Need advice on 2350 versus 2551 model.

My wife and I are planning to purchase either a 2350 or 2551 model. Being new to this, we're asking for suggestions. We will be retiring in the next 3 or 4 years and want to take a trip to Alaska and spend a month or so in Arizona over the winter. Is the 2350 capable of this stay or are we better going to the 2551 model? And are the single beds in the 2551 more advantageous over the queen in the 2350 model? Also, is the dinette preferred over the couch or not? What about the slideouts? Any problems with them rattling? Any help on these or other suggestions is appreciated.

Hi Laudy:

We have the 2350 and are a family of 4.  I would not advise this unit for long term use.  The back bed  is very small. My wife and I are not very large and we have a tough time.  As far as the dinette vs the couch..... Well for long term use I think one needs a couch to lay on and rest, watch tv, and read.   You need a living room so to speak and I am not sure a dinette fills that need.  We too have a slideout with the couch and have had no problems.  I know Ron on this forum is a fan of dinettes and no slide and it seems to work for him.   I am sure he will respond shortly and he is a font of information.     Hope this helps.

Happy trails.

David

I bought a 2551 primarily because of the twin beds.  They are very comfortable and easy to get in and out of.  The bed in the 2350 is, I believe, not a queen but a standard double (54") with a slight bit tapered out toward the foot of the bed.  The person on the outside of the camper will have fun climbing over the other occupant if they want to hit the bathroom during the night.  We took a 4 week trip of 5000 miles from Arkansas to Alberta, Canada, last summer and were very comfortable.  We have the sofa with a slide out.  We keep a folding adjustable height table in the camper and use that instead of the bulky wood one for dining and find it very convenient.  Everyone has different tastes and different experiences, but I find the 2551 ideal given the constraints of only being 26' long.

Jerry

I guess I better chime in.

I used to share with others how well our short 2350 without a slide, works for us.  But I wonder if sharing my experience had influenced others more than it should have.  I noticed a trend where some people bought a 2350, and then a year or two later, traded it in for a new 2551 for the ease of the beds.  That troubled me so I stopped sharing specifics with my 2350, but rather discuss PCs in general.

As for me and my wife, married 33 years and in our early 50's we could never tollerate sleeping separately.  That would make our trips unacceptable.  We would eventually be snuggled up on one of the twin beds.  But I understand others are different, especially as they get up farther in years than we are.  Getting in and out from our bed is not easy like the twin beds in the 2551.  If our garage was big enough, today I might consider a custom made no-slide rear bedroom with a walk-around double bed.  Even if the isle on each side was just 9".

I will still say we do like our dinette without a slide because the dinette is much larger than it would be if in a slide.  It has more storage below and above, it weighs less, is more quiet and warmer, and is very friendly while in transit.  As usual, you cannot sit at the dinette for hours on-end, but we couldn't do without a place to sit and eat normal, play Scrabble & other games, work a computer, etc.  It's just too critical a feature for us.  We would go looney without it.

In a 2551, you have no other house seating so having a dinette alone would be a serious problem for me.  Personally if I were to consider a 2551, I would think hard about the 2552 to get that extra seat like the 2350 has.  I would definitely order it with a 3rd captain seat, not a barrel chair.  This way you have something extremely comfortable to share.

You can see our 2007 model 2350 with dinette, no slide, and 3rd captain seat by CLICKING HERE

Last year we bought a new 2350 on the Sprinter chassis, thinking that it would be acceptable for 3/4 month trips. No slide. After 7000 miles last summer, we realized that we needed twin beds. It was too difficult to crawl over my husband in the middle of the night. We just retired last year and are not getting any younger! We found the dinette to be uncomfortable while watching tv but we did not want the slide.

So, after much deliberation and looking around at other coaches, we decided to trade the Sprinter 2350 (we loved the diesel) for a 2551 no slide. Instead of the dinette, we had the factory install 2 captains chairs and a table where the dinette would be. The chairs are so comfortable but the table is a little small. We will remedy that soon. We have a neighbor who owned a company that manufactured custom yachts so he has some ideas how to resolve that issue. Got the table/chairs idea from the Born Free website.

For us, hindsight being 20/20, we should have gone straight to the 2551. But we didn't---we are there now!

                                                                         
Welcome Laudy,

   Boy did you hit all the main questions in your first post. I think you will not find a direct answer for all your questions here; you will have to search your soul and life style for some of them. I will try to give my take on some of them as will a bunch of the others on here. Everyone is very helpful and friendly on this forum.
   You said that you want either the 2350 or the 2551. I would also suggest you look at the new 2552, which is only one foot longer than the 2551, but has the third chair up front. Like Ron said “get the third captains chair”. I just replaced my barrel chair with the captain’s chair because it is much more comfortable.  Having this third chair for watching TV is one of the main reasons we went with the 2350 over the 2551, plus we wanted the shorter motorhome.  More on this later.  Since we got our 2350, they have come out with the 2552 because so many people were asking for this third chair. I think we might have gone with the 2552 if they had it back then.
           We have owned a 26’, 34’, 28’, 21’, 35’ and now a 23’ motorhomes. Each one has its good and bad points depending on what we wanted at the time. About four years ago a good friend of ours took a two month tour of Alaska in their 34’ class “A” motorhome towing a Jeep. It was the right size for them except for some of the mountain roads.  They told me that one couple on the tour had a 42’ bus back home but had a pickup with a 11’ slide-in camper for this trip. Size does matter, I guess. Right now we like the shorter motorhome because we like taking the back roads and stopping  a places that don’t have larger parking areas, stopping for lunch at places where I have to back into a parking space and let my rear hang over the grass. If I was a foot longer, I don’t think I could do this. On the other hand, when we had the 26’ and the 28’ I would pull into a double parking space and take both of them. The difference between 26 and 27 foot would not matter to me. Now a day’s most tourist places have parking for the larger rigs.
Twin beds or a full bed with a sofa that has an air bed are very similar in sleeping arrangements to us. One sleeps on the bed while the other sleeps on the air bed or one in each of the twin beds. If you prefer to sleep together, than the full bed is your answer.  If you don’t want to make up a bed each night, then the twin beds are your answer. If you want the full bed and air bed, then the sofa is your answer over the couch vs. the dinette. Then you get to setup the table or snack trays to eat off of, or your lap like at a dinner party. On and on it goes. Some of the folks on here have said that the dinette is not very comfortable to sit on and watch TV. I don’t know as we have the sofa in the slide out. I will tell you that you can only see the TV from one side of the dinette and the middle and left side of the sofa.
           Slide out or not? We would not have a motorhome without a slide out again. The extra floor space makes a real be difference to us. We have never had any problems with a slide out. The extra 400 lbs the slide out weights can make a difference in how much stuff you can carry. We up graded our 2350 to the Ford E450 over the E350 or the sprinter, both of which I felt the CCC (cargo carrying capacity) was on the low side for me. We are large people and have two large dogs for a total of about 600 lbs (don’t ask for a break down) plus the water, LPG, gas, clothes and food stuff. I wanted the extra 1,000 lbs of CCC. There are some on here that don’t feel the need for the extra floor space and therefore don’t want the slide out. After I retired, I went back to work for four years selling RVs. I can tell you that most of the people I sold to wanted as many slide outs as they could get. You might want to think about this when it comes time to sell your motorhome.
        I hope I have not confused you too much. Keep reading this web site and all the other ones you can find. I think the information you gain here will be some of the best you can get. Hope to have you as a member of our merry little band someday. Phoenix makes a very good little motorhome.

We traded a 2700 with rear bedroom slide, dinette no slide last year for a 2350 with couch and slide.  We like the slide because we spend more time in the living area and really like the extra space it provides.  We have been on several trips on very rough roads, and have never had a rattle or noise problem with the slide.  The only rattles we have so far are from the grates on the stove which we quiet by putting an oven mitt between the top and the grates.  We haven't missed having the dinette, and (for us) the couch is more versatile.  The table can be positioned in 4 different locations, so we have choices when we want to eat/use the computer/lay out maps/etc.  The rear bed is rather inconvenient to make, and the problem noted by others about one of us getting up is true.  It is a double and not a queen.  We put a memory foam top on ours to make it more comfortable.  We have spent several months at a time in our 2350 with no problems, but we're both small (5'6" & 5'2") and been married 43 years (know when to go outside...).  We plan on going full time next year in this 2350.  We haven't regretted getting the 2350, but you'll need to carefully consider your own wants/needs/desires/expectations/personal situation.  I really like the ease in driving on the back roads and through towns, and parking is seldom a problem.  The comments about getting the captains chair instead of the barrel chair should be seriously considered.  I recently removed the carpet and put in laminate flooring which we really like, but I doubt that would be an economical option from PC.  Bottom line - whichever model you choose, you won't be sorry you chose a PC.  Please let us know what you decide.

If, when we ordered the 2551 on Dec.1, someone had told us about the 2552, we most likely would have given great consideration to that.

We also requested no carpet. We find that it can get dirty looking quickly. I have found throw rugs that work well and can be replaced when they get grungy.

I guess it's just a matter of what you like

Tom & the rest of the "regulars" have really said it all & given you way more to think about. 
 
I have a 2008 2551 & will seriously be looking @ the new 2552 model for that coveted extra captain's chair.  Makes a big difference when traveling w/family/friends awa entertaining. 
 
As far as the twin beds go - We've been having some pretty serious fun bouncing around from them to the elec fold out double up front - but this is a family forum so enough of that.....
 
 
 

We have the 2350 with slide and couch.  We are into our 3rd month in FLorida and have found no problems with space.  When we entertain 4 adults to eat or play cards we bring in our folding travel chairs and they work great.  Yes, 4 adults have eaten in our coach.  It makes for some fun.

We personally like the rig without the extra passenge chair and opted for the extra cabinets.  We would chose this option again because of the space it provides. 

As far as extra seating in the 2551 or 2552 you could always setup the table between the two twin beds and use them as pseudo couches.  We did not have the table mounted in our 2350.  We added folding legs to the cherry table top and it works wonderful.

Barry

Hello:

I agree with all.. Barrell chair has got to go.  Since it is a family forum I will refrain from bad words.  When time and money allows I will replace that sucker.

David.