One of the things that I love most about the RV world is that there’s something for everyone. If your idea of camping is a simple place to lay your head, you can buy any number of tent campers for that. If you want a rolling hotel room, pick any travel trailer or general motorhome. On the far end of the spectrum is something like the 2027 Axiom RV Vendetta. This fifth wheel “camper” is 47-feet-long, has a gross weight of 27,000 pounds, and can sleep up to 12 people. This might be the most absurd and excessive new trailer launch that tries to call itself a camper.
If you’ve read my work for long enough, you know that I love to cover RVs that meet some sort of mix of being weird, well-built, vintage, custom, or just have a good story. I love pointing out what campers you can tow without buying a big pickup truck, and what campers seem to offer a pretty good bang for your buck.
But sometimes, I run across a new RV release that’s so absurd that it stops me in my tracks. The American RV has a stereotype for being needlessly excessive. For some, American RVs are too huge, too heavy, and filled to the brim with features that nobody will ever actually need to go camping. After all, isn’t part of the point being close to nature?
The 2027 Axiom RV Vendetta is one of those RVs that has stopped me in my tracks. Everything about this thing is absurd. Dare I say, this camper might be the new poster child for the ridiculousness of the American RV industry.
From Former RV Execs
If you haven’t heard of Axiom before, it’s because it’s a brand-new company. A press release about the company’s launch was sent out in May, and its trailers are beginning to show up at dealerships, so the company is just storming onto the RV scene with all wheels spinning.
According to RVBusiness, Axiom RV was founded by A.J. Jones, John Jones, and Tom Ison, all of whom used to be executives over at Heartland RV and Cruiser RV, brands of Thor Industries. Together, the trio brings over 60 years of RV company experience, and they have been collaborating with each other for the past 15 years. Reportedly, the three all had a big dream of starting their own RV company and building better RVs.
A.J. Jones, president of Axiom, says, via RVBusiness: “Over the past several months, our team has poured everything into redefining what a fifth-wheel can be. We set out to challenge the status quo — to tackle a long list of industry shortcomings that have been accepted for far too long. It wasn’t easy, but with the right people, thoughtful innovation, and relentless dedication, we found a way.”
Axiom says that its goals, alongside “challenge the status quo,” include delivering what RVers have been asking for and building the best fifth wheels in the industry. The company is starting off in the high-end side of the market, but sees itself becoming a full-line towable camper manufacturer with a brand per price point. Something neat is that Axiom is an independent company, so there’s no leash from the likes of Thor or Forest River.
Axiom currently sells two products, the ridiculous 33-foot Imperium (above) and the frankly absurd Vendetta. Both trailers have somewhat similar theming. Let’s just look at the flagship Vendetta, because the crazy starts and doesn’t stop.
The 47-Foot Beast
The Axiom starts off with what sounds like some pretty neat specs.
The trailer features a skeleton of low-alloy, corrosion-resistant steel. Axiom says that its structure has been tested to be 72 percent stronger than aluminum. Likewise, Axiom says that its trailer is so strong that it should be able to dodge long-term metal fatigue and “flex.” This is important because, as you may remember, Grand Design’s fifth wheel owners have been dealing with catastrophic frame “flex” and frame failures for too long now. There’s no way of knowing at this immediate moment if Axiom has fixed this problem, but at the very least, the company appears to be trying.
Anyway, the steel walls are backed with two layers of Azdel-style composite panels with foam cores. Axiom proudly says that there is no plywood and no lauan to be seen here. So, we’re already off to a really great start here.
As far as the rest of the build, Axiom says that this trailer is riding on a Curt coil spring suspension, and the exterior siding is marine-grade fiberglass with gelcoat. Axiom also claims to have the fifth wheel industry’s first “clean roof” design, which just means that the company moved everything off the roof. There are no holes up there for air conditioners, vents, or anything like that, which is great for longevity and removing potential sources for water leaks.
All of this is good, I think. No wood and metal, and/or composite structures should be the baseline for a camper. It sucks that deciding to build a camper out of good materials is still considered to be game-changing. So, good on Axiom for learning from the mistakes that much of the industry still makes.
Anyway, things get outrageously excessive when you get inside. How do you fill a 47-foot-long trailer? With everything, of course!
Axiom says the Vendetta starts with a tall ceiling, 9’10” of it, to be exact. This way, you could have a crew of any height and they will feel nice and comfortable. Speaking of having the whole crew with you, the living room has 12 recliners. There’s a primary bedroom in the front of the trailer and a 14’6″ garage in the rear. The couches can all be turned into beds, and there’s a bed hanging from the ceiling in the garage. Add all of the sleeping surfaces together, and you have room for 12 people to sleep in this thing.
The trailer doesn’t stop there, as there are four slides, a patio, and a garage door ramp that turns into a second patio. Features packages include a triple mini-split system, frameless windows, Starlink prep, solid surface countertops, hardwood cabinetry, a 65-inch TV, electric tank dump valves, hydraulic levelers, an on-demand water heater, and 200 watts of solar.
Additional options include dual-pane windows, cameras, an additional 190-watt solar panel, a separate washer and dryer, a dishwasher, dark graphics, and some other smaller bits. There’s also a boombox, a big electric fireplace, and LED lights absolutely covering this thing.
What’s pretty weird about this trailer is that the bathroom isn’t nearly as bombastic as the rest of the trailer tries to be. Axiom gave this crazy thing 12 recliners and 12 beds, yet the shower isn’t doing anything new. Sure, it offers seven feet of ceiling height and is large enough for a big person, but then the shower head deletes basically six inches of that headroom, anyway.
There is also a half-bath in the garage area. You can see the toilet in this image:
Other notes about this trailer include the fact that the generator has been moved to the rear and under the trailer to maximize front storage space, and you get a residential-style kitchen. Something else I noticed is that Axiom’s trailers ride really low to the ground. Axiom gives no specs for ground clearance in the Vendetta, but the smaller Imperium sits 10 inches off the ground. There have been concerns about ground clearance and departure angles with both Axiom models.
An RV tech on YouTube claims that despite appearances, the Axiom Vendetta has similar ground clearance as some other fifth wheels, and the Vendetta can clear a 13-inch drop over an 11-foot ramp with just a little bit of room to spare:
But here’s the thing: that’s a ramp at a dealership. The real world has sharp drops like curbs and driveways. Also, it’s unclear how much ride height this trailer would have at its gross weight. This is to say that you probably should be careful traversing driveways and probably don’t get daring enough to take it off-pavement.
Another oddity is that the main entry door and staircase are embedded in one of the slides. This design decision means that it would be unwise to open or close that slide with the stairs in the down position.
Anyway, things start getting cool again with the stores. The Vendetta holds 170 gallons of water, 110 gallons of gray water, and 110 gallons of waste. It carries another 60 gallons of fuel for the generator. The base model of the Vendetta is the V4250, while the higher model is the V4250SP. Both are the same size, but empty weights are 21,240 pounds and 21,885 pounds, respectively. Check out the front storage area:
Given the girth of this rig, you’ll need a one-ton dually at a minimum to tow this thing. When fully loaded, this trailer would use up about 77 percent of the capacity of a properly equipped Ford F-350 Super Duty DRW.
Does It Change The Game?
Axiom does not publish prices for its RVs, which is annoying. I suppose Axiom’s mission to change the RV game doesn’t include pricing transparency. From what I can find, you could probably get a Vendetta V4250 for around $190,000 or the V4250SP for around $200,000. Dealers are already claiming to have huge sales on these things, with one dealer seemingly suggesting that its V4250SP had an original price of $248,843.
RV influencers have had their minds blown by the Axiom. Some influencers are calling these “the future of RVs” and that Axiom “changes the game.” Now, I haven’t seen it yet, but at least when I watch the influencer videos and see the pictures, I don’t feel the same way.
Building a camper out of metal and composites isn’t anything new. I’ve championed all sorts of metal and composite campers. Though, to be fair to the company, what Axiom is doing is different from traditional fifth wheels. But, that aside, it’s weird that this thing has a 60-gallon fuel tank for its generator and 170 gallons for water storage, but only 200 watts to 390 watts of solar for a 47-foot luxury camper filled to the brim with lights and other hungry devices. Then there are those valid ground clearance concerns.
So, I like a lot of the materials and such here, but I’m not convinced the Vendetta is “the future” or a game-changer like the influencers say. It’s just different, but in a cool, wild, and interesting way.
What I am also blown away by is just how far the RV industry is willing to stretch the definition of “camper.” This thing is a 27,000-pound luxury palace for 12 people. It’s basically a single-family home bolted to three axles. A Vendetta is so huge that there are going to be campgrounds where you can’t even park this thing. I suppose a camper like this is why the term “glamping” exists, because this thing is all glam, all the time.
I want to end this with a question. Do you think you’d be the target market for a Vendetta? If so, I’d love to know what you’d do with it!
Top graphic image: Axiom RV
Considering the “cheapest” Vendetta costs more than my house is currently worth, and is the same or larger in length than my actual house, I’m quite confident in saying I am not the target market for this behemoth.
I think you’re pushing your luck even with an F-350 dually. This is why truck makers started putting beds on 450/4500 trucks, which formerly only came in cab-and-chassis configuration.
In the past dozen years or so, I’ve seen more and more of these behemoth travel trailers being towed behind semi tractors. I once talked with a fellow doing just that, and much to my surprise I learned that you can buy a whole dang semi tractor for not much more than a loaded F-450, and they’re much better suited for towing heavy loads.
Our single drive axle petes we use to pull our hay trailers are really popular with rvers and the rodeo crowd. $50 grand for a 389 pete with a half a million miles on it is cheaper than a 450, and still has a half million miles left on it. Plus, plenty of power to spare.
Yeah, the “77% of a 1-ton” sounds like it’s based on the brochure pin weight. So that’s the lower end, but the upper end (fully loaded, 25% tongue weight) is more like 7500lbs. That’s not even 450/4500 territory.
Jesus. The fact that you could go buy this thing that isnt too far off a single wide in size and a truck to tow it with no extras is wild.
I feel like a combined weight of nearly 35K lbs with the tow vehicle should require a bit more licensing.
My first thought with this was “no CDL required!”
Supposedly you are required to have a cdl over 26k. But it’s an rv, so no enforcement.
If it’s built with even decent quality, that’s a game changer right there. The extra cost over a traditional trailer is not that much when you consider the quality difference.
Also, I agree that it’s about time someone builds an RV that actually puts a 350/450 truck through its paces.
I’ve seen a few of these on the highway in UT but didn’t think anything other than another huge camper (I did notice the low ground clearance). The solar and water storage both seem much less than I’d expect for something this size.
Speaking of size, I’m pretty sure this is bigger than the trailer house we lived in when I was in elementary school. Probably heavier too. And less interesting neighbors.
Is anyone else getting “waiting area outside the principal’s office” from the third from last picture?
could be bigger.
Jesus, that’s nicer than my house.
Yess! I always love RV content.
A couple of notes:
1) Wouldn’t a dually be considered a 1-ton truck? I thought 3/4 tons were considered SRW 2500/F250. Even so, it’s cool to see trailers that require such trucks (when people on here often complain about people not using said trucks for their rated capacities).
2) As others mentioned, I can 100% see this being used at racetracks. It’s a shame they don’t sell a version of this with a smaller living quarters with room for a racecar/tools in the back.
3) I find it funny that this can sleep 12 but the biggest dually can sit up to 6. I guess we’re all taking 2 cars?
Good catch! My brain was not mathing last night. It should now say one-ton. 🙂
This is absolutely aimed at racetracks. It’s a fancier version of the rigs I saw at the Canadian NASCAR series this summer.
It has the fuel and water capacity for your family to be comfortable for the 3-4 days you’re trackside without needing to re-up. Why use solar when fuel is readily available and probably a write-off?
This will be the rigs of the racers, so their family can be with them.
It’s surprising they bothered to put solar on it at all. Trickle charging while driving, I guess.
Wouldn’t it also charge the batteries using the connection between the truck and the trailer while driving?
Depends on if you have a DC-DC charger. I barely pull 3A from the umbilical without one, even when the battery needs a big recharge.
Oh, I could definitely see racetracks as a use case! The marketing talks about “adventures” and such, but this could be a really cool pad for a race weekend.
Highjacking this thread and writing this non-sequitur here, as I think you’ll surely be notified…
Elsewhere in the comments, TheDrunkenWrench makes a great point about interviewing Heather Galvin about their RV setup, a variation on Member’s Rides.
Best title I can do right now is, Member’s RVides.
OR, find a way to have Heather Galvin do a guest article…
Would love to read more about their motivation, thought process on their choice, pros/cons, etc. That one linked photo may have a thousands words in it, yet still want to read/learn more.
EDIT:
The second article would be about/from House Atreides Combat Pug.
I’m not in the target market. You can buy a lot of boat for that kind of money, and that would be a much bigger priority for me.
Imperium? Vendetta?
Aggressive names are aggressive. But are they aggressive enough?
No! That’s why I, Chester K. Goofington Esq. III am starting my own RV company with its own new line of battle-ready, military grade vehicles meant only to stir fear in Mother Nature. Introducing the Facepuncher 9100, with multiple holding cells, a quad rotisserie suitable for simultaneously cooking up to four wild boars, fifteen hard points, an ornithopter landing pad, and flamethrower-base security system.
Kristi Noem has already ordered 100 for her ICE agents.
I was thinking “nemesis” is actually a perfect name for these, especially intending the original Greek meaning of the term.
Do you know what nemesis means?
“A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent; personified in this case by an ‘orrible c*nt… me.”
God I love that movie.
Well, hurry up and watch it again! Before “zee germans” get here!
Yes, in both colloquial English (a constant, undefeatable foe) and in Ancient Greek (the inescapable punishment for hubris and, this part translates less well, obsessive fixation). But I welcome other understandings from fellow readers of Hesiod’s Theogeny.
Sir, we deal exclusively in pop culture references here. Trying to get us to understand Greek mythology is like being doomed to roll a boulder up a hill for all eternity. Man, I wish there was some kind of Greek story I could relate that to.
The best way to translate the Greek bit is with an example: Moby Dick was Captain Ahab’s nemesis. It includes the hubris and the obsession.
I saw a shitty-looking trailer the other day that was badged as a “Vengeance”. Like who/what tf are you avenging with a crappy travel trailer, why would you try and avenge anything with a crappy travel trailer, and do you realize how stupid you look towing a crappy travel trailer that says “Vengeance” in Axe body spray font across the back?
Reminds me of the Henry Rollins bit from the late 90s about storms being named after women, implying they’re delicate, while tearing the roof off your house and sucking away all your livestock. He suggested naming them after heavy metal albums or “Motherfucker.” Much better for the TV interview.
I see your Facepuncher 9100 and raise you an EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle.
Do you need a CDL to tow this? Inconceivable!
a Cool Dually Longbed is definitely needed to tow this.
I feel like there might be exemptions for camp trailers?
At some point the question becomes, should there be an exemption?
Fezzik might do, in a pinch.
There are two markets for these things, and while they are niches, they are probably big enough niches to support decent sales volume if this thing truly manages to be “the best”.
1) Professionals that travel to a fixed location for months at a time and are receiving a per diem that makes this thing cost effective. Think nurses, industrial engineers, energy workers and construction program managers. If you’re getting $250 per day for housing and traveling 6 months a year, this thing pays itself back fast even if you’re paying $100 / night to park it.
2) Retirees who park it 3-6 months a year at a favorite spot and functionally use it as a cottage. There are high end RV parks next to beautiful things all around North America and they are dotted with smiling boomers entertaining their grand kids and tending to flocks of irate terriers.
To meet those use cases, you really want something built more like a house than a camper. Towability isn’t the priority, because mostly you aren’t going to tow it. You might even pay someone else to. Economics are planned against the cost of months in a hotel or paying property taxes.
I don’t get why grandma and grandpa would want sleeping quarters/seating for 12. Even if you have that many grandkids, you surely don’t want that many in your trailer at the same time. Granted, I don’t know what else you do with all that floorspace. Maybe go crazy with the bathroom? Sauna? Home gym?
Space for getting away from each other. Even when your partner is wonderful, sometimes a quiet time alone is exactly what’s needed.
I get the need for space, my question is whether this floorplan would make sense for 2 people
That looks nice for two. Big couches for dogs to snuggle on and lots of room to have a home away from home. An area for each person and some common areas. The garage takes up a bunch of space too.
I knew a husband/wife combo in consulting who did exactly this. They already had lifetime status with two different hotel groups (Hilton and Marriott) and so an RV that paid for itself pretty quickly worked best for them.
So I’m a full time RVer. My husband and I have been living out of a Grand Design Momentum (which was built prior to most of the frame flex issues, we still have the second ibeam on the overhang), though we did still find and fix a couple of issues with our frame.
I’m following the launch of this company and it’s trailers, to see what kind of teething issues appear and what kind of consumer advice they take and fixes they make. Like, I’m curious if they will change the ground clearance, and remove the entry door off the slide. We’re not market for either of their current floor plans, but interested in what they may come out with next.
Mainly, the price point that Axiom appears to have landed at is something we would be able to afford, which is somewhere above the other “Elkhart made” manufacturers and below the likes of Luxe, New Horizons, and then Spacecraft at the high end.
As for what Axiom is doing with their solar and their roofs, I think it’s fine. There is a huge solar DIY market out there utilizing the likes of Residential panels, Victron components, and/or Big Beard Batteries which this is perfect for. Factory installed solar is usually too expensive, and never thought through enough.
We have a 4500 watt solar rack over the roof of our Momentum, 10kw of Inverters and 1200amp hours of LifePO batteries.
The flat roof of the Axiom trailers is a great thing when there’s a market for covering them with residential panels. The mini splits will sip on the power in comparison to standard RV ACs. Lots of space in the front pass through leaves room for inverters and batteries, perfect for the aftermarket.
We pull ours with a Freightliner Sportchassis.
I’m curious about your solar setup. Do you find it meets your needs easily? I’ve been obsessing over building a smaller (sub 20ft) trailer for extended boondocking in national parks with no hookups. I’ve spent many hours arguing over amount of solar, location, and lithium battery capacity.
For the most part. There’s still that… “if I only had more…” bit that goes along with it, but some of it is just staying up to date on the advances in the technology. It still is getting more efficient, components are getting more affordable, etc.
It allows us to live as if we were plugged in – AC, microwave/convection oven, washer/dryer, espresso machine, etc. We still work M-F remote jobs in the software field, so we keep Starlink, our laptops/PC and NAS cooking all day as well. I don’t have to turn something off to turn something else on.
When it comes to RV parks, having the setup is also useful for augmenting the power that comes in. You’d be surprised how many RV parks have soft circuit breakers, undersized cabling to their pedestals, and how a bunch of RVs all turning on their ACs on a hot day causes the incoming voltage to drop. We’ve seen multiple instances of things like 102v on one leg, and 115v on the other for example.
We still have our onboard Onan 5.5kw generator, but don’t like to use it unless we’re faced with multiple cloudy or rainy days. We spend most of our time boondocking in the middle of nowhere, taking advantage of the public lands out west chasing Jeep trails and quiet serenity.
Typical:
https://i.imgur.com/pmuyhGp.jpeg
That’s good to know! I’d be mostly vacation. So probably skipping the A/C. Just looking to run lights, water, refrigeration, and random electronics. Maybe the ventilation fan.
Hahahahahaha! Doesn’t seem intentional, but that link just goes, and goes, and goes, and goes! It’s like the start of Spaceballs!
Oh snap, the pic loaded now. That’s an amazing setup! What an awesome lifestyle you’ve chosen!
Yay! I was worried for a second, I saw what happened when I tried to just drop the pic in that comment. Haha
I feel like you need to do an interview with Mercedes to talk about your setup. I’d love to hear more.
We almost exclusively boondock in a 20ft trailer with 200aH of batteries and 200 watts of solar on the roof. The answer to your question is a subjective one that only you can answer.
-On a normal day, we consume about 50aH between the fridge, water pump and lights. Add another 10aH if we have to run the heat at night.
-If you are camping in the forest under cover, you’re going to basically get zero electricity.
-If you are camping in direct sunlight, flat panels will give 30%-50% of their rating per day because of shadows / clouds etc.
-The financial driven answer to this is buy enough battery for a day (say 100aH at $200), a charger and shunt ($200-500) and a decent 3000 watt generator ($500) that you’ll run 30-60 minutes a day.
-The “I don’t want to listen to a generator” answer is enough battery to power 50% of your longest trip and at least one panel you can move into direct sunlight as the sun moves.
If it’s worth anything, you should know that the cells and controllers in $200 batteries from reputable Chinese brands are the exact same as the $1000 batteries from the fancy brand.
Thank you for the comprehensive answer!
One of my ideas was to have at least 200W worth of suitcase panels that I can set in direct sun. I was also looking at doing 400ah lithium with at least 600W of panels, with a little 2200W generator as a “just in case”.
That sounds like a great setup. You should check out the Renogy solar blanket. I have no idea if it’s good, but the idea and form factor seem really cool.
Some thoughts / regrets from rewiring most of my trailer:
-Think about service panels and line access so you can get to things when they inevitably fail
-Before the walls go in, wire for accessories like starlink, cell booster, stereo, cameras, tank heaters, etc even if you aren’t putting them in now.
-Think about what stuff you want to be able to turn on and off from bed vs. from the door.
-Give future you a gift by making fuses readily accessible
Your project sounds awesome. You should coax Mercedes into writing a review of your build once it’s up and running.
I’m stoked on it because automotive wiring is my specialty. I wanna apply my harness discipline to this. I already fixed a ton of wiring in a friend’s trailer this summer, in exchange for borrowing it.
I love the real comments from actual RV’ers! Also, props for your tow rig.
As said, good to hear from full-time RVer on here. Also good to hear you actually have an appropriate tow rig.
Definitely a candidate for wretched excess of the year award.
If you think of it as a towable house that you don’t have to pay property taxes on, it’s not that excessive.
This rig feels less like an RV and more like a mobile home for snowbirds who hire someone to move the house every 6 months.
We call this a hotel. Leave the moving building at home for the sake of traffic and people’s safety.
How many premium economy flights and 4-star hotel stays can you book with that much money?
A lot.
Although I will say, one of my friends has recently purchased an RV and I understand the appeal a bit more. Now his use case is that he’s going to full time live in it and bob around the country due to some crappy life circumstances. This is really the only scenario I can justify buying one of these luxury rigs for BUT the appeal of always having your stuff/home with you on a trip is appealing.
I’m not justifying these massive things that cost 6 figures but I could see spending $20-$50k on one depending on use case.
“It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”
This thing isn’t for dragging to Yellowstone. You buy one of these because you can’t park a Hilton suite in the paddock at Circuit of the Americas.
Was about to type the same! this is a touring sleeper.
Cool. And if the Decepticons try to start trouble in Arizona when you are visiting the Grand Canyon you’ll just transform and whoop some ass.
Cool trailer, but of course there is no such thing as a “three quarter ton dually”.
Interestingly, there are some configurations of SRW trucks and even SRW gassers (!) that are rated to pull 22,000 lb. I don’t think I’d personally do it, but Ford says you can.
Fixed that! I wrote this way too late and apparently wasn’t doing my math right. Numbers are my kryptonite! Pretty sure a few days ago I said a motorcycle weighed 300 HP. Oops!
Well, you see E = mc^2 or something, mass and energy are equivalent, yadda yadda a motorcycle weighs 300 HP.
All I can think of looking at this thing is-
“Caution, rogue robots. Caution, rogue robots.”
Excellent reference.
Curious what the square footage of this thing is with the slides fully extended because I’m pretty sure it’s more than my current home….
Yeah, if you park it in your driveway the township will try to assess it.
The lender will probably setup an escrow account directly with my township and insurance company.
COTD
“Do you think you’d be the target market for a Vendetta?”
I’d say it’s for someone who has something against being out in nature.
Someone with a vendetta, even?
Maybe. And the other trailer, the Imperium, might be trying to establish some sort of – I don’t know – kingdom over nature.
I can see why you’d want to distinguish yourself from Tony; if movies and TV have taught me anything, it’s that he’s a PRIME target for a vendetta.