Towing a 5th wheel? VERY CONFUSED.

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mammall

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Jul 28, 2008
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I am so confused. I have been reading that the regs for towing a 5th wheel with a pick up are quite strict. No longer than about 20 something feet long and 7 feet something wide. We want to buy one that is at least 37ft long and around 8ft wide. It is being sold in the UK by Keygarv (who NEVER EVER seem to answer the phone or emails) so we imagine that we'll be able to tow it assuming we have a strong enough pick up etc. Also i know we may need an HGV licence but would we still be breaking the law if we had such a large van????

please help.

Sally xx

 
Hi Sally

I dont know much about 5ers in the UK Im afraid.

There are a number of 5ers on our roads, but then there are a number of illegal Class As on the road too.

If you do manage to contact Keygarv, get them to give you all the legal stuff and VOSA, DVLA, DfT legal items in writing - their Home Page states they have all this available.

I will try to contact them myself as the info would be useful for the RVOA in geberal.

Good Luck

Paul
 
mammall said:
???  ???  ???

I am so confused. I have been reading that the regs for towing a 5th wheel with a pick up are quite strict. No longer than about 20 something feet long and 7 feet something wide. We want to buy one that is at least 37ft long and around 8ft wide. It is being sold in the UK by Keygarv (who NEVER EVER seem to answer the phone or emails) so we imagine that we'll be able to tow it assuming we have a strong enough pick up etc. Also i know we may need an HGV licence but would we still be breaking the law if we had such a large van????

please help.

Sally xx

Hi I'm Keith, from Mansfield, and tow a 36 foot fifth wheel in the US.  I think you're right that you can't tow anything this big UNLESS you have an HGV licence. 

Other than by using a commercial tug I doubt you'd be able to tow a fiver over here anyway - I use a 1 ton Silverado dually and haven't seen anything as big over here.  Parking in campgrounds would need plenty of planning and trailer electrics are 110 Volts.  I've thought about bringing ours back with us but there would be lots of problems.

Keith
 
Hiya Keith

Thanks for coming across to the RV Forum - Im sure you can contribute much to the forum and perhaps pick up a few tips from the guys here too.

You made a reference to the electrics being 110v on your 5er - you could d the simple thing of using a step-down transfomer/converter from 230V and keep all your stuff at 110v just as we (and many other RVers) do in the UK.

Paul
 
RVOA said:
Hiya Keith

Thanks for coming across to the RV Forum - Im sure you can contribute much to the forum and perhaps pick up a few tips from the guys here too.

You made a reference to the electrics being 110v on your 5er - you could d the simple thing of using a step-down transfomer/converter from 230V and keep all your stuff at 110v just as we (and many other RVers) do in the UK.

Paul

Yes I guess all the American motorhomes must work that way.  Can your air conditioning unit be run OK - not that we need one in the UK very often!!! :D   

For curiosity, what price is a 250 Volt to 110 Volt transformer? 

I suppose that if a 110 Volt appliance fails, you've got a problem?  Strike that - I've just been reading further down the page - should have done that first!!!
 
Hi Keith

We got ours from Airlink Transformers - HERE

It will need to be wired in by an electrician, who can also add a 230V socket or two as a backup.

A lot of 110V appliances can be purchased in the UK (just search amazon.co.uk or ebay.co.uk) - we even purchased a 110V washer/dryer that soemeone felt was not needed in their new RV, so we now have a back-up in storage.

Paul
 
RVOA said:
Hi Keith

We got ours from Airlink Transformers - HERE

It will need to be wired in by an electrician, who can also add a 230V socket or two as a backup.

A lot of 110V appliances can be purchased in the UK (just search amazon.co.uk or ebay.co.uk) - we even purchased a 110V washer/dryer that soemeone felt was not needed in their new RV, so we now have a back-up in storage.

Paul


Hi Paul

Now that's a monster transformer but it has to be to deliver the goods. Might be a problem if US 50A wiring is installed, as in our trailer. 

I read the old postings about the supply frequency difference and associated problems.  Nothing too difficult I guess.  I had wondered in the past about how easy it is to get such a transformer as someone had raised a similar question elsewhere.  Looks pretty straightforward.

 
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