A LONG overdue Hello to everyone new and old here on FTE!

Cliff Notes: As you now know, I am still infact alive and enjoying my time in Alaska. I still have my beloved Mugly and we are proud to announce we clicked past 300k this winter! Several things have happened in the last which included shoulder surgery on a slap tear in my right arm which wasn't fun but I am so far behind on pictures that I still owe all of you photos from my last trip to California in 2010 with stops to meet up with Clay of RiffRaff and an emergency stop with Partsguy Ed when Mugly blew a rear axle seal. If I don't get called into work tonight, I am hoping to load those pictures and maybe update the once famous Mugly thread. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...ml#post8514964

Point of Thread: I am going to be relocating to Seward, Alaska in March to begin a year long Heavy Duty Diesel Mechanics Program! It has taken me 2 or 3 years to get my ducks in a row but finally I am looking to get it all started. My girlfriend and I have both decided that it might be best for us to live in an older RV during the summer months instead of spending the 600-900 a month on rent. If nothing else, it is money back into our own pocket if we sell it. I will take it down to Seward in March where I will live out of it during the week and return to Girdwood (1.5 hours north) to work weekends until May. It will probably be cold enough that I will keep the RV antifreeze in the pipes until later in April or early May.

The current unit I am interested in is this: 32' 1989 Fleetwood Fifth Wheel

I would love everyone's thoughts, good and bad on this. I spent maybe 30 minutes on the phone with the owner who answered all of my questions and had offered to help me with installing a 5th wheel hitch on my truck if I need the help. All the appliances work, no leaks, one broken window, tires are alright, bearings looked fine this past summer. My girlfriend and I will be planning to live out of this until maybe late October of 2012 and we hope to find cheap winter housing and then winterize the RV. I will drive into Anchorage this week and take a look at it first hand. There isn't a generator included which I figure I can find second hand easily. I highly doubt we would use the A/C too often but the microwave and gas appliances would be put to use for sure. I will get a CO detector for sure.

I also need advice on what all I need to prep on the truck for this? I will need a hitch installed but I do already have trailer brakes with a controller. I don't plan on towing this too frequently but I never know with my life so I would like to have Mugly ready with her "A" game.

Thanks in advance guys and gals!

I hope to be hanging around here more often if I can.

 

good to see you have no more mugly horror stories, well from wat i could see in the pictures using my iphone it looks pretty nice and its all about wat make you too happy bud :-)

and id say maby the over load leaf kit
and its good to know that he will help you install the 5th wheel plate

 

Hello, Alex, Welcome back.

Glad to see things are going well for you, don't forget FTE has a Towing section with great users too. www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum68/

I'm with Slim, if it's what you want it seems like a cheap enough investment for what you want. Don't forget to factor in the price of parking it. Cheapest I've found long term full hook-ups is $300 a month, and where I was located was about an hour away from the rigs I was servicing, but parks close were $700-$1200 a month. Add propane if cool it's expensive and goes through like nothing. I have 260 gallons worth of tanks on mine and seemed to only last a month or so.

 

Price is high, will suck propane faster than you can imagine, tough to really feel warm in older trailers so if comfort factor is a important consider it, add cost of propane and lot rent and you may not be saving as much as you think, especially if you stay where power is metered, if you are in it through the winter not having use of the fresh water system is not the greatest, 30 amp service will not carry heavy load of electric heaters to supplement furnace, you absolutely gotta see it before you get too enthused. Pay particular attention to the furnace, make sure it fires. If I had a penny for "everything works", I'd be the richest person on FTE.

Can you do this? Sure, I have stayed in these things in below freezing weather, froze every water line in the camper. I also work on em all winter including the ones for the boys who are working on the local pipeline and the new power station. This is not a four season camper you are considering so weigh all the factors. If the savings is not considerable, be careful.

My two cents worth,

Steve

 

I think you have a great idea with the RV. I don't think that is the right unit for you. As others have said, these things are hard to keep warm. Fleetwood is an all-right brand, but not known for its cold weather usage. There are other manufactures who produce artic temp units. If the windows in this fleetwood are not double-pane, then they are going to 'sweat' on the inside all winter. That sweat then drips into your wall and rots. You want to find a unit with a cold-weather package.

The tires are another story. Just because they may look allright does not mean they are. You need to get the DOT date code off them and see how old they are. If they are older than 3 years, you cannot trust them on the highway. A blowout can cause lots of damage to your trailer.

How much time do you actually spend 'in the trailer'? I know they are small, but you may want to consider a slide in camper. Especially if the RV park has a bathroom/shower. You can unmount the slide in camper in the park. When you are done with it, a slidein camper is much more practical for usage in Alaska than a monster 32 foot 5th wheel. That's why you see so many slide-in campers in Alaska. It will be much cheaper to heat a slide-in camper. Those 2 30lb bottles in the 5th wheel will be gone in 5 days. How much are refills?

 

I don't diagree with you, but finding a unit with an arctic pack may be outside the OP's price range. One of my regular customers tried a slide-in, but found it to be too small for long term habitation so he ended up with the camper onsite, but also renting a motel room. Not good!

Steve

 

I would look for something newer.

I also would look closely at the tire DOT info on everything you look at .
If my memory is correct, 1990 to 1999 tire production DOT is three numbers and 2000 to current is four numbers.
Any tire for me must have four numbers.

 

Thanks for the information everyone, I knew this forum would help me grind through the good and the bad plus what ever I haven't thought about.

Ideally, I would love to get a good winter unit but the cost, even used, seems to sky rocket quickly. I would probably want to spend no more than 8k total, so with 5500 for the unit I have 2500 for anything the truck/trailer needs.

If I were to buy this unit, I would plan on living in it from March to late September/October, and then hopefully find cheap rent for remaining months of winter. I am hoping to get down to Seward in the next week or so and start looking at prospective places to keep the RV. I didn't plan on having it hooked up all summer as that would raise the costs significantly. In the last couple of years my girlfriend and I have moved around a lot often living in small seasonal units without running water so while this may surprise many of you, any RV like this will be rather "luxurious" for the summer time. I need to go down there and shake hands with prospective employers, also inquiring about RV parking.

BTW: This summer should be pretty busy with school from 8:30 to 3:30 Monday - Friday and working in the afternoons, with my weekends working 80 miles north of Seward. This won't be a vacation setting where I would be huddling up in the trailer all day for days on end. I just need a place to store things, sleep, eat and when time permits, enjoy.


I also found a better source than Craigslist which opens some ideas in the same price range.

http://alaskaslist.com/1/posts/10_Tr...avel_Trailers/

 

Alex, sounds like things are going well, you have a great plan, stick with it. Lot's of good advice!

 

I went camping in mid september last year and I wasn't impressed with the temperatures in the 2009 Wildcat we were staying in.
The outside temps were between 50 and 60 ish and it we went through a lot of propane keeping the trailer warm. It was really windy that weekend which would add to the chill but I don't think that it would compare to what you will be dealing with in March, April, May and October in Alaska.

I think your on the right track for saving your money and definitely should continue your research on the topic and find out the prices of lots and what is included in those prices.

I hope this helps.

 

Oh one other thing, Princess Auto was clearing out their 15000lb fifth wheel hitches this past summer for $100. The name brand was Power Fist which was actually a reese system with Power Fist stickers on it. Its a real good price if they have any left.

Is Princes Auto even in the states? I just assumed they were but you may have know idea what I'm talking about....

 

I have the same 5th wheel in storage right now. The holding tanks are covered on the bottom with plywood but are not insulated. To keep them thawed out during the winter would require quite a bit of propane. If in a RV lot you could use electric heaters but it would require a few of them. My son moved to Glennallen,Ak in the summer of 2010 and lived in his father in laws brand new 5th wheel for awhile but was soon only going about a week on 200 lbs of propane. Not sure of the temps in Seward (did a cruise there last summer) but he recently saw -52 where he lives now. I wish you the best in this endeavor!

Dale