Thinking About Full Time RVing?

[SFLsmkr1]

Think before you do.

We been for 8 years now. At times we like it but its the repair times we have not. The 5th wheel is only 3 years old.
We have replaced 2 AC units, 7 awning motors, 2 furnace boards, middle slide out floor replacement and now the large slide floor replacement.

This is the PITA part.
This floor is costing $2655. 50

Pics of floor being taken out because of water damage.
Both corners have damage. This slide is 14'

BBL

 

[JLeonard]

Travel nursed for almost 3 yrs in a 5th wheel. Back and forth across the country twice. Thankfully never had any major problems.
Jim

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

I believe I would be selling that bad boy and finding a nice condo to retire in! Maybe a small house with not much yard maintenance and plenty of room for your smokers and grills!

 

[civilsmoker]

Man that sucks big time! I know my wife really wants to do it, she is a roamer by heart, but I just can't seem to find an RV that has an attached shop.......Would need to have a triple trailer and that kinda defeats the purpose....

 

[SFLsmkr1]

We are going to look at one of the new park models that are coming in in Feb.

 

[crazymoon]

Rick, Terrible that your rig is only 3 years old and has needed that much work !

 

[daveomak]

Will you be able to move a park model ??

 

[forktender]

Think before you do.

We been for 8 years now. At times we like it but its the repair times we have not. The 5th wheel is only 3 years old.
We have replaced 2 AC units, 7 awning motors, 2 furnace boards, middle slide out floor replacement and now the large slide floor replacement.

This is the PITA part.
This floor is costing $2655. 50

Pics of floor being taken out because of water damage.
Both corners have damage. This slide is 14'
View attachment 476472

View attachment 476473

View attachment 476474

BBL

That is brutal sorry to hear that if you don't mind, which brand is your trailer?

 

[bill1]

Could I ask who built your rig? One of the advantages of mass production is that issues like water damage (or I should say the causes for it) have been worked out. At least I thought that was a major selling point of pre-fab homes as opposed to tract homes where a little customization has to happen in each one, that can lead to problems like this.

 

[SFLsmkr1]

Park models are fixed fast and secured to the concrete. no hitches or tires showing as they remove all that.

Our 5th wheel is a forest river POJ. Coachmen.

The new floor is in. 2 pieces of 3/8" cabinet grade ply laminated together and the exterior is rino liner sprayed. they are laying the water resistant flooring down now and doing some trim work.

 

[rc4u]

wow we have had rv's since '86. first one was a 32' swinger '79 dodge, man we drove the heck out of it to canada n back pulled the old boat. we had used sportsman and laradoe 5ver's 32' ter's. took a break in 2009 when kids moved onl. the n in '12 got a 1997 40' london air deisel pusher, in 2016 traded for current '07 Alfa gold 40' deisel pusher.. normal maintenance but in all that time we never had bad luck only couple water heaters.. we i did drive the Alfa with awning out n that cost $500 deductible cost insurance 10G. awning was 22' electric. we never even considered certain brands as we camped every weekend n seen others..

 

[SFLsmkr1]

We dont camp.
We are stationary in a resort.

We did have a 40' motorhome we did drive around for while but that was not our thing.

 

[rc4u]

oh we will be selling house next year and full time.. i pull my 2011 avalanche. my brother's land in AZ has 3 fulltime hookup's, for a month or so in winter. the last month long trip was NC then charlotte race infeild in the HD big screen spots. wow.. in those mnt's it's nice to have the 400 hp ISL with 2 stage Jake.. oh IFS front suspension n the only pusher with 7'6" ceilings no head bumps in full wall slide out.. and less expensive than others. we do boondock often but have 8 batteries. 2 chassis 6 house

 

[SFLsmkr1]

I was a truck driver so i had enuff pulling

 

[civilsmoker]

Park models are fixed fast and secured to the concrete. no hitches or tires showing as they remove all that.

Our 5th wheel is a forest river POJ. Coachmen.

The new floor is in. 2 pieces of 3/8" cabinet grade ply laminated together and the exterior is rino liner sprayed. they are laying the water resistant flooring down now and doing some trim work.

View attachment 476526

We had an older slide in truck camper that the bottom part was all leaky so after fixing all the rot it got rino lined all around. I can say that was awesome! no more issues at all. We currently have a trailer with a slider and I had to fix the gaskets around the bottom of the slide because water was wanting to travel in the unit via the top part of the sliding rail....errr. A little silicon on the rails and no more water travel....

 

[Winterrider]

Yes, the mass produced outfits are put together with very little care. Out in the elements is hard on everything, the caulking(weather stripping) is a big one. If not maintained regularly, it will eventually leak. Not saying that you weren't doing the routine mtce, but I think you will have better luck with said "park model". Good Luck . . .

 

[SFLsmkr1]

Its getting closer. They been here for 9 hours

 

[MJB05615]

Rick, sorry to hear you've had that much trouble. The new pics of the flooring replacements look great. It'll be better than new when done.

 

[SFLsmkr1]

New water resistant planks are in, trim almost finished. They wanted to come back today, naaaa its Christmas come back monday, we aint going nowhere.