Too big for my britches?

[Montana_3313]

I'm considering purchasing a 3400RL. As I continue to research and read I'm wondering if the 37' may be too big. We really like the floor plan but here that trailers over 35' can encounter a lot of length restrictions in campgrounds especially state and national parks.

I'd hate to make a trip west and be shut out from camping in many of the national parks that I've always dreamed of because my fiver was too big.

How would you rate the problem.

Please respond to the question:

I encounter length restrictions for 37' trailers...
- often
- occasionally
- seldom
- rarely

And I realize this is a subjective one but if you please.

I consider the problem of campground length restrictions for a 37' trailer to be...
- highly restrictive
- significant
- minor
- hardly worth considering

Really looking for input from you seasoned, well travelled campers. Especially those who have visited the many national parks of the west.
-

[jrgwdenner]

We took an 18,000 mile trip to Alaska from Alabama and back home and had one campground that we drove through and didn't stay because we thought it might be too tight. So, one campground in five months. The 3400 is a beautiful unit. Don't let it's size discourage you. You can work around the length by checking ahead to see if campgrounds can accomodate the size of your rig. My answers: rarely and hardly worth considering, because I'm glad we have a fiver that's 37 feet long. We love every inch of it.

[stiles watson]

Maybe instead of you being "too big for your britches," some places are to small to be considered by Montana owners. How's that for a snippit of pride of ownship?

[Montana Sky]

Hugh,
I have only had 2 campgrounds turn me down. One because of the length of my 3400RL and the other was they were not a large enough campground to handle slides on boths sides of the coach. I would not let the length of the 3400RL scare you away from purchasing it. I love mine, the floor plan is great. I spend alot of time out in the midwest and live in the Pacific Northwest and yes there are some state campgrounds that cannot handle the size of a 3400RL, come to think of it I have seen some that could not handle anything over 30'. The first thing I do when I call to reserve a campspot is let them know how long I am and how many slides I have, they can tell you right on the phone if they can handle your coach. From what I have found when it comes to campgrounds if they cannot handle a coach of my size I probably do not want to stay there anyways. Just my 2 cents worth...

Stiles,
I love the way you think... =)

[MIMF2]

Hugh,

Our Challenger 35RLQ is the same basic floor plan and dimensions as the Montana 3400RL. We are not as well seasoned (yet) as most others in this forum. So far it has fit where ever I have parked it and have not had any regrets.

[kdeiss]

I have found the slides to be the bigger issue rather than length

[CountryGuy]

Not sure about other states, but Michigan State Parks have a lot of their campground MAPS ONLINE!!

You can try starting here: http://www.michigan.gov/dnr

Reservations are made here: http://www.midnrreservations.com/

maps seem to start here: http://www.midnrreservations.com/get_map.cfm

If you try to make a reservation you can get a lot of information about the site, like its size, etc. Won't tell you if there are any trees on that site that make it hard for setting a Montana in there tho! (GULP)

State and National parks can be a problem, our use of them with Montana is mixed, usually reserved to campgrounds in Michigan that we are familiar with. Once we cross that state line we are more apt to stay in private parks. We park outside the Nationals and drive in for day use. So far, this has worked for us.

With automation, we find it harder to actually talk to a human being at National and State Parks, and if we do, some of them have no idea what it means to drag and park and live in one of these big boys! We prefer to call a private campground and talk to staff there if we are worried about getting Montana to fit. We repeatedly report to the person on the other end of the phone that this is a BIG unit, 3 slides, etc.

Do we regret owning our big unit, NOPE NOPE NOPE! As most everything with RVing, Camping and living in ANY kind of rig, there are trade offs, and you must make the decisions of which unit to purchase based on your comfort zones, priorities and what makes ya smile. Lets face it there are a LOT of big units out on the highways these days, campgrounds that don't recognize us as part of their client base/income are rather silly, aren't they??

[Kimmrg]

We have been full timing for over a year now and only saw one worrysome campground, but that was more for small tight roads than for spaces. We generally do look for CG that have "big Rig" sites listed in the campground listings, but then we like full hook ups too. I think you will love it!

[richfaa]

We have been camping for over 25 years and have been in hundreds of campgrounds. We are purchasing a 3400Rl one week from today. There ARE still some older campgrounds that were designed for the camper of 10 or 15 years ago and may be to small for a larger camper. These campgrounds are updating or going out of business.We encounter length restrictions rarely. I would consider length restriction for a 37 foot camper to be "not worth considering. We have all kinds of resources available to us to prevent length or width issues from occurring. If we thought that having a 3400RL would restrict were we wanted to go or were we wanted to stay we would not be ordering one..The length, slide width when extracted and weight were issues that we did MUCH home work on before purchasing ANY camper.

[Emmel]

Ok gang, check this out! The brocure for the 2004 Montana puts the model 3280 at 34ft 4ins. I actually measured ours cause it hangs over the pad. It came in a little over 37ft, not counting the ladder!Drop a weighted string down from the pin box and the rear bumper, what a suprise. I still tell the cgs it is 34ft and the negative feedback comes from the three slides, not the length. I don't know where Keystone measures the coaches from, try it to see what you get!

[CountryGuy]

Emmel,

Weren't there a few threads on length of our units, ohhhh, last summer??? Ours is supposed to be 34ft 11 inches?? per the brochure, and we got 36' 11" when we measured. Search the archives, I'll bet that long thread (or maybe two threads???) is out there waiting to be rediscovered!

[lawrenceb42106]

In 5 years we only found one campground that was too small. It was for the slide outs. We have been in @ every state in the US.

[Sunshine]

Emmel - our 3255 doesn't match the specs either - 34'6" in brochure - 36' taped.
Hugh - we agree with others regarding the length issue - you can always call ahead and check what the campground actually accomodates. Right after we got our Montana we took it up to a Federal campground near home - there were some spaces too small, but we found one that worked just fine. This was before we got a copy of the TL Directory. I checked the listing for that particular campground in TL, and going by that, we wouldn't have considered going there because the space sizes listed are too small. When I call for reservations, I always tell them the 5ver is 36' (the taped length) - better a space that is larger than too small.

[patodonn]

Ditto on telling the CGs ahead of time that you have a BIG rig, and SLIDES ON BOTH SIDES. Width seems to be more of an issue than length.
We've been FT for almost three full years, and we are beginning our fourth "circuit" of this Beautiful Nation. Very few problems with length...a few, but not many.

Check out the thread last summer/fall re length. Our 3655FL is roughly 38 ft to the back of the ladder. I also have no clue as to how the Model number relates to length. There may be no coorelation...or maybe it is something not even related to length, like..."this is our 35th iteration of a floor plan which fits on a standard frame." Then, we have the puzzle of the other two digets...."55" in our case, "00" in the 3400 case. "Hey, Keystone!! What's the story?"

[Kathi]

We have been all over the Western states and not once encountered a CG that turned us down. You just have to make sure that your slides can expand all the way without hitting anything. I always get out and have Paul pull in till the hookups are right in between the slides that come out. We have always fit. Even in the older CG's. On our very first outing we camped in Oceanside RV Park. That is a really old park that is right off the 101. We did encounter a problem with the fence. But that issue was readily taken care of by moving the picnic table. If a women can move that beast, anyone can. There are plenty of women on this site that can attest to that! Go forth young man!

[mobilrvn]

As you can tell by now, length is usually not the issue. Most Nat'l Parks, state CG limitations are generally in the 24' category. We travel in Mexico for about half the year and have had a couple of height problems. Our other problem is with the turning radius of our Montana; it cuts way inside the trucks radius causing us to offset about 6 feet to get the 5W tracks in the same place that the truck could go. Slowly the CG are waking up to the fact that there are a lot more larger rigs out there and if they want the business they will have to improve their sites.

[HamRad]

A couple of our favorite state and or national CGs are simply too small for our Montana. Width is usually not a factor. It is the length that causes a problem. Often there are a few spaces that would be long enough for the rig. But because there are so few of them it is really unlikely that we would be able to get one of the sites. Like Moblilrvn we also find that height is a problem.

Another problem is often the access roads. They can be very narrow and many have turns in them that can really test ones driving skills.

We have adjusted by trying to find a CG nearby and just doing day trips to our favorite places. We briefly discussed getting a smaller trailer..... but that didn't last long!

You adjust and move on. Works for us.

Happy camping.

HamRad

[ols1932]

We encountered one problem in a campground in Door County, Wisconsin where we couldn't fit our 35 ft rig. We called ahead and they said no problem. When we got there we found out that there was no way a rig that long could get into the spot. Too many trees. We tried and tried to no avail. The lot was long enough but way too narrow. The road we were backing in from was too narrow to allow the pickup to swing. Again, too many trees. Needless to say we got our money back, minus a $35 deposit. Never again will we go there. I don't remember the name of the campground, I was to distraught over not being able to spend the 4th of July week there.

Orv

[WildBigBill]

You would be suprised what spots you can get that Montana in! Then wonder when you try to get out!! Don't let the size stop you, it is well worth it.

[sreigle]

We have never had a problem visiting any area we want to. You are correct some state and federal parks and some (most) national parks will not be able to handle your rig. But some can. You also will find rv parks close outside most of those national parks and they can handle you just fine. The national park's inability to handle you creates business for them. Most states have places you can fit in their state and national parks but some do not.

In other words, there are a few campgrounds we cannot get into but there is always one not too far that can handle us. I figure this is a tradeoff with comfort and for us comfort wins every time since we live in this thing.

I would answer your questions in context for how we use our Montana -- rarely and hardly worth considering.

But keep in mind if your favorite places to visit are those with length restrictions then the context for you is totally different than for us.

Good luck. You are right to ask questions now, before writing the check.