Hello from Alabama

Sonnie · 11-15-2020, 11:23 AM

Wife and I are looking for fifth wheel, and being a forum owner myself, felt the need to find a fifth wheel forum to learn a bit.

Regards,
Sonnie

**wingnut60** · 11-16-2020, 10:21 PM

Welcome. Lots of info to gather if you will just ask a question.
Size, tow vehicle? for starters.

MTK46 · 11-23-2020, 07:00 PM

Yes welcome! Have you owned a RV before? How do you plan on using it. Just weekends, summer vacations, short trips, longer trips. Staying in national Parks, state parks, RV parks, boondocking. Kids/grandkids going along, how about animals.
Just a few more things to take into account for the type and size of RV

Sonnie · 11-23-2020, 07:10 PM

Actually we are back to looking at travel trailers for now, since I am not ready to upgrade my truck at this time to enable the ability to pull a 5th wheel.

Never owned one. My parents owned about a dozen when I was growing up. My wife and I spent our first honeymoon night in a travel trailer that we kept parked at a campsite year round, but that was back in 1984.

We are considering one to mainly pull to state parks, most likely shorter trips. We are in south Alabama, so we might pull it to the beach, Cheahaw State Park... Smokey Mountains, etc. No kids and no animals ... just us two.

MTK46 · 11-23-2020, 07:33 PM

Wife and I were married in 1983. We spent our first six months living in a travel trailer. We started with a used tent trailer and then moved up to travel trailers. Owned three travel trailers before we moved up to fifth wheels.
my guess is you probably have a half ton truck is that correct? Year make model engine size would help us.

Sonnie · 11-23-2020, 09:04 PM

We originally started out looking at fifth wheels, but quickly learned we can't pull one and need to stick with a TT... prefer something under 30ft.

Here's the original thread...

https://www.5thwheelforums.com/forum...ead.php?t=4249

I know this is a forum for fifth wheels, so I have not pressed it any further here.

2020 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 Crew Cab 5.7' box 5.7L Hemi with eTorque and 3.92 rear gear ratio. Payload is 1612.

1612lbs Payload less...
-400 - my wife and I
-100 - tool box with a few tools (I can pick it up easily)
-200 - other stuff in the truck (sub box, running boards, etc)
-60 - fuel tank swap from 23 to 33 (10 gallons x 6lbs per gallon)
852lbs - remaining

We will travel dry (no water)... but we'll obviously have clothes, linen, a couple of lounge chairs, hoses, cables, a few dishes, and some food. We'll add a Dishmate for our Dish satellite. We are not like some folks when we go on vacation, we always travel relatively light.

Stripit · 11-24-2020, 08:56 AM

We started out with a 24 ft trailer and towed by a 1999 Dodge Durango. Bought a hitch the dealer sold and it was all over the road trying to tow that thing straight. Within a few weeks switched to a Hensley Hitch and it was like a new truck towing that trailer. We then enjoyed camping, or actually getting to and from the campgrounds.

MTK46 · 11-24-2020, 06:19 PM

I would look at Lance trailers if sold in your area. Grand Design Image brand would be another to check out.
Our first 5th wheel back in the late 90's we pulled with a F-150. No slide and had to get down on your knees to get in and out of the bed. Needless to say we only kept that a couple of years and moved to a real fifth wheel that had a slide. Also upgraded to an f250 with a diesel in 2000.