Chuck___
Explorer
Joined 22 years ago
User Profile
User Widgets
All Activity
Re: Need advice if safe for my pickup to pull a heavy 5th wheel
Number 1 question: Will you be able to stop this RV safety? 2. Only after doing your homework and research you will be able to answer these questions. There is web sites that will help you go through the process step by step. 3. Never believe a RV or vehicle/Truck salesman to give you the truth on how much you can SAFETLY tow. You have to do your own homework period. Did you know a 67 VW bug will pull a 18,000 pound RV! That is out of the Salesman's parking lot down hill. 4. Newer truck are soooo much better than the older models. Newer Diesel Trucks: Exhaust breaking for down hills breaking , speed control breaking automatically, tow haul mod and all around can tow much more. 5. Keep doing you homework and you find the answers. Lots of good people on this site to help you out.849Views0likes0CommentsMount Rainier National Park "Washington" Suggestions Please
Planning an RV trip to Washington State Mount Rainier National Park in mid September for a week plus. I have a 34 foot 5th wheel and would like to have hook-ups, at least water and electricity, with a dump station in campground. Need 50 feet for the RV and truck connected. We are looking for a respectable, safe place and a quiet park to take the wife with a small westie pup. County parks would be fine also. Plan on doing hiking in forest with and without the dog. Looking for an RV site where you would wamt to come back to year after year.1.8KViews0likes6CommentsRe: Rubber Roof Replacement
RE: Rhino ECO Roof Replacement vs. TPO or Rubber??? I posted this a couple of years ago. Sorry that the pictures didn't come through. Roof still looks great. Look at the DRV Forum, under Problem & repairs to see pictures This year, I took on completely re-coating my RV roof with Henry 877 Tropi-Cool 100% Silicone White Roof Coating. Products cost about the same online or Home Depot. $239.89 for large tub of Henry's coating and $12.99 per tube of caulking. If you see from my previous post a couple of weeks ago, I did a lot of research trying to find the best product to repair/re-coat my RV roof with. I worked like a dog for nearly a week trying to beat the Fall weather. Wished I could of done the roof repair/coating in better weather conditions. Sweating bullets all week worrying about the possibility of rainy weather. Below is my step-by step process, along with before/after pictures. CAUTION! Slow down on the roof. If you fall off you will probably spend a lot of time in the hospital recovering if you are lucky! My Process Well it took me most of a week to completely re-coat my RV roof! Tuesday Morning Using a mixture of bleach, TSP, and water, hand scrub the entire roof (I did use a pressure washer to get the dirt out from under the roof air conditioner units). This took me a good part of the day alone! Peel off the old, very thin rubber coating Three and a half days later, wearing out a pair of leather gloves, I thought I gave it my best shot at getting off the old coating Saturday Afternoon Apply the new coating Clean out all of the old caulking above the roof gutter and replace it with new Henry's caulking. Mix the coating with a drill. Pour out about one quart into a paint tray. The Henry 877 coating pours out like the thickness of pancake syrup. Use a leaf blower to blow off any material laying on the roof Begin applying the Henry 877 using a four inch paint brush to do the corners, sides, roof pipe outlets, vents and air conditioners. I only did a 5 to 7 foot section at a time. Use a 9 inch long by 1/2 inch nap paint roller to spread out the Henry's roof coating. This took about two to three hours to fully cover the 8 foot wide by 34 foot long 5th wheel roof with one coat. On the next day, apply a second coat. I used about a full 5 gallon tub/container to do two coats. Lessons Learned: Try to apply the coating on fairly calm day. The wind can carry the coating in the air when applying it. I applied the coating when the temperature was in the mid 60's to upper 68 degrees. Sun helps, but I cannot imagine trying to apply Henry's coating or any other roof coating on a day when it is approaching upper 70 degrees or higher. Too hot for me to do a roof!. The roof must be completely dry before applying the new coating. During the Fall season, moisture in the morning is hard to dry off the roof, you may have to wait for the sun to come out. Dampness or morning dew can take several hours to dry off the roof. Give yourself plenty of time to do a good job. The faster you try to apply the roof caulking or roof coating you are most likely to do a sloppy job and have a mess. Conclusion Got lucky this time around! Henry's 877 when on fine, thick enough to be impressive and I believe I made the right product choice. * This post was last edited 11/26/20 05:30pm by Chuck741Views0likes0CommentsRe: Tire pressure monitor systems
I have a 2017 Ford dually and would like to have a tire monitoring system for the 5th wheel. Ford trucks are set up for "factory" tire monitor system, but factory seniors are $500 plus for a system last time I checked at the dealership. Were do you recommend purchasing a TST system from and any recommendations please.759Views0likes0CommentsRe: Rhino ECO Roof Replacement vs. TPO or Rubber???
I posted this a couple of years ago. Sorry that the pictures didn't come through. Roof still looks great. Look at the DRV Forum, under Problem & repairs to see pictures This year, I took on completely re-coating my RV roof with Henry 877 Tropi-Cool 100% Silicone White Roof Coating. Products cost about the same online or Home Depot. $239.89 for large tub of Henry's coating and $12.99 per tube of caulking. If you see from my previous post a couple of weeks ago, I did a lot of research trying to find the best product to repair/re-coat my RV roof with. I worked like a dog for nearly a week trying to beat the Fall weather. Wished I could of done the roof repair/coating in better weather conditions. Sweating bullets all week worrying about the possibility of rainy weather. Below is my step-by step process, along with before/after pictures. CAUTION! Slow down on the roof. If you fall off you will probably spend a lot of time in the hospital recovering if you are lucky! My Process Well it took me most of a week to completely re-coat my RV roof! Tuesday Morning Using a mixture of bleach, TSP, and water, hand scrub the entire roof (I did use a pressure washer to get the dirt out from under the roof air conditioner units). This took me a good part of the day alone! Peel off the old, very thin rubber coating Three and a half days later, wearing out a pair of leather gloves, I thought I gave it my best shot at getting off the old coating Saturday Afternoon Apply the new coating Clean out all of the old caulking above the roof gutter and replace it with new Henry's caulking. Mix the coating with a drill. Pour out about one quart into a paint tray. The Henry 877 coating pours out like the thickness of pancake syrup. Use a leaf blower to blow off any material laying on the roof Begin applying the Henry 877 using a four inch paint brush to do the corners, sides, roof pipe outlets, vents and air conditioners. I only did a 5 to 7 foot section at a time. Use a 9 inch long by 1/2 inch nap paint roller to spread out the Henry's roof coating. This took about two to three hours to fully cover the 8 foot wide by 34 foot long 5th wheel roof with one coat. On the next day, apply a second coat. I used about a full 5 gallon tub/container to do two coats. Lessons Learned: Try to apply the coating on fairly calm day. The wind can carry the coating in the air when applying it. I applied the coating when the temperature was in the mid 60's to upper 68 degrees. Sun helps, but I cannot imagine trying to apply Henry's coating or any other roof coating on a day when it is approaching upper 70 degrees or higher. Too hot for me to do a roof!. The roof must be completely dry before applying the new coating. During the Fall season, moisture in the morning is hard to dry off the roof, you may have to wait for the sun to come out. Dampness or morning dew can take several hours to dry off the roof. Give yourself plenty of time to do a good job. The faster you try to apply the roof caulking or roof coating you are most likely to do a sloppy job and have a mess. Conclusion Got lucky this time around! Henry's 877 when on fine, thick enough to be impressive and I believe I made the right product choice. * This post was last edited 11/26/20 05:30pm by Chuck547Views0likes0CommentsRe: Looking for older High Quality Luxury 5th Wheel
One of the big questions to ask is can you safely stop that trailer within most normal driving cases. You have to drive like your Grandma coming up to a stop sign or light, going down hill and sharp corners or that Big Hog will push you right through a Red light intersection. or over and down a canyon. Do carry about your wife or grandkids with you??? If you are over weight and get in a accident, pulling more than the truck and trailer is designed for; the insurance company can say we will not pay you a dime. You have no coverage! Happened to my neighbors friend in Utah.578Views0likes0CommentsRe: Looking for older High Quality Luxury 5th Wheel
Note: spelling isn't the best. It sounds like you are in the same spot I was in approximately 2017. Before I retired five years ago I must of spend four long years looking for a good quality use 5th wheel. My budget was at a top end was $65,000 until I got a quote for a load from the bank. Hope you don't mind paying around $800.00 to $1,0000 per month 4.5% RV loan. I wasn't going cash in my investments that were making over 10% at the time. More later on that. Narrowed my choose down to a used Alpinelite or a Artic Fox. Good luck if you can find a Alpinelite 5th wheel. Good units but they haven't made them for many years now. So, I moved on looking for a good used Artic Fox in the size of 27 foot to 30 foot. I found that I could not get a nice used unit that was less than 10 years old at the time for under $40,000 from even a private seller. New units at the time were pushing around $55,000 to $65,000. After about four years of research and looking I came across in the RV Trader a 2010 34 foot Mobile Suites 5th wheel for sale from a private party. I really didn't want that big or long of a RV because of the limited camp sites that will handle a 34 foot plus unit. Only after researching this brand of 5th wheel I drove 500 miles one way to California to check it out. I found out that Mobile Suites 5th wheels are are on the higher end of 5th wheels. Disc breaks, hydric landing gear, real wood cabinets and much more. The owner paid well over $110,000 for it new. After a professional RV inspection I paid right at $34,000.00. Wife loved it and we felt we couldn't pass up the best deal I found in years even though it was 34 foot long and weights 11,500 dry weight. Yes, I got a bank loan for it and in another year I should have the RV paid off. Had to also buy a different truck to pull the Mobile Suites. My new truck took the place of my house mortgage payments of about $900.00 per month. The old 99 Dodge 2500 diesel could only pull "SAFELY" 9,400 lbs. And yes I did many hours of research on how to figure how much a vehicle can "SAFETLY" tow. Purchased a new 2017 3500 dually and would not buy any truck without the new types of breaking controls. Try going down a 8 plus grade without the newer diesel break control pulling 10,000 plus pounds. Just maybe you will make it. PS: A lot of RV salers will tell you that you can safety pull a 34 foot 12,000 lbs plus 5th wheel with a VW Bug.418Views0likes0CommentsRe: 40 or 45 ft 5fer, any difference
Are you sure you want that big of a 5th wheel? I have a 2010 34 foot Mobile Suites and question myself all the time if I purchased a too big/long of a unit. I have to make sure I have a 50 feet RV space for my 2017 Ford 350 long box truck and 5th wheel. A lot of state camp grounds have a limit on the length of a unit. I find I am limited on the camp sites I can fit into all the time. You have to decide on the life style you want with a RV. I would think a 40' to 45 foot 5th wheel would be for someone who wants to be a Snow Bird and not move around much. Anything over 34 foot RV you really have to plan out and be limited to the camp sites you can get.1.4KViews0likes0CommentsSanta Fe-Taos and Flagstaff suggestions please
Planning RV trip mid September. Like to have full hook-up if possible. Hoping to stay near the Santa Fe area for 4 to 5 nights. But Santa Fe Skies RV Park is Blacked out in mid Sept for three week. I heard Taos is a quieter town. Trying not to have to drive back and forth from Taos to Santa Fe to see the sites like the Saturday market, some museums and general area if possible. I guess I'll drive back and forth if I have to. I am 65, retired and have a total length truck and 5th wheel of 50 feet. Haven't been down to the southern states. Just trying to find a place to relax and not worry about getting hit over the head. Flagstaff; suggestions! Thank you for your reply. I know; beggars can't be choosers! Said that; I am the type of person that tries to avoid larger cities nowadays if possible. Most of my working life I had to commute 117 mile per day back and forth to Portland, Oregon. The 2 hour plus ride home, getting stuck in rush hour traffic wasn't fun after 24 years. I am a country boy at heart and like the forest and quiet farm lands. Like to stay at state, county and smaller private RV campgrounds. Always looking for a respectable RV site at a reasonable price. Aren't we all! Never had to stay at a Walmart or at a Casino and hope not to. I will not stay at a so-called RV site that is a homeless camp where I can't leave without getting something stolen and the moment you pull in, the Vultures start eyeing you. I am willing to drive the extra couple of miles to get a reasonable RV site and yes, pay a little more if need be. So, where would you stay or recommend?6.7KViews0likes17Comments
Groups
Bucket List Trips
Bucketlist destinations you just can't miss. Which spots stick with you?Jan 18, 202513,487 Posts Fifth Wheel Group
Interested in fifth wheels? You've come to the right spot.Feb 16, 202519,006 Posts RV Newbies
We all start out new. Share lessons learned or first-time questions!Jun 15, 20174,026 Posts Travel Trailer Group
Prefer to camp in a travel trailer? You're not alone.Feb 06, 202544,025 Posts
