Advice for green newbies
Hello all, My wife and I are selling our home and going to live full time in a fifth wheel. I have disabilities and my wife had open heart surgery a year ago at age 46. The upkeep of a house and ya...
Forum Discussion
Your welcome,
Friend has one too. It is back in the shop for another turbo to the tune of 2K. If I remember right, your Ford in those years had a 9900 GVWR. With the diesel the truck usually scaled ready to go around 8000 pounds. Leaving you a scant 1900 pounds for hitch, fuel, passangers and personal stuff. Even with a 12K GVWR that trailer will carry far more than the dry listed pin of 1600 pounds guaranteed! My 35 foot Cedar Creek loaded ready to travel scales at 13,500 pounds with a 13,750 GVWR. Yea, I travel loaded, but I also have a 3000 pound pin weight. Looking strictly at the dry specs, my 2500 D/A should have handled it easily. Yea right! Loaded ready to travel the truck was 1800 pounds overloaded. There was nothing I could do to change that. So after three years of worry and countless dollars trying to make a silk purse out of it I bit the bullet and bought what I should have bought 3 years earlier, a dually. Towing is day and night difference.
BTW, do not skimp on living space just trying to accomodate your undersized truck. You eventually will hate your mistakes. As a basic example,have you considered how or where your going to do laundry? Sitting in a laundrymat for several hours a couple times a week is not my idea of retirement. I know lots of folks do it, but.....
Another consideration, can you use the toilet easily and comfortably? How about a shower? Is making a meal easy or a choir in your chosen floor plan? Flior plans that might be OK for a weekend can become a bad experience when living full time in it. Go get rid of the salesman and play house in the model you think you like for 30 minutes or so. Try making the bed, sitting on the toilet, pretend your making a meal. Where are you going to store extra clothes, the outside BBQ? Well you get the idea. Each of you make a list of likes and dislikes,and compare them.
Expenses and exit plans are paramount in your decisions, but so is a floor plan you can comfortably live in for months at a time.
Friend has one too. It is back in the shop for another turbo to the tune of 2K. If I remember right, your Ford in those years had a 9900 GVWR. With the diesel the truck usually scaled ready to go around 8000 pounds. Leaving you a scant 1900 pounds for hitch, fuel, passangers and personal stuff. Even with a 12K GVWR that trailer will carry far more than the dry listed pin of 1600 pounds guaranteed! My 35 foot Cedar Creek loaded ready to travel scales at 13,500 pounds with a 13,750 GVWR. Yea, I travel loaded, but I also have a 3000 pound pin weight. Looking strictly at the dry specs, my 2500 D/A should have handled it easily. Yea right! Loaded ready to travel the truck was 1800 pounds overloaded. There was nothing I could do to change that. So after three years of worry and countless dollars trying to make a silk purse out of it I bit the bullet and bought what I should have bought 3 years earlier, a dually. Towing is day and night difference.
BTW, do not skimp on living space just trying to accomodate your undersized truck. You eventually will hate your mistakes. As a basic example,have you considered how or where your going to do laundry? Sitting in a laundrymat for several hours a couple times a week is not my idea of retirement. I know lots of folks do it, but.....
Another consideration, can you use the toilet easily and comfortably? How about a shower? Is making a meal easy or a choir in your chosen floor plan? Flior plans that might be OK for a weekend can become a bad experience when living full time in it. Go get rid of the salesman and play house in the model you think you like for 30 minutes or so. Try making the bed, sitting on the toilet, pretend your making a meal. Where are you going to store extra clothes, the outside BBQ? Well you get the idea. Each of you make a list of likes and dislikes,and compare them.
Expenses and exit plans are paramount in your decisions, but so is a floor plan you can comfortably live in for months at a time.
