Season Openers aren't just for baseball

[WhittleBurner]

Not much beats a new camping season after a long cold winter. We woke up the 303 and took it to the local park. Everything is still working good as new.
No surprises is always a good start. We're looking forward to putting it through a busy year.
Besides there isn't much that is better than sitting next to a warm campfire on a crisp morning drinking your coffee

[2hams]

Glad you are out enjoying your rig. We spent 9 nights in ours close to home, but it doesn't really count, since we were just escaping the polyurethane fumes from the new kitchen floor. It was a great escape from construction, even if we did drive the 20 minutes home every day. We will spend another 3 nights next week. Our first trip will probably be camping with our dealer for one of their monthly campouts.

[Jim & Deb]

WhittleBurner,
Sounds great! We are about to flip the switch on a new 337RLS and hope for the same type of experiences! We will be newbies at this type of lifestyle and are very nervous/excited at the same time. I'm looking at the same tow vehicle (only standard box not long box). Based on your experience with the 303 how do you think it will handle the 337? What type of fuel mileage are you getting towing/not towing? Hearing stories like yours helps us to know we are making the right decision!

[WhittleBurner]

Hi Jim & Deb , you'll enjoy the lifestyle it really is fun if you like to travel. We enjoy it and have met many great people along the way. So go ahead and flip that switch!!
Just curious, why the short bed? Parking is a bit of a PIA and we tend to park at the back of the lot (can use the exercise) but after going from a short bed to the long bed, long as we are towing I don't want to go back. When I first said I wanted a long bed Gary thought I was nuts, but in the end it is only about a foot longer than our old Ford short bed. I think the 337 should be good with the truck. Not towing we got just shy of 20mpg going down to FL this winter (we had it a week).
We now have about 5000 miles on the truck. Towing mileage remains to be seen. We took the trailer about 50 miles and about a third of it was city driving and we got 9.7 mpg.

[Jim & Deb]

Hi WhittleBurner,
Thanks for the reply! I can park a standard bed (6'6") truck in my garage. Why do you like the long box more than the shorter box? I haven't got the truck yet though.

[WhittleBurner]

I like the extra room for things like our generator, maybe a bit of firewood and other misc items that we want to take that we don't want in the basement . The ability to back up without having to engage a slider and not hitting the cab, there is a ton of space between the trailer and cab. ( once a year I go without Gary it makes it easier on me, I'm short and that bed is not!) Also Gary added that the longer wheel base adds a little more stability for towing.

[dihtn1]

I like the extra room for things like our generator, maybe a bit of firewood and other misc items that we want to take that we don't want in the basement . The ability to back up without having to engage a slider and not hitting the cab, there is a ton of space between the trailer and cab. ( once a year I go without Gary it makes it easier on me, I'm short and that bed is not!) Also Gary added that the longer wheel base adds a little more stability for towing.

Just curious, with the corners cut out on the front cap of the 337, would you really need to engage the slider? Our Coachman has a similar front cap and we don't need to engage the slider.

Thanks.

[Scott and Jan]

We also like the long bed. 1. I don't have to buy a more expensive slider hitch for a "rare occasion" of actually having to use it, and 2. We travel with teens, so we carry two bikes in front of hitch in bed (plus two on back of rv), plus a fire pit and plenty of firewood in the bed also. We also carry four kayaks on top of cab that overhang the back by about a foot and a half. Plenty of clearance for tight turns.
And these trucks are so big, a foot and a half off the length doesn't make much difference( unlees your parking in a garage).

[WhittleBurner]

With our short bed Ford we had no slider and never really felt that we did need one. But the GM short is several inches shorter than the Ford and not ever driving the GM short before with a 5er , I think a slider might be handy once in a great while.
But I'm only 1yr in driving and backing a 5er and that's just my opinion. I'm sure others will have differing thoughts.

[WhittleBurner]

We also like the long bed. 1. I don't have to buy a more expensive slider hitch for a "rare occasion" of actually having to use it, and 2. We travel with teens, so we carry two bikes in front of hitch in bed (plus two on back of rv), plus a fire pit and plenty of firewood in the bed also.

We were talking about putting our bikes up there the other day. Do they ever get in the way with turning?