advice sought, Class A motorhome vs. Fifth Wheel Options

[Walt H]

Please don't take any offense, but you said that your son will be a young adult when you are ready to start fulltiming. Is there a possibility that he might be at a point where a group home would be a better fit for helping him improve skill sets and move towards independence? It is so hard to predict at 13 what any child will be like at 18, that you would probably be better off waiting until you see how his development progresses before committing to one type of rig.

Barb

No offense taken, Barb. We are certainly hopeful that he will be able to be independent or mostly independent by the time he turns 18. At the same time, we are trying to prepare for as many contingencies as we can, including the consideration of a group home. (Then the question also becomes one of how our fulltiming might affect his eligibility for such a setting.) At this point, our thinking is that if we buy a rig with his needs in mind and it turns out he won't need to travel with us, we will be able to utilize the space in some other way, especially if we find something with a second bedroom setup. We could turn it into office space or something similar.

Our son is in eighth grade now, and I suspect at this point that we will have a pretty good sense of what will be possible for him in a couple of years, once he starts high school, but you are right. It is hard to tell. For instance, he has a very developed sense of humor and understands puns and sarcasm/satire pretty well, but he has a very limited concept of time or money. Given that, maybe he's cut out for a career in Congress.

[Stanley P. Mille...]

On HDTs in RV use the hitch is commonly placed 3-4' behind axle centerline. And often as much as 5' or more. You can do this on an HDT without any issue. You can not do it on an MDT or LDT.

I wouldn't say you couldn't put the hitch back very far on an MDT (IH, Pete, FL) but will admit you can go much further back on an HDT than you can on an MDT. The real question is can you go back as far as you feel is practical. I can't recall how far back the hitch was on a couple MDTs I've seen but it was more than five feet, both were long trucks, one had a car hauler ahead of the hitch and the other was 3/4 box, 1/4 flatbed work truck.

On a pickup type truck, regardless of the weight class I'd be very cautious about going back from the axle and get a manufacturer's opinion on safety before I did it.

For shorter MDTs (175-200 inch wheelbase) part of the issue of distance will be based on your frame rail length behind the axle center, you need the rails to extend am inch or two past the hitch mount so that will be your limit there. The other consideration is how much weight you'll be taking off the front wheels, given a 15 foot wheelbase and a 3,000 pound pin weight you'd be taking 1,000 pounds off the front axle at 5 feet, not enough to be of any real concern. If you had a 6,000 pound pin weight which would take 2,000 pounds off the front axle I'd have to think about it.

For lighter MDTs like the UD I'd have to do some serious thinking on how much weight I'd feel safe taking off the front end.

[Stanley P. Mille...]

That upcoming decision is going to be tough. I tend to lean towards finding a group home and getting him into it and comfortable before it is a forced situation due to your health. That point varies a lot for different folks and there is no way anyone else can do more than make suggestions.

The one thing that I would urge you to do is think about his domicile, if you move to SD for the low prices or TX for the low hassle and Escapees benefits that is good for you. The thing to consider though is what does that do for the boy, do they have programs that are as good or better than a higher tax state. It may well work for you to move somewhere inexpensive for a while and then move to a state where your son will see the best situation long enough before the change has to be made so that he is fully eligible for the programs he needs. State shopping early on will sure be less stressful than doing it under time pressure later.

We looked into this for my mom's sister who has been in a home for many years now when mom decided to change states of domicile and found a whole can of worms. It turned out to be better to leave her as a resident where she was than to try moving her, financial, legal and most important her happiness all dictated her staying where she was.