If you’re thinking about living in an RV full-time, and you’ve already chosen not to live in a motorhome, your next decision is probably to decide between a travel trailer and a fifth wheel.
Most articles compare towing capacity, hitch types, storage compartments, and specifications. Those things matter, but they aren’t what you’ll think about after you’ve been living in your RV for six months.
What you’ll remember is whether climbing stairs became a nuisance. Whether you had enough room for the things that mattered. Whether the layout fit the way you lived. Whether you enjoyed sharing the space with your partner or family every day.
My wife and I chose a travel trailer for our first full-time RV. We later owned a motorhome and spent time in friends’ fifth wheels. Those experiences taught me that the best RV isn’t determined by its specifications. It’s determined by how well it fits your lifestyle.
That’s the comparison this article is about.
Quick Answer
There isn’t a single best choice between a travel trailer and a fifth wheel for full-time living.
If you expect to travel often and cover long distances, a fifth wheel may be the better choice because of its towing characteristics.
If stairs are likely to be a problem, a travel trailer may be the better choice because it offers one-level living.
For everyone else, either can work. The better choice is the one with the floor plan and storage setup that fits the way you plan to live.
Ask Yourself These Questions First
Before you compare floor plans, storage compartments, or towing specifications, remember that the RV you buy won’t necessarily be the RV you end up living in.
Many full-time RVers modify their floor plans to fit the way they live. Think about how you could adapt each layout rather than simply accepting the way it looks on the dealer’s lot.
1. Will You or Your Partner Have Difficulty With Stairs?
If either of you has mobility challenges now, or you expect that to change in the future, this question should be near the top of your list.
A travel trailer offers one-level living. A typical fifth wheel requires you to use stairs several times each day as you move between the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom.
2. How Do You Use Your Kitchen?
Do you usually cook together, or does one person do most of the cooking?
If you enjoy cooking together, a travel trailer’s open layout may suit you well.
If one person usually cooks while the other does something else, the separation between living areas in many fifth wheels may be an advantage.
3. Where Will You Store Your Stuff?
Think about what you’ll bring with you. Will you carry tools, hobby equipment, seasonal gear, or supplies for working on the road?
Then think about where each thing would fit in the two designs. A fifth wheel may give you basement storage, while a travel trailer leaves the truck bed available for storage, including the option of using a cap. You may also be able to adapt part of the RV itself, as we did when we converted our bunkhouse into an office and storage room.
Think about this for each thing you want to bring with you. There may be stuff you decide you don’t need anymore.
4. How Important Is Having Separate Living Spaces?
Will one of you work remotely?
Do you both enjoy having your own space during the day?
Could you convert a bunkhouse or spare bedroom into an office, hobby room, reading room, or storage area?
5. How Will You Use Your Truck?
Think about whether you need to use the truck bed while you’re towing. A travel trailer leaves the truck bed available, while a fifth-wheel hitch takes up much of that space.
Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll have a much better idea which type of RV fits the way you expect to live.
How the Floor Plan Affects Daily Life
One of the biggest differences between a travel trailer and a fifth wheel is how the floor plan affects the way you live in it every day.
Most travel trailers have a single-level floor. Once you’re inside, you can walk from one end of the RV to the other without climbing stairs.
All fifth wheels have a split-level layout. The living room, bathroom, bedrooms, and kitchen may all be on different levels, depending on the design.
When my wife and I bought our first RV, we chose a travel trailer because everything was on one level. Since I have multiple sclerosis, avoiding stairs inside the RV made daily life much easier.
When we visited friends in their fifth wheel, it confirmed just how often I would have to use those stairs. In their unit, it meant going down one set of steps and up another just to get from the living room to the bathroom.
If mobility isn’t a concern, the split-level design of a fifth wheel can become an advantage. The different levels create a natural separation between the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom.
That separation can help when people are doing different things. If one person is cooking, cleaning, working, or tackling another chore while the other is doing something else, neither has to feel like the other is watching them.
Separate living areas let each person do their own thing until it’s time to come together again.
In the single-level design of most travel trailers, separation must be achieved through doors.
Many travel trailers also have a more open layout. If you enjoy cooking together, or like spending time in the same room, that open design can be an advantage.
Our travel trailer had a second bedroom that we converted into an office and storage room. That gave me a dedicated workspace and gave each of us a place where we could do our own thing without disturbing the other.
That experience taught us that floor plans aren’t fixed. A room that starts out as a bunkhouse can become an office, a hobby room, a reading room, or extra storage. Think about how you’ll use the space instead of how the manufacturer intended it to be used.
When comparing a travel trailer and a fifth wheel, think about how you’ll spend an ordinary day. How will you move around the RV? How will you cook? Will one of you work remotely? Will you want time together, or will you appreciate having separate spaces for part of the day?
The best floor plan is the one that fits the way you already live.
Living Full-Time With Children
Although my wife and I lived in our travel trailer as a couple, the family we bought it from showed us how well the same trailer could work for full-time living with children.
They had adapted the trailer to fit the way their family lived.
They closed off the pass-through between the living area and the bedroom. That allowed the parents to keep the bedroom dark after the children had gone to bed while they stayed up in the front of the trailer. They mounted a whiteboard on one side of the divider and a bulletin board on the other for the children’s schoolwork and reminders.
The bunkhouse became much more than a place to sleep. Each child had their own bunk, and the family added climbing handholds to make getting into the bunks easier. They used the dinette that was part of the bunkhouse as a place where the children could eat, do homework, and spend time during the day. They added holders beside the dinette to keep each child’s homework and school supplies organized.
That family customized the trailer to meet their needs. We customized the same trailer differently by converting the bunkhouse into an office and storage room.
The lesson is the same in both cases.
The floor plan is only the starting point. Whether you choose a travel trailer or a fifth wheel, think about how you can adapt it to support the way your family actually lives.
Truck and Hitch Considerations
One of the practical differences between a travel trailer and a fifth wheel has nothing to do with the RV itself. It has to do with how you use your truck.
A travel trailer leaves the truck bed completely available. That gives you flexibility to carry larger items, install a truck cap, or use a tonneau cover for secure, weatherproof storage.
An uncle of mine chose a travel trailer partly for that reason. He wanted to keep a canopy on his pickup so he could carry more gear in a dry, secure space. That wouldn’t have been practical with a fifth-wheel hitch installed in the truck bed.
A fifth wheel, on the other hand, uses the truck bed for its hitch. While many hitches can be removed when you’re not towing, they still limit how you use the truck while the RV is connected.
Many experienced RVers also prefer the towing characteristics of a fifth wheel. Because the hitch sits over the truck’s rear axle, fifth wheels often feel more stable and are generally less affected by passing trucks and crosswinds.
I never had the opportunity to compare towing a travel trailer and a fifth wheel myself, so I can’t offer a personal opinion on that difference. If towing performance is important to you, it’s worth talking to people who have owned both.
If, like us, you expect to stay in one location for extended periods, the towing differences may not matter nearly as much as how the RV works once you’re parked. That’s why I believe it’s more important to choose the RV that fits the way you’ll live than the way it tows.
Maintenance and Repairs
When it comes to maintenance, I don’t think there’s a clear winner between a travel trailer and a fifth wheel.
Both have many of the same systems. You’ll still have a roof to inspect, appliances to maintain, plumbing to winterize, seals to check, and tires, brakes, and wheel bearings to service.
My experience has been that the biggest maintenance differences come when you compare towable RVs with motorhomes. A motorhome adds an engine, transmission, chassis, and other mechanical systems that simply don’t exist in a travel trailer or fifth wheel.
Between a travel trailer and a fifth wheel, I expect maintenance requirements to be similar. The condition of the RV, the quality of its construction, and how well it’s maintained will probably have a much bigger impact than which of these two types you choose.
For that reason, I wouldn’t base my decision on maintenance. I’d focus instead on the things that affect your daily life, such as the floor plan, storage, accessibility, and how you expect to use your RV. Those differences are likely to have a much greater impact on your satisfaction over the years.
What Surprised Us Most
What surprised us most was how much stuff we had to get rid of in order to live in our RV.
My sister and brother-in-law had moved into their RV a few years earlier and had put a number of things in storage. They stored the stuff for a couple of years and ended up getting rid of it anyway.
Because of this, we had already decided that we were going to downsize and not put anything in storage.
As we were downsizing, we had planned to put a number of things in the storage area we created by repurposing the bunkhouse. We brought about three times as much as that space could hold. We had to downsize even more.
My Recommendation
If you expect to travel a lot and cover long distances, I would choose a fifth wheel because of its towing characteristics.
If you have mobility issues and stairs are likely to be a problem, I would choose a travel trailer.
For anyone else, either type of RV can be the better choice. The decision comes down to which layout fits the way you want to live.
Long after you’ve forgotten the specifications, you’ll still be climbing the stairs, preparing meals, finding places to store your belongings, and sharing the space with the people who matter most. Those are the things that determine whether your RV feels like a home.
