Transitioning from one RV to the next.

After contemplating an upgrade, and looking around,via dealers and private sellers,, we came across another 5th tucked away just across town.An elderly lady had it, and was a seasoned vacation camper. Her husband picked it up to upgrade from their previous 5th wheel. They only had it home for 3 weeks and he passed away. They never got to take it out for a much needed get a way. I asked to walk through it and inspect it and I don't candy coat anything and not to take it wrong if I bring up any issues. She told me to take my time,, she's retired and has plenty of time to let me check out the 5'er. I walk around it several times, opening all the compartment doors,, rolling underneath in the dirt to look at the underbelly.(always wear clothes that you dont mind getting dirty or at least some cover-alls). I notice first thing, it will need some minor repair on the front door. Its had it wear and tear days,, but still latches and seals,I walk in and just do a circle looking every which way, and then walk back towards the kitchen, Wow,, Lots of counter space,, cabinets and drawers. It has a new full size Fridge built into the cabinet,(previous owner had sears install a new one before this elderly lady's husband purchased it). The stove/oven, looks as though it has never been used, or even lit for that matter. Its a deluxe 4 burner.(time to change the pots and pan situation again). It has an upgraded double porclean sink with a mohen faucet.The microwave is a convection type built into the cabinet with a front facing exhaust vent. The tank monitoring system is built into the range hood.

It has an auto light gas/electric water heater, flip the switch and viola, water heater comes to life. I have had both manual and electric start water heaters, and still prefer the ole manual. But hey,,, the automatic does make life simple.lol. Ok,, I step back into the living area, which has a nice double drop leaf table,(each side of the table drops down for smaller table or flip up to make it bigger,(nice touch), It has 2 well padded goldish chrome chairs, which I have to admit are comfortable. No more bench seats.lol... A plus is the table and chairs move freely, so vacumming the *peach colored carpet easier.(yes, peach colored).

This 5'er has a full slide out which holds the couch which flips out to a queen bed with very little effort,(Thats the cats meow). In the slide out it had a very nice main window and a window and each end, (can now see if zombies are sneaking up from all sides). All the windows in the 5'er have real nice solid wood valance boxes with exceptionally clean drawn back curtains, The slide out windows are crank out turn the knob to open and close, and the rest of the windows are sliders, with exceptionally clean screens, all in tack. The living room has one very large closet with built in hanger holder and a drawer underneath, The entertainment center that holds the TV has a stereo with full RV sound system and also has a nice large catch all and hide stuff cabinet, with another large drawer underneath, Back near the front door, there are 3 glowing switches,, one turns on porch light near front door, the next switch turns on the living room and hallway lights and the third turns on a back side porch light near the slide. Up the hallway is the bathroom, It has a regular type house door that opens outward. The tub shower combo has lots of room to spin around and get everything rinsed. It has an upgraded pedital porclean toilet with foot pedal flush and auto fill which brings the water up about 3 inches,, as to not have a dry bowl. The bathroom sink is about twice the size of a standard sink and it also has a newer mohen faucet.Under the sink are 2 fairly good sized storage cabinets. There is also a large closet in the bath which can hold clothes along with towels and wash clothes and toiletries. Ok, now back to the master bedroom. Standing up and walking down each side of the bed will make it easier to make the bed with fresh sheets. It even has a *cute padded frill headboard of sorts, (Im not really into frilly,, but I can live with it.). Above the bed are 4 nice cabinets with the mirrored glass doors and a closet on each side of the bed. Under the bed is a very large storage area and lifting it to open takes very little effort and has gas shocks to hold it up even with the weight of the new pillow top mattress. I was very impressed that it has a Central heat and air conditioning system with ceiling vents through out the entire rig,The ceiling only has an intake vent,and the thermostat is located on the interior wall. Outside,, it even has an exterior shower,(which I wont be using). Storage bays are huge. Under the front is a very large storage bay,(single door). Its also access to the electric /manual landing gear. On the drivers side the 1st storage bay is a crawl through from one side to the next,,,(good for playing hide and seek,lol). The next storage bay is for the 2 36 inch tall propane tanks (which were both full), and has the auto switch for when one tank depletes, it will automatically switch over to the full one.

Down to the next bay is the pull valves for the grey and black tanks. 2 pull valves inside, and underneath the rig is another pull valve located near the sewer pipe connection. Down a little farther in the next bay is miscl, jacks,hoses,wheel chocks.The next compartment is the outside shower. then the last bay door is access to the 60 gallon fresh water tank. On the passenger side rear is another very large stowage. then up under the picture side window is another medium sided storage bay and finally back up towards the front on the side is the crawl through bay. I inspected the underside which I was impressed had very little road debri chips and dings and was very clean and sealed nice and tight,(no patch jobs). The tires look close to new, But before any trip they will be replaced. The springs look clean and solid and include 4 shock absorbers,, sweeeeeet. The rig has a full ladder in the back which made inspecting the roof a whole lot easier, The roof was just replaced and carries a transferable 10 year warrantee, Major plus. The walls ,floor and ceiling are all very firm and solid, and I went through this rig meticulously.

Had an issue with the electric landing gear,, (I hate electric landing gear),, The onboard battery was beyond dead,, it was dead,dead with a dose of way dead.But with an older 5th,, the manufacturer did include a MANUAL operation handle and with a few hundred thousand turns, with a gear ratio of 10 to 1 I got the landing gear to extend to lift it high enough to get onto the hitch and then lower down,, Pull the pins in the legs and slide them up nice and snug. I forgot to mention,, The tires had some pretty spiffy hub caps....lol  Now will cruise in style. I bought the rig,, Hooked up and only 2 top clearance lights was out. Quick pop of the lens, 2 bulbs and viola,, we have light (s).

It pulled nice and smooth and for being 8,000 lbs it handled really well and the chuck holes and bumps didnt even faze it,, those shocks really smoothed the ride out. I got it to the RV park and finagled around getting my 24 footer moved and this 28 footer put in its place, and I even suprised myself,, I backed it in on the first try. I had to buy another 10 ft sewer hose becaus ethe sewer connection on the 5th is center point and the waste dump is towards the back of rv next to the power meter electrical hook up box.The sewer,water and electrical are all situated in the same general location. I dropped the landing gear,leveling jacks and comminced to extend the slideout.,,, Ugggggg.

It operates off the 12 volt on board battery,, But no biggy,, the ole 3/4 inch socket and long handled ratchet and I manually cranked it out.. Thank goodness for 2 to 1 ratio's,, very little effort to move it out,

Hooked water up and had a tiny drip under bathroom sink,, 90 degree elbow dripped a little which in laymens terms can be a major problem, So off to Home depot and $8 shark bite fitting, it was a whole 5 minute fix. I tested the water heater on electric and it took 2 hrs to get sufficient shower water,, and the following day, tested the gas and it takes about 40 minutes to get shower ready hot water.

With any rig 20 plus years old,, it does need a couple cosmetic touches,, The wall paper in a few areas have seperated from the wood,(the wood is solid and no water damage).. The heat and humidity was a major factor.

I also noticed that the ceiling to roof thickness isnt the standard 2 inch but is 6 inches. I pulled one of the ceiling speakers and noticed a very thick bright pink layer of insulation and with my fingertips touching the interior side of the roof,, my hand was inside the whole where the speaker mounts in ceiling making it a very heavily insulated roof. BTW,  The ceiling is 7 ft in the kitchen and living room, and 8 foot at the front door and hallway, then back to 7 foot in bedroom after you go up 3 small wide steps,,

Now the only thing left after relaxing a little bit is deciding where the pool table and hot tub jaccuzzi will go. (smile).

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Comment by Rick Faunce on October 26, 2016 at 5:37pm

Don't laugh! I was at Wally world the other day and saw a full size inflatable Jacuzzi!! The real deal with pumps, jets and everything. Blow it up, fill it up and heat it up and you are good to go. When it is time to move on run a hose out to the sewer dump and drain it out and away you go. Now, all you have to do is find about 36 square feet in there. LOL.

Comment by Dean on October 25, 2016 at 12:02pm

Sounds awesome !!!!!! Want to hear more about it.

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