Grand Design Momentum 397TH Floorplan: Our Top Choice for Full-Time RV Living

Make sure to check out the video above so you can physically see all the features I’ve referenced below and better understand just how fantastic this floorplan can be for full-time living.

As my wife and I were preparing to sell all of our belongings and hit the road full time, a lot of thought and planning went into choosing our particular unit, which is a 2020 Grand Design Momentum 397TH.

It’s classified by Grand Design as a luxury 5th wheel toy hauler and in one of my previous YouTube videos I explained exactly why we chose this type of RV over a Class A or a bumper pull, or any other type of rig for full-time living. If you haven’t seen that video you can check it out here: https://youtu.be/OdvXlbacUWI

But today I want to dig a little deeper into why we chose the Grand Design brand in particular, and then why we specifically chose the 397th floorplan.

THE GRAND DESIGN BRAND

Grand Design is the manufacturer of our unit. They make all kinds of towable RVs, from super tiny travel trailers all the way up to massive 5th wheels like ours.

We’d walked through dozens of different toy haulers while shopping and we quickly realized that the Grand Design units just always seemed to have a higher quality look and feel on the inside and out.

Not only that, but everywhere we looked online, the consensus seemed to be that Grand Design takes care of their customers and stands behind their warranty, which is apparently a very rare thing in the RV industry. And we can attest to that being true in our case. Over the past 3 years we’ve had a few different repairs and warranty claims pop up, and Grand Design took care of us every single time. No fuss. No hassle.

I even had an independent repair shop, who had worked us in last minute while we were mid-trip, tell me that if I didn’t have a Grand Design, they wouldn’t have been able to do the work so quickly because they have to worry about getting stiffed by other RV manufacturers who refuse to pay out on warranty claims.

But since I had a Grand Design, they trusted the company enough to go ahead and get to work BEFORE they had payment in hand, getting us fully repaired and back on the road in just a couple hours!

And then there’s also a gigantic Grand Design owners community out there. Tons of YouTube channels, forums, groups – all full of Grand Design owners who are there to help, answer questions, share their experiences and support one another.

Getting your first RV can often feel a little overwhelming, but with a Grand Design unit, at least you’re not alone.

THE 397TH FLOORPLAN

When it comes to the particular floorplan, there were three main features of the 397TH that made us choose it over the others.

Washer & Dryer

First, it was the concealed washer and dryer space in the bedroom. Other floorplans had hookups for a washer and dryer in the garage, but we loved it being located right near our closet and dresser. We also loved that it could be closed up and hidden behind a door, out of sight. And finally, we didn’t want to use up any of the available floorspace in the garage for a washer and dryer because of what leads me to the second feature we liked.

Office / Garage Space

Second, we loved that the 397TH had a separate garage/office space that was also long enough to fit an entire car. We’d considered hauling something shorter, like a motorcycle, UTV or some other cool toy, and we probably would have if this was our vacation rig, but considering we would be living with this setup full-time, we really wanted a vehicle that was a redundant form of reliable transportation. Something we could drive at full highway speeds for hours at a time, even in cold and rainy weather.

And at 12’ 6” long, there were a few compact cars available that would barely fit in the garage with no room to spare, so we knew it was going to be just long enough.

Accessibility With Slides In

Third, we were thrilled with the accessibility we had even with the slides in. Slides or slide-outs are just sections of the RV that you retract during driving but expand or slide out once you set up camp so you have more living area.

Bringing in the slides greatly affects where you can and can’t access things in the RV. But in our unit, even with all of the slides in, we still have full access to the refrigerator, bathroom and bedroom. So on a travel day when we’re heading down the road, we can pull over at a rest stop, hop out, go in, eat lunch, use the restroom and even take a nap if we wanted to, all without ever having to set up any of the RV.

So that’s pretty cool in itself, but one hidden benefit of this feature that we didn’t realize until we lived in the rig full-time for a few years is the fact that, if a major storm pops up out of nowhere and we have to bring our slides in because the wind gusts are literally lifting and dropping our slides through the air (yes, this has happened a few times) we still have full access to everything.

It’s almost like a small studio apartment at that point. We have a fridge, microwave, bed, bath, toilet. It’s a small space, but totally livable.

And since we have Wi-Fi throughout, we can bring our laptops, do some work or even just relax and stream our shows, all with the slides in and a storm raging outside.

🔗 LINKS 🔗

WHY WE CHOSE A 5TH WHEEL OVER CLASS A OR TRAVEL TRAILER

AFFILIATE STORE – PRODUCTS & GEAR WE RECOMMEND

MERCH COLLECTION – HATS AND TEES

FREE VIDEO COURSE – HOW I QUIT MY JOB AND WORK FROM ANYWHERE

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Camera Gear Used In This Video