New to group and will be new to RV sometime next year - RV-Dreams Community Forum

vannchan · RV-Dreams Family Member

New to group and will be new to RV sometime next year

LarryW21 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Welcome! Why not rent a couple of different RVs to see what you like best?

vannchan · RV-Dreams Family Member

Renting a couple of them to try out would help us more if we were trying to decide if we want a fifth wheel. We have decided that and are now trying to choose between two models which potentially satisfies one, particular desire. The one we are leaning most towards has a den in the middle and it contains a desk surface on half a wall with a cabinet with drawers taking up the other half. Our plan would be to use it like an office for the computer and printers, plus it would be less distracting for me when she is watching her shows on the tv. Our other thought to satisfy the office need would be to get a toy hauler with a smaller garage. That does have potential, except the living area is not as nice feeling as the other one. But it is an option we are considering. I am fairly sure we will pick the first one as that is one she feels most at home in, but it isn't quite set in stone yet. Soon, I imagine. We have seen a lot and made quite a few decisions lately and I know this one will fall into place when and where it needs to. I am looking forward to the whole process, knowing that what lays at the end will make it worth it.

RonC · RV-Dreams Family Member

Selecting the 5th wheel first is a good choice. Then you will know how much truck to get. If you are going to be full time, expect to have a trailer that weighs 1,000 - 2,000 lbs more than the published GVWR. Using that higher number, plan on a pin weight that is about 22% of the higher total weight. These estimates will give you a conservative approach ... buy a truck that will have all weight ratings exceed your needs by 20%. Pay the most attention to your truck's REAR AXLE WEIGHT RATING (RAWR) as that is the one that is most often exceeded. Do not listen to the trailer salesmen as they likely do not know what they are talking about. Good luck!

vannchan · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks for the info. I am looking at a Ford F350, 6.7 Powerstroke, DRW, long bed. Based on your suggestions with the numbers, the truck should have plenty of capacity.

RonC · RV-Dreams Family Member

vannchan wrote:
Thanks for the info. I am looking at a Ford F350, 6.7 Powerstroke, DRW, long bed. Based on your suggestions with the numbers, the truck should have plenty of capacity.

I think you are on the right track. If you go with the F350 just a reminder that in 2015 they upped the HP and Torque but most importantly, they added an effective exhaust brake which is a big help in control going downhill in the mountains. Ram and GM have had good exhaust brakes before 2015. So if going with the Ford stick with 2015 or newer.

-- Edited by RonC on Wednesday 12th of April 2017 05:43:03 PM

-- Edited by RonC on Wednesday 12th of April 2017 06:29:15 PM

RonC · RV-Dreams Family Member

I said:

"If you are going to be full time, expect to have a trailer that weighs 1,000 - 2,000 lbs more than the published GVWR."

It has been suggested that I am implying that it is OK to be overweight. That is not what I said or meant. It is NOT OK to be overweight, but it is possible to find yourself in that situation. So my point is to allow for that possibility when you select your truck. Hopefully this clears up my intentions.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Welcome, John. My wife and I did just as you are considering in that we purchased our fifth wheel in 2010 and moved into it in 2011 while we still had 3 years to go to retirement. Living in Oklahoma City at the time and aware of the temperatures we were likely to encounter, we selected a fiver with good "R" ratings. Since we moved into ours, we have experienced temperatures ranging from 115 degrees down to -6 degrees and have been comfortable inside. With our outside water line heated with heat tape, our only issue at zero degrees or below was that the hot water line from the manifold to the kitchen sink wanted to freeze up. Being PEX line, nothing broke. We lived in Colorado for 20 months (where we experienced the -6 degrees) and now we are in Oregon, where it doesn't get quite so cold, but we have seen it get down to about 20 degrees at night. Here, we didn't use heat tape this last winter, but did wrap the hoses in two different sizes of foam insulation (1 inch and 4 inch foam tubes) and at the 20 degrees, we did lose water, but no breakage of hoses.

Being that we lived for 3 years before retiring, we were still close to our selling dealer and another that became friends of ours, and they both helped us with issues that I was uncertain about or incapable of doing. You might find a similar advantage for yourself.

Good luck with your planning and research.

Terry

vannchan · RV-Dreams Family Member

RonC,

I appreciate your advice. I believe you were just advising me to make sure my truck has enough safety margin for towing. I generally think in a lot of areas it is better to have more than enough to handle what you believe you'll need.

-- Edited by vannchan on Sunday 16th of April 2017 08:56:47 PM

vannchan · RV-Dreams Family Member

Terry and Jo wrote:
Welcome, John. My wife and I did just as you are considering in that we purchased our fifth wheel in 2010 and moved into it in 2011 while we still had 3 years to go to retirement. ...

Terry,

It is good for us to hear from someone who did what we are planning on. I have been reading quite a bit in the forum and it is very interesting and enlightening to read other about other people's experiences, the different approaches to issues, and the different outlooks on it all. We live in Fort Worth, so the heat we have to put up with. It doesn't often get down to the teens here, but once in a while it does. So until we become mobile (once I retire) our A/C system will get a decent workout a few months of the year.

Oregon and Washington are two states I am sure we will go to within the first two years of casting off. Do you get much snow to speak of where you are in Oregon? I have visited Washington in the summer/fall for business conferences but have not been anywhere near there in winter.

RonC · RV-Dreams Family Member

vannchan wrote:
RonC,
I appreciate your advice. I believe you were just advising me to make sure my truck has enough safety margin for towing. I generally think in a lot of areas it is better to have more than enough to handle what you believe you'll need.

-- Edited by vannchan on Sunday 16th of April 2017 08:56:47 PM

That was exactly what I was doing ... glad you understood and that will help keep you and your family safe when you travel.

Dave and Denise · RV-Dreams Family Member

John, welcome to the forum. It has been invaluable to us as we started out as complete novices last year. I see your considering a F-350 and I am not here to start a debate about choosing a vehicle. Staying with Ford, I would only suggest that you also take a look at the F-450 if you haven't already.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

vannchan wrote:
Terry and Jo wrote:
Welcome, John. My wife and I did just as you are considering in that we purchased our fifth wheel in 2010 and moved into it in 2011 while we still had 3 years to go to retirement. ...

Terry,

It is good for us to hear from someone who did what we are planning on. I have been reading quite a bit in the forum and it is very interesting and enlightening to read other about other people's experiences, the different approaches to issues, and the different outlooks on it all. We live in Fort Worth, so the heat we have to put up with. It doesn't often get down to the teens here, but once in a while it does. So until we become mobile (once I retire) our A/C system will get a decent workout a few months of the year.

Oregon and Washington are two states I am sure we will go to within the first two years of casting off. Do you get much snow to speak of where you are in Oregon? I have visited Washington in the summer/fall for business conferences but have not been anywhere near there in winter.

John,

Sorry for the late reply. As for where we are in Oregon, the most I think we saw this last Winter was something like 3 inches in one snowfall. Perhaps a total of 6 to 8 inches all winter. Mostly though, we deal with rain in our location. Our elevation is only around 1200 to 1300 feet and it wasn't unusual to see snow on the peaks of the low mountains around us, but none here in the valley where we are located. To give you a sense of the differences in the mountains here, below is a picture taken from the place we are living and working as volunteers. Oh, and this is near Grants Pass, Oregon, which is in the Southwestern part of the state.

I'm not really knowledgeable about the aspects of the weather for both Oregon and Washington, but I think one will find more rain along the coast of both states, and Washington might even get more rain than Oregon. In our travels to Colorado and then again to here, we were and have been told that the weather was unusual in that we got more rain than normal. Maybe we are rain-makers? One of the volunteers that helps out here at the Ranch keeps track of rainfall at his home towards Medford, OR. Where this area normally got about 50 inches of rain over the winter and towards the end of May, we had 50 inches already in February or March.

Terry