Prospective buyer - traveling with six children

[Kinsa]

My husband and I will be traveling full-time with our six boys, ages 16 to 6, starting next spring. (Yes, they're all ours, and yes, we know what causes it!) DH just retired this summer from 25 years in the military, and we really want to spend some time together as a family before our nest starts to empty.

We have looked around at several different RV's, but we have a hard time finding anything that will sleep all of us comfortably. The best we can come up with is a bunkhouse which sleeps four in the back, plus the master bed. That leaves two children on a fold-out soda or dinette. I really would rather not set up and tear down a sofa/dinette every single day for a year or more.

That got us looking at toy haulers, which led us to the Cyclone 4100 King. All I can say is, "WOW!" We got to see one in person yesterday afternoon at a local dealer. With the queen bunks in the garage, the loft beds, and the master bed, there is dedicated sleeping space for each of us. The large sofa is roomy enough for many of us to sit, and the double refrigerator would be great to have.

I do have some concerns, however. I am worried about heating/cooling in the garage. From what I understand, heating the back isn't too much of an issue. Cooling, on the other hand, seems to be a problem. The dealer suggested adding another cooling unit in the garage where the ceiling vent is. If we do that, would that drain too much of the electrical current? If I recall correctly, there is a unit in the main cabin and a unit in the master bedroom already. Adding a third might be too much of a drain on the electricity, wouldn't it?

Another concern is about durability of the Cyclone. I trolled around this forum for a while before I officially joined. I did read several threads about quality and workmanship. How well do the Cyclones hold up when you are full-timing? How about full-timing with six boys?

Another question, albeit a silly one: Would people snicker at us for using a toy hauler when we don't have any toys??? Perhaps instead of TOY hauler, we could call it our BOY hauler.

And lastly, ANY - and I do mean ANY - other tips you could give us for traveling with eight people would be GREATLY appreciated. I have learned a lot from internet research, but doing in real life is a whole other issue.

Thanks for any tips and/or advice!

 

[jimtoo]

Hi Kinsa,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and hopefully to the family. We have a great bunch of people here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.

Sounds like you have found the right unit for your family,,, a "Boy Hauler". I would suggest the 3rd a/c for the boy hauler area. It would not be to often you would need all 3 running at the same time. You could have the main running and the boy hauler area at the same time. The front bedroom should stay pretty good with just the two I think. Just plan your travels where you will be up North in the summer and down South in the winter.

We have a lot of folks with Cyclones that will be jumping in for more help also.

I assume you will home school,,,, can't imagine anything much better than studying about places and visiting and seeing the place for real.

If you think of something extra you would like,,, it is possible that the factory could help out there also. There are a few options that dealers do not always know about if you order one.

Enjoy the forum.

Jim M

 

[Kinsa]

Thanks, Jim! (Love the picture in your siggy, btw!)

Yes, I already homeschool the boys. We have always only homeschooled them. Makes life more interesting.

Y'know, there's one thing about the King that I didn't particularly like, and that is the closet in the main bedroom. I find the bucket seat (is that what it's called?)to be a phenomenal waste of precious closet space. Do you think Heartland would do a custom order where the front closet could be like the one in the 4014 model?

I'm fairly new to the RV lifestyle. We had a 2000 Dutchmen Classic bunkhouse travel trailer that we recently sold, but we didn't do any long-term RVing in it, just weekends out, that sort of thing. But for a full-timer, I would guess closet space would be a premium attribute!

 

[davebennington]

Kinsa,

I have questions. What are you going to pull the Cyclone with? That raises the next question what ever it is/going to be will it seat 8 people. I guess you could use 2 vehicles. LOL just thought of that option.

dave

 

[Sandie]

Wholly Molly, this venture is going to be quite an adventure. Good luck and safe travels to you.

 

[TXBobcat]

Wow.. That will be quite a challange, but if you contact Heartland and see if they can make some adjustments to the configuration of a trailer that you can live with.

Now... I do know that some Mfgrs will make modifications for special reasons. I have a friend that is 6' 8" and weighs quite a bit. He needed a trailer with headroom in the bedroom and more rom in the toilet room. I do not know if Heartland will make custom RV's. I really hope they do.

Be sure you find or buy the trailer before you get the Tow Vehicle.

Something else you should keep in mind. When you go to campgrounds their charges usually include 2 adults and 2 children. Others will be extra in most cases.

Seeing how you are Texans you might also look into the Escapees RV Club in Livingston TX, a club for people who fulltime. Try these links:

Escapees Forum Escapees Facebook You might find someone that has a large family the fulltime also.. They are a good resource at least.


Where in Texas are you living now. We visit our family in McKinney TX over the holidays for Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Years.

BC

 

[Kinsa]

We already have the tow vehicle. It's a Ford F-350 dually diesel which seats six. Not enough for all of us, sooooo....

Our plan is to also take our Ford E-350 (15 passenger van) and tow our enclosed utility trailer behind it which we will use for extra storage space - something I'm sure we'll need.

As for the campgrounds charging extra for all of us, that's something we've already encountered numerous times before. We're used to paying extra just about anywhere we go. (Restaurants automatically charge us the gratuity.)

I've heard of Escapees, but never known anyone in real life to be a member. I'd be interested to hear more about it.

We live in San Antonio, where it is merely 100 degrees today.

 

[TXTiger]

I have a 2012 Cyclone 4014. It has a double bed up front, a loft that can sleep two kids, and two double beds in the garage. I have a second A/C in the upfront bedroom. I haven't used the heater yet but have used both A/C units. Others have posted about problems with the ducting into the garage. I have noticed that the cool air doesn't get back to the garage area but haven't checked my ducting yet. I have used a fan in the door between the living area and the garage to pull cool air into the garage and this seemed to work for now. I also have the patio option which on a cool night could benefit the temp in the garage if left open.

 

[BarneyFife]

Always good to hear from fellow homeschoolers. Seems homeschooling and RV'ing fit together so well. We meet lots of homeschooling families at campgrounds.

I am one of those who is totally dissatisfied with our Cyclone and Heartland. But in all fairness, you'll hear from many more here who are quite pleased with them. Putting in just my two cents here, here's my suggestions for full-timing with a family.

1. Replace the TowMax tires before you go anywhere. In my opinion, they are not only junk but as many are failing out there, its a wonder somebody hasn't been hurt. They've torn up quite a few campers out there, including ours. The fine folks at Heartland think they're the greatest tires on the planet but if you spend a few minutes browsing the forums here, you'll find many, many others feel quite differently than the service techs at Heartland.

2. Like our 370C, the 4100 has three 6,000 lb. axles. There is another thread on the main Heartland forum page about extremely poor brakes on these larger units. After two months of ownership, our braking system would not stop the camper within 100' at 15 mph. After three trips to our dealer and them trying everything they could think of, Dexter replaced our 6,000 lb. braking system with the 7,000 lb. braking system. Problem solved. Appears in that thread that many others are having to do the same thing.

3. Get all the AC's you can. Living room is first priority obviously. Bedroom is second priority. Garage would be third. We've done the fan in the door trick and it worked very well; even on a 90 degree night.

4. Do a very, very thorough inspection before delivery of your camper. Camp several times before you head out to full-time. Our winterization hose was installed incorrectly from the factory and couldn't be pulled out to suck up the RV antifreeze.. Our black tank flush wasn't secured behind the panel so the first time we used it, it flooded the pass-through storage compartment. Neither one of these issues was discovered until we used them on camping trips.

Like I said, many, many people here will tell you some wonderful experiences they've had owning their Cyclones. So don't let ours rain on your parade. Just be prepared, do a thorough inspection at delivery, and carry a good quality set of tools.

 

[AJJONES]

As far as the durability goes you have nothing to worry about. Cyclone is by far the BEST BUILT toy hauler in the industry!! At Heartland we have companywide quality and control facility that continuously checks the units before they leave Heartland. The Cyclone continuously has the best scores for quality and control nearly every week and leads all of Heartland in Quality and control (which says alot because Heartland builds everything to the upmost quality). As far as not having toy's that is not unusual, Cyclone (especially the 4100) is the ULTIMATE bunkhouse and nearly 25% of our customers do not use our units to haul toys. The Cyclone does have ducted heat and A/C in the garage / bunk area. However in very hot conditions the rear garage will be the first place to heat up. That is why we have just released the all new 3rd A/C option. The third A/C is to much for the electrical system while using other items so when the 3rd A/C is kicked on it turns off the microwave to make up for the additional power. Some other benefits that you may not be aware of to using a toy hauler as opposed to a "traditional bunk house" are tank sizes that are nearly 2x the size of traditional models. It also has a built in generator so you no longer have to stay at camp grounds. Whether you want to camp at the beach or a Wal-Mart parking lot it really doesn't matter when you have the ability to be self-sustained. You can also use the ramp door as a rear patio for a very nice outside area. The Cyclone is not only a good idea i feel that it is the best unit for your situation.

 

[AJJONES]

The closet area looks much smaller how ever with the duel closet rods in the small closet, and the single in the large closet (which can hold a stack washer/dryer) you actually have the same amount of hanging space as our old closet configuration that used a ton of bedroom living space. The seat also opens up and is compleate storage underneath. If you ever needed more hanging space Obeco http://www.organizedobie.com/categories/275/Insta-Hanger makes a really cool hidden closet rod that could easily be added and nearly double the hanging space of the traditional closet area.

Thanks, Jim! (Love the picture in your siggy, btw!)

Yes, I already homeschool the boys. We have always only homeschooled them. Makes life more interesting.

Y'know, there's one thing about the King that I didn't particularly like, and that is the closet in the main bedroom. I find the bucket seat (is that what it's called?)to be a phenomenal waste of precious closet space. Do you think Heartland would do a custom order where the front closet could be like the one in the 4014 model?

I'm fairly new to the RV lifestyle. We had a 2000 Dutchmen Classic bunkhouse travel trailer that we recently sold, but we didn't do any long-term RVing in it, just weekends out, that sort of thing. But for a full-timer, I would guess closet space would be a premium attribute!

 

[Tool958]

1. Replace the TowMax tires before you go anywhere. In my opinion, they are not only junk but as many are failing out there, its a wonder somebody hasn't been hurt. They've torn up quite a few campers out there, including ours. The fine folks at Heartland think they're the greatest tires on the planet but if you spend a few minutes browsing the forums here, you'll find many, many others feel quite differently than the service techs at Heartland.

Have to agree with you wholeheartedly with you on the Towmax tires. We just got back from a 4500 mile trip out west. Had a blowout on the inside of one of the tires on ours out in the middle of nowhere, on I-25 on the way to Loveland, Co. We got lucky and it went down when we pulled in to fuel up. I had put TST tire monitors on before we left. It went off while I was fueling up. I had read many stories about them. I made sure I stayed at 65 mph or less, kept the tires at the prescribed pressure and didn't overload them. They had less than 5000 miles on them. We called the company about them. They sent us to a tire company to have them looked at and the depth gauged. They told us bluntly that all they could do was send us another tire. Yeah right. Wait for however many days it took to get there. We decided then and there to get rid of the China bombs and put tires on we could rely on. We got real lucky that it didn't tear the whole side out of the camper. It's a shame that a company that builds such a nice coach has to put that kind of tires on. We started our trip at Camping World in Greenwood, In. They had a half dozen campers sitting to be fixed that literally, the whole sides were torn up where a tire had blown out. It wasn't Heartland products, but they all had one thing in common. They all had the China bombs.

 

[Kinsa]

Thanks for the tips about the tires. Come to think of it, we had a blowout on our Dutchmen travel trailer, once upon a time, and it tore up the underside of the camper. I attribute that incident to the tires being old, but to have that happen on a new camper would be a huge irritation. I will definitely mention upgrading the tires to my DH. Any particular brand/type to look at?

And Don/Sheila, I just wanted to say that I read your signature line, and I'm so sorry for your loss. My husband served at Balad in 2009 while the boys and I stayed put in North Dakota. That was the longest winter of my life. I know I'm one of the lucky ones to have my husband returned to me. I pray peace for your family.

 

[Kinsa]

AJJONES, thank you for the reassurance about the quality of the Cyclone. I really admit that I am completely sold on the Cyclone. Now if I could just do something about that price tag... y'all need to make it friendlier to large families on a budget...

As for the closet, you can smooth talk all you want, but I saw that closet. There's just no way hanging clothes for 8 people could fit in that closet! But I admire your salesmanship. All things said, the closet wouldn't be a deal-breaker for me.

Thanks for the link for the closet gadget. I will definitely look into it.

 

[BarneyFife]

At Heartland we have companywide quality and control facility that continuously checks the units before they leave Heartland. The Cyclone continuously has the best scores for quality and control nearly every week and leads all of Heartland in Quality and control (which says alot because Heartland builds everything to the upmost quality).

That is good information to know. Maybe he was out sick the day ours rolled through the factory.

 

[Tool958]

As far as the tires, there are several good tires out there. We went with Cooper Roadmaster tires. Several have said they had good luck with Goodyear 614's. As i said before, I can't understand why you should have to upgrade to begin with. Even if Heartland added the cost for the better tires to begin with, it would be well worth it to not be stranded like we were in the middle of nowhere. We were very lucky it wasn't a lot worse.

 

[BarneyFife]

As i said before, I can't understand why you should have to upgrade to begin with. Even if Heartland added the cost for the better tires to begin with, it would be well worth it to not be stranded like we were in the middle of nowhere. We were very lucky it wasn't a lot worse.

Amen.

 

[bighorn3370]

I am just thinking out loud. Could you build a closet in the garage? I also think others have used space bags. Ernie

 

[BarneyFife]

One more point to consider before considering full-timing in a new Cyclone. I'm somewhat surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet; especially considering those who have responded.

Page 62 of the Heartland Towable Toy Haulers Owner's Manual

"Your vehicle was designed primarily for recreational use and short-term occupancy and has not been designed for full-time living. If you expect to occupy the vehicle for an extended period, despite our efforts, be prepared to deal with condensation and the humid conditions that may be encountered. The relatively small volume and tight compact construction of a recreational vehicle means that the normal living activities of even a few occupants will lead to rapid moisture saturation of the air contained in the trailer and the appearance of visible moisture, especially in cold weather. This is also not covered under warranty."

Then at the bottom of that same page in bold type.

NOTE

TOUR TRAILER IS NOT DESIGNED TO BE USED AS PERMANENT HOUSING. USE OF THIS PRODUCT FOR LONG TERM OR PERMANENT OCCUPANCY WILL LEAD TO PREMATURE DETERIORATION OF STRUCTURE, INTERIOR FINISHES, FABRICS, CARPETING, AND DRAPES. DAMAGE OR DETERIORATION DUE TO LONG-TERM OCCUPANCY WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED NORMAL, AND WILL UNDER TERMS OF THE WARRANTY CONSTITUTE MISUSE, ABUSE, OR NEGLECT, AND WILL THEREFORE REDUCE YOUR WARRANTY PROTECTION.

There's going to be eight of you living in a Cyclone? That's seems like far more than a "few occupants" for "short term occupancy". Just something to consider before spending so much money. Let's face it, who reads the owner's manual before they purchase the product?