Welp, we’ve gone and done it now…
After an incredible whirlwind of events, we have found ourselves the owners of a 38 foot fifth wheel RV trailer.
Looking
It all started Saturday when Brandy wanted to go look at a trailer she’d seen on Facebook Marketplace. She’d done her fair share of stalking Facebook, just like she does on realtor.com, and had seen and sent me plenty of listings for trailers that she thought we would like. Finally, a couple weeks ago, she spotted one that she felt would be perfect.
It was a 2008 Heartland Big Country that was listed for $12,000. The pictures on the listing showed the trailer being stored in a large garage so we knew it was stored indoors, an instant plus.
The interior appeared a little dated, as to be expected for a nearly 20 year old trailer, but nothing we wouldn’t be able to cope with. The big selling point though was the king sized bed, an absolute must for us (most trailers we’d seen either had queen beds or were way out of our price range.
We showed up to the seller’s house in Otley, about an hour northwest of home, just outside of Pella, on Saturday after our time getting our pedicures (and Brandy getting a manicure.) The house was right on the shore of Lake Red Rock and covered a large swath of land with many outbuildings, including the three-story garage where he had not only the aforementioned trailer parked, but a pontoon boat, a truck and a few cars also crammed into the space. Just outside was a covered spot where there was another smaller fifth wheel trailer, apparently a newer toy hauler that he was using to haul his mobility scooter.
The proper owner of the RV wasn’t home but we met up with his ladyfriend who showed us around and gave a brief history of the trailer’s time with this, the second owner.
Apparently, he hadn’t taken it out in about three years but still performed regular maintenance on it, caulking the roof, greasing bearings, making sure the electrical and propane systems were kept up on, and so on. The whole trailer was in very, very good shape.
Being parked in the garage among all the other toys and vehicles, there wasn’t a lot of room to slide the slides out but she did crack them open to demonstrate they at least worked. All the electrical seemed to be in good working order too and the fridge was an effectively brand new Dometic fridge that had been installed just before the trailer was parked for the last time.
During our drive home, we discussed and decided we would ask Craig to make a trip out with me on Monday to take a look and offer his opinion on it as he has ample experience with such things.
Brandy left Monday morning for a business trip to South Carolina so after work, I hopped in Clyde, picked up Craig and we made the hour drive again, this time meeting with the actual seller.
Making an Offer
After getting Craig’s stamp of approval on it, I called the seller when I got home and made an offer of $11,000. He accepted so Tuesday, I worked out a signature loan from the bank, and after work, picked up a cashier’s check and made the hour drive one more time to pay the man.
As I don’t have a fifth wheel hitch of any sort on the truck, the seller is going to hold on to the trailer until I can get one installed. He did provide a couple of references to places, one in Knoxville and one in Pella, that I could inquire about said hitch installation. Those calls will be made today.
Get Ready
In the meantime, I have plenty of research to do on RV living. Tools, supplies, accessories and everything I will need to do to get and keep this bad boy running.
I truthfully am a bit anxious about the prospect of driving this monster down the highway. I’ve never towed anything before, except a small Harbor Freight trailer I towed behind the Jeep I had 15 years ago while working at the haunt in Albuquerque. The closest I’ve come to driving something like this is the big U-Haul I drove from New Mexico to Iowa, towing my Equinox behind it. While close in overall length, I know it’s going to be a completely different experience. My biggest concern is going to be learning how to back the thing up. I have a good idea about the concept (turn the wheel in the opposite direction you want the back end of the trailer to go, or something) but putting it into practice is going to be a different story. I plan on practicing in the school parking lot when we get it home.
It’s Gonna Be Expensive, But…
Aside from the $11,000 we spent on the trailer itself, we are going to spend a BUNCH more in gas towing this thing around. We already only get 13 to 14 MPG while unladen, I expect that to drop to below 10, probably down to 6 or 8 by the time we start hauling her around.
We will also opt to store her off-site, so there will be a monthly storage cost to think about. And all of the maintenance that will have to be done, the cost of electricity and propane at any parks we stay at, the space rental fees, subscriptions, tools and supplies that I don’t have yet, having to get Starlink (fuck Elon anyway) which is expensive as hell, and I’m sure there are plenty of other expenses that I haven’t even thought of yet.
But, having the trailer will afford us much more flexibility, will allow us to wake up in the middle of a forest if we so choose, and we won’t have to stay at hotels on multi-day drives (we can camp in Walmart or Cracker Barrel parking lots).
We will be limited on where we will be able to take this trailer though. The thought of winding this thing through Ecola State Park, for example, is laughable. I had a hard enough time navigating that route in just the Super Duty, while NOT towing a 38 foot trailer behind it. But, being able to plant it somewhere and take the truck by itself to onward destinations is ideal.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, I am pretty excited about all this. As I mentioned, I’m a little nervous about it, but I’m sure we will be fine. We plan on taking it out a few times this spring and early summer with Craig and Sue to kind of get the hang of things, then, when we are comfortable with it, will take her out on the big road for a trip somewhere in August or so.
When the trailer comes into our possession, I will be sure to take some pictures and post them up here.
Until then though, I need to finish up my trip report from Montrose, which I will backdate, as I have been doing lately, so the post will appear before this one chronologically, which will make this sentence a little kooky, but meh, who reads this crap anyway…
Phil
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