01 What makes it unique
The 383FB pairs a rear lounge with a front bath suite. The back of the coach opens into a rear living area with swivel recliners; the central kitchen carries an island; and the front of the plan is given over to a private master bedroom with an en-suite full bath — a suite-first layout for couples who want a separated, hotel-style front bedroom. The full Cedar Creek build carries through across four slide-outs: the 101-inch widebody Z-frame, 3M-bonded fiberglass sidewalls, the Rhino Box hitch and Road Armor suspension.
It rides the heavier 18,000-pound-GVWR chassis. Forest River lists a published 18,000-pound GVWR against the 15,139-pound dry weight, leaving a 2,861-pound payload and a 3,015-pound dry pin — the highest pin of any plan in the line — on 8,000-pound axles. Dual Coleman MACH 8 15,000-BTU air conditioners, a 20-cubic-foot stainless refrigerator, a four-burner gas oven, a Suburban 60,000-BTU tankless water heater and a 200-watt solar package with a 1,000-watt inverter are standard, under a 21-foot awning.
At a starting MSRP around $142,000 it sits among the upper plans in the line. For a couple who wants a rear lounge and a genuinely private, en-suite front master — and who tows with a one-ton truck rated for the pin — the front-bath 383FB is the suite-focused Cedar Creek.
02 Full specifications
Dimensions
- Exterior length
- 42' 1"
- Exterior width
- 8' 5"
- Exterior height
- 13' 4"
- Interior height
- 8' 0"
Weights
- Dry / unit base weight (UVW)
- 15,139 lbs
- GVWR (max loaded)
- 18,000 lbs
- Net cargo / payload (CCC)
- 2,861 lbs
- Dry pin (hitch) weight
- 3,015 lbs
Capacities
- Fresh water
- 75 gal
- Grey water
- 82 gal
- Black water
- 41 gal
- Refrigerator
- 20 cu ft
Construction
- Frame
- Z-frame · 101" widebody
- Walls
- All-aluminum superstructure on 16" centers · 3M bonded fiberglass
- Roof
- AlphaPly™ TPO · limited-lifetime warranty
- Underbelly
- Heated front storage · 12V tank pads · ABS panels
Running gear
- Axles
- 2 (8,000 lb tandem)
- Hitch
- Fifth-wheel (in-bed) · 21,000-lb Rhino Box
- Suspension
- Road Armor™ · wet bolts · ABS brakes
- Tires
- Uniroyal™ on 8K axles
Galley & bath
- Cooktop
- 4-burner gas oven · pull-out pan drawer
- Refrigerator
- 20 cu ft
- A/C
- 30,000 BTU (dual Coleman MACH 8 15K)
- Water heater
- Suburban ST-60 · 60,000 BTU tankless
Sleeping & layout
- Sleeps
- 4
- Slides
- 4
- Entries
- 1
- Awnings
- 1 (21')
- Primary bed
- King
Verified specs, drawn to scale
Original graphics built from this floorplan’s own verified figures.
Loaded weight budget
Size, drawn to scale
Holding tanks
Drawn by this site from the verified figures above, never traced from a manufacturer drawing; a graphic is left out where its figure is not published. Full record: dataset.
What it takes to tow this
Built from this floorplan’s verified weights. We publish the trailer side only.
Truck tow ratings are not listed: one model varies by thousands of pounds across engine, axle ratio, cab and package. The loaded range is the 15–25% pin-weight convention for fifth wheels, applied to this plan’s 18,000 lb GVWR, not a measurement of this unit. Hitch class is not used as a rating (SAE J684 covers trailers to 10,000 lb GVWR); read the rating stamped on your hitch. On this plan the convention band’s low end fell below the published dry figure, so the range starts at the published dry weight instead — loaded is never lighter than dry.
03 The Cedar Creek floorplan family
Cedar Creek is Forest River's flagship full-size luxury fifth wheel and the first Forest River fifth wheel in this catalog — a direct rival to Keystone's Montana and Grand Design's Solitude. The 2027 fifth-wheel line runs to eight floorplans, and all eight are profiled here in full. The 383FB on this page is highlighted; each other plan links to its own page.
| Floorplan | Nominal | Sleeps | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|
| 290RL | 35 ft | 4 | Rear-living entry, lightest, biggest payload |
| 361RL | 40 ft | 4 | Rear-living couples, swivel recliners |
| 385RK | 42 ft | 4 | Rear kitchen, bath-and-a-half, outside TV |
| 383FB | 42 ft | 4 | Rear living + front bath suite |
| 390RKB | 43 ft | 8 | Rear kitchen + loft/bunk, family |
| 398FL | 43 ft | 4 | Front living, 5 slides, 65" TV |
| 380DB | 43 ft | 10 | Double bunk, dual entry, two full baths |
| 381MUD | 43 ft | 8 | Murphy bed + loft, bath-and-a-half |
Cedar Creek is Forest River's flagship full-size luxury fifth wheel and the natural Montana and Solitude cross-shop. The 2027 line runs to eight floorplans, all profiled here. Every plan rides on the same 101-inch widebody Z-frame chassis with an all-aluminum superstructure on 16-inch centers, 3M bonded fiberglass sidewalls, a 21,000-pound Rhino Box hitch, Road Armor suspension and a heated, enclosed front storage compartment, and ships with two 15,000-BTU Coleman MACH 8 air conditioners, a 20-cubic-foot stainless refrigerator, a 60,000-BTU tankless water heater, a residential kitchen island, 200-watt solar with a 1,000-watt inverter and a 72-by-80-inch king bed as standard. The lighter, sub-17,000-pound-GVWR plans run 7,000-pound axles; the four 18,000-pound-GVWR plans run 8,000-pound axles. Hitch weight, GVWR, UVW and CCC are published per plan on the Forest River factory pages, and each plan's UVW plus CCC equals its GVWR exactly. Real loaded pin weights run higher — always weigh the loaded coach and confirm against your truck's payload and rear-axle ratings.
04 Notes on this floorplan
Front bath suite
A private front master with an en-suite full bath — a separated, hotel-style front bedroom for couples.
Rear lounge + swivel recliners
A rear living area with swivel recliners and a central-island kitchen — a room-first couples’ layout.
Highest pin in the line
A 3,015-lb dry pin — the most of any profiled plan — demands careful attention to the truck’s rear axle and payload.
Wants a one-ton truck
At 42 feet on an 18,000-lb GVWR with 8K axles and the line’s highest pin, confirm a properly rated one-ton truck.
05 How it compares
The rear-kitchen flagship — a rear galley and a bigger grey tank instead of a front bath suite.
The front-living plan — a front lounge with five slides instead of a front master suite.
Keystone’s front-bath plan — the direct full-size-luxury-FW cross-shop.
06 Loading it for a trip
This floorplan carries its water comfortably. A full 75-gallon fresh tank is roughly 22% of the 2,861-pound cargo capacity, leaving the 383FB with a usable gear budget even when you tow full.
| Weight budget | Figure | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Cargo capacity as published (CCC) | 2,861 lb | Everything you add: gear, water, propane, batteries, food, people’s belongings. |
| Fresh tank filled (75 gal × 8.34 lb) | −626 lb | Water is the heaviest thing most owners add, and it is added first. |
| Cargo budget left with a full fresh tank | 2,235 lb | 22% of this plan’s capacity is spent before a single bag is loaded. |
| Per sleeping position, water aboard | 559 lb | A rough share of what is left across the 4 berths this plan sleeps. |
The published dry pin weight of 3,015 pounds is 20% of this floorplan’s 15,139-pound dry weight. Fifth-wheel pin weight rides in the bed of the truck, so it comes off payload rather than off tow rating — and it rises with the trailer as you load it, not in proportion to what you put over the axles.
Nothing above changes the ceiling. Loaded to its 18,000-pound GVWR the 383FB is towing 2,861 pounds more than its 15,139-pound dry figure, and that is the number your vehicle has to be rated for — not the brochure weight.
Tank balance is generous here: 75 gallons of fresh against 82 grey and 41 black, so waste capacity keeps pace with supply and the fresh tank is the constraint that ends a dry stay.
07 Where this floorplan sits
Ranked by GVWR, the 383FB sits 13 of 18 in the Cedar Creek line: 18,000 pounds against a line that runs from 14,350 to 18,115 pounds. That position is the useful thing to know, because the plans immediately either side of it are the real alternatives.
Either side of it in the same line: Cedar Creek 381MUD matches it exactly at 18,000 lb GVWR; and Cedar Creek 385RK matches it exactly at 18,000 lb GVWR.
4 other Cedar Creek plans share this floorplan’s 18,000 lb GVWR, so the ranking above separates plans that tow to the same ceiling. On a shared chassis the figure that actually differs between them is cargo capacity and where the weight sits, not the rating.
| Comparable fifth wheels | GVWR (lb) | Dry (lb) | Sleeps | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 383FB | 18,000 | 15,139 | 4 | 42 ft 1 in |
| Influence 3003RL | 18,000 | 12,500 | 4 | 34 ft 11 in |
| Montana 3100RL | 18,000 | 14,030 | 4 | 35 ft 11 in |
| Paradigm 375RD | 18,000 | 14,771 | 5 | 41 ft 9 in |
| Puma Grand Mesa 395FKL | 18,000 | 14,929 | — | 42 ft 7 in |
| Bighorn 38RE | 17,995 | 15,275 | 4 | 42 ft 6 in |
| North Point 382FLRB | 17,995 | 15,470 | 8 | 43 ft 10 in |
Against the 383FB: the Influence 3003RL is 7 ft shorter; the Montana 3100RL is 6 ft shorter; the Paradigm 375RD sleeps 1 more. Those are differences in the published numbers only — what they cost, how they are built and how they live are separate questions each of those pages answers on its own terms.
Those are the nearest fifth wheels from other lines by weight — one per line, picked by proximity on that figure and nothing else. They are listed so the same tow vehicle can be checked against real alternatives, not because they are equivalent inside; layout, build and price diverge sharply across that group.
For scale, the Cedar Creek floorplans profiled here run 11,244 to 15,429 pounds dry and 35 to 43 feet of exterior length across 18 plans. Where a floorplan falls in that spread usually says more about which vehicle can tow it, and which site it fits, than the layout name does.
Every profiled floorplan in this line, with the full weight table, is on the Cedar Creek line hub.
08 Common questions about the 383FB
How much does the 383FB weigh?
Its published dry weight is 15,139 lb and its GVWR is 18,000 lb, so 2,861 lb separates the empty trailer from its rated maximum. By GVWR it is the 6th-heaviest of the 18 Cedar Creek floorplans profiled here that publish a GVWR (14,350 lb to 18,115 lb). Size the tow vehicle to the 18,000 lb figure, not the dry one.
How much can the 383FB carry?
Cargo carrying capacity is 2,861 lb, 16% of the GVWR. Across the 307 fifth wheels on this site that publish both figures, the median share is 19%, so this plan sits 3 points below the median. A full 75-gallon fresh tank is about 626 lb of it (22%), because federal rule counts on-board water as cargo (49 CFR 571.120 S10.4.2). The yellow cargo-capacity label inside your own trailer’s entry door (49 CFR 571.120 S10.4.3) states the figure for that unit as delivered, options included, and it is the one that binds.
What is the pin weight of the 383FB?
The published dry pin weight is 3,015 lb, 20% of the dry weight. Across the 386 fifth wheels on this site that publish both figures, the median dry pin share is 19%, so this plan sits 1 point above the median. Loaded, it changes with where the cargo sits, and it is carried by the tow vehicle’s payload, not its tow rating.
What size tow vehicle does the 383FB need?
A tow rating of at least 18,000 lb, this floorplan’s GVWR, plus enough payload for the pin load, passengers and cargo. The dry pin weight alone takes 3,015 lb of that payload before anything is loaded. Payload is printed on the tire and loading placard on the tow vehicle’s driver-side door pillar (49 CFR 571.110 S4.3); this site lists no truck ratings because they vary by build.
How many people does the 383FB sleep?
It is rated to sleep 4. 3 of the 8 Cedar Creek floorplans profiled here that publish a count are rated for more. Rated positions include convertible furniture.
What are the tank capacities on the 383FB?
Fresh 75 gallons, grey 82 gallons, black 41 gallons. The smallest of the three is the black tank, at 41 gallons. Combined waste capacity is 123 gallons.
How long is the 383FB?
Exterior length is 42' 1". That makes it the 9th-longest of the 18 Cedar Creek floorplans profiled here that publish an exterior length (34 ft 7 in to 43 ft 5 in). Check it against campsite and storage length; the exterior figure includes the tongue or pin box.
Every figure in these answers is read from this page’s verified specification table. Where the manufacturer publishes nothing, the question is not answered rather than estimated.
09 What this page publishes, and what it does not
Named sources publish 18 of the 18 specification fields this catalogue tracks for the 383FB (98% complete on the full field set).
Not published for this floorplan: tire size (a tire description is published, a size is not). Those rows are left blank rather than copied from a sibling floorplan.
Sourcing rules: methodology.
11 NHTSA safety record
This floorplan belongs to the Cedar Creek line, and NHTSA holds 19 recall campaigns and 64 owner complaints against that line. They are separate records and are not added together — a recall is a manufacturer-confirmed defect with a remedy; a complaint is one owner’s account, which NHTSA does not verify.
What to look at on a used one. Across the 64 complaints filed on this line the most-reported components are tires (23%), suspension (20%) and equipment (19%). That is where owners of this family have had trouble, so it is where an inspection is worth the time.
Recall coverage is not complete — our harvest of NHTSA’s recall API ran 1,556 queries, of which 0 failed and 242 returned an explicit zero. A line can still be under-reported where NHTSA files a roster under a parent name, or where a match rests on the wording of the recall rather than its model field. Complaints come from the complete bulk file but are unverified and self-selected: a high count tracks how many units a line sold at least as much as how well it was built. Check a specific VIN at NHTSA before you buy. Full tables are on the Cedar Creek line page.