[bigbob]

1. Thats a lot of dog.
2. Be prepared to have to back the thing into poorly designed, unlevel, unlit campsites at night and go thru the ritual of set up, levelling etc.

I prefer a class C motorhome :-)

[yarddog]

I had a 32 foot Jayco for maybe ten years. I also had an F-250 with a 460 and a Borg Warner T-19 manual.

It handled that trailer really well but contrary to what some people would say, you definitely knew it was back there.

[alternatives?]

The advantage of a trailer is you can unhook and drive around. That is huge if you are staying in one place for any time. They have Pop ups that fold up with solid walls that look nice and are more secure and cooler/warmer. You would have better visibility out the back of the 4Runnrer than with a full trailer. Having an SUV allows you more storage space inside the vehicle than a pickup.

You can buy a class C cheaper than a class B. Gas mileage is poor for both.

[Viking2002]

Be careful with the roof/ceiling, make sure there aren't any soft spots or telltale water stains. If it's a 5th wheel with a roof A/C unit, hook up the power or start the generator and make sure that sucker blows cold. Make sure the septic is in good working order. Likewise the propane lines. We inherited a small 14' several years back and all of the above was A-OK including the brakes, but everything else inside was gutted or shot to hell. It sat for three years until we realized how much money we were putting into it just for an occasional weekend run up to the mountains, so we pawned it off on my wife's sister. Works for her, she parked it next to her single-wide and uses it for an office/craft shop/canning kitchen. RV's and boats are very similar in that regard. I 'inherited' a 16' walk-thru with a 50 HP outboard that had a nice, solid hull and was in cosmetically good condition, but all the internals were 4-F from bow to stern. I gave it away for a tax writeoff after I'd already sunk several hundred dollars into it and realized how much more work it would need. Caveat Emptor when it comes to someone else's used playtoys - take someone more experienced with you if you're unsure. The only saving grace of my lessons learned were that I was given mine free, so no harm, no foul. Life lesson, but if you're savvy, you can find a jewel in the rough out there. Sometimes, an owner is just getting a seldom-used toy out of their yard. Or, they're moving and either need the money or don't have the space/location for it. Oh, and haggle the price. I almost lucked into a nice bass boat last year and got the owner down to a sweet price, but negotiations fell through when he didn't have the title and wouldn't sign a bill of sale, leading me to believe it got towed off of someone else's land and was on a police hot sheet somewhere. Real shame, that puppy was loaded with electronics and storage and had a running inboard V6, too.

[Macoozie]

Grow a pair and do it in Van!

Wear purple robes, smoke ganja, and bring a few goats with ya.

Offer folks to have the goats eat the overgrowth
Natural, like nature dude!

On a serious note. Last thing in the world I would want to do is rv-ing.

[bort]

You may want to consider The Luna. Great for 2 people. Costs 10K. Has a great tailgate kitchen. Small and easy to tow.

[Gnome1949]

RV space rentals have really skyrocketed in recent years. You can easily spend a small fortune staying in an RV park in some locations. Some RV parks demand your RV be quite new or you cannot stay there.

From several years of long-distance RV-ing, I can tell you you have to be a handyman. Dragging a trailer many miles is hard on everything. It shakes a lot of things loose. Lots of things will break and need to be fixed constantly. Carry a lot of tools. You will need them. We were in a hailstorm in Wyoming that damaged several RV’s where we were staying.

Trailer tires rot before they are ever worn out from travel. A tire blow-out can tear out fenders, wiring and plumbing, costing you thousands.

If you extend an awning and drive off to go sightseeing, the awning can be completely torn off by unexpected winds or a storm in your absence.

There are two kinds of RV’s, those that leak and those that WILL leak. I have seen brand new RV’s leak like crazy in a good rain. Be ready for leak repair at any time. The new FlexSeal Paste, available in pails, is a wonder to stop leaks.

Many RV’s cannot be traversed inside without cranking out some or all of the slide-outs. This restricts your RV access in a brief stop at a rest area. Our Jayco can be entered and traversed front-to-back even with the large slide retracted.

Always take care when hooking up the sewer line. There must be enough slope for the sewage to run downhill to the sewer outlet. The trestles used to elevate sewer lines blow over in a good wind. I personally use sloped, 2x4’s, elevated on small concrete blocks to which the flexible sewer line is tied with heavy-duty plastic tie wraps.

Fresh water supply hoses must be wrapped with heat tape in cold weather or your fresh water supply hose will freeze. Trust me on this.

You must winterize an RV’s water and sewer systems for freezing weather. If not, the pvc supply and sewer pipes will freeze and break. It’s a nightmare to replace broken water lines enclosed in your RV.

I started by pulling a 32-foot Jayco bumper-pull trailer with a 1/2 ton pickup. NOT GOOD. I bought a 3/4 ton Dodge Ram pickup with a 6.7 Cummins turbo diesel. It will pull a big trailer up the Rockies while accelerating.

[Responsibility2nd]

A 4Runner with a 5,000 lb towing capacity doesn’t leave you much more than a pop-up or travel trailer no more than 20 feet or so.

I have a V6 Xterra with a 5K towing capacity. It pretty much handles my 19 foot Jayco. But barely.

DO NOT exceed a 4,000 lb trailer. After you load it with camping supplies - it will exceed 5,000 pounds. And while you could tow it with your 4Runner - you shouldn’t.

[7thOF7th]

Leisure Travel Vans type B+ Wonder with rear lounge is the model I recommend.

[DownInFlames]

But a used F250 superduty with a rebuilt engine, turbo, and oil cooler. Install the necessary 5th wheel and add ons. Find a used 5th wheel trailer around 25ft and go see the country. You can do it for about 20k..

Yellowstone limits you to 25ft so stay away from the class A. The benefit of a 5th wheel is stability. The 250 will give you diesel torque and Engine braking capability. All the rest is gravy.

[pax_et_bonum]

If you’re going to travel with four dogs be sure to get something with enough floor space to share with the dogs.

In order to move around in one of our rv’s when traveling with only two dogs I had to invent impromptu ballet moves.

It wasn’t pretty.

:-)

[AlaskaErik]

I do a fair amount of towing, so I have some experience. The first thing you should know is that max tow figures are pretty much useless, meaningless and irrelevant in the towing world. They are nothing more than a bragging rights number. Your real max tow number is the Gross Combined Weight Rating minus the weight of your fully loaded vehicle. The real limiting factor is your payload capacity. You'll run out of payload capacity long before you'll ever run out of max tow rating. Payload capacity can be found on the yellow sticker on the B pillar of your vehicle. Every vehicle has that yellow sticker and that weight is specific to that vehicle, so don't rely on generic payload capacity numbers you find on the internet.

The big issue with smaller vehicles, like the 4Runner, is their V-6 engine. When you're pulling at or near 5000 lbs, it's not going to be a comfortable drive. That engine will be straining any time you go up a hill or mountain. Even my Silverado 1500 with the 5.3L V-8 struggled pulling my 5000 lb trailer in the mountains, and it came with a factory tow package. My new Silverado 1500 with the 6.2L engine, 10 speed automatic and max tow package pulls that same trailer easily, even in the mountains. Pulling a trailer that's in the middle of your tow capacity is much more relaxing and easier on the nerves than when you're right up at the limit.

[Yosemitest]

Stay away from 'slide-outs' on an camper or motorhome.
They begin to leak fairly quickly, and they are hard to keep watertight.

It depends on how you are going to use your RV, as to which type will suite your needs the best.
Are you wanting to use it only on groomed camping areas, or are you wanting to go off-roading and camp on serious 4-wheel drive trails ?
Are you wanting to just use it for weekend excursions or maybe one or two week trips; or do you want to live in it for months on end ?

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Rent first.

Take them for at least a two week spin.

Try out at least three before deciding.

[Agatsu77]

We sold our starter trailer and got a 26 foot with 1 pull-out, about 6800 lbs dry. This one is 10 feet longer than our first trailer but we have taken it on short trips (3 hours each way) to try it out and it works well. We like that we can unhitch the truck and still get around. We are starting a 6 week trip around the country to visit relatives.

I have heard great things about fifth-wheels, but they are out of our price range.

[minnesota_bound]

He traveled all over the USA in his RV then upgraded to a bus.

Ernest Borgnine Gives Tour of His Bus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3QQpS2QzA0

[onona]

If you're gonna tow, get your transmission fluid changed.

If you're gonna go class B, good luck with room for the dogs.

Regarding class C's, driveability is the key. Under 30 feet, you'll be fighting that steering wheel constantly. AKA "White Knuckling"...

Buy the extended warranty.

[fireman15]

Our favorite trailer was a single axle 17 footer that weighed about 3000 pounds empty. We pulled it with our 93 Ford Aerostar minivan. I can remember driving in heavy but fast freeway traffic and it felt almost like there was nothing behind us. We got a tandem axle that weighed about a thousand pounds more and it felt like we were towing a lot more and putting much more of a strain on our tow vehicle. The floor plan wasn't as efficient so it really didn't feel any bigger.

I did like than the bathroom had a separate shower, where the shorty had the toilet actually in the shower. It wasn't really that bad, but it is just easier to take a shower without a toilet in the middle of your space.

[Honest Nigerian]

Head over to garagejournal.com
And use the search function.
A number of members at that forum have posted observations and comments.
If I remember, most of them say unless you are really into RV you would never be smart to buy one.
Consider renting (or borrowing)
Best wishes for your adventure!