A few questions - 260RD

[lsickler]

Ok, we finally got our 260RD, kind of a train wreck leading up to it as the day before we were supposed to close my dad had minor stroke and then COVID hit while we were in the hospital but our dealer was super cool, let us sit on the deal for like 3 months while everything got worked out and dad back to good heath. Anyway we did our maiden voyage and it went really well. Currently to haul the 5th wheel I am using my dad's F250 cab 1/2 with a 8 foot flatbed. I am planning on buying a GMC 2020/21 Super Cab with the 6' 6" box. My questions are as follows:

1) Boondocking, in national forest campgrounds is it ok to you a generator? I have a Honda 2000 which will run everything except air conditioning, I don't want to piss people off, is this considered poor manners or totally acceptable? If I am just out on a national forest outside of a campground then I would assume I can do whatever I want but not so sure in a campground.

2) Recommendations on a generator that will run AC? My wife as MS and its pretty important that she be able to rest in a cool place after a hike or whatever, I would assume a good 3000/4000W like the Honda EU3000i would run the AC but damn they think a lot of that at $2,329.00 on Amazon. Cabelas has a Champion as follows for $449.00. Is this a case where you get what you pay for?

3) Does anyone know the official height of a 260RD. In downtown Denver on I-25 there are a couple of bridges that on the outside edge are posted at 12' 6" which I am pretty sure that trailer is higher then. Dad and I were guessing hitched to the F250 we are running 13'ish but the flatbed is a bit high with our hitch, once I get my GMC I should pick back up a couple of inches as it will be a normal box.

4) General advise on using a truck with a 6' box? I love my dad's 8' flat bed in that I can turn that truck as hard as the wheel will go and I don't have any camper to cab clearance problems but I am running the hitch standard mode. One of the reasons we went with the 150 series was I am wanted to be able to have a shorter box so I do have the a wedge and will set it up for my new truck. I am just apprehensive about this as I don't want to have cab to camper clearance issues.

5) Any advise on getting/finding campgrounds? Optimal for us is a state or federal campground with electric. Everything else we can deal with, most of our use will be weekends getting to the mountains here in Colorado and staying out of the heat. Colorado state parks has a fantastic site but more or less you need to reserve 6 months in advance to get anything for weekend trips close to Denver. I did some poking around on recreation.gov and it looks like you can book campgrounds there but again time is your friend.

Thanks for all the help, we read more then we post here its been very helpful with our first 5th wheel.

[livinthelife]

Ok, we finally got our 260RD, kind of a train wreck leading up to it as the day before we were supposed to close my dad had minor stroke and then COVID hit while we were in the hospital but our dealer was super cool, let us sit on the deal for like 3 months while everything got worked out and dad back to good heath. Anyway we did our maiden voyage and it went really well. Currently to haul the 5th wheel I am using my dad's F250 cab 1/2 with a 8 foot flatbed. I am planning on buying a GMC 2020/21 Super Cab with the 6' 6" box. My questions are as follows:

1) Boondocking, in national forest campgrounds is it ok to you a generator? I have a Honda 2000 which will run everything except air conditioning, I don't want to piss people off, is this considered poor manners or totally acceptable? If I am just out on a national forest outside of a campground then I would assume I can do whatever I want but not so sure in a campground. Generally, in most boondocking situations there is a "quiet time", usually like 10 pm to 7 am. But the times can vary.

2) Recommendations on a generator that will run AC? My wife as MS and its pretty important that she be able to rest in a cool place after a hike or whatever, I would assume a good 3000/4000W like the Honda EU3000i would run the AC but damn they think a lot of that at $2,329.00 on Amazon. Cabelas has a Champion as follows for $449.00. Is this a case where you get what you pay for? We have Honda 2000 generators (2 of them). We put the SoftStart on both our ACs. With the SoftStart we can run one AC on one generator. Also with not much else drawing power. Generally, you would 2 for best options.

3) Does anyone know the official height of a 260RD. In downtown Denver on I-25 there are a couple of bridges that on the outside edge are posted at 12' 6" which I am pretty sure that trailer is higher then. Dad and I were guessing hitched to the F250 we are running 13'ish but the flatbed is a bit high with our hitch, once I get my GMC I should pick back up a couple of inches as it will be a normal box.

4) General advise on using a truck with a 6' box? I love my dad's 8' flat bed in that I can turn that truck as hard as the wheel will go and I don't have any camper to cab clearance problems but I am running the hitch standard mode. One of the reasons we went with the 150 series was I am wanted to be able to have a shorter box so I do have the a wedge and will set it up for my new truck. I am just apprehensive about this as I don't want to have cab to camper clearance issues.

5) Any advise on getting/finding campgrounds? Optimal for us is a state or federal campground with electric. Everything else we can deal with, most of our use will be weekends getting to the mountains here in Colorado and staying out of the heat. Colorado state parks has a fantastic site but more or less you need to reserve 6 months in advance to get anything for weekend trips close to Denver. I did some poking around on recreation.gov and it looks like you can book campgrounds there but again time is your friend. I use the recreation.gov site for bookings. Most US parks and state (as well as county) parks in our state don't take reservations on all available sites. If you're willing to take the chance and just drive in, you may be able to get a site.

Thanks for all the help, we read more then we post here its been very helpful with our first 5th wheel.

My answers in red.

[Grandesigner]

How do you like the 260rd? It is on our very short list now.

#3 may depend on model year but I'm seeing 12' with one AC, may be 13' with 2 ACs but not sure.

#1 we look for campsites with generators and park as far as we can from them. We didn't come to the woods to hear motors running and use the AC so we have solar. To each their own...

#4 IIRC, that pin box is designed for 5-1/2' boxes, so you should be good

[lsickler]

I like the 260RD, I think like a lot of people comment a really nice camper for a couple. 4 people it probably gets pretty cramped pretty quick but for the 2 of us with our dog its very nice.

[Grandesigner]

We are getting our new 260RD ready to go next month and decided the wine rack is not for us beer folk lol not really, we like hard liquor also. If we buy wine, it's by the box, lol
Anyway...
Have any others with a 260RD wine rack removed theirs and if so, what did you fill the void with?
We are thinking a paper towel holder, or a shelf of some use...

[dryfly]

I do not own one of these devices but I have read some successful uses of them to run an A/C on a 2KW inverter generator:

https://www.rvtravel.com/softstart946/