5th wheel quality compared to early 2000’s?

I've looked at new 5th wheels and I will take our 15 year old HH any day of the week but to keep one this old on the road it requires maintenance and upgrades. The biggest for outside appearance is removing the decals and painting them on.

Denny

Me Again wrote:

Careful, your park may find out your rig is more than 10 years old. Chris

Where we camp, this is not an issue. Plus, an older well maintained unit is evident.

larry barnhart wrote:
We are going on 17 winters in our2001 35 ft alpenlite and use it 6 months each winter season. Not wanting a newer fifth for any reason.

chevman

chevman, Alpenlite was one of the high end units of the time and we wanted one then, but couldn't afford it. By then time we could afford one, they were discontinued. I too would keep it as we are keeping ours. We're very happy with the quality of our unit. The only issues we deal with now are maintenance. Something that people like us deal with when we keep our units.

Me Again wrote:

larry barnhart wrote:
We are going on 17 winters in our2001 35 ft alpenlite and use it 6 months each winter season. Not wanting a newer fifth for any reason.

chevman

Careful, your park may find out your rig is more than 10 years old. Chris

When it was looked at last season the result came back PERFECT
Might not be back next season if the wife's surgery doesn't go well but set to be here on paper.

chevman

larry barnhart wrote:
We are going on 17 winters in our2001 35 ft alpenlite and use it 6 months each winter season. Not wanting a newer fifth for any reason.

chevman

Careful, your park may find out your rig is more than 10 years old. Chris

I “shudder” at the thought of “having to” purchase a NEW RV. I’m afraid that it would be “VERY” difficult to match or exceed our old 2004....at least under $200K! :)

We are going on 17 winters in our2001 35 ft alpenlite and use it 6 months each winter season. Not wanting a newer fifth for any reason.

chevman

My 08 Citation has a better undercarriage then my 03 Citation had but other than that it is the same mediocre quality. In spite of being mediocre I think Citation built a better 5th wheel than many manufacturers..... maybe that's why they went out of business. A lot of people complain about the junk being manufactured but few are willing to pay for quality so the high end manufacturers have nearly all been shut down. I was hoping to purchase a new Continental Coach in a few years and was very disappointed to hear they shutdown. I think New Horizon makes a fairly decent fiver. Mobile Suite or Luxe might be good enough and better value? Based on my Citation's dry weight of 13k for a length of 36 feet I wouldn't want anything any lighter.

I had a 1994 Terry (Fleetwood) and moved up to a 2011 Arctic Fox. There is no comparison in the quality (AF being far superior regarding frame, insulation, fit, finish, etc.). The "components" (AC, range, fridge, pumps, water heater, etc.) are made by other other companies. So, it's up to which mfr the brand goes with. The better quality comes at a price - besides purchase price. In my case, the trailer is way heavier despite being shorter in length. That said, were I to be shopping for a new 5er today, another AF would be atop the list.

We just bought a 2017 Kz Durango Gold G384FLT this past year, traded in our old 2006 Coachman Chappy DS277, we feel the materials are better an this trailer is far better insulated. We moved up from 33ft long weighting at 12k loaded to 40ft long 14k loaded an the new 5th wheel pulls far better than the old one ...

We have had only minor problems with the trailer now with over 9000 miles on it seems to be still solid ... We will see since we are planing on another long trip across the county this summer an along with some week day camp outs with our Good Sam camping group before hand :)