buying a 5th wheel trailers

[etcssw]

My wife and I are about three years from retirement at which time we are going to sell our house and become full time RV's. We presently own a travel trailer that we want to upgrade to a fifth wheel next year. Here's our problem we want to go with a lite weight fifth wheel but we are not sure that a a lite weight fifth wheel can hold up to the constant earth quake that a full time RV'er puts them through. Please, if you know that one manufacture/type is better than another I'd like to hear your opinion. As you fifth wheel owners will tell me the truth and not a sales pitch. Thank-You and Fair winds and Following Seas.

[Buckeye_Chuck]

X2 on RV consumers group.

[etcssw]

My wife's aunt and uncle had to move and live in Colorado due to alergeis and that is why we are looking at Idaho. the way my vacation orks is I save vacation from one year to use it all he next so we have spent 1.5 to 2 months at a time in Idaho with our daughter so we know that my wife is a lot better there. and yes anything west of the cascades would be worst for my wife. I do love the Olympic Pen. but it's to wet there.

[n7bsn]

etcssw wrote:
I agree that renting out the house would be a great idea, but my wife has come down is some serious alergies here in Virginia due to the pollen during the spring and summer. So even if we did not go full timing we'd sell the house and move to Idaho were the alergies don't bother her. ...

I'm not an Allergist, but I know that people can develop new allergies after they have lived in a new area for a couple of years. The first year makes them sensitive and they they start reacting the second year.

Which is why people with broad-spectrum pollen allergies shouldn't live here (wetter washington), our pollen season starts with the winter blooming plants in Jan/Feb and runs through fall.

[Cummins12V98]

My opinion, light weight equals light use.

Heavy use they start falling apart.

[Blackcell]

My wife also had bad allergy/asthma problems which is why we had to move back to the mainland from Hawaii :(. Oh that hurt.
Can't offer much help other than what has already been said but owning a previous lite Fiver I would not recommend for full time or half-time. The occasional weekend warrior adventures and a couple week trip in the summer worked fine but beyond that no way. What I have now I consider a full-time RV unit but that is just me and I'm a long ways from retirement. I'm sure your needs are far different from mine.

Mobile Suites, Carriage (redwoodrvfamily.com), Alpenlite, NuWa, Lifestyle, Heartland, Landmark are the one's that ranked high on my list for full-time.

In my experience (somewhat limited compared to some of you here) Going the cheap route has it's pro's & cons just like anything new these days. We live in a throw-away society and nothing is built to last very long these days. Warranties are more critical but they sure as heck don't cover everything. Just got to be willing to accept and plan for the inevitable consequences regardless of which path you venture down. Chance favors the prepared mind.

[Atom_Ant]

BusaGuy wrote:
Is there a free site that gives reviews of rvs?

Yes - RV.net :B

[BusaGuy]

Is there a free site that gives reviews of rvs?

[etcssw]

I agree that renting out the house would be a great idea, but my wife has come down is some serious alergies here in Virginia due to the pollen during the spring and summer. So even if we did not go full timing we'd sell the house and move to Idaho were the alergies don't bother her. We are putting our house hold in POD storage so if something does go wrong we will have them sent out west. That way we wont be starting completely over. Thank you for reinforcing this idea. Fair winds and Following Seas

[n7bsn]

Thought of another point...Uncle Sam's Canoe Club taught me many things, like back-up plans and risk management.
An amazing number of "full-timers" don't last a year. I would guess the number at like 20-25% of the people that start out, quit quickly. Maybe you might want to wait a year before selling the stick-&-brick (ie the house).
One of the guys I worked with leased their house out when they "hit the road", 15 years later, as they passed 70, they kicked the renters out, remodeled the house, and moved back in. They still do some traveling, but not like they did 20 years ago, and they still have the house, now paid for by the renters.
I always get worried when I hear of starting out full-timers having to sell the house to afford the rig. Selling a asset that does increase in value, for one that always decreases appears to be a really poor idea.

[slarsen]

I have a 5th wheel that I really like, a Mountaineer, but I wouldn't consider full-time living in it. And it is a good deal 'heavier' construction than so-called 'Lite' trailers.

Last Thanksgiving, I set it in our driveway for the grand-kids to sleep in. It was cold, and two 15 watt heaters couldn't keep it at a residential temperature. More like maybe low to mid-60's. Just not heavy enough for winter use. I think it got down to the low 40's at the time.

Even Texas will have sub-freezing weather in most winters. That would mean heavy use of the furnace, and keeping a trailer in propane is an expensive proposition.

I'm with the others: if you plan to full-time, you need a lot more trailer than any 'Lite' will offer.

[n7bsn]

etcssw wrote:
I really like the tundra so if I could I'd like to stay with it, but if we need to go with a different truck my son is recommending the Chevy 3500 with a diesel engine and allason transmission. I just don't want to be the guy in the right hand lane with his blinkers going crawling up the mountains. But I don't want to buy a semi truck to pull the trailer.

A Tundra is -not- up to pulling the large/heavy rigs we have mentioned. As for semi. Actually a large number of full-timers that pull the large/heavy 5ers (42 ft, etc) use modified MD haulers. They have the suspensions lightened (few rigs are as heavy as a semi-trailer). One of the consistent reports I see is that these MD haulers can maneuver better then a "1-ton" long-bed, crew/super/king-cab.

BTW, you will be much happier with an extended cab then a small-cab.

[bfast54]

Cant go wrong with a Heartland,I belong to the forum,club..(though not an owner)

I have followed them since Scott,and a couple others started it.:W

[kakampers]

Heartland makes three units that are fulltime warranted...Landmark, Bighorn and Big Country...the Landmark also has a 2&5 warranty (2 years bumper to bumper and 5 years on the structure, walls, floors, roof)...

[etcssw]

I really like the tundra so if I could I'd like to stay with it, but if we need to go with a different truck my son is recommending the Chevy 3500 with a diesel engine and allason transmission. I just don't want to be the guy in the right hand lane with his blinkers going crawling up the mountains. But I don't want to buy a semi truck to pull the trailer.