Newbies seeking guidance! Where to start????
Hi everyone My wife and I recently took a road trip from Mobile, AL to Victoria, B.C. 7183 miles round trip in 21 days via Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite,Yellowstone, etc, etc. We stayed in hotels a...
Forum Discussion
These requests always get complicated.
For my $0.02, I'd offer the following:
- You need to decide if you are going to go by the manufacturer's ratings or not. You'll find many on this forum that advocate either side of that issue. For me, I suggest staying within the Manufacturer's GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) and GCVWR (Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating). I'm sure it won't be long before someone says you don't need to worry about those, but that's my advice. This forum can provide lots of detailed information, but "GVWR" will be the weight of your truck loaded up PLUS the pin weight of the 5th wheel. GCVWR will be the total weight of the 5th wheel and truck combined.
- Again, you asked for advice: the trailering guide is worthless IMO. It is based on a bare bones no option truck. I pulled a 16K 5th wheel with a F350 and that felt about right. I currently own a the 2010 version of your truck and pull lots of equipment trailers with it (No RV currently) and I wouldn't use it to pull a 15K 5th wheel.
- I would suggest that you rent a "Class C" motorhome for trip or several. See how you like setting up, breaking down, see whether you want to go to a new place every day or stay in one place for several days. While a Class C is not a 5th wheel, they can be easily rented and this will expose you to some of the aspects of RV'ng (RV parks, facilities in an RV, hooking up hoses, etc) without incurring significant costs and without throwing additional challenges (trailer pulling, backing, loading) all at once.
- Think through why you are getting a 5th wheel (nothing wrong with that, but it's a big jump from nothing to a 5th wheel). My advice is to think it through and I'm not necessarily advocating changing since many people ultimately end up with circa 35 ft 5th wheel, but why a 5th wheel and not a travel trailer?
- Consider how "luxurious" you want your travel to be: the "RV'ng" lifestyle covers a broad range. Minimalistic to having everything under the sun. More amenities and more stuff taken with you leads to bigger trailers (= heavier adn more expensive).
- Just me, but without changing the truck, I'd probably suggest a circa 28' higher-end travel trailer rather than a 5th wheel.
For my $0.02, I'd offer the following:
- You need to decide if you are going to go by the manufacturer's ratings or not. You'll find many on this forum that advocate either side of that issue. For me, I suggest staying within the Manufacturer's GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) and GCVWR (Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating). I'm sure it won't be long before someone says you don't need to worry about those, but that's my advice. This forum can provide lots of detailed information, but "GVWR" will be the weight of your truck loaded up PLUS the pin weight of the 5th wheel. GCVWR will be the total weight of the 5th wheel and truck combined.
- Again, you asked for advice: the trailering guide is worthless IMO. It is based on a bare bones no option truck. I pulled a 16K 5th wheel with a F350 and that felt about right. I currently own a the 2010 version of your truck and pull lots of equipment trailers with it (No RV currently) and I wouldn't use it to pull a 15K 5th wheel.
- I would suggest that you rent a "Class C" motorhome for trip or several. See how you like setting up, breaking down, see whether you want to go to a new place every day or stay in one place for several days. While a Class C is not a 5th wheel, they can be easily rented and this will expose you to some of the aspects of RV'ng (RV parks, facilities in an RV, hooking up hoses, etc) without incurring significant costs and without throwing additional challenges (trailer pulling, backing, loading) all at once.
- Think through why you are getting a 5th wheel (nothing wrong with that, but it's a big jump from nothing to a 5th wheel). My advice is to think it through and I'm not necessarily advocating changing since many people ultimately end up with circa 35 ft 5th wheel, but why a 5th wheel and not a travel trailer?
- Consider how "luxurious" you want your travel to be: the "RV'ng" lifestyle covers a broad range. Minimalistic to having everything under the sun. More amenities and more stuff taken with you leads to bigger trailers (= heavier adn more expensive).
- Just me, but without changing the truck, I'd probably suggest a circa 28' higher-end travel trailer rather than a 5th wheel.
