Full time 5th wheel living in NC - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Alissa · RV-Dreams Community Member

Full time 5th wheel living in NC

JonRV · RV-Dreams Family Member

Havent shopped there personally but have heard good things about Bill Plemmon's in Winston Salem. I just checked out their website and they seem to have a pretty good inventory of used 5th wheels.

As far as brands Jayco and Coachmen would be top of my list if I were looking for one today. When buying a used rig be sure to check the tires.
RV tires are notorious for looking good on the outside but tend to rot from the inside.

Congrats on going full time!

kb0zke · RV-Dreams Family Member

Welcome, Alissa. You've come to the right place. You will get lots of information, all of it intended to be helpful, and some of it contradictory. Just run everything through your own reality filters. You know best what specific needs and wants you have.

"Affordable" is a relative term, but buying an RV for full-time use is going to cost money. You will want a high quality coach, and you are wise to be considering a used one. You don't say how much RV experience you have, but many full-timers go through a few coaches before getting the right one. By buying used you will limit your losses when you trade.

As for brands, I'd suggest you start with these: DRV (originally called DoubleTree), Excel, Forks, New Horizons, Spacecraft, Teton. Excel and Teton have gone out of business, but both are still available. Forks and Spacecraft are strictly custom coaches, so they are kind of hard to find. DRV and New Horizons are readily available at all sorts of prices. Both companies do customizing for customers, so you are likely to see differences between two supposedly identical coaches.

You aren't likely to find any coaches without slides, unless you go really old. As you look at various floorplans, think about how you will be using your coach. You will be tempted to look at coaches with the slides out, but if one looks interesting to you have the sales person pull the slides in. You will be amazed at how the interior changes, and not for the better. On some floorplans, you can't get to the bathroom if a slide is in. On others, you can't get to the kitchen with slides in. When you are parked, and slides out, that isn't an issue, but on travel days it can make a difference.

PD CFK · RV-Dreams Family Member

What David said about the slides and being able to get to the bathroom is pretty important. On travel days, it's very inconvenient to have to put a slide out just to get to your facilities.
You didn't mention the price range you would be looking for. It would be good to spend a lot of time looking so that you learn more about 5th wheels and to find a floor plan that's comfortable for you. There is so much to learn, it takes a while to digest it. I have noticed that manufacturers are putting better grade tires on now. We had to upgrade the tires on our new 5th wheel within a year of buying

If we'd known about the cheap tires, we'd have made the upgrade part of the purchase deal. There are sites online that you can view units. One is MHSRV and another is PPL. I have not bought from them and cannot recommend, but at least you can see a wide variety of campers and coaches on those sites. I'm sure you will get other ideas from some of the other folks on RV-Dreams once they get around to posting to your request. Good luck and enjoy your travels. Pat K

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

Alissa you might want to contact Sherry (WestWardHo) about the rig she may still have for sale. Don't know what kind of floorplan you are looking for, but I can personally attest that it is an excellent well maintained rig with many awesome upgrades.

http://rv-dreams.activeboard.com/t58785120/2013-trilogy-5th-wheel-gmc-dually-truck-price-reduced-again/

It is located in AZ, but I feel it would be well worth the trip.

FWIW, Brian

-- Edited by biggaRView on Wednesday 18th of November 2015 07:31:21 PM

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Alissa,

First of all, welcome to the RV Dreams forums. You will find that the folks here are very helpful, friendly, and encouraging. Feel free to ask questions, and don't worry about "dumb" questions. There are no dumb questions if it answers your interest.

Also to consider, do you already have a pickup to pull the fifth wheel, or will you also be buying that? If you already have a pickup and don't want to upgrade to a bigger one, be sure and check to see how heavy of a fifth wheel you can pull with that truck. You want to know the GVWR (Gross Vehicular Weight Rating) of the trailer and then make sure that the GCVW (Gross Combined Vehicular Weight) of the truck will be more than the GVWR of the trailer and the weight of your truck when both are loaded with fuel, personal belongings, people, pets, etc.

What kinds of temperatures will you be experiencing where you will be, both long term and while traveling? If you will be in either very hot or very cold climates, you'll want to have a trailer capable of handling those temperatures. As an example, we have a Mobile Suites made by DRV Suites and have experienced temperatures between 115 degrees and -6 degrees and have been comfortable inside. We do supplement our heat with a couple of Lasko electric heaters and the electric fireplace in the coach. In summer, we supplement cooling with two Hunter oscillating fans to help circulate the air. With regards to both the Lasko heaters and the Hunter fans, one each is in the bedroom and in the living room area.

If you are considering something like the DRV models, Rolling Retreats in Oklahoma generally has some good ones. Alicia and Slade are the owners and primary employees of that dealership. It is literally a mom and pop dealership and they are very good with customer service, and they have a good reputation among the DRV owners. I'm not positive, but they might even deliver to where you want the trailer parked, if you don't happen to have a truck yet. Any of the DRV's or the other custom brands will need heavy trucks. Nothing less than a F350/3500 series truck, preferably with dual rear wheels.

Also, with regards to trucks, the GM and Dodge products have higher bed rails on their trucks, so with those brands, one might need to be sure one can raise things high enough at the bed to give plenty of clearance between the bed rails and the bottom of the overhang of the trailer. In some cases, in order to have the trailer tow level, one might even need to have the trailer raised at the frame.

Terry

TRAILERKING · RV-Dreams Family Member

biggaRView wrote:
Alissa you might want to contact Sherry (WestWardHo) about the rig she may still have for sale. Don't know what kind of floorplan you are looking for, but I can personally attest that it is an excellent well maintained rig with many awesome upgrades.
http://rv-dreams.activeboard.com/t58785120/2013-trilogy-5th-wheel-gmc-dually-truck-price-reduced-again/
It is located in AZ, but I feel it would be well worth the trip.
FWIW, Brian

-- Edited by biggaRView on Wednesday 18th of November 2015 07:31:21 PM

Hahaha.............Our new "Sales Rep".

What's your commission??? Haha

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

TRAILERKING wrote:
biggaRView wrote:
Alissa you might want to contact Sherry (WestWardHo) about the rig she may still have for sale. Don't know what kind of floorplan you are looking for, but I can personally attest that it is an excellent well maintained rig with many awesome upgrades.
http://rv-dreams.activeboard.com/t58785120/2013-trilogy-5th-wheel-gmc-dually-truck-price-reduced-again/
It is located in AZ, but I feel it would be well worth the trip.
FWIW, Brian

-- Edited by biggaRView on Wednesday 18th of November 2015 07:31:21 PM
Hahaha.............Our new "Sales Rep".
What's your commission??? Haha

Seriously, Bernie... You never tried to help out a friend? Shame on you. I get nothing except the knowledge that I helped her sell it if she still wishes it. I don't need anything else. The OP said they were looking for a used rig... I knew of a good one... is there anything else to say?

Apologies to everybody else for having to read through my response to a baseless accusation (even if it was only meant as a joke, and a bad one at that).

Brian

TRAILERKING · RV-Dreams Family Member

Whoa.............Hold on there.
Brian it was just a little comical jab and nothing more. No apologies needed....You are doin' right.
Sorry it came across to you as an accusation or insult. Maybe I just laugh different than others.

NWescapee · RV-Dreams Family Member

Brian - good for you, trying to help Sherry.

Having spent several hours in this particular Trilogy, playing cards, wrestling with Sadie (dog) as well as dining with Jesse & Sherry, I can also attest to the fact that their Trilogy is a good unit. My understanding is that Forest River has changed their manufacturing of the newer Trilogies, which is too bad. Sherry and Jesse had a LOT of upgrades with their Mor Ryde suspension, larger tires, satellite, etc. It's a great floor plan, very livable unit.

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

TRAILERKING wrote:
Whoa.............Hold on there.
Brian it was just a little comical jab and nothing more. No apologies needed....You are doin' right.
Sorry it came across to you as an accusation or insult. Maybe I just laugh different than others.

Apology accepted