Rear living vs. Front living

[ajg617]

Seems like most of the GD 5th wheels are rear living types. That said, I always seemed to get drawn to front living, picturing the TV down and grand views through the front and side windows of the living area. That said, the more I thought about in in campgrounds past, there weren't many that offered more than a view of the neighbors parked across the access road. Of course the same was true out the back end. I had visions of marvelous sunrises or sunsets with a FL but the more I think about it, probably useful if you park it on your own scenic property and campgrounds with that kind of view are probably rare - I could be wrong. Interested in other's opinions.

[Ynot4me2]

What I have notice about them is none of them are small. All big rigs. They do offer a very large storage under the rear bedroom. I'd probably convert the curb side couch into a desk. I don't really see much use in 2 couch plus a theater lounge chair.

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[cfowler55]

When inside we’re mostly in the living area. I appreciate the extra head room in a conventional rear living. However , I also like the separation of living / kitchen of a front living or a raised rear living. And , as S&L said , front living tend to be huge.
Charlie

[Captcolour]

Yep. All depends where you happen to be parked. Had great views of the Rockies when sitting at the dinette last week. Not so much out the front. We opted for the FL for extra sleeping capacity when the daughter and grandkids come with us.

[Sandi]

We have had both and I’m keeping my 376TH front living room! It just seems to be more roomy. When we have friends over there is plenty of room for six of us comfortably with a coffee table for cocktails and snacks. Also with 2 queen size beds we sleep 3 big grandsons up there when they visit. I also like the separation of rooms. We live in ours about 7 months a year. Everyone has things that attract them to a certain layout so you have to figure out which one works for your lifestyle. Just my two cents worth! Happy hunting!!

[JohnnyBadger]

We went with a raised rear den, opposite a regular raised front bedroom. In our short experience, the better views are almost always in the rear. We also liked the separation it gives us from the kitchen/dining area. And the outside storage this layout provides is amazing. Finally, it also provides a more private sleeping area if we have guests join us.

But, to tell you the truth, I love the front living layout too. Except for the quality of the views sometimes (and maybe the outside storage volume), it has all the other “likes” noted above. I would say, “Go for it!”

[Second Chance]

Front living pros and cons (just one person's opinion):

1) Con - since 5th wheels are towed, the front nearly always points toward a road - usually with someone across the street. In six years of full-timing and 139 different places stayed, we've been one place where the view out the front would have been worth it (basically a pasture in east Tennessee with hookups and mountains all around). We have stayed a bunch of places where the nice view was out the back window and the big windows on the curb side of our Solitude 310GK.

2) Pro - again, since 5th wheels are towed, there is always a road of some sort in front of the site (except for the one instance I described above). A front-living setup gets the bedroom farther away from this road and potential motor/traffic noise.

3) Con - as we age, going up and down stairs often become "more noticeable." Up and down from the kitchen to the living area in a front living room - especially carrying food and/or drinks - would get old over time. Once we're done in the bedroom in the morning, we can come downstairs and stay except for the occasional bathroom trip... and we don't have to carry food or drinks up and down.

4) Pro - the large storage area that's typical underneath the bedroom in the rear living models.

5) Con - Laura tends to be a bit more claustrophobic than me on rainy or snowy days. The high ceilings and openness in the rear living area - especially the 310GK with the huge windows - helps mitigate this tendency.

I'm sure there are more, but I'm just getting to the bottom of my first cup of coffee..

Rob

[CWSWine]

We had one of the early Montanas that had a front living room. We found that more you load the pin weight percentage when down and fully loaded we were down to 17% pin weight on 40 foot RV. This was cause the front living room had very little storage and most the storage was over the wheels and behind the wheels (Rear Bedroom). This was great which put me good shape with the numbers on a 1 ton SRW truck but we found in the side wind the heavy back end would move and because of the light pin and all the weight in the back it would take control of truck and cause sway. We contact Keystone and was told that we needed 20% or more pin weight and try putting sand bags in the front pass thru. By now hopefully they got figured out but the first generations front living rooms were terrible unless you had a DRW truck.

[johndeerefarmer]

In every place that we camp, we back into the campsite so the front faces the road.

[JeffD68]

I will echo the thought of many others. You are much more likely to have great views from the rear and camp side windows. The view and (real or perceived) sense of privacy are top priorities to me. I do considerable research to secure these types of sites (see my signature picture of a site on the Klamath River this past June). I also appreciate the higher ceilings of a rear living coach. I always find the front living units very impressive when I first walk in, though.