When they ask for length

[old travelers]

When a campground asks for or designates a size limit, what info do you give them? Do you give them the stated size, ie, 29.5 or do you state the overall length bumper to ball. I know that sometimes the manufacturer sticker of say 29.5 is not necessarily the actual length.
I have always found this confusing.

[Sundancer330]

What they want is bumper to ball to make sure it fits on the campsite.

[oldmanAZ]

Welcome to the forum.

[max2bob]

I would definitely give them the exact length. I worked at a campground for years and when a customer understated their length they would not be able to fit in their site. typically the owner would read the number on their trailer and think that was the length. my personal 5th wheel says 28.5 but actually measures just over 32' , that is almost a 4' difference.

[Mustang65]

WELCOME TO JOF!!!

The members here are GREAT!!! There is a lot of GREAT information to be found here. I am sure that you will have information and pictures to share with us... so please do!!

Originally Posted by Sundancer330

What they want is bumper to ball to make sure it fits on the campsite.

x2

Don

My Registry

[shadester]

I measured mine. What is confusing is my registration indicates 44' but with measuring I figure 42'10". The problem I had is where I store the unit charges per foot. So when I asked the dealer about this they said when figured by square footage it would be 44' (with slides out). From what I was told they do this for states who charge taxes by square footage. So I had to explain to the storage yard folks I'm not not planning to put it in storage with the slides out.

[North of 49°]

The storage yard where we keep ours during the winter charges by the foot, so I give them the overall length. Most of the campsites we go go have the maximum length listed on their website, and usually it's "up to 40 ft.", so we'll fit in no problem, but we avoid the ones that say maximum 25'.

If you still have access to the manufacturer's brochure for your model year, it usually says in there. Ours says something like 26' 10", so I just tell people that it's 27', even though it's a 24FBS.

[bansai]

Kind of a grey area for us. We are just shy of 32 feet. For our storage lot, I told them we were 32 feet and we have a spot that is perfect. If I had told them 30 feet, we wouldn't fit.

However, we have a few camping spots we like, and fit in fine, that say they are limited to 30 foot campers. I've been known to make reservations for these and tell them I'm just under 30 foot. This is risky though unless you've pre-scouted. We've never had a camp host, or ranger measure our camper, but I imagine if we were sticking out in the road, there would be problems.

[norty1]

As stated, some cg's have records of the length/ width of each site. They will ask you how many slides and the length when making reservations.

My rig designation is 351, which has no relation to the length. When you get a new rig get a tape and measure how much length you will need to park in a site.

That will never change so give it when asked.

[oldmanAZ]

In short, you should give them the overall length you measured, not a number from your trailer's model designation from the manufacturer (ie 27RLS is the model of my 2015 Jay Flight).

As others have said, what they want is to make sure it fits on the campsite. Some folks have racks or storage containers added to the rear of their trailer. Include that in your measurement, too.

[Tex1961]

Oh Lord.. This one is going to be SO cheesy..

I have my wife make the reservations.. You know us guys... We always say its longer than it really is...

Ok... I can feel the pain now... I JUST couldn't help myself. I mean somebody HAD to say it right??? I know you we're thinking it....

[norty1]

There are ramifications to over stating the length as you know. You ask for a longer site by fudging on your rigs length and be told, " We don't have any that long left."
Then you are out of luck for overestimating.

[bansai]

Originally Posted by Tex1961

Oh Lord.. This one is going to be SO cheesy..

I have my wife make the reservations.. You know us guys... We always say its longer than it really is...

Ok... I can feel the pain now... I JUST couldn't help myself. I mean somebody HAD to say it right??? I know you we're thinking it....

I got the joke. I almost bit.

Problem is they always find out eventually.

[norty1]

Originally Posted by bansai

I got the joke. I almost bit.

Problem is they always find out eventually.

Agree, see the first sentence of post #12.

[Cdash]

We have a 29.5, Jayco says in literature that it's roughly 35' long.

Think of it like a truck, f-150., that doesn't mean it carries only 150 (or 1500) pounds or is 150" long. That number is essentially a model number and doesn't mean much.

When we go to a state park, we'll say or camper is 30' long. We find that state parks are pretty conservative in their limits/measurements.

National parks we report the actual 35' length, or maybe 33'. We've found that national parks are pretty tight usually and we worry about not being able to fit.

Private campgrounds, we'll tell them 40' since they usually try to pack you in like sardines.

Haven't had an issue yet in 11 years of camping!

[robkelly]

Like others, I always give the overall length. I did have an issue with a campground telling me we wouldn't fit in a specific site, but when I questioned them they said they automatically add 4' because most people only give the box length. Guess it depends on the Campground

[old travelers]

Thank you all for your answers. I appreciate the input!