Editorial 5th Wheel Camper Owners…is this normal?

[Huskerbuck85]

We just inherited the wife’s grandpa’s ‘97 Camper that’s 30’ with one slide out. Have stayed in it before and it’s in good shape for its age. Worked fine when they parked it on our land for us a month ago.

I didn’t know shit about them or hauling them although I do haul a 30’ trailer with a 15k lb skid steer setup. More not knowing about hitches and leveling, water lines, etc.

Found myself an Anderson Hitch and puck for $200 ($1200 value). Thought I was cooking with fire. We loaded the kids (10,5,3 &1) in Omaha and headed 1.5hrs to pick it up hoping for everything to go smooth.

Here’s where it went to shit: Got the hitch on but for some unknown reason it took an hr to get the locking pin to screw into the puck and it was Hot as F outside. Frustrated at this point. Was told the batteries were bad to run landing gear but there was just enough juice that one person could run the switch while the other cranked the manual handle. Off we went. Finally got setup around 10:30pm when it should have been 8-8:30.

Fridge wouldn’t catch up. A/C was trying its best. Ole lady slept with the kids on the hideaway couch/bed while I sweated my dick off up front.

Before bed a beer can dropped out of the fridge and busted my toe wide open. Bled all over. Through 3 paper towels.

1:30 am: my 5 yr old puked on the bed and bathroom floor

2:30 am: same

5 am: He shit himself and all over the bed and sat on the toilet for thirty minutes (poor kid).

Shower was ice cold bc hot water heater drain plug was broke.

Following day we went to a laundry mat and washed everything. He was sick for 2 days while we fought the heat and illness.

3yr old cracked his head on the corner of a slide out.

Somehow the 10yr old ripped open the front of his finger at the lake.

Bought $268 worth of batteries to fix that “old battery” issue. It didn’t do it. Found blown fuse….so changed them back again. Fixed fuse but still didn’t work so put new batteries back in….that didn’t do it so put “old” ones back in again so I could return new ones.

Turns out the landing gear motor was going bad. Hand crank broke. So we used a wrench to turn bar between landing gear legs. Broke gears and it stalled before it was high enough to load on the truck…..ended up dropping the hitch ball, backing under the puck and lifting ball into it and pinning it after raising the camper a little with a floor Jack.

New landing gear will run me $700 after having already spent over $600 getting things ready to own and be in this camper.

I did get lucky somewhere in there on the first full day but was it worth it?

All you camper people….was this a pretty typical first camping trip with my own 5th wheel?

 

[Herbie]

Never owned one can can confirm camping in a tent, 5th wheel, or rv is a comedy if errors and makes me want to murder everyone. So sounds right.

 

[2010sarenevercomingback]

My only experience with them is with an early 1980s model with no electric appliance, & where everything was manual and you were only jacking it up with about a million spins of a crank that was liable to catch your shin every third turn, so honestly sounds like you're living the high life with your high-fallutin' automatic fanciness.

 

[kyle23]

I'd ditch the old camper. There's a reason you don't see many older campers being used. They have a tendency to have leaky roofs and issues like you mentioned. By the time you fix the issues you are likely better off buying a new used camper. 5th wheels are a significantly better value than bumper pulls because most folks don't have a truck big enough to pull a 5th wheel.

If you choose to keep it I recommend turning on the fridge and AC the day before you plan to leave. Those fridges take a long time to cool down.

 

[Huskerbuck85]

I'd ditch the old camper. There's a reason you don't see many older campers being used. They have a tendency to have leaky roofs and issues like you mentioned. By the time you fix the issues you are likely better off buying a new used camper. 5th wheels are a significantly better value than bumper pulls because most folks don't have a truck big enough to pull a 5th wheel.

If you choose to keep it I recommend turning on the fridge and AC the day before you plan to leave. Those fridges take a long time to cool down.

This is great advice. Just have to decide if it’s worth it altogether

 

[Huskerbuck85]

Never owned one can can confirm camping in a tent, 5th wheel, or rv is a comedy if errors and makes me want to murder everyone. So sounds right.

Couldn’t figure if I pissed someone off for all this to happen or if it was a typical camping trip

 

[LoudHogRider]

Couldn’t figure if I pissed someone off for all this to happen or if it was a typical camping trip

Well, they don't ALL end that way, but there's a reason most guys with campers have at least a basic set of DIY skills (and tools) to keep things rolling. If you think about it, each towing experience is essentially subjecting the camper to an earthquake as it bounces down the road. Stuff comes loose, shifts, etc. and perpetual diligence is required if you're planning to use it a lot.

It's 20-20 hindsight at this point, but it's never a bad idea to do a break-in overnighter (or two) in your own driveway with the new rig just to see what's working and what isn't for you. I discovered two minor water system leaks in my new camper doing this: one clamp on top of the water pump that caused it to annoyingly run every 10-15 minutes as pressure drained off and the drain plug to the hot water heater was barely "hand tight", causing a slow drip leak. Both were easily fixed, but running the furnace to get that new furnace smell outta there, making sure all of the electrical systems are functioning, etc. are all important to make sure that when you DO get out there, the experience is a good one and not a series of catastrophes that bring out your "best self" in front of the family.

Finally, @kyle23's advise about trading up to a new or newer used unit might be worth investigating if you think this is something that you or your family will want to pursue in the future. The market for RV's is softening right now, so dealers will be anxious to deal and candidly your unit isn't appreciating in value any more.

If nothing else, they make for great escape pods and housing if the shit truly does hit the fan. I've equipped my with enough solar to live off grid indefinitely (presuming access to water). Not a bad backup plan / insurance policy to have in your hip pocket in case ...

 

[BIGSTICK67]

Couldn’t figure if I pissed someone off for all this to happen or if it was a typical camping trip

Sounds worse than owning a boat - sort of.

I just sold my boat earlier this spring, which I was relieved about, but miss it already. At the same time, I had to laugh when my brother-in-law (who is a regular boat guy), and has a nice, fancy, expensive ski boat. He got his boat in the water in the Ozarks with his two little kids and all boards in the boat.....turns the keys and it didn't turn over. Thinking the battery was dead he hauled it 6 miles to my father-in-laws to put it on the charger. Only to discover it wasn't in neutral. 🤣

 

[vailhusker]

Nothing like getting to empty your own turds OP.

 

[Huskerbuck85]

Nothing like getting to empty your own turds OP.

got my first experience with that too. Although I didn’t see nor smell it, gross

 

[Eaton Beaver]

Nothing like getting to empty your own turds OP.

My dad just bought a camper and took it out for the first time. Instead of having the correct fittings to hook up his sewer line, he just put the black hose down in the pipe as far as it would go.
Grounds keeper received a call around midnight that toilets were backing up so he walked the underground line to find the plug. Turns out dad's hose was backing up everything upstream and when he pulled it out a volcano of shit erupted all over him.