Hi from Minnesota! Just getting started with RV's

[Freeborn]

Hi group,

My wife and I are wanting to dip our toes into RVing.  We're still working but not to many years from retirement so we're hoping for a long term affair wth RVing.

To start we're looking to purchase our first unit, most likely used, and see how we like it.

I'm looking for advise on what to look for in a used unit and then useful tips on how to enjoy it.

Thanks so much!

FB

 

[Ghostman]

Condition and how well it was maintained is going to be your most concern while looking for a used RV. Floorplan will be a big factor on what will work for you. Your best bet is to do alot of shopping and looking at the difference in models and floorplans since you are new to the industry.
Hope you enjoy the search and welcome to the forum.

 

[Freeborn]

Thanks Ghostman,

Appreciate the welcome.

FB

 

[68 Whiskey1]

Welcome from Georgia. Good luck on your hunt. We bought this 5er just before retirement last year. We bought new because of a warranty, however there are some great used ones out there. With the kinks worked out already. I just didn't have the time to put into a lengthy hunt, lots to tell there. Anyway, long story short, we personally couldn't have made a better choice. We found a really good dealership and a great trailer. So, after over a year and some pretty interesting travels, hurricane Irma included, it's still doing well. We are in SE GA now with kids and we'll see how it goes now with hurricane Florence coming to visit.

 

[QZ]

The number one issue with RV's is water damage and it can be tricky to find. After you buy one the refrigerator or water heater or something else could go bad but don't want to find water damage.

 

[Cooperhawk]

Hi there fellow Minnesotan.  Take your time and read everything.  You can learn a great deal from folks on this forum about what to look for and avoid.  Good hunting.

 

[Freeborn]

Thanks group,

We appreciate the warm welcome.

I did not mention it in our introduction but we are primarily interested in a 5th wheel or possibly a travel trailer.

Thanks again.

FB

 

[darsben]

Thanks group,

We appreciate the warm welcome.

I did not mention it in our introduction but we are primarily interested in a 5th wheel or possibly a travel trailer.

Thanks again.

FB

So that begs the question.
What do you intend to tow it with?
You need to know A) Payload capacity of the tow vehicle (usually the  most limiting factor) and the towing capacity of you vehicle. There is a sticker near the drivers side door that will give you the figure. Do not accept that your vehicle is rated to XXXX lbs payload capacity is VERY important

 

[1anjl]

Welcome! I?m new here too and new to RV life, so I doubt I will have much wisdom to share. I can however agree about water damage! When looking for a used rig, poke all the walls, floors and corners! If you feel any soft spots or crunching noises walk away! Well unless you don?t mind rebuilding most of the rig . Also check inside cupboards, the back of floor cabinets, under windows and dining benches as leaky pipes and rain water wind up there too. If you are buying used with a slide out, check carefully all around the slide out for water damage and make sure the slide fully seals both when out and in. Don?t forget to check the roof too! I?d recommend buying used from a reputable dealer. The dealer I bought mine from knew little about RVs, was just a used car lot. Thankfully I don?t mind repair work

 

[RVMommaTo6]

Welcome! You came to the right place for answers, there are some very knowledgeable people here.

 

[Freeborn]

So that begs the question.
What do you intend to tow it with?
You need to know A) Payload capacity of the tow vehicle (usually the  most limiting factor) and the towing capacity of you vehicle. There is a sticker near the drivers side door that will give you the figure. Do not accept that your vehicle is rated to XXXX lbs payload capacity is VERY important

Thanks Darsben,

I came prepared, I drive a 2017 F350 diesel and I'm looking to stay with a reasonable sized unit to start.  Probably a 28-30' 5th wheel.

I should be well within my capabilities.

Thanks,

FB

 

[Freeborn]

Welcome! I?m new here too and new to RV life, so I doubt I will have much wisdom to share. I can however agree about water damage! When looking for a used rig, poke all the walls, floors and corners! If you feel any soft spots or crunching noises walk away! Well unless you don?t mind rebuilding most of the rig . Also check inside cupboards, the back of floor cabinets, under windows and dining benches as leaky pipes and rain water wind up there too. If you are buying used with a slide out, check carefully all around the slide out for water damage and make sure the slide fully seals both when out and in. Don?t forget to check the roof too! I?d recommend buying used from a reputable dealer. The dealer I bought mine from knew little about RVs, was just a used car lot. Thankfully I don?t mind repair work

Thanks for such good advice,

Thanks Darsben,

I came prepared, I drive a 2017 F350 diesel and I'm looking to stay with a reasonable sized unit to start.  Probably a 28-30' 5th wheel.

I should be well within my capabilities.

Thanks,

FB

 

[Freeborn]

Welcome! I?m new here too and new to RV life, so I doubt I will have much wisdom to share. I can however agree about water damage! When looking for a used rig, poke all the walls, floors and corners! If you feel any soft spots or crunching noises walk away! Well unless you don?t mind rebuilding most of the rig . Also check inside cupboards, the back of floor cabinets, under windows and dining benches as leaky pipes and rain water wind up there too. If you are buying used with a slide out, check carefully all around the slide out for water damage and make sure the slide fully seals both when out and in. Don?t forget to check the roof too! I?d recommend buying used from a reputable dealer. The dealer I bought mine from knew little about RVs, was just a used car lot. Thankfully I don?t mind repair work

Thanks for such good advice.  It's that kind of detail that will help me avoid headaches.  I can see I Need to plan for some serious time going through these units.

Thanks again.

FB

 

[darsben]

For once a guy with plenty of truck for the fiver he wants  ) )

 

[QZ]

You are in great shape with the truck.  I also believe buying used is a good way to go but as I said up above the big issue is finding one that isn't water damaged. Part of shopping for a fifth wheel is also about the hitch and the shape of the FW. If you have a long bed you shouldn't have an issue with most any rig of any age. If you have a short bed and the fifth wheel has a flat front and possibly eight and a half feet wide you may want a sliding hitch. A lot of people say they do tow 5th wheels without a sliding hitch but they're usually newer ones with curved front corners or in indents so it doesn't hit the cab at 90 degrees.

Another issue will be the height of the fifth wheel to the truck rails. Many times you end up doing an axle flip to raise the fifth wheel enough. So you might measure your  rail height and look at hitch measurements they'll give you a minimum and maximum height that the hitch can be adjusted up and down. You can figure out how it will work in the truck bed then when you go look at fifth wheels you can measure the pin box drop from the rails and have an idea of how things are going to line up. Lot of time people buy them hook up and find that the fifth wheel is pretty low in the back. The first thing is having the adjustability in the hitch to get the bed rail to the underside of the fifth wheel clearance. You want about 6in or more I think mine is about 8 and 1/2. After you have the proper bed rail clearance or close to it because the fifth wheel could be sitting there at quite an angle back then you need to figure out how much to raise the fifth wheel. If a person has the hitch in the truck and the fifth wheel hooked up all they have to do is pull the fifth wheel up on two 2 x 10 blocking or something get it to the point where it's leveled up then measure the amount of that would that's how much lift you have to come up with.

While it's sitting on those blocks they can then get a accurate measurement of the bed rail clearance. It may seem confusing until you draw it out and start writing down the numbers but you'll see the relationship in the hitch height and it's adjustability to the bed rail then the bottom of the pin box to the fifth wheel Underside. 

Lot of people are surprised when they go to pick the rigs up they get it on the truck and it's paid for their driving away and it's very. You are in the position of buying a hitch and being able to figure this out ahead of time without any surprises. You have other little things like a 7-way plug or cameras on the outside or any number of accessory type things but that's the main part as far as pulling the fifth wheel to Hitch and getting it leveled up.

As I mentioned, the water damage is the freaked out wild crazy issue. Some people don't know anything about it and don't give it much consideration when shopping and they may come out fine but there's plenty of them that come on here afterwards and say that their foot is going through the floor or the back roof in the whole back wall is rotted out inside they didn't notice it. They can have some pretty severe damage inside the walls that hasn't shown through yet. If you stand back from the rig and look at it at various angles in different light you'll see places where the skin maybe delaminated. That trickiest one I have seen was a2013 open range TT that my son was interested in. I found a spot in the bedroom cabinet on the front wall where the trim just look very slightly out of place. When I pulled on it touched it a little bit it was loose and the nail staple look Rusty and it was black behind it.

My son and I went back the next day to look at it again and he pulled the trim off and shoved his fingers through the wall and it was all black slime.

If you are handy you can do most repairs yourself,  if you are more mechanicly inclined you can flip axles or whatever is needed. You just don't want water damage. Sorry to go on so much about the water damage but after reading these forms for years it's heartbreaking to hear of the situations that people end up in after getting taken on some of these things.

Edit: flipping the axles and doing some other suspension mods will require some welding

 

[Freeborn]

You are in great shape with the truck.  I also believe buying used is a good way to go but as I said up above the big issue is finding one that isn't water damaged. Part of shopping for a fifth wheel is also about the hitch and the shape of the FW. If you have a long bed you shouldn't have an issue with most any rig of any age. If you have a short bed and the fifth wheel has a flat front and possibly eight and a half feet wide you may want a sliding hitch. A lot of people say they do tow 5th wheels without a sliding hitch but they're usually newer ones with curved front corners or in indents so it doesn't hit the cab at 90 degrees.

Another issue will be the height of the fifth wheel to the truck rails. Many times you end up doing an axle flip to raise the fifth wheel enough. So you might measure your  rail height and look at hitch measurements they'll give you a minimum and maximum height that the hitch can be adjusted up and down. You can figure out how it will work in the truck bed then when you go look at fifth wheels you can measure the pin box drop from the rails and have an idea of how things are going to line up. Lot of time people buy them hook up and find that the fifth wheel is pretty low in the back. The first thing is having the adjustability in the hitch to get the bed rail to the underside of the fifth wheel clearance. You want about 6in or more I think mine is about 8 and 1/2. After you have the proper bed rail clearance or close to it because the fifth wheel could be sitting there at quite an angle back then you need to figure out how much to raise the fifth wheel. If a person has the hitch in the truck and the fifth wheel hooked up all they have to do is pull the fifth wheel up on two 2 x 10 blocking or something get it to the point where it's leveled up then measure the amount of that would that's how much lift you have to come up with.

While it's sitting on those blocks they can then get a accurate measurement of the bed rail clearance. It may seem confusing until you draw it out and start writing down the numbers but you'll see the relationship in the hitch height and it's adjustability to the bed rail then the bottom of the pin box to the fifth wheel Underside. 

Lot of people are surprised when they go to pick the rigs up they get it on the truck and it's paid for their driving away and it's very. You are in the position of buying a hitch and being able to figure this out ahead of time without any surprises. You have other little things like a 7-way plug or cameras on the outside or any number of accessory type things but that's the main part as far as pulling the fifth wheel to Hitch and getting it leveled up.

As I mentioned, the water damage is the freaked out wild crazy issue. Some people don't know anything about it and don't give it much consideration when shopping and they may come out fine but there's plenty of them that come on here afterwards and say that their foot is going through the floor or the back roof in the whole back wall is rotted out inside they didn't notice it. They can have some pretty severe damage inside the walls that hasn't shown through yet. If you stand back from the rig and look at it at various angles in different light you'll see places where the skin maybe delaminated. That trickiest one I have seen was a2013 open range TT that my son was interested in. I found a spot in the bedroom cabinet on the front wall where the trim just look very slightly out of place. When I pulled on it touched it a little bit it was loose and the nail staple look Rusty and it was black behind it.

My son and I went back the next day to look at it again and he pulled the trim off and shoved his fingers through the wall and it was all black slime.

If you are handy you can do most repairs yourself,  if you are more mechanicly inclined you can flip axles or whatever is needed. You just don't want water damage. Sorry to go on so much about the water damage but after reading these forms for years it's heartbreaking to hear of the situations that people end up in after getting taken on some of these things.

Edit: flipping the axles and doing some other suspension mods will require some welding

. Thanks QZ, great advise, I appreciate it.

You are right, if you have never had a 5th wheel you don't know what your needs are for so many things.

I see you winter in Arizona, that's our plan also.  We're still figuring out where we will land but we love getting out of Minnesota and going to Arizona in the winter.  Great winter climate in Arizona, Minnesota not so much.

Thanks again.

FB

 

[darsben]

Fb
Have you considered renting a park model or fifth wheel for the first time in Arizona??  This would allow you  to have a home base and explore the area looking for your landing place.
Pick an Senior RV park and look at the rentals in that park. Pick one.  Then explore.
I am in Casa Grande, AZ and this is a list of rentals in our park  http://albartsch.com/index.php/rent-spread most parks have something similar. Look at the rentals and units for sale, hey you never know. In addition there are large RV shows in Phoenix almost every weekend as well as Quartzite in January (I believe).

 

[Freeborn]

Fb
Have you considered renting a park model or fifth wheel for the first time in Arizona??  This would allow you  to have a home base and explore the area looking for your landing place.
Pick an Senior RV park and look at the rentals in that park. Pick one.  Then explore.
I am in Casa Grande, AZ and this is a list of rentals in our park  http://albartsch.com/index.php/rent-spread most parks have something similar. Look at the rentals and units for sale, hey you never know. In addition there are large RV shows in Phoenix almost every weekend as well as Quartzite in January (I believe).

Thanks Darsben, I'll check out your list, you never know.