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Cameo Fifth Wheels Have It All: Multiple Fireplaces, Loft Living, and Affordability

We all want to spend quality time with the family, and one way to do that is with a travel trailer. But some of us are part of large groups of people, and to hit the road caravan style isn't the best financially feasible option. For people with extended families and many friends, fifth wheels are the way to go.
Cameo Fifth Wheel 23 photos
Photo: Crossroads RV / Edited by autoevolution
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This brings us to the machines in question today, the Cameo lineup from none other than America's own Crossroads RV. Just to bring you up to speed, Crossroads has been around since 1996 and rose to national appreciation by offering no-frills travel trailers and RVs. They also expanded by purchasing other established teams. But the real key to their success has been placing the customer at the center of their business model.

However, according to Crossroads, the Cameo brand has been around since 1968. I tried to find information about this seemingly timeless brand, and my search ended with Crossroads. Only one lead exists and mentions a company named Carriage that used to build a lineup of travel trailers dubbed Cameo. Since this crew was bought out by Crossroads in 2011, they could be where it all started.

Well, the idea of no-frills is still carried out in the Cameo because upon seeing these fifth wheels for the first time, I couldn't help but shake the notion of just how clean and inviting the interiors are. Sure, it may be all the little lights all over the place, but as I imagined myself in a Cameo, I felt good, and that's the experience I'll be sharing with you today. Heck, one of these floorplans even has a loft in it. That's something you don't see every day.

Cameo Fifth Wheel \(CE4051BH\)
Photo: Crossroads RV
Now, fifth wheels are massive buggers, and the Cameo class is no exception. Some are up to 44 ft (13.4 m) long and can weigh as much as 14,000 lbs (6,350 kg) dry! Some can exert up to 2,790 lbs (1,266 kg) of weight onto your hitch, so you better bust out the big toys for these. In all, up to six people will have a place to rest their heads, but with a couple of sleeping bags, you can squeeze in a couple more. To sum it all up, the Cameo is big! To give us a better idea of what to expect from this lineup, I've chosen that loft unit to live out of for a few minutes. This is also the one that weighs nearly 14,000 lbs.

Once you've arrived at a trailer park or the middle of the outdoors, you'll have to stabilize this behemoth, and after you've done so, you can start deploying the numerous slide-outs the CE4051BH includes. If I counted correctly, five sections could be used to enlarge the interior living space. On these slide-outs, a sofa, theater area, kitchen, bedroom, and part of the master bathroom are all placed.

Starting with the front of the unit, you'll be standing smack dab in the middle of the master bedroom. Here, a king bed sits in an east-to-west orientation with a fireplace and entertainment center at the foot of the bed. In the nose, Crossroads places a large wardrobe and washing and drying machines. What I like most about this area is that it's separated from the rest of the unit and has its own bathroom, accessible via two entrances.

Once we leave the confines of the bedroom, we'll enter the kitchen. Now, I'm a sucker for island-style setups, and seeing the sink and countertop in the center of the action left me wanting more. On the starboard wall, a pantry and all the residential-sized appliances we'd ever need to cook for a family of six are available. The dinette seems to only fit four, so you may need to bring a chair or two along for the trip, or the reaming hungry mouths can just enjoy their meal in the theater seating adjacent to the dining area.

Cameo Fifth Wheel \(CE4021FK\)
Photo: Crossroads RV
But there is something I didn't like about the central living space in this unit. The entertainment center and second fireplace are placed at an angle and don't run parallel to the theater seating. This means you might get a solid crick in the neck watching movies. Don't worry, though. Not all units share this trait.

As to why Crossroads chose to do this, it allows for another bathroom to be integrated into the unit and, above all, the defining feature, that loft. The second bathroom is a godsend for large families and ensures the privacy of the owner's bedroom remains intact, while the loft is a bit more than just a place to rest your head at night.

One of the biggest benefits of loft areas, such as this one, is that you can do whatever you want with it. Sure, sleeping is often the main use of a loft, but you can also use them to expand the gear you want to bring along on your adventures. But you'll have to leave two guests behind in the process. Or do you? Remember the sleeping bags.

As for how much you can expect to pay for one of these buggers, they seem priced all over the board and heavily dependent on the floorplan and features inside. Since Crossroads makes no mention of a price, I searched elsewhere. On average, 2023 units can be found priced at around $70K and up. The sky's the limit on this one. Worth the consideration if you need a larger-than-average travel trailer at an average price.
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Editor's note: Images in the gallery showcase an array of Cameo floorplans.

About the author: Cristian Curmei
Cristian Curmei profile photo

A bit of a nomad at heart (being born in Europe and raised in several places in the USA), Cristian is enamored with travel trailers, campers and bikes. He also tests and writes about urban means of transportation like scooters, mopeds and e-bikes (when he's not busy hosting our video stories and guides).
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