you are shopping for your first travel trailer or fifth wheel, get ready for a barrage of advice. Every dealer will have his or her own slant. All your friends will know exactly which rig you should buy and how it should be equipped, and they’ll all disagree.

Holidays would like to clear up all that confusion and make your choice simple. Unfortunately, we can’t, except to say (sales pitch alert!) that some kind of Holiday Rambler is positively your best choice. Beyond that, the decision is way too subjective, with way too many variables. But perhaps we can make a few points that will help you make a decision that works for you.

What’s your pleasure?

When you go shopping, you are going to be dazzled by shiny new coaches, sumptuous interiors, numerous techno-gadgets and novel floorplans. If you’re like me, you’ll fall in love with something the first day, even if it isn’t what you really need. (I used to have this problem with women as well as vehicles, so I speak from experience.) Therefore, it’s a good idea to reflect, in solitude, before you shop, as to why you are buying a towable & how you plan to use it.

For example, if you are planning to buy a towable and park it all summer at a campground an hour or two from your home for weekend and vacation use, you’ll probably look for certain qualities. Space may be more important than towing ease. You’ll probably want a travel trailer rather than a fifth wheel. Exterior storage may be more important than lots of drawer and closet space.

Or, if you’re retiring and planning to be traveling for months at a time, you’ll want plenty of closet, cabinet and drawer space. Also, towing ease will be of greater value, which means you’ll want to think about a fifth wheel.

In fact, that whole fifth-wheel-versus-travel-trailer issue deserves some thought. Because a fifth wheel hitch mounts in a pickup truck bed, just in front of the rear axle, the rig is more maneuverable and far less prone to sway than a travel trailer. The trailer and truck overlap, so the rig is several feet shorter, given the same trailer length, which can make lane changes easier. Also, hitching is quicker, easier, and puts less strain on marriages than with the weight-distributing hitch you’ll need for a travel trailer.

On the other hand, fifth wheels require pickup trucks, and you may prefer, or already own, a different kind of vehicle. There are plenty of vans and SUVs that make great, stable tow vehicles for medium to long travel trailers. (We’ll talk more about towing a little later.)

Choosing a floorplan is very subjective, but think about whether you like to entertain or keep to yourselves, what traffic patterns will be like if you have children, and whether you do most of your cooking inside or outdoors.

What’s it made of?

The three most common construction techniques are wood frame, laminations of skin, foam board and interior paneling, and aluminum framing. All Holiday Rambler travel trailers and fifth wheels use a patented Alumaframe® construction system, which the company says is lighter, stronger and more durable than other methods.

Holiday Rambler products also use ten-layer insulated roof, and five-layer sidewalls for exceptional insulation value. (You didn’t think you were going to get through this without a sell-job, did you?) Also, all the underbelly areas—at least between the frame rails and wall-to-wall on Presidential models—are completely enclosed and heated, so you can keep the holding tanks from freezing up in the winter.

A good insulation system is something you’ll treasure on hot days and cool nights, and it’s essential in the winter—whether you spend that season in the north or in the heat of snowbird country.

I could devote two or three more articles to construction specifics, but you can get all that information from your nearest Holiday Rambler dealer or by asking Holiday Rambler for a brochure. (You can order brochures online at www.holidayrambler.com) There’s a great plant tour at that website as well.

Matching towable to tow vehicle

There’s a basic rule here: Too much tow vehicle is way better than too little. Lots of people have discovered this the hard way, via blown water pumps, overheated engines, broken transmissions and hair-raising adventures with swaying towables.

That said, you might save yourself some money on a tow vehicle purchase—or find you can handle more towable—if you look closely at the numbers.

For example, many people use the towable manufacturer’s posted Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) to choose the tow vehicle they need. GVWR is the total weight of towable, fluids and contents the towable suspension is designed to handle. This seems to make sense, in that you’d want a tow vehicle that can pull the maximum loaded weight of the towable. However, this isn’t always so. It pays to also look at the unloaded weight of the towable as equipped, as some towables have far greater load capacity (the difference between unloaded weight and GVWR) than others.

If the unloaded weight is low enough, and the weight of full LP gas and water tanks, plus all the stuff you might take with you still leaves a fair margin under the GVWR, then you can get by with less towing capacity than the GVWR.

Duck! Here comes another sales pitch, this time from Holiday Rambler’s national sales manager for travel trailers and fifth wheels, John Cunningham: “One of the big advantages of Alumaframe construction is weight savings. A lighter trailer has greater load range and in some cases needs less tow vehicle than another trailer of the same length.”

As an example, Cunningham pointed out that an Alumascape 34-foot fifth wheel equipped with optional heavy-duty axles for a GVWR of 17,000 pounds weighs a little over 10,000 pounds, leaving well over 6,000 pounds for optional equipment, fluids and cargo, a total few RVers will reach.

“Some large fifth wheels require a special, commercial-size hauler vehicle, but all Holiday Rambler fifth wheels have standard GVWR of 15,000 pounds, within the range of properly equipped full-size pickup trucks,” Cunningham said.

Important details

Getting insurance and financing for your new towable isn’t difficult. You can shop rates and benefits the same as you would for a new car, and your dealer can offer help and advice.

Good advice for servicing, maintaining and cleaning your new rig are available in the owners’

manual and packet. Unlike a car, an RV contains many components that are warranted by their manufacturers, separately from the vehicle. Holiday Rambler supplies a convenient, sturdy file box containing all the manuals and warranty information for your new towable. Also see the November/December 2000 issue of Holidays for an article on cleaning your RV’s exterior.

Another thing to ask your dealer about is storage. You may not want to keep your rig on your own property when you’re not using it and some communities have zoning laws against doing so. However, secure storage facilities are available almost everywhere, and your dealer knows where they are.

A good dealer will check you out on all the functions of your new towable before you leave, including hitching up. The latter is especially important if you have a travel trailer. You’ll be using a weight-distributing hitch, one that uses spring bars to distribute the hitch weight evenly between the trailer axles and front and rear tow vehicle axles. (The rigs you see rolling down the highway with the hitch nearly dragging on the pavement and the front wheels of the tow vehicle almost off the ground are driven by guys who don’t know how to set up their hitches. It isn’t difficult, but it’s very important with regard to safety.)

How many new towables do you plan to buy in the next five years?

You’ll probably say, without hesitation, “Just one.” It’s not as though travel trailers and fifth wheels wear out fast. But too many first-time buyers make the mistake of not buying right, and wind up wanting to trade in a rig that’s a year or two old, because it doesn’t serve their purposes.

Here are some words to the wise:

1. Buy a larger towable than the minimum size you think you need. I promise that after a few trips, you’ll want to take along more clothes, cookware, gear, toys and guests than you thought you would.

2. For most of us, there’s a measure of conflict between price and quality in a major purchase. Go for quality. In the long run, it can be a lot less expensive. You’ll be happier with your purchase and less likely to want to trade up a year or two later.

So where do you go to find a new travel trailer or fifth wheel that has the right size, construction, equipment and floorplan, high quality, four-season livability, and solid resale value?
You’re not getting any more sales pitches from me. This is all the space they gave me in the magazine. But your local Holiday Rambler dealer will have a lot to say on those subjects, and some beautiful new towable to show you.

Dave Bessmer is a freelance writer living in East Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has spent 25 years in or around the RV business. He has authored several features for Holidays Magazine.