Fulltime in Minnesota

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I had the same situation once. Sounded like a gunshot every time a branch or tree broke. Scared me at first, worrying that someone was shooting at me.
 
You patched the membrane roof with metal? Temporary patch?

See post 77. Metal roof..
I don't know what I'd do if it was a membrane roof lol from everything I've heard they're more trouble than they're worth. Seems they're mostly so you can't hear it rain or something? My uncle had his membrane roof rip loose somewhere in Kansas on his Grand Design then had to wait 6 months for the dealer to get to it. I'm totally happy with my super easy to patch metal roof.
 
I'm totally happy with my super easy to patch metal roof.
I had thought that you said it was a metal roof but the before picture looks so ragged it made me wonder. As to which is better, I'm glad that you prefer metal since that is what you have. Each type has it's advantages. I have patched EDPM, TPO, and aluminum although never on my own RV.
 
I had thought that you said it was a metal roof but the before picture looks so ragged it made me wonder. As to which is better, I'm glad that you prefer metal since that is what you have. Each type has it's advantages. I have patched EDPM, TPO, and aluminum although never on my own RV.
Definitely metal. I believe it's aluminum because it has that odd color oxidized aluminum gets. The edges where the branch went through are shiny
 
I would bet that it is as I have never seen a metal RV roof that isn't, although it is possible that some exist. Is the patch of aluminum or steel? Galvanic action between the aluminum and steel or galvanized parts can lead to severe corrosion.
It's steel unfortunately. I had to send someone else to the store and they swore up and down that there weren't any aluminum patches although the website said they had them. Sounds like I need to get a little bit more pissy about going myself to find the stuff :)
 
So we're up to SEVEN trees falling on the camper. For some reason, it's leaking between the nose cap and the roof (three trees hit there). No cracks but the seal is obviously screwed up. Thinking of brushing the snow off and using Eternabond type tape to tape over it for now, would that work?

Three trees hit the front, another one hit the AC (previous post) and then three more hit the back including one that ripped an 8 inch gash down the sheet metal between the rear ID and marker lights. I have now decided that I absolutely hate trees. Once summer gets here I'm going to see if I can find a junkyard with this era of camper that has the sheet metal so I can just slap it over the hole and weld it on, for now I just taped over it.

On the plus side, my Starlink Internet is working MUCH better
 
We got up to nine trees hitting the camper by the time all the storm damaged trees stopped falling, and I haven't been able to patch the leak on the seam between the nose cap and roof panel because it just isn't warm enough. I tried caulking, that didn't even come close to helping. it just dissolved in the water because the snow melt is constant and it snows about ever 3 days here. I cleaned the disgusting half dissolved caulking out and replaced it with butyl tape. Butyl tape requires that it be over 45 or 55 or something, it hasn't been over 40 here since some time in November. I tried using a heat gun on the butyl tape but I still couldn't get it warm enough. Everything I do works for about 24-48 hours then the leak comes right back. It pours water right on to the couch/bed at the front, making the bed pretty much useless.

So, I went with plan B - find another RV.

I think everyone knows by now that if it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all - paid $2000 for this 5th wheel. The F350 blew its transmission 120 miles from home (it has a bad dashboard and it didn't pop on to tell me about the overheat condition until it was far too late to do anything about it, already over 300 degrees when the dash kicked on).... an additional $1280 later for a tow truck and the 5th wheel is sitting next to the Citation with the F350 sitting at a transmission shop with an estimated $4000 in repair costs.

Oh yeah, the new dashboard I ordered showed up the day after the transmission blew
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Well, the 5th wheel camper is much nicer than the old bumper pull. Microwave barely worked and the fridge won't stop freezing (I've made other posts in appropriate forums for those). Replaced the microwave with the slightly smaller one from the bumper pull. I can't believe how much more room the 5th wheel has than the bumper pull, and the 5th wheel is 4 feet shorter. Much taller though, having a mini basement under the bathroom really opened up some storage space. The toilet is about 3 feet above the bottom of the black water tank and the pipe has absolutely no bends, I think it would take a serious "log" to clog that up. Floor has some kind of insulation and even at -8 F it was just chilly instead of actively freezing any bottles left on the floor like the bumper pull would do, even in the kitchen/living room area which doesn't have a basement. Looks like it used to have an underbelly cover for the tanks but it's been removed, they're perfectly recessed into gaps in the frame. Previous owner (or the one before, or the one before) upgraded the rooftop AC with the optional heating element. I absolutely love that the 5th wheel camper sits higher off the ground, the bumper pull is so low that I couldn't get under it at all without using a lift or driving over a pit.

This is a 1991 Skyline Nomad 2815B (zero slides), so it's 4 feet shorter than the bumper pull. The kitchen is at the back instead of the center which seems to really help with usable space. I checked out a Skyline Nomad 36 foot trailer a month earlier with triple slides - freaking huge inside, ten years newer and the same price as this 28 footer but it looked like absolute hell. Probably used to be a mobile meth lab. Slides weren't level at all, snow was blasting through the gap between the slides and the main body of the camper when I went to check it out. It was about 15 below zero that day and the winds coming out of the north had to be hitting at least 25 MPH sustained with higher gusts - anyone ever play the Long Dark? It reminded me of a scene from the Long Dark. Oh yeah, it was missing its exterior door. The guy said the door was "functional" and I guess a shower curtain is "technically" a functional door... The only differences on length is the 36 footer had a space for a washer/dryer between the bathroom and bedroom, the 28 footer doesn't although I think a small combo unit would fit in the closet. I have pictures of the 36 foot disaster if anyone wants to see it haha

F350 is probably down until at least April 1st, the Explorer that I towed the bumper pull with just came out of the shop with a $3000 water pump failure (They SAID $1850...kinda hard to tell them no when they have the engine taken apart isn't it?)
 
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Thanks for sharing all your experiences. The 5th wheel sounds like a much better RV for your situation. Got a chuckle about the description of the 28 footer -- we've found that sometimes there is a huge difference in seller's RV descriptions and how we see them (I might ponder the "whys" of that sometime:ROFLMAO:). Probably inflation excuses the $1850 becoming $3000 shop cost.

Well, it is good to hear of someone dealing with ice storms/trees crashing their home/etc. carrying on and positively dealing with it all (and no whining or some "send me money" link).

Shelia & Jeff
 
Thanks for sharing all your experiences. The 5th wheel sounds like a much better RV for your situation. Got a chuckle about the description of the 28 footer -- we've found that sometimes there is a huge difference in seller's RV descriptions and how we see them (I might ponder the "whys" of that sometime:ROFLMAO:). Probably inflation excuses the $1850 becoming $3000 shop cost.

Well, it is good to hear of someone dealing with ice storms/trees crashing their home/etc. carrying on and positively dealing with it all (and no whining or some "send me money" link).

Shelia & Jeff
The water pump story ..we got the Explorer in June 2022. The Ford dealer said they needed more parts to replace the water pump, probably a timing chain guide or something. Then they told me the oil looked fine so they didn't think the pump had failed (it's an internal pump). Then 4 hours later they called back and said the oil was full of chunks and they needed another $450 to flush the oil... Then a week later the inner fender fell out on the same side of the car where they did the work. Won't be going back there that's for sure.

The 32 footer really held up well to the battering, the leaks are relatively minor and if I was just vacationing in the camper id tarp it and deal with it in the spring. I can't believe the difference in build quality between the Thor 32 foot trailer and the Skyline 28 foot fiver
 
I'm a transplant into MN and I really don't like the cold. I currently live in a nice very well insulated modern home, and I really struggle with winter in all kind of ways. I cant imagine wintering in a camper, you're much tougher than me. I'll be watching your progress carefully... I'm fascinated. I wish you the best of luck. It sounds like you have a bunch of people here willing to give you advice, so at least you don't have to repeat past mistakes.
Regards Steven
 
I'm a transplant into MN and I really don't like the cold. I currently live in a nice very well insulated modern home, and I really struggle with winter in all kind of ways. I cant imagine wintering in a camper, you're much tougher than me.
Lived here now more than 50 years Steven and I can only share that you should embrace it as best as you can if you're planning on staying. 5 solid months of snow cover with snow on the ground in places for nearly 7 months is not unheard of.

I've seen near 80 degree highs in the this month of March over my years, as well as -40s overnight lows or worse in Januarys and Februarys.
I've seen as much as 70 degree swings in winter temps in as little as 36 hours.
I've seen several feet of snow accumulate in as few as 6 hours.

But I've also seen winters with nearly zero snow by the time the New Year arrives as well.

This winter has been more severe than normal, but certainly not excessively so, at least in my experience,
 
I'm a transplant into MN and I really don't like the cold. I currently live in a nice very well insulated modern home, and I really struggle with winter in all kind of ways. I cant imagine wintering in a camper, you're much tougher than me. I'll be watching your progress carefully... I'm fascinated. I wish you the best of luck. It sounds like you have a bunch of people here willing to give you advice, so at least you don't have to repeat past mistakes.
Regards Steven
Embrace the winters. Don't hide inside. Buy the right stuff to go outside in the winter (Since you're new to Minnesota or possibly just don't know what to get, that's heavy insulated winter boots, snow pants, snowmobile jacket, balaklava, and -20 or lower rated winter gloves) and you won't care how cold it is. If you can figure out a way to borrow one, go somewhere on a snowmobile. you can take one out on a frozen lake and really open the throttle up. FYI the helmets come in different sizes, I scraped the crap out of my face the first time I wore one because I thought they were one size fits all. Go ice fishing at least once (It's mostly just an excuse to get drunk in an RV sitting in the middle of a lake). There's dog sled racing in the northern part of the state and probably another dozen things to do outside in the winter. The Ice Palace in Stillwater is pretty cool too, although I've only ever seen it from outside. Sometimes we just fire up the Explorer and go down some of the dirt roads in the North - they're plowed, sort of, other than the dedicated trails.

You can drive a snowmobile across a lake in the summer but it takes someone with a special kind of insanity to do that in my opinion - or someone else's snowmobile and a good life jacket.

I moved to this frozen wasteland back in 2007 from Ohio which gets plenty of snow but not much cold, it took about 3 years to start liking the winters.

The fifth wheel is insulated better than the sticks and bricks house we used to rent, damp laundry would actually freeze to the walls in the house on colder days. The travel trailer was about the same as the sticks and bricks house but only the floor, the walls were definitely insulated better.
 
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