Just made the final payment on my used fifth wheel holiday trailer and I’m chuffed. Did a walk thru today and it’s in good nick. All I could see was the obvious hail damage, the aircon needing a repair (aforementioned hail), a bit of re-caulking needed, and I spotted a fresh water line that is end of life and easy to swap out. Everything else works although I’m betting the lead acid battery for the power system is either shot or close to it.
Haven’t bought a truck yet so I’m having a friend bring it home for me. I’ll start on the needed repairs and then get to a few upgrades. I’d like to put an AGM battery into the power system and get it ready for use mostly at powered sites this coming year.
Looking at 200AH as it will drop straight in and work with the existing single stage converter. Not sure how crazy I want to go with upgrades this year. I figure use it first and see how I’m using it before I go crazy with spending $$$ on it. A multi-stage converter is obviously better for managing a newer battery.
Congratulations on your 5th wheel! I hope you get a lot of travel time in it. My husband and I have a travel trailer and we take all our vacations in it. It is the best way for us to go camping and get some peace and quiet in nature. We also save money by not needing restaurants and hotels when we travel.
Make sure it’s always maintained my uncle had to scrap the trailer he had a travel trailer he bought less than a decade old travel trailer kept going to Texas and the thing basically did more damage than it’s worth
It’s 130 lbs and I can lift that by myself. It slots into the front of the trailer. There are two conventional lead acid batteries in there now that it will replace. A multi-stage charger is a smarter type of charger that can vary the charge rate as needed.
I can run the fridge off of gas when boondocking, but it would be nice to have some power for the pumps and lighting. Obviously won’t be using the air when not hooked up to shore power. I’m not at all sure how to work solar into the mix yet, but I have time to do research and think.
That’s a big part of it. I also like being right next to a lake so I can paddle before work, over lunch, and the minute my work day ends. Tired of driving for an hour and a half to spend an hour on the water.
I just thought of something - trailer mattresses are horrible and I mean horrible. You may need to upgrade the mattress so you can get a good nights sleep. We had to do that as soon as we bought our trailer.
I think this has already been done as it is a decent feeling mattress. I gave it the old flop test and it wasn’t bad at all with the additional foam on top. At least, that is my first impression. It is more what my wife thinks than I do that will decide this. The trailer is more for her than me. She won’t come with me if there’s not a shower, a flush toilet, and a working coffee pot.
Perfect! I can relate to your wife. I need my comfort while camping or else I am miserable and won’t go at all. I love my little kitchen and bathroom and comfortable mattress.
I’ll be honest that it took me a bit to get my head into this space, but that’s fair. The one thing I really don’t like about the rig is that I didn’t realize there is a new television on the wall in the bedroom. I’d like to take it out. The point of camping for me is that I want for us to get away from screens and spend time talking and walking and doing things together. We’ve been falling asleep together in front of a TV too much this past year and I don’t feel our relationship needs more of this.
