You asked for it….HERE IT IS! Finally, a tour of our DRV Mobile Suite! It’s been a long time coming, but we finally got a chance to get a video tour of our home.
We purchased our 2017 DRV Mobile Suites fifth wheel in November, 2016. We used it for a few-months-here and a few-months-there until we made the decision to go full time in 2018. Quite honestly, one of the reasons we decided to go full time was due to the comfort of our DRV. After living in it for months at a time we knew we could live in it full time!
When we were shopping for a new 5th wheel we had a list of items that were important to us:
- 40′ or less in length
- king bed
- full body paint
- spacious living quarters and kitchen
- quality build with solid wood cabinets
- RV style gas/electric refrigerator
That was our short list. We have a more comprehensive list now that we’ve been full timing on the road for almost two years – we’ve learned a few things, and if you haven’t seen that video, you can watch it HERE.
Our DRV is a rear living model with four slides and has an amazing kitchen setup. The kitchen is large and has a very spacious island that helps with food prep and separates the living area from the kitchen. The coach also has a large bedroom with two slides and a king bed. One of the things we like most about this setup is that it allows us to access the refrigerator, bathroom and bed with the slides in. If we find ourselves boondocking for a night in a tight situation, we can do so without extending any slides. We had to special order this coach because we wanted a two-way refrigerator for boondocking (the coach came standard with a residential fridge).
Our DRV 38RSSA Mobile Suites had the following standard equipment:
- 17.5” wheels and tires
- disc brakes
- whole house water filter
- dual pane windows
- 3-1/4” sidewall thickness
- king bed
- washer/dryer prep
- 6-point auto level system
- solar prep wiring
- full body paint with clear coat
- rear 2” receiver hitch
- 100 gallon fresh water storage
- 75 gallon gray water storage
- 40 gallon black water storage
- gray and black water flush outs
- two 40 gallon propane tanks on slide out
Since we special ordered, we deleted a few things:
- delete all glass in living area cabinets
- cut out the carpet in the living area
- removed the built-in oven
We added the following to our build:
- 2800 watt inverter
- extra battery storage
- slide tray in storage bay
- electric cord reel
- upgraded the solar prep to #4 wire
We’ve added 1200 watts of solar panels, a Magnum Energy PT-100 solar charge controller and six 100Ah lithium batteries to the coach. The coach has a 5500 watt Onan propane generator with an auto start. We have the auto start programmed so if the batteries fall below 11.5 volts the generator will automatically start and charge the batteries. This solar setup allowed us to boondock in the desert of Arizona for more than 9 weeks without hookups!
The coach is 40′ long from front nose cap to the rear cap. It weighs 17,780 lbs dry and has a GVWR of 21,000 lbs on two axles.
You can view the video about our coach HERE.
