Arctic fox 27 5L options

[Tibbs54]

We are newbies in The RV world. Never had one and would like to seek help from all you experts on what, in your opinion, are the must-have options. For any 5th wheel is great, but we are purchasing the Arctic Fox 27 5L if anyone can comment on that specific model's options. What are things you are thankful you spent the extra money for? I'm just beginning to build our list and am just looking for thoughts and opinions from you all to help on that path. Thanks so much in advance for your advice.

The dealer has listed these as "standard build options":
Additional fan vent in bedroom
Mor/ryde pin box
Thermal pane windows
Air hide-a-bed with pillows
Fan vent with remote/Tstat/rain sensor
Powered sliding stab jacks, rear
Travel'R awning adj pitch hardware
6v batteries

We want solar and the Thomas Payne sofa 68" w/air mattress 54x74
Is a 10 cubic foot refrigerator worth the $893 in your opinion? Seems it is included on a lot of the 5th wheels on the dealer's lot
Generator? (Is this better to buy after market?)
Awning toppers?
15k air conditioning with ducting?
Vent in bathrooms?
Central vac system.
Storm windows?
Holding tank heat pads?
50 amp service?
4 point leveling system?
6 point leveling system?
Road trip sat (dish/direct) (HD sat... Call for options)?
Winegard satellite / TV antenna combo?
BBQ grill with bracket?
Rear view camera?

[avvidclif1]

Tibbs54 wrote:


The dealer has listed these as "standard build options":
Additional fan vent in bedroom
Mor/ryde pin box
Thermal pane windows If the dual pane definitely
Air hide-a-bed with pillows Nah, PITA to put up and down
Fan vent with remote/Tstat/rain sensor Ok
Powered sliding stab jacks, rear YES
Travel'R awning adj pitch hardware ????
6v batteries Depends on type of camping.
Generator? Get the Gen Prep
Awning toppers? Jury's out
15k air conditioning with ducting? Yes, no doubt
Vent in bathrooms? Yes
Central vac system. No
Storm windows? ??? Dual Pane???
Holding tank heat pads? In Colorado, YES
50 amp service? Definitely
4 point leveling system? Probably not
6 point leveling system? Same
Road trip sat (dish/direct) (HD sat... Call for options)? Nah
Winegard satellite / TV antenna combo? ????
BBQ grill with bracket? I put mine on the picnic table
Rear view camera? Maybe

All listed are my personal preferences. If you're heading south in the summer get another AC and have it tied into the duct and thermostat. On the Gen Prep you don't have to add the genny if you don't want to but having it ready to go is nice if you decide you need one. On the leveling system; On mine when I get the truck unhitched I'm halfway there as I level side-to-side first, unhitch and then front to back is easy. The leveling system does add stability for those who don't like a little shaking, doesn't bother us. Satellite?? I have a tripod and it doesn't take long to set up. I guess a lot depends on how much time you are going to spend in the camper. We go camping to get out and about not sit in the trailer and look at TV. I can do that at home.

Bottom line, if your pockets are real deep get everything otherwise pick and choose. You have a lot of good advice here...

[goducks10]

I have a Northwood Fox Mountain 235RLS. It has 4315lbs of CCC. It's only 27'11 OAL. Definitely built to haul. I usually pack about 14-1500lbs of gear. I have never worried about what I take. That's the nice thing about having a high CCC number. Like the saying, "you can't have too much truck". I always say "you can't have too much CCC".

[Paul_Clancy]

Overbuilt frame and axels I would guess. I don't expect most would load to capacity but good to know with normal loading there is a lot of safety margin. this is something northwood is known for.

[stufarmer]

I was excited to see the OP's post. My wife and I are soon to be 27.5 owners also. It seems most of my concerns/questions have been answered and that's great. But I still have one more...With a gross dry weight of 9650lbs and a GVWR of 13400lbs that leaves 3750lbs for it's carrying capacity...Almost 2 tons of additional carrying ability, how is that possible? I've RV'd for more than 45 yrs. and have never ever carried that much additional weight. Isn't 1200lbs plus any fluids a little more reasonable..? I can't imagine traveling with more than 10 gallons of fresh water and minimum in your other tanks. thanks ahead for your comments.

[Tibbs54]

Thank you all for your opinions! You've been a fantastic help. We are in the process of ordering our 27 5L". Excited about it! For those of you who wondered about out TV... We already purchased a Dodge Ram 3500 mega cab, diesel. Excited about that too! Should work well together

[linnemj]

That is a beautiful fifth wheeler. Something for us to keep in mind when we finish with our motorcycle riding and sell the toy hauler.

[larry_barnhart]

We have been in a lot of rv parks since 2001. 30 amp power is a very poor and some 50 amp parks are almost as bad.


I would never recommend buying a 30 amp rv if 50 was available.

chevman

[cdlaine]

29 5T owners...2 years in....

We want solar... Yes...but upgrade guage and proximity issues on build.

Thomas Payne sofa 68" w/air mattress 54x74 ...No. We found a Futon.
Air mattress management got old fast.
Is a 10 cubic foot refrigerator worth the $893 in your opinion? Seems it is included
on a lot of the 5th wheels on the dealer's lot...Yes ... pretty much standard.
Generator? No.. After market Honda or such...
Awning toppers?...No... we listened to our neighbors all day long last camp.
15k air conditioning with ducting?...Yes ...assume you mean 2nd...we
are in desert southwest...edit... we have 2 13.5K....get 2 ducted.
Vent in bathrooms?...Yes...absolutely.
Central vac system...No... small profile , ultralite are avail. aftermarket.
Storm windows?...No...Dual pane work for us..probably wouldn't want to be in
rig if storm windows were needed. (same with industrial sized fire extinguishers... we vote just get out).
50 amp service?...Yes...absolutely...
4 point leveling system?...don't know...we level ourselves
6 point leveling system?...as above
Road trip sat (dish/direct) (HD sat... Call for options)? No..pre-wired for Sat.,...
then we use Dish tailgater.
Winegard satellite / TV antenna combo? No...see above.
BBQ grill with bracket?...no... prefer to keep outside cooking away from rig.
Rear view camera? ...yes... wish I had it.

note ..moving furniture to close/open sliders gets old fast... we removed our dinette set...
(was only being used to stack stuff on top of)... solved any furniture moving issues.


other thoughts....Yes ... push button dumping
No...get your own "recliners", sofa.
Yes ... Fantastic fans.
Yes ...digital thermostats
No on flat screens... have them put the articulating wall mounts in the right locations... then buy your own.
Yes...get the power creel on the 50 amp cable.

many other thoughts... but , gets down to personal preference. In a perfect world I'd have them
move (off the floor) the fuse box... eye level makes much more sense.

1 year warranty goes fast... do your due diligence on initial inspection of everything...
then use the unit a lot to find any problem areas. I wish I had bigger axles and tires.

When I get especially fussy, I wish I had a decal free rig.
They carry it to extremes and you serve as a rolling billboard... but then that is just me. (I removed the www. stuff....).
Request all schematics (wiring) for future additions.

Good choice, good luck .

Charles

[GON2SKI]

We ordered ours with about 13K of options…..some overkill maybe..maybe not... time will tell. We are in our 70's so needs will differ. If doing it again, I would upgrade tires in initial order, would have manual dump valves (not electronic) and would have them issue a credit for and allow them to keep the recliner. I would have bought larger however 27-5L weight is at max for my tow vehicle. I do love driving and parking this short heavy unit! Two T-105 6V batteries are a good item to include also if your planning to boondocks as we will in the future. Installed a knife switch at the batteries in addition to the main shut switch as residual draining does occur. I am planning to build or buy a cabinet for the bathroom to give my sweetie more counter space for her make-up area. She likes the 10 cubic foot fridge and abundant solid cabinet/counter space and storage. We opted for the booth dinette giving you 2 cabinet drawers on the interior and 2 handy slide exterior cabinets for 50/30 electric hookup cord storage. We ordered a love seat/foot rests in place of the sofa bed ( I may change this now to a couple of leather narrow recliners). I think the 15K air conditioner would be a better choice than the 13.5K model. The 4 point auto leveling feature is sweet! We look forward to lots of four season use and enjoyment in 2015. Good luck with your purchase….enjoy!

[P_Kennedy]

We do not have an Arctic Fox but at this point if we were to replace ours new it would be an Arctic Fox 29-5T because we prefer the floorplan. In saying that a fantastic Fan in the bathroom replacing that joke of a fan they come with would be a must. We also have 2 more in the unit which allows you to come back to the unit on a hot day and it will evacuate the entire air volume with cool outside air in 10-15 minutes. There are times where you will not be hooked to shore power all day to leave the air on. Order the unit generator ready but buy your own as like many it is added storage because ours is on the truck to use for other things. We looked at the fold out bed options but generally we don't use it for anything but sitting. More-ryde pin box is debatable as we prefer our 5th Airborne. Some of the stuff you are looking at will depend on the usage, weekend/holidays vs fulltime like washer/dryers, multi point leveling systems, but if your other half has too small a fridge life is going to be difficult. Thermal pane glass this is one of the biggest things people dismiss and regret it, keeps the unit warmer when cold, keeps it cooler when hot and drastically reduces condensation on the windows even when it rains. Slide awnings on that trailer there is only 2 and one is very small but if you bring the slides in when its wet the water all sheds off outside and in the sun shades the roof of the slide in the summer. For us central-vac waste of storage space which is the most limited thing you will need. 15k A/C yes ours is only 13,5k and it struggles in hot weather, 2 15K depends where you plan on staying in hot weather. Stuff like BBQ,s and Satellite/TV buy what you want choices and needs change often, neighbors trailer is 4 years old 2nd satellite system $8000 can't see it myself the whole idea is outside living. The tow vehicle oh wow every dog will have a bite on this bone. If we didn't need a 1 ton "dually" truck for other purposes I would have a diesel truck 25/35 series crewcab short box with an aluminum deck with tool boxes for access and utility reasons. No crawling over box sides scratching paint, dented sheet metal in parking lots, no box side clearance issues and extra storage for stuff needed with the tow unit. But that is just me.

[path1]

For any 5th wheel is great, but we are purchasing the Arctic Fox 27 5L if anyone can comment on that specific model's options.

We looked at them but we ran out of truck (3/4 ton) before the 27 5L ran out of weight IMO. One of the best on the road I think. Something like $14,000 worth of options we were told. So "build sheets" would come in handy for various reasons.

One reason is if you ever suffer a loss. Insurance company will try to average all 5th wheels of that year and length into your pay off amount. With a "build sheet" you have proof of how unit was equipped. I called Northwood about mid Nov after buying a 2013 TT and was told the latest change is "build sheets" will only be available to first buyer and for only a certain amount of time. So make sure you get one. I've read where others have just called and had "build sheet" sent to them. So don't know for sure if that's the newest change or the person I spoke with. But I wouldn't sign final papers without one.

Hope this helps.

[timflood]

I have a 2014 27-5L. And LOVE it. no room for washer- dryer. I did get on doard gen. 3500. I got the 30amp. Did not need 50amp. And I got toppers all. Duel pain windows , power vents with remote on all vents. A lot of the stuff you are talking about comes on the 27-5L. It is HEAVY, there is a LOT of talk about what vehicle to use, 250 or 350 or 450 - A duly or non-Dooley. Well I have a F250 ,gas V10 , if I was going to buy a new truck it would be a F250 Diesel. That is what I have. Good luck you will love it.

[JesLookin]

First I'd say get a 3500 single rear wheel truck.

Generator can be added later.
Yes, Awning toppers?
Yes, 15k air conditioning with ducting?
Don't they all come with vents? Vent in bathrooms?
No, Central vac system.
Not needed with dual pane windows, Storm windows?
No, Holding tank heat pads?
No, 50 amp service?
Would be nice, 4 point leveling system?
Would be nice, 6 point leveling system?
No, Road trip sat (dish/direct) (HD sat... Call for options)?
??, Winegard satellite / TV antenna combo?
No, BBQ grill with bracket?
No, Rear view camera?

[n7bsn]

Tibbs54 wrote:
....
The dealer has listed these as "standard build options":
Additional fan vent in bedroom
yes
Mor/ryde pin box
yes
Thermal pane windows
yes
Air hide-a-bed with pillows
yes (we store our shoes under the sofa)
Fan vent with remote/Tstat/rain sensor
yes, didn't get that on our 2013, did on our 1999 and miss it
Powered sliding stab jacks, rear
yes
Travel'R awning adj pitch hardware
yes, there is another option called Direct Response, which must be factory installed. It auto-retracts the awning if the wind comes up
6v batteries
yes

We want solar and the Thomas Payne sofa 68" w/air mattress 54x74
yes, we got the solar, I think the Thomas Payne cancels the sofa option above
Is a 10 cubic foot refrigerator worth the $893 in your opinion? Seems it is included on a lot of the 5th wheels on the dealer's lot
I dono
Generator? (Is this better to buy after market?)
no, we put two Honda 2000's -and- lots of other stuff in the same bay that just the on-board generator takes up. Only we can leave them behind if we are going to a commercial campground
Awning toppers?
Factory added ours by mistake, they are OK
15k air conditioning with ducting?
Not needed here, maybe where you are?
Vent in bathrooms?
yes
Central vac system.
eh
Storm windows?
not needed if you have thermo
Holding tank heat pads?
do you winter camp at campgrounds with power? Otherwise no
50 amp service?
yes
4 point leveling system?
6 point leveling system?
one or other
Road trip sat (dish/direct) (HD sat... Call for options)?
Winegard satellite / TV antenna combo?
not big TV watchers, but maybe
BBQ grill with bracket?
didn't and don't miss
Rear view camera?
eh, we didn't and don't miss