Downsizing from Momentum to a Travel Trailer

[nomadlife]

With over 700 threads, I may be lazy but I could not find this topic; only upgrading from TT to the big rigs.

We have lived in our 395M for 2 years and have loved (almost) every minute of it. With big rigs are big problems, like where to park it. We have never owned any other RV’s so I am sourcing some pros/cons from the forum. I’m brand loyal to grand design so I’m really only considering 2020 Imagine or Reflection TT’s.

We will miss the patio, the built in generator, and the one control but we have seen plenty of highway. I would like to see more main streets and county roads while traveling between locations. It becomes a pain to navigate towns with this beast but maybe it’s a problem all trailers face. Thanks for your time

[FT4NOW]

I'm sure one of the cons will be food storage. I know we have a ton of food storage space and having come from a TT I know they have less available room. Also your trailer's cargo carrying capacity will most likely be lower than your 395.

On the positive note, finding parking space will be easier. I much wrather back up a TT, I can park my 399 anywhere it needs to go, but a TT is much easier. You will also gain truck payload capacity since you wont have the heavy pin weight on your truck, not to mention the free bed space.


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[nomadlife]

Yes I figure truck bed will contain the stuff in garage and good point, the refrigerator is less than half the size.

[bertschb]

We also decided to get a smaller rig. We are replacing our 43' Solitude with a 35' Solitude for the same reason. I considered TT's but a 30' Reflection TT is close to the same length behind the truck as a 35' 5th wheel. The 5th wheel has more storage space, an optional 18cf residential fridge, auto level, etc so that's what we went with rather than a TT.

[JCZhome]

We were full time for a couple of years and ocean to ocean a couple of times in a Momentum 376TH. We sold the Momentum and truck as a package deal, for our asking price on RV Trader (where I'd also sold my previous Arctic Fox. We closed escrow on a little winter home here in a Del Webb 55+ community in Sahuarita, Az.

We just bought (pick it up tomorrow) a 2017, 21'11" Winnebago Micro Minnie to keep traveling in the summer time. We wanted something that we could still get in to city, county, state and national parks with and on short notice. With the 42' Momentum never could find a space that size on short notice....we often were told "no, nothing that size but we have a space for a 25' or a 30'....".

This little travel trailer is double axles so our pay load is almost what the Momentum was. It has a slide out and a murphy bed that folds up and becomes a love seat. The dinette (up in the slide out) is a sofa and the table is portable and sits in front (or outside). About the size that our little Arctic Fox was so I think it will be fine for just summer travel.

I also bought an F-150 with the 3.5L Ecoboost and Max Tow Pkg. and put a camper shell on it. I bought an RV memory foam mattress on craigslist and used a carving knife to cut it around the wheel wells inside the truck bed. We're good to go for summer travel.

Looking forward to picking it up tomorrow. Already have a trip planned down to Rocky Point, Mexico (aka Puerto Penasco), Vegas and a couple of other places. We'll probably be all the way to the east coast by the end of summer.

[BreakfastinAmerica]

I can’t imagine going back to aTT now that I own a 5er. We chose the 27RL for the same reason of maneuvering and forest camping. You can still get light use reflections out there. I found 3 last year with less than 500 miles on them. Mine had never been slept in.

[Aridon]

Yeah, I'd stay with a smaller fiver if I was going to make that kind of switch. I wouldn't though, the difference for us is pretty minimal size wise and we live in our rig full time. Never had a problem finding a place and driving 45 ft or 35 ft isn't really that much of a difference. You give up a lot.

[nomadlife]

Appreciate all the thoughts here. I agree completely 43ft to 35ft makes little difference in tow. I actually have more of a height problem then anything. I have pulled power lines down in campgrounds, ripped tree branches on main roads, SO many 12’11” train track bridges across this country.

Length=Half of the campgrounds are completely off limits, most of our friends houses can’t support that length.

This said we have had a hell of a good time in this but the economics have me thinking less is more.

[MooManChu]

We upgraded from a 35' TT to a 320G and other than the height concerns @ 13.5ft you mention, it is overall shorter and easier to maneuver than our old bumper pull TT. You may want to look at shorter 5vers before jumping to a TT. I think you will miss the difference in handling, but just my opinion.

[nomadlife]

We upgraded from a 35' TT to a 320G and other than the height concerns @ 13.5ft you mention, it is overall shorter and easier to maneuver than our old bumper pull TT. You may want to look at shorter 5vers before jumping to a TT. I think you will miss the difference in handling, but just my opinion.

True, 30,000 miles towing this triple axle 5th it’s a dream. Any new GDRV 5th less than 12’?