Fifth-Wheel Longevity?

3273 nights for us on our 2001 and a rebuild of a spring hanger next month.

chevman

Lots of variables starting with the unit itself. Generally you gets what you pays for. New is not necessarily the way to go either. Better buy a newish upper end builder than a new mid market for same money.

We have a now 12 year old Alpenlite. It now has an estimated 150,000 miles & 1800 nights spent in it. It has required the services of professionals only 3 times. A rebuild of spring hanger areas to upgrade them. Installation of a fridge. A full brake service. All other repairs & maintenance, & we have had our share, done by owner. Very important.

It enjoys 7 months of indoor storage & a good cleaning followed by 2 days worth of waxing a year. It looks very good for its age.

There is no 'itch' to sell & get something else. At this rate it should be good for another 10 years at this level of care.

I would imagine that full timing in limited locations versus constant travel would be a huge variable. We use our 5th wheel as a cabin with very limited miles per year.

Thank you everyone for the great reponses and advice. So consensus seems to be that a 10-15 year time frame, with good maintenance, is a reasonable assumption.

This will help with our long term financial planning so thank you all.

We do have some experience with dozens of 2-3 week trips and a couple of 8 week trips as well. We rented a variety of RVs to see what woudl work for us.

Great advice on a one year break-in period too. We will definitely plan on that.

Having owned two fifth wheels now and also full timing for the last 18 months, I would say the rule of thumb is 10 years, but there are so many variables you cannot boil it down to a single number. How much maintenance you are willing to do yourself or pay for, aesthetics, new features being offered on the newer models, rough use, workmanship of the manufacture, etc., etc.

Dutchmensport wrote:

In other words, you REALLY need to own the camper a good year before hitting the road permanently for all these reasons. That year will flush out defect issues. It will give you a year to really know your rig, it's limitations, it's strengths and weaknesses. By aggressively traveling over that year and having a home to come back to, will provide a place to do those fixes and changes to make your rig more comfortable and road-worthy for longevity.

Over that first year, you'll learn a lot, especially if you camp as much as you can and make an effort to "experiment" with all kinds of camping styles: State, Federal, National Parks, Private campgrounds, boondock, WalMart overnighting style, full hook-up sites, and minimum hook-up sites

Very Good advice above, Not sure I have ever heard it put quite that way.
But his Dutchman's advice is accurate and based on experience.
It applies to many RV camping topics and is the key to successful RV'ing.

We feel our air hitch and air on the fifth suspension helps for longer life of the alpenlite.

chevman

They can be kept going pretty much forever...but eventually it's cheaper to replace than to repair.

We replaced 20yr old trailer last year as it was time to redo the roof and for a little more, we could get a 10yr old model. Other than the roof (no rot just the rubber surface starting to fail), everything worked fine and was in good condition.

not a brand picture but looks the same chevman

larry barnhart wrote:
We have used ouur 2001 35 ft alpenlite for 6 months each winter with a few long trips before arriving and again this october. Maintenance is the key for us and having a quality rv with good care is how we feel about ours.

chevman

It’s a beauty! Literally looks brand new. Please post a pic.