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chops1sc's avatar
chops1sc
Explorer II
Jul 13, 2015

Hello from South Carolina!

My parents recently decided to give my wife and I their 1995 Coachmen Catalina 23' 5th wheel camper! We were thinking about buying a camper and they told us they wanted to downsize and that they knew that wouldn't hardly get anything for it if they sold it. So here we are with our "new" camper!



My dad included the hitch in the deal, all I had to do was buy a set of rails. I got a custom installation kit from etrailer for $300 and installed it myself.



My truck is a 2011 Silverado 1500 LTZ Crew Cab with the "HD trailering package" that boosts the max trailer weight to 9,600lbs. The camper lists at 5,810lbs. I hope the truck will be able to pull it without issues.

We are looking forward to going camping!
  • Mr__Camper's avatar
    Mr__Camper
    Explorer
    Jul 14, 2015
    Jebby14 wrote:
    what about them? how is the age of my rig in any way related to them? leaking black/gray tanks or propane or something fine. but that's not age that's condition.


    Again, their park, their rules. Lots of campgrounds have them. We've run into campgrounds that only allow coaches, don't allow kids, don't allow certain breeds of dogs, number of pets, length of stay, etc. It is what it is.
  • Jebby14's avatar
    Jebby14
    Explorer
    Jul 14, 2015
    what about them? how is the age of my rig in any way related to them? leaking black/gray tanks or propane or something fine. but that's not age that's condition.
  • Mr__Camper's avatar
    Mr__Camper
    Explorer
    Jul 14, 2015
    Jebby14 wrote:
    djgarcia wrote:
    Jebby14 wrote:
    any place that limits rigs to 10 years new is no place I want to camp. ill spend my money elsewhere


    The 10 year Rule does mean your automatically excluded from registering at a RV Park. It just means that they will want to do a general overall inspection of your RV before they will let you register. In one case, they just had a staff person come out and do a "Walk Around" look see if the RV has any major issues i.e. cracked fenders, wires hanging down under the rig where they shouldn't, large areas of rust, major dents or broken parts. Some parks also have a min. length of a RV i.e. 26'.


    my tent is 60 years old. my camper is 24, my boat is 45 ish, my tow vehicle is 13 and im willing to bed $ to donuts that all are in better condition than half of the 9 year old rigs sitting in the fields waiting to be used.

    I paid my fee if I want to camp in a porta jon I will


    Hey think about your neighbors.
  • Jebby14's avatar
    Jebby14
    Explorer
    Jul 14, 2015
    djgarcia wrote:
    Jebby14 wrote:
    any place that limits rigs to 10 years new is no place I want to camp. ill spend my money elsewhere


    The 10 year Rule does mean your automatically excluded from registering at a RV Park. It just means that they will want to do a general overall inspection of your RV before they will let you register. In one case, they just had a staff person come out and do a "Walk Around" look see if the RV has any major issues i.e. cracked fenders, wires hanging down under the rig where they shouldn't, large areas of rust, major dents or broken parts. Some parks also have a min. length of a RV i.e. 26'.


    my tent is 60 years old. my camper is 24, my boat is 45 ish, my tow vehicle is 13 and im willing to bed $ to donuts that all are in better condition than half of the 9 year old rigs sitting in the fields waiting to be used.

    I paid my fee if I want to camp in a porta jon I will
  • ken56's avatar
    ken56
    Explorer
    Jul 14, 2015
    Did you do a bearing repack and check the brakes when you got the tires? Ready to roll is good but stopping is important too. Very nice of mom and dad to give you their trailer. Looks good too and like others have said..... if they want you to prove your 10 yr old unit isn't dilapidated then find another CG. You do need to find the pin weight and then after you get loaded up for a trip you need to visit the scales to know exactly you weight numbers. Payload and rear axle weight rating are your important numbers. Now go have fun.
  • MarkTwain's avatar
    MarkTwain
    Explorer
    Jul 14, 2015
    Jebby14 wrote:
    any place that limits rigs to 10 years new is no place I want to camp. ill spend my money elsewhere


    The 10 year Rule does mean your automatically excluded from registering at a RV Park. It just means that they will want to do a general overall inspection of your RV before they will let you register. In one case, they just had a staff person come out and do a "Walk Around" look see if the RV has any major issues i.e. cracked fenders, wires hanging down under the rig where they shouldn't, large areas of rust, major dents or broken parts. Some parks also have a min. length of a RV i.e. 26'.
  • chops1sc's avatar
    chops1sc
    Explorer II
    Jul 13, 2015
    Thanks everyone! After giving it a good wash and getting new tires it is pretty much ready to go. I want to replace the vinyl trim that goes along the edge and get a set of tire covers to keep the sun off them as much as possible.
  • Jebby14's avatar
    Jebby14
    Explorer
    Jul 13, 2015
    any place that limits rigs to 10 years new is no place I want to camp. ill spend my money elsewhere
  • Mr__Camper's avatar
    Mr__Camper
    Explorer
    Jul 13, 2015
    To echo, it looks extremely well kept. Some campgrounds keep out RV's older than 10 years. Be sure to send them a photo when you make the reservation to allay their fears of a 20 year old rig. Happy Camping.

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