Good luck and enjoy it, that is what it is there for!

 

Glad to read you decided on the Sidewinder as opposed to a slider John. It's a great setup if your not used to towing a 5th with a short bed. Although, you may find you skip the purchase after you get your practice in. I towed my previous 40' hauler and now my 44' rig without any type of slider and have never felt I needed one. People always say without one, if you're not paying attention, you could have cab to RV contact. My response is always, if I'm not paying attention, I can have truck to tree contact too. LOL. I've got about 20k miles since 2012 of "contact free" hauling so far...

 

Well Kathy and I left Connecticut at 3:30 am with the Zinger in tow. A nice quiet ride up to Burlington, Vermont the weather held and it was just overcast the entire day. Arrived at Pete's RV at 9:15 am. Didn't get out until 2:30 pm.

We had them put on one of those leveling bubbles, and raise the in bed hitch 3 notches.

They went over every inch of the 5th wheel and every inch of there store. Got to admit all smiles and very attentive. A little drawn out at the end but not that bad.

All hitched up and off to the roads. I don't know why we didn't make the move before. ( oh ya money) It drove like a dream. only time it was loud is when we went over bridges. I don't know what MA and VT have against bridges, but some were nasty going up and back.

Got down to Putney, Vermont and decided to diesel up and pulled into a Sunoco station. The diesel pumps were separate and I swung a little short and had to back up. Looked like a pro. Just backed up and brought it straight in. A woman at the pump said very impressive. I thought she was talking about my driving and my wife later informed me she was talking about the 5'er.

We hit mist in Massachusetts. All the way back to Charlie Brown campground.

We arrived at 6:15 pm. Tired and pretty much spent from all the excitement. Kathy was guiding me in and would say go that way and I would have to ask which way is that way. Looked like a comedy act. Finally I would alien and back up a little and get out and look. Then replete it about 3 or 4 times and finally in between two campers and we were done.

Had a little issue with the disconnecting of hitch. Couldn't get it to release the trailer and finally realized I wasn't high enough. Not bad for the first time.

Thanks to you guys things went smooth and I was aware of what I needed to watch out for and what to do.

Looking forward to spring.

Have pictures that Kathy took with phone. will try to post as soon as I figure how.

 

Sounds like you had a great experience for the first time out. keep us up to,date on your travels. (We like pictures of places to go). Pictures required of your rig if you have any questions, please ask. There are no dumb questions.

 

Sounds great. You think those roads are bad..try Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas roads.

 

First, I gathered some of the crew here and took their picture:



Sounds as though you purcased from Pete's in Burlington - who has a pretty good reputation and where we came close to buying ours.

That return trip with a new RV hooked on is always fun as you hear noises and feel things that you would swear that it's leaving a trail of debris. OK, ya got it home, now since it's warm for Dec. in CT, time for a wash 'n' polish

 

One thing that has saved my wife and I embarrassment and probably our marriage is 2 way radios and using the terms passenger side and drivers side when backing. If/when you pull into a campground, you are always under surveillance from others wanting to see how you do when backing in, or pulling through and then positioning.

The two way radios are great as I just leave mine in the truck in the cup holder and listen. She has 5 terms to describe the motion of the trailer until it reaches its point of parking.

passenger side
driver side
back
stop
try again

Enjoy and post some pictures when you can!

 

This is gold!!!
The one time we remembered the walkies is the one time we didn't entertain the whole campground by yelling at each other.
BTW, we bought our rig at Pete's RV in Burlington as well. They have been great with warranty work, even past warranty when our exit stairs cracked and they got Keystone to pay for new stairs.
Don't EVER forget the fiver is there and to swing wide for turns. Almost turned mine over last summer when I forgot on a narrow single lane campground trail (Ausable Point CG in NY) and dropped the passenger wheels into a ditch. Hitting the stops on the hitch saved it, but unknowingly damaged the turret bolts on my Sidewinder and two of them sheared a few thousand miles later. I've since replaced the Sidewinder with a MorRyde for a much better ride.

 

I said I would get pictures:

 

A matching great looking rig

 

Great looking rig, John
You asked what to watch for on the road when pulling a 5er

For your viewing pleasure


Enjoy, and dont forget to look up!😀

 

I can't explain the feeling in the pit of my stomach and at the same time could not stop watching. It gets the point across. Thanks.

 

Brings to mind of something to do.


The manufactor states the height of the trailer but you need to actually measure it yourself.


From the tallest point..usually the A/C unit.

 

And put a post-it note on your dash with the height of your rig. And don't trust the posted heights of those bridges. They do not come back and adjust the signs after repaving projects, so the signs can easily be off. I always assume they are off by 6".

 

I always use 13.5 ft. As we have a 14 ft shed and it just fits in. Have to climb over rafters when on roof.