Bought the 5th last spring, greatly enjoyed it the past summer, and expect to use it a lot in the coming years.Our northern area is known for the depths of snow (feet!) and cold (-30!) over the long winter. With retirement approaching, we'd love to head to southern areas for one or two longer (3-4 weeks) trips over the winter, as well as heavy use during the warmer months.Currently, no plans to leave our permanent residence. We do not have the ability to keep the unit on site, so need to rent storage space for it when not in use.The current storage (from our dealer) is on a month-to-month as available basis. They are willing to pull it out, and even assist with snow/ice removal (I assume for a fee) if we want to go somewhere, say in January. We'd be looking at a minimum 2 day drive before we get to climates where we could even think about actually getting it back into service (depending on weather, of course).What alternatives can you suggest or have you done? Find indoor storage (I assume rare and expensive)? Plan trips so it can be stored in a warmer area of the country, and drive a couple of days to get it? Or are there other suggested ways to get more year-round use of it? Thanks for any and all advice!

We are in NH. We store on our property. Fairly easy to load the trailer. We leave late Dec or early Jan., depending on weather windows along our planned route. Weather is usually not too terrible that time of the year.This year the polar vortex raised havoc with our trip. Mostly with icing the slide covers. But went through 8 20 # tanks of propane in a week and a half.We are retired, and head to south Florida usually. But occasionally go out west, too. Return in April or May.Next year we will leave in Oct.

You could tow it while winterized until you get to warmer climate. Springerize when you get there. Small inconvenience for a couple of days.

We live in Minnesota and in the past we’ve pulled out after the Holidays to get someplace warm. We needed to drive 2-4 days south before we could de-winterize, depending on the year. On past RV’s we found that the chemicals that are put on our roads to de-ice them did lots of damage to our RV. When we bought our present rig we found an inside storage lot in Little Rock, Arkansas. Each fall we make a trip to Little Rock and put our trailer away. We pay $1,100 for 3 months.We’ve eliminated the rust and corrosion damage and Little Rock is a good central location, if we want to head to Florida or out west.

I guess we have a somewhat similar situation. Many miles between home & where we want to be. We live in Bermuda. Our truck & trailer are stored in MD. To get them is a full day of travel. Fly Bermuda to Miami or NY then on to Baltimore. From there is at least an hour shuttle ride to the town that the unit is near. By now it is too late to get it out of storage so it is a hotel for the night & get it the next day. 24 hours from door of our house to door of our trailer.You do what you have to do to make it happen.You might want to do something simmilar or if the truck is needed as a daily driver at home just store the trailer where it is warm & do a few long days drive to get it.

Leave home with the trailer winterized and dewinterize it when you get someplace where it's warm enough. Dewinterizing should be about an hour job so it wouldn't interfere with a days travel by much. Before we had the heated tanks we would dewinterize in Oklahoma after leaving home with antifreeze in the lines. Now with the heated tanks we dewinterize at home, turn on the heaters and head south. Any way you get there is't GREAT.Good luck / Skip

Strategies for snowbirding.... | Good Sam Community

ventrman
Explorer
Jan 21, 2014
Our Circumstance is a little Different from yours. our 5th Wheel is our only Home. We do not have a S&B House. Right now we are wintering in Tennessee. We are Fulltimers. We are planning on heading to Savannah, GA for a Month this spring. After that we plan on heading up the East Coast, Culminating in New Hampshire. Afterwards, we plan on heading South for the Winter. We will probably Winter in South Texas. My Strategy for Winterizing the 5th Wheel, is to head South.
Traveler_II
Explorer
Jan 20, 2014
This might be a Minnesota thing, but if we pulled out during winter and turned the furnace on while we heading south we would get condensation build up on the inside. It’s why we would wait until we got someplace warmer. Most years we come home in April and we’ve always winterized before we get home.
Flapper
Explorer
Jan 20, 2014
Thanks all. I hadn't considered the problem of salt damage. Ish. I was thinking along the lines of unburying it from mounds of snow and ice on and around it, if I store somewhere where there is no service for that. Especially if it is a period of the temps being in the single digits.
Dewinterizing should not be too much of an issue. Rewinterizing on the road if we come back before spring....hmmm, I may need to pack a compressor.
Peg_Leg
Explorer
Jan 20, 2014
Until I got to the point of heading south for months and not days the rig would just stay in place. My rig sat outside but all I had to do was carry things 30 ft to load it. I figured it was to much strain on cold parts and I didn't want to re-winterize it for just a long weekend. My rig was in cold temps but nowhere near being Minnesota froze.
Vulcaneer
Explorer
Jan 19, 2014
Sorry....Daaable post.
Vulcaneer
Explorer
Jan 19, 2014
We winterize at home, in such a way that it doesn't take anything to De-Winterize. We do use compressed air and also Antifreeze. We fill the lines and drain pipes with A/F. But do NOT put any A/F in the tanks, and water heater.

When we get to a warmer climate we hook the city water and open the low point drains, and run the faucets for a few minutes after the pink has run out. Then I open the water heater drain and run water in there until it runs clear. Tighten the drain and fill the water heater. Then put about 20 gallons in the fresh water tank.

Done. About 20 minutes.

De-Winterizing you only need to worry about incoming water. Not the drain side. Or the toilet. The secret to quick and clean De-Winterizing, is to make sure you winterize in a way that makes de-winterizing quick and clean.
Michelle_S
Explorer III
Jan 19, 2014
While not a recommendation, many do it, including us the first winter. De-winterize and run the furnace on a low setting during the first and second days travel if needed.
skipnchar
Explorer
Jan 19, 2014
Leave home with the trailer winterized and dewinterize it when you get someplace where it's warm enough. Dewinterizing should be about an hour job so it wouldn't interfere with a days travel by much. Before we had the heated tanks we would dewinterize in Oklahoma after leaving home with antifreeze in the lines. Now with the heated tanks we dewinterize at home, turn on the heaters and head south. Any way you get there is't GREAT.
Good luck / Skip
Veebyes
Explorer II
Jan 19, 2014
I guess we have a somewhat similar situation. Many miles between home & where we want to be.

We live in Bermuda. Our truck & trailer are stored in MD. To get them is a full day of travel. Fly Bermuda to Miami or NY then on to Baltimore. From there is at least an hour shuttle ride to the town that the unit is near. By now it is too late to get it out of storage so it is a hotel for the night & get it the next day. 24 hours from door of our house to door of our trailer.

You do what you have to do to make it happen.

You might want to do something simmilar or if the truck is needed as a daily driver at home just store the trailer where it is warm & do a few long days drive to get it.
Traveler_II
Explorer
Jan 19, 2014
We live in Minnesota and in the past we’ve pulled out after the Holidays to get someplace warm. We needed to drive 2-4 days south before we could de-winterize, depending on the year. On past RV’s we found that the chemicals that are put on our roads to de-ice them did lots of damage to our RV. When we bought our present rig we found an inside storage lot in Little Rock, Arkansas. Each fall we make a trip to Little Rock and put our trailer away. We pay $1,100 for 3 months.

We’ve eliminated the rust and corrosion damage and Little Rock is a good central location, if we want to head to Florida or out west.