Pullin' Chocks

16 Thoughts for a Fifth Wheel Trailer

We have been asked about our rig and lifestyle many times.  We thought we would post the list below of some top things that we now know are worthy of consideration by learning from experience.  One really neat thing about RVing is that everyone does it differently, so in the end you will want to do it your way that makes you the most comfortable.  The list below is just our opinion on what makes us comfortable.  The main thing is to have fun!

1.  Size matters.  Recommend getting the smallest size that does what you need/want.  The down size to bigger - they are heavier and you need more truck  $$$, plus the trailer costs more; larger size can limit where you go and what campgrounds and lots you can fit or get onto.  The upside to smaller - you will fit on more of the lots in a campground increasing your chances of a usable vacancy, cost less, smaller truck, less expensive wheels/tires.

2.  Dometic refrigerators seem to be more reliable than Norcold.  Norcold has lots of issues and cause fires much more frequently.  (This is if you are not going with a residential refrigerator.)  Residential refrigerators are very nice, but in my opinion you need at least 300 usable AH of battery capacity.  Lots of weight & $$$ for batteries.  We would go with a Dometic 2-way again.

3.  Brakes are critical!  We have disc brakes on our trailer.  They are nice, but more complex and are less compatible with brake controllers.  If we did it again, we would get drum brakes if we could.  Disc brakes are hydraulic over electric, which means the truck sends an electric signal back to the trailer.  That signal goes to the hydraulic brake actuator in the trailer.  So you have this hydraulic reservoir and pump system... great when it works... can be messy when failing.

4.  Dual Air Conditioners are nice for redundancy and the increased reliability that brings.  No one wants to be hot.  Ours is a ducted remote thermostat... nice but again more complex and opportunity for problems.  I would like to have controls right on the AC units themselves, not much to go wrong there.

5.  You will use a heater.  The propane furnaces are great.  Same comment for redundancy here.  We carry two el cheapo space heaters which work great, but we have to carry them.  Heat pump air conditioners are a great option for redundancy when at a hook up.  I think I would still carry one space heater though.

6.  Leveling is necessary IMO.  If you have slides, which you will, it is good to be level and square when running the slides in and out.  That said you will level at every new camp.  The easier your leveling system makes this task the happier you will be.  We love our Bigfoot, even though it is also a hydraulic system.  IMO you don't need, or again IMO, want an automatic leveler feature.  We have that in our Bigfoot but never use it, we don't trust it.  We can level faster and better manually.  Level front to back first, then level side to side.

7.  Inverter?  They are very nice for those nights you don't hookup at a campground.  If you're always going to hook up, you really don't need one.  We use ours when we travel a long distance (1,000+ miles) and stop overnight 1, 2 or 3 times in a parking lot or other dry camping situation.  I recommend a PSW (pure sine wave) inverter, you will have less problems with device compatibility.  The biggest load you will run with your inverter is your microwave oven, so size the inverter for that max load and save some $$.

8.  Generator?  Very nice to have when & if you need it.  I think it is a very rare situation to run your AC off of the generator.  I recommend a Yamaha 3kW inverter generator.  It will run a small AC 13.5k BTU.  Many folks have a 2kW genny, but that will not run an AC.  We have a 4kW commutator generator.  Bigger than we need, spent too much, and it has a big voltage spike at 300 hz which causes problems.  A 5th harmonic  is a common issue with commutator (standard) generators, and it does cause problems with other devices.  That is the main reason I recommend an inverter generator.  They also tend to be quieter, but are a little pricier.

9.  You can't have enough carrying capacity.  If you are full timing you will need at least 2,000 lbs CC, and you would like to have 3,500 lbs trust me.  DON'T trust an RV salesman on CC, figure it out yourself.  Know all your weights and how they relate to each other.  We can help you.  For a 5th wheel setup the key parameters are for the tow vehicle - GVWR, GAWR (front & rear), and GCWR; for the trailer -  GAWR, GVWR and pin weight.

10.  Tanks and frames - Big tanks are nice.  That means less dumping and refilling.  We have 75 gal grey and black holding tanks and a 100 gallon fresh water tank.  They are not too big for comfort.  That said, water is heavy and a strong frame is a good thing.  Ask about the frame, I-beams, box beams, both? It matters, get the strongest frame you can get.  Less stiff/weaker frames will fail sooner and make problems before failure.

11.  Solar?  Only makes sense if you are going to dry camp often, otherwise it is not a good use of $$.  If you are planning on dry camping often (we were) you will have lots of battery capacity, a good sized inverter and solar charging is a nice add.  We rarely dry camp, and that is usually when we are going from place to place.  We may have 1 to 3 overnights dry camping and our batteries, inverter, solar charger and generator do everything and more than we need.  Said another way, we spent too much.  If money is not critical, we do love our electrical system, and we always hope boondocking opportunities will present as we gain experience.  We are very comfortable when we do dry camping stop overs, but our systems are probably a bit of overkill for just that.  e.g. we could have gone without an inverter, no solar and a smaller generator and still had everything we need.

12.  Insulation and double paned windows -  get as much insulation as possible.  Arctic package options are a good thing.  The object is to follow the weather, but we all get caught, and freezing up is no fun.  Double paned windows are much better insulators, get them if you can.

13.  Moisture is a problem for fulltimers.  We breathe in and out, we cook, we bathe, and it all makes moisture inside.  The key is air circulation.  Fans fans fans, keep that air moving everywhere, don't block off space especially on external walls or ceiling, open windows, vents and doors when you can.

14.  Simple is good.  It tends to be more reliable and less problemmatic.  However, no matter what you do, you will have problems.  We were recently trapped inside our rig for 5 hours when the door lock linkage broke.  Avoid things automatic or electrically controlled seek manual devices and systems in general IMO.

15.  LED lights are good.  Get as many as you can, minimize halogen lights.  Halogen pull more power and get really hot.  All your lights run off your batteries.  So does your fans, electric motors,  pumps, and control boards (refrigerator, thermostats, OTA TV antenna/amplifier)

16.  Read RV Blogs and clubs.  We followed and still do, an engineer couple Nina & Paul, in a Class A.  Their Blog is Wheelingit.  We did so many things just as they described.  They have great stuff on their blog and it is searchable.  Our favorite RV club is IRV2.  That also has great search capability.  Sign up for free.  We are Pullin' Chocks on there.