Think I will keep mine a little longer

We had a Citation Supreme 30RLS Bumper pull...it was pretty much at the max for our 2500 Duramx..but we sold it after a year. Gorgeous trailer - solid as a rock...pretty much an Arctic Fox and then some. Problem was it simply too Damned long..!! We sold it this spring..and yea we took a 3000 hit on it. It took us a while to find what we were looking for:

...Yet there are some manufactures who still do not get it. You should be able to travel with the trailer, stop someplace for food, and be able to put it away in the refrigerator without opening the slides. Or stop and make a sandwich...

3 months later we found our current rig: 2011 Chaparall. Triple slide yet still weighed in at 8050 dry. Aluminum structure/hardwall. the bonus was that the fridge was in the opposite slide as the door and totally accessible when the slides were in. The Financial Superintendant decided this was the unit...walked up to our sales guy and said:
"we have 27k .. we want this trailer .. make it happen.!! A 5.0 Italian that does not put up with any BS..!! with the taxes incl., we got it for that..including a pair of 6V batts to boot. We were tickled and it has proven to be an absolutely awesome trailer.

My mileage has risen from an avg of 10.5 - 11 mpg with pretty much any of the bumper pulls we have had all the way up to 13.5mpg and that was travelling in the BC Rockies: Calgary to Shushwap Lake just this month .. impressed to the nines I was. I also splurged and added a 160W solar pane...worth every penny.

I don't think we will trade/sell this unit anytime soon. It has pretty much everything we could have asked for. For $40 added a small inverter to run the 32" LCD TV and that pretty much filled things out as we do camp in Oct up here..when the snow starts to fly.

Soon to come will be a set of shocks and thats pretty much all we would like to do. New, this unit this year was selling in the $48,000 range...with little to gain over a 4 yr old unit 2nd hand unit. Our main criteria was dry & pin weight and fridge accessibility

We be good.!

Cheers,

stk

2000 jayco designer.Got it used in 2004. This vacation the both topper awnings springs went. and the fabric needs replaced anyway. The main awning spring is getting balky. And the roof has (had, thank God for spray cans of liquid rubber) 3 leaks. So figure 2500 for repairs. ONCE. no years worth of payments. So as long as I am able, I will keep mine Too!

abc

Our current fifth wheel is named the "last resort".

I really appreciate the people who are never happy with what they have. Every couple of years they go out & buy something new. Well, they don't buy it, they co own it with the lender. Meanwhile a perfectly good little used unit goes on the market having taken its biggest hit in depreciation in those first couple of years.

Yes sir, I'll have one of those. Basically new & all of the new rig bugs worked out of it.

ChopperBill wrote:
Done quit buying new. Sold my bought new 11 Bighorn and bought a used HH.

We are of the same philosophy...we sold our, bought new, 2011 Big Country and just purchased a 2001 Alpenlite 35RK from the original owner. New is really nice but I am very happy with this rig understanding there will be some issues along the way but payments are not one of them!

Just commented to the DW on our last trip, this year we have seen an abundance of older rigs and noticeably fewer new ones here in the Northwest. May be coincidental or perhaps others are beginning to think the same way.

Regardless...go camping, have fun!

We had a1993 Jayco Eagle 215SD for 18 years, no slide-outs, very small bathroom and a four-burner stove whose fourth burner was pretty much unusable. Shower so small that even smaller wife had trouble using it. Got a 2012 Jayco Eagle SuperLite HT 26.5 RLS and have very much enjoyed the extra room with the slide out in the living area, the surround sound system(even it not the greatest in the world), a much larger shower that's even big enough for me, remote start for the water heater and a button to open the awning. Lots of storage, even if some of it is way high in the living area but more than enough for clothing compared to the old FW. And, can stand up in most of the bedroom area compared to having to crawl into bed in the old one. Had many good years in the old one, but like this new one much better, and we only paid about $12,000 more for it than the old one, 18 years later. Glad we made the switch.

Water-Bug wrote:
Define "bad year". A lot of folks haven't had a good one in the past eight.

:)

Done quit buying new. Sold my bought new 11 Bighorn and bought a used HH. Truck is 12 years old, bought new and has only 125000 on it. Going to let others stimulate the economy and sit back and watch the market take a correction then maybe look for another later good used high end fifth wheel.
On edit: never financed a trailer, just makes it more expensive.

Finally someone with a rig older than mine! I was getting a chuckle about people wanting to upgrade to newer rig when most of you have rigs twice as new as mine, (2000 Cedar Creek).

Yup, many new features I'd love to have but with the economy and a hopefully soon retirement happening, I don't see it in our future unless the financial advisor gives me the green light. That plus the truck is getting on in years so that's be a double whammy!

At least like others, they're paid for and I know them inside and out.

We felt the same way same way you did about out 1996 Carriage. Since we are in it fulltime so we updated things here and there over the years. In 2010, we had the exterior stripped down and painted, including the graphics. We did a freshen up on the interior with new carpet, a new counter top and reupholstered Dutch's beloved 54' couch and our kitchen chairs. We're now good for 18 more years!! Hugs, Di

abc40kids wrote:
Been shopping fifth wheels for some time now and I'm wore out! I can't really find what I want at the price I want to pay.

I was in mine tonight getting ready to head out tomorrow for the weekend and said to myself..... there's nothing wrong with the one I have! I do like the new features that come on the new ones, many changes since 2006. Think I'll wait till winter to start my search again.