We are selling the house and going full time RV this year. I'm 64 and the wife will be 62. Friends think we're crazy! What's the worst that could happen??? We have been researching 5th wheel setups and have been impressed with Keystone's Montana line above all other towables. Now we have come up on the Redwoods and definitely are hooked. What's the difference between Sequoia, Blackwood and other Redwoods?

When Redwood started they were a stand alone brand owned by Thor. They started with 2 models - Redwood & Blackwood. The Blackwood was a step down from the Redwood and were only made for a couple of years - 2012 & possibly early 2013 model years.

In 2014, the new Redwood President was also President of Crossroads and they brought out an additional 2 models - Cypress & Sequoia, which were introduced at the Fall shows that year. Very few Cypress were ever built, but Sequoia lasted until 2016. Sequoia, similar to Blackwood was a step down from Redwood, which at the time came standard with full body paint. Since dropping Sequoia, the paint is again an option.

Redwood/Crossroads was brought under the Keystone group in early 2017.

We are selling the house and going full time RV this year. I'm 64 and the wife will be 62. Friends think we're crazy! What's the worst that could happen??? We have been researching 5th wheel setups and have been impressed with Keystone's Montana line above all other towables. Now we have come up on the Redwoods and definitely are hooked. What's the difference between Sequoia, Blackwood and other Redwoods?

In my opinion the Seqouia, Blackwood & Cypress lines were entry level compared to the RW, though nicely done on less expensive scale.
I'm still soliciting mine;
https://www.rvtrader.com/listing/2013-Crossroads-REDWOOD+36FB-5000739184/?zmc=paa-renew-listing
Looking to downsize to smaller truck & rv.
I know exactly how you feel, most of our family & friends thought we'd lost our minds when we went fulltime nearly 10 years ago, but I wouldn't change a minute of it.
Now we've began to settle down a bit (totally unplanned, but enjoying it) we're looking to downsize & go back to part timers.

We are also now fulltime. Bought the Redwood over five years ago with that thought in the back of our heads. After spending more and more time in the coach and finding we really didn't want to go back to the house, last May we sold the house, everything we kept that isn't in the coach is in a 10x10 storage unit for when we come off the road someday when we figure out where we want to live.

Some of our kids think we're crazy, some of them said "go for it". It's now been 10 months and we're not looking back. We are workampers and last summer was the Adirondacks of New York, this summer will be Montana and seeing the west. We were looking at Montanas, almost bought one, and then walked into a Redwood and said "Whoa".

I think the biggest thing I would do over if I didn't have the truck already would be to look for a rig that I could buy total setup. Properly matched truck (Dually if you're going to travel. Some will tell you that you don't need it. I've had both and will never tow SRW again)' trailer, hitch, etc. those rigs are out there. I believe there are a couple full rigs for sale from our group here. To set up a a veryreliable and well thought out rig from scratch will add at least several thousand dollars to the cost of the truck and coach, if not more.

As an example, we tow with a F350 Dually. If I had it to do over, it would be a 450 if not a 550 or Ram 5500. Lotsa $$$ and you're not done with the truck yet. A good hitch is going to run $1500-1600 and if you want to go top of the line say with a Comfort Ride like I have, the hitch is $2300-3000 depending on adapters needed. On the coach I spent the money and went with all MorRyde Suspension components and pinbox. The end result is that I have a totally reliable, very, very comfortable rig that rides and handles 100% better than it did the day I pulled it home. If I went to sell the entire rig I'd be happy to get 60% of what I've got in it. But I didn't build it to sell, I built it to pull all over the US and that is its mission. We will be pulling over 3000 miles in the next month or so and I'm not remotely concerned with the rig.

Feel free to PM me if you'd like and I'll pass on what I learned the hard $$$ way and hopefully save you some time and money in the learning curve. Lol

I agree with most of everything said so far...

When it comes to down-sizing, it takes a lot of time. Plan ahead.

1) Try to sell what you can easily on Craigslist, Facebook, 5-Mile and the like. You'll get the most money without paying commissions.

2) Next, turn to garage sales. Again, no commissions. If you are in the country, it can be a challenge.

3) This is where you may want to give stuff away to your favorite family members...Why? Because you are about to take a beating on the rest.

4) Use the Estate Sales Process. Interview at least 3 Estate Sales Companies. Check with friends, realtors, family and the BBC...Some are better at country sales versus city sales. There are usually commissions here up to 30%.

5) Next, move to the Auction Block. Be ready for a heavy beating here. Sales Commissions can be 50%.

Some will come to your place and pick everything up. But, they will once again charge extra for this service. At the conclusion of the auction (which can take several weeks), they will place the remaining items in the trash unless you come get it within 48 hours.

Some will hold the auction on site. I tend to like these auctions. More "shoppers" come instead of those looking for bargains to put in THEIR stores.

6) Whatever you have left, consider the Goodwill type stores. At least if you have enough to tax write-off, you can. Beginning with the 2018 tax season though, there will be VERY few who could take advantage of this tax write-off.

7) Anything remaining at this point is trash. Set it by the curb.

A couple of words of advice...Everyone gets tied to the value of "stuff". You have a value, but the market does not have the same mindset that you do. Think garage sale prices. You need to move stuff fast. The quicker that you can unload, the better off you are. Think about it this way...If you had to re-buy everything, how would you do that and how much would you be willing to pay for it? IF you are considering storage unit, try to avoid that at all cost. We could not unload fast enough and we have spent over $1000 in storage fees to date for a net value of $300. how does that make sense you ask? We're still going thru that mindset that it has value to us. Not the market. Family heirlooms so-to-speak. It's tough. If you can commit to getting rid of everything by having others sell it for you, you will be better off.

It took us 6 months to get rid of most everything. I used garage sale prices. I established a spreadsheet with everything on it. In the end, I came within 10%. But I was realistic. Some things went higher. Some things went for less. In the end, it all balanced out.

Back to the tow vehicles, the Ram 5500 will not tow as much as the 3500. The numbers on the side of the Rams do not have meaning. It's a misconception that catches a lot of people by surprise.

The Ram 5500 - Crew Cab - DRW - 60" and 84" bed - 4x2 and 4x4 with 4.10 rear end = 31,000 GCWR. But in this case, you'll have to add your own bed and hitch. That will subtract from the total GCVW rating.

The Ram 3500 - Crew Cab - DRW - Long Bed - 4x2 and 4x4 with 4.10 rear end = 39,000 GCWR. In this case, you'll subtract just for the hitch (unless you add a fuel tank).

The charts for the Ram are attached.

BTW... The 2018 Ram has the rear auto leveling system and 5 puck point system. Both are an advantage over my 2014 version. The hitch system was available then, but not the auto leveling.

I agree with most of what you said, with the exception of the 5500. I don't know of anyone that would order a 5500 with 4.10 gears or smaller tires. Every 5500 I've seen that is a Hauler has either 4.44 or 4.88 gears and can pull almost 30k trailer. I looked at a Sportchassis at the Tampa Show that had 19.5 tires, 4.88 gears and they had the copy of the tow chart on the window.
Just saying, no reason to order 5500 unless you want max ability to tow.

Most of the 5500 are crew cab 4x2. See last line of chart on page 17. That's how they are spec'
Ford 5500 very similar.

I agree with most of what you said, with the exception of the 5500. I don't know of anyone that would order a 5500 with 4.10 gears or smaller tires. Every 5500 I've seen that is a Hauler has either 4.44 or 4.88 gears and can pull almost 30k trailer. I looked at a Sportchassis at the Tampa Show that had 19.5 tires, 4.88 gears and they had the copy of the tow chart on the window.
Just saying, no reason to order 5500 unless you want max ability to tow.

Most of the 5500 are crew cab 4x2. See last line of chart on page 17. That's how they are spec'
Ford 5500 very similar.

You know...I've been a Ram fan for a long time. I've never noticed the 4.44 or 4.88 gear set. And now that you have pointed that out, I agree that the max rating on the 5500 is 38,500. BUT, you still will have to add for the bed design you pick out. At any rate, it will still be more GCWR than the 3500. WOW! I learned something new tonight. Thanks.

After going back to the Ram site to "build" a 5500, it appears that it is cheaper (by $10k). But when I add a bed at $3-4k, that will de-rate the overall GVWR and add to the cost. So in effect, I might save about $5k overall but it will pull anything at that point. Even a heavy DRV.

Every year New Horizons builds a couple of units for the big shows
Ike Hershey and Tampa and always has a matching Classy Chassis Ram 5500 as a tow vehicle. They only use that truck and the only hitch they install is a 30k Comfort Ride. Most of their coaches are 22-25k dry weight. A lot of th New Horizon owners pull with HDTs.

BTW... The 2018 Ram has the rear auto leveling system and 5 puck point system. Both are an advantage over my 2014 version. The hitch system was available then, but not the auto leveling.

I have a 2018 RAM 3500 DRW with the rear "Air Assist" package, it is awesome and one of the many reason I made the switch from GM to RAM.
The rear "Air Assist" still has leaf springs like the standard rear suspension but it is a much smaller spring pack so the ride unloaded is great and the "Air Assist" takes care of the ride height when loaded. (Also with the rear "Air Assist" no more launching out of my seat when enter or exiting a bridge on the interstate)
Plus with the Aisin Transmission, Cummins H.O. Engine and 4.10 Axle ratio my RAM's 5th Wheel tow rating is slightly over 30,000 lbs.