Party at Joe's. Hi Joe.

Evening Steve.

We took the box off a 69 pickup this afternoon. Rusty piece of crap. Seems the box and front clip are rusty beyond repair but the cab is in pretty good shape. The interior of the truck is unmolested, not a hole drilled anywhere and not one **** is missing.

 

Mornin guys.

Just surfing craigslist, looking at rv's. Going back and forth on tent trailers and 17-19' conventional trailers. 5'ers are out for now, unless I get a sweet deal on an OBS diesel crew cab dually.

I like the look of the Airstreams, but they are way beyond my price range. 13' Bolers are nice, but overpriced, and a bit undersmall. 17' Bolers are about the right size, but still, overpriced, yet not as outrageously overpriced as the 13 footers.

I emailed my wife a link to a $300 tent trailer that looks to be about 40 years old. I doubt she'll go for it, but if she does, I think I might pull the trigger sight unseen.

And my sleep schedule is all screwy now. That can of Coke probably didn't help. Probably why I'm still up.

 

One problem I'm running into surfing for trailers:

Older is heavier, lighter is expensiver.

 

It's pretty hard to find a good one for a decent price. We bought our first trailer about 8 yrs. ago. It was a 17 1/2' Prowler. 1978 vintage. It was in really good shape. We pulled it for the most part with my wife's exploder.

 

Our first one was a Serro Scotty. Not sure of the year. But it was a 13 footer. Anyway, the guy we bought it from towed it with a 4 cylinder Toyota 4Runner. My Ranger should have had no problem with it, right?

Yeah, the guy grossly misrepresented what he was selling. As long as I stayed out of the hills, I was okay. But whatever the registration said for weight, I think I was at least double that. My Ranger just needed a little more power to stay out of it's own way, or a lighter trailer. I never scaled it, so I have no idea how much it actually weighed. If I had to guess, it was 4000? Sure felt like it anyway. Thankfully it had trailer brakes.

We bought it in Kamloops, and sold it in White Rock, tripled our money. Then, thinking to myself it's a relatively easy way to make some quick cash, I figured I'd get a cheapo tent trailer and do the same.

No such luck that time, didn't even get to use it ourselves. My sister in law used it once though. Didn't leak, but they weren't gonna take any chances and tarped it anyway.

So after going camping last year, having to give up my awesome truck tent and fitted air mattress, we tented on the ground, changed diapers out of the back of my wife's Tucson. We had stuff strapped to the roof, plugged every available nook and cranny with things not necessary... Never again we said. Next year we'll have a trailer. So began our quest. Came up with an Expedition, this year we still tented on the ground, and we hated it. So with a little urgency, I'm now looking, sort of.

And wouldn't you know it, after my last post, I have read of 2 5'ers where the sellers are asking $2500. Yes, twenty five hundred. There's lots for around 6000.

Why did my wife have to wreck our laptop? Because I could have been showing her cheap 5th wheels for the last week, and talked her into me getting a dually, and her trading her Expedition in on the Charger she so badly wants. Now, I have to resort to sending emails for another week...

Ah well.

Honestly though, the worst was when my mother and I decided we should sell our motorhome after my dad died. That thing was sweet. E350, 460, 4 speed auto, cruise, sleeps 6, 27 foot... I miss that thing.

edit

Just read of a 5th wheel for $1500. Some damage from a vent left open.

 

I wish we still had our 78 trailer sitting somewhere under cover. I would love to pull it with my 75 when/if I ever get it finished.

we quit tent camping in about 2004 I think. We said the same as you never again.

We have never made any money selling our trailer or 5th wheel, but we have sure got our moneys worth out of them.

I got my diesel because our latest 5th wheel was a little too much for my F250 with a 5.4. I would hazard a guess that our current 5th wheel is at least 1000 lbs heavier than advertised.

We were looking at new ones a few years ago in Kelowna. One we liked was 33' and weighed about 8500 lbs.(that's what the sticker inside said) Salesman said oh ya no problem pulling that with your F250. Glad we didn't buy it.

 

I don't know if I could bring myself to get anything BUT a diesel, if it came down to pulling. 5.4's and 6.8's popping spark plugs... 460's don't, and I'd go with one, but they're thirsty. So that leaves the 7.3. And I've always wanted a dually.

Not sure if I'd want a 5'er longer than a 27 though. I don't want any slideouts, just an awning. Besides, it's gonna be used for camping. Trailer is for sleeping, so the shorter the better. Says me, anyway. There's a couple 19.5' 5th wheels for sale, one single axle, the other a tandem. Either way, they look goofy, but in a cute way.

 

I know as long as I pull something I will have a diesel. There is just no comparison. I would think a tandem would pull a little better than a single axle. When we bought our current 5th wheel we thought the model number was the length. We thought it was 26' turns out it is 30'. I figured that out when I backed into the fence the first time I parked it in the back yard. It has a big slide and most of the bells and whistles.

We picked it up for just over half of the asking price. I told my wife I would probably need a bigger truck to pull it and she was ok with that. If we ever get another it will most likely be 26' to 28'. We would like to do some Provincial and Forestry sites but find some of them just too tight to get into any of the sites.

The spot we do most of our camping at is just under 30 mins. away and is only 26 bucks a night with full hookups.

A big old dually pulling a short 5th wheel may look a little goofy but if that's what works that's what works.

 

We have a new member.

New Member

 

Yep. I'd rather have too much truck than not enough truck. Been down that road once, I'd like to keep it that way.

I saw (years ago) a tiny 5th wheel, in about the 17 foot range, hooked up to a supercab shortbox 4x4 Ranger. Most likely had the 4.0 in it. Wish I had a camera at the time, but it got me thinking. Not thinking hard enough, mind you, otherwise I'd have a 4.0 4x4 right now. But I thought it was a pretty slick setup. It wouldn't be practical now, as a baby seat takes up quite a bit of space, but I'm sure the trailer would still fit the bill.

Anyhoo, I'm gonna say hello to the new member then hit the sack.

Talk to you tomorrow.

 

Catch ya later Joe.

You could always do this.

http://www.thisisjuststupid.com/stup...-custom-hitch/

 

Good morning and happy hump day!

 

Morning Steve.

Have yourself a great morning. Think I'm going to hit the sack.

 

Morning Chris, you too, catch ya later!

 

Morning to all !