As I mentioned in our About Us page, we purchased our 1993 Winnebago Vectra after seeing it displayed at a RV show. We read up briefly on major RV manufacturers, gross vehicle weight ratings/capacity, price comparisons, etc. but since the Vectra was a new model we had only the company's spec sheets to go by. The salesman assured us we had plenty of carrying capacity and we loved the luxurious appearance of the interior so we bought the Vectra.
The Maiden Voyage
Having brought the Vectra home and parked it in the driveway to the rear of the house, the next step was to furnish the rig so it would be ready to go at a moment's notice. I decided that I was not going to lug clothes, pots and pans, linens and food back and forth between house and rig for any trips, so we purchased new kitchen ware including Corelle dishes (I wanted nice things that would be durable and lightweight), linens, stocked the pantry with canned goods and filled the closet and cupboards with a couple of weeks' worth of clothing. We were all set to make our first trip to Panama City Beach, taking along our then 15 year old son, Darby.
As we set off for Florida, we made a detour to stop at the gravel pit to have the Vectra weighed on their truck scale. We had a full tank of gas, a full fresh water tank, three adults and a week's worth of supplies and weighed out at 500 pounds in excess of our gross vehicle weight capacity. Shocked and angry we headed south.
We took two days to get to Panama City Beach and chose the Raccoon River Resort as our campground as it was one block from the beach. We provided entertainment for our neighbors by managing to get the awning hung up on a tree branch as we were pulling into our campsite, necessitating some back and forth maneuvering to break loose from the branch without causing any more damage than the initial first scrape. Fingers were pointed, voices were raised and Darby escaped by putting on earphones and cranking up his Walkman, but we were finally in our site. The neighbors provided advice on hooking up our utilities since we were obviously newbies and we were invited for "happy hour".
While we passed on that first day's happy hour, we did join in the next day which is how we learned about fulltiming. The couple beside us and the one behind us turned out to be brothers and each couple had been on the road for several years. One couple had sold their home and had no desire to purchase another one, while the younger brother and his wife maintained an apartment but rarely used it. They were lively and entertaining and so eager to pass on information that we felt fortunate we had chosen this campground as we were learning just by listening to them. "Hmm," we said, "fulltiming..."
We used the Vectra for a few weekend jaunts and a business trip to New Orleans, but the idea of driving around on an overloaded chassis concerned us even though we no longer traveled with the fresh water tank filled. So we started our research anew and visited RV dealer after RV dealer, checking on different makes and models, comparing weight rating and size and quality, searching online forums for opinions and rants about the different models and discovered the motorhome we liked the best was the Fleetwood Bounder. However, I absolutely refused to buy one because the interior came in one color; muddy brown. I finally explained my revulsion for that particular shade in a motorhome to a salesman in Cincinnati and he quickly pointed out to me that Fleetwood had just offered the 1994 model with a blue interior. Wow! I could get a rig that had a washer/dry combo, a separate ice maker, tons of cabinet space and an attractive blue interior. We'll take it! Oops! One proviso; once the rig arrived from the factory it had to be weighed at a local truck stop scale and we had to see the certified weight slip before we signed the final paperwork to purchase the rig. The dealer agreed, it was done and we had a rig that had oodles of carrying capacity with its tag axle chassis.
Fast-forward to November of 1999. We had just sold our 14 acres of property on a small lake near Seneca, South Carolina. Our original plans had been to build a home and retire there while our youngest son attended Clemson University. He instead chose to attend Miami University in Ohio and we chose to travel. So we were spending a week in Shorter, Alabama at the Wind Drift Campground. This is a tiny campground behind a gas station (they take the reservations and the fees) with a small pond, a new small recreation building with a modem access and nothing else but cows coming to drink at the pond in the evening. It's 20 miles from Montgomery and that was our downfall; it was near RV dealers and we had time on our hands and money to spend from the sale of our land in South Carolina. We were hopping from RV dealer to RV dealer, simply checking out a variety of rigs, when we met Cliff Owen who worked at Alabama Motor Coach in Wetumpka, AL. We were looking at a 35 foot King of the Road fifth wheel and liked most of what we saw except for the fact that it had green carpeting and green plaid recliners that escaped from a 50s sitcom. Cliff asked us what it would take for us to buy the rig and I told him "new leather chairs" as I couldn't stand the plaid upholstery. He told us he had a friend who did upholstery work and he would have it done for us. Hmm. Back to Shorter to discuss the possibilities. We didn't have a truck to tow with, I really didn't care for green, etc., but it was the last model on the lot as they were no longer going to carry the line; too upscale for the area. They could sell Serengeti motorhomes for over $200,000 and little travel trailers for fish camping, but not the fifth wheels. Cliff checked with a car dealer close to Shorter, who got on the computer looking for a truck for us. We specifically wanted a white Ford F450 medium duty pickup truck. He found one in Pensacola, Florida and he'd work out a deal to get it up to Alabama. Okay, we'll go for it. They'll do the chairs and last minute stuff and we can leave Roo (the Bounder) at their camp site on their grounds while we go home for Christmas, and then we can take all the time we need to switch our belongings from one rig to the other after Christmas. So now we owned a RV in which Denny could stand totally upright (he's 6'6" tall) as the fifth wheel has 8' ceilings. Next we drive to the car dealer, give him a check to hold the truck in Pensacola (we had long ago checked out tow ratings for trucks pulling fifth wheels, assuming that eventually we'd switch over once we sold the land). Fine, that's done. We decided to drive down to Pensacola to look at the truck and make sure it had the options we needed to tow a large vehicle. This was a drive of 250 miles one way. We arrived at the Ford dealership, introduced ourselves to the manager of the truck sales division and told him why we were there. He got a really sick look on his face and told us he sold the truck yesterday as our car dealer back in Montgomery had not told him definitely that he wanted the truck and a buyer walked in with cash. Oh my god, now what? He immediately started checking the computer and there were no Ford F450s available in a six state area, unless we wanted to go to a Classy Chassis type vehicle at $70,000. I don't think so! He finally contacted Centurion Conversions in Michigan and they had our model with our options on their line; we put a deposit down with a sigh of relief. Time to head for Ohio.
Putting the cart before the horse
Now, if you have been paying attention you realize that we have purchased a new fifth wheel and have ordered a new truck with which to tow it. The fifth wheel is sitting at the RV dealership in Wetumpka, AL and the new truck will be shipped to the Ford dealership in Pensacola, some 250 miles away. Since we obviously cannot tow the rig with our convertible, and we cannot sit in the RV dealership lot for two months, our RV salesman called one of his clients who owned a fifth wheel and a large truck. We made arrangements to have him tow "King", the new fifth wheel, to a campground in Perdido Key, FL to wait while our truck was being finished at the conversion factory in Michigan. We expected the truck to arrive sometime in February if things ran as scheduled.
So we finally headed down to Florida in Sassy, leading our hired driver towing King as he wasn't familiar with the route we were taking. He did a great job of backing King into a relatively tight spot (giving Denny some pointers) and told us of a short cut to get back to Wetumpka when we finally got our truck as we'd need to have the fifth wheel and truck checked by our dealer after we had an electric brake controller installed. So here we were, proud owners of a new fifth wheel, all set up with no one to tell us how to hitch up the truck to the fifth wheel once the truck finally arrived.
This can't be the right way to do this.
Why a Ford F450 and How We Outfitted It
This one we actually got right. I did a great deal of online research about the various models of trucks and different configurations. I compared Chevy, Ford, Dodge and GMC, checked the tow ratings for both the 4x2 and 4x4 styles, looked at crew cabs, super cabs, pickup conversions vs super hauler conversions and gas vs diesel engines. At the time of our purchase, which was the 2000 model year, the Ford F450 ton-and-a-half 4x2 pickup conversion was rated to tow 17,700 pounds, which was the highest towing capacity of any pickup truck on the road. Yes, we could have gone with a larger truck in the form of the Freightliner FL-60 or others of that ilk, but I just could not see myself running to Wal*Mart in one of those puppies.
Our Ford F450 was converted by the Centurion Vehicle Company in White Pigeon, Michigan and sold to us through a dealer in Florida. This particular conversion to a pickup truck is made by cutting off 4 inches of the bedrail, installing the pickup bed from a Ford F350 body and adding gap fillers between the cab and the pickup body. Other than a couple of cosmetic changes in the bumpers they did not add a lot to the basic F450 Lariat/tow package. We received the truck in February of 2000 and since then have made the following modifications for the reasons noted. I have added links to the websites of the companies involved.
Custom graphics, created by Beavercreek Striping and designed by Linda as a plain white truck is just that.
Rhino Lining for the bed of the pickup as we started to see rust forming in a relatively short amount of time. The body of the truck was Ziebarted.
An aluminum tool box for the pickup bed, purchased from a small truck supply company in Elberta, Alabama since we have less bin space with the fifth wheel
A 50 gallon auxilliary fuel tank that matches the tool box, purchased from and installed by Diesel Services on North Hwy.77, Harlingen, TX and manufacturered by ATTA. Our original diesel tank was changed to a 34 gallon tank by the conversion process so we added the auxilliary tank for peace of mind and fewer fuel stops when driving long distances.
A Prodigy Brake Controller, purchased from Camping World and installed by Denny as a replacement for the Tekonsha model originally installed by the Ford dealer. This was simply an upgrade to a better model and we love it. Braking is smoother and more efficient.
A Diablo 78 hp chip for the engine, installed by a company in Ft. Myers that will remain nameless due to the improper installation of the wiring of the exhaust brake installed at the same time. The difference the power chip provides is obvious going up steep hills and mountains. With a 4:88 rear end on the truck we are not interested in speed, but purchased the chip for more power on hills knowing we'd be traveling through mountainous areas during our travels. Since our 5er weighs 16,900 pounds that's important.
A D-Celerator exhaust brake. Purchased for the same reason as the power chip; traveling through the mountains as what goes up must come down. The best investment we made for the truck.
After having the Mor-Ryde suspension installed on our first fifth wheel Gary Wheeler of Mor-Ryde asked us if we would like to be "beta testers" for one of the first systems installed on a truck-absolutely! After purchasing the Palisades 5er the first thing we did was make an appointment in Elkhart, IN to have their suspension installed on it also. We believe in this system for rigs and trucks and now they have a new Mor-Ryde pin box system.
An auxilliary transmission cooler. During the summer of 2005 we had to replace our transmission as we had fried the transmission fluid and were unaware of the fact. An expensive mistake. Never again.
A transmission fluid temperature gauge-see #9. Live and learn.
A Lund Stainless Grill Screen -helps with Monarch butterflies in Winnepeg and love bugs in Florida and all other bugs in between. We found ours at Cabela's in Sidney, Nebraska where they also have a super full hookup campground on the property.
A Stromberg Carlson louvered tailgate purchased through Camping World which replaced the standard tailgate that Denny bent when he forgot to lower the tailgate while unhitching from the rig. Now we don't have to worry about a little detail like that. Sigh.
Ford F450 Redux
Truck troubles that started in February and ran through March (follow up through the first two weeks of March on the www.rvvagabonds.blogspot.com site) plagued us until we gave up and bought a new Ford F450 pick up with the new 6.4L engine. We purchased the truck off the lot, but we probably couldn't have equipped it better ourselves. It's black with silver striping and silver lower body panels, which will change once we get to Ohio this summer and I find my graphics guy to come up with some silver holographic striping/flames/something. The new truck has a tow/haul gear to assist with hill climbing and braking, dual exhausts for cleaning emissions, a larger transmission cooler, a Ford installed electronic brake controller and a supposedly more powerful (horsepower-wise) engine. We had a power chip in the 2000 Ford, but the owner's manual in the 2008 truck clearly states that the sophisticated computer equipment in the new truck can and will sense any modifications and rat you out when taken in for service, which will affect your warranty. So no power chips this time around. We did pay to have our tool box, tow hitch and auxilliary fuel tank switched over to the new truck since we had just filled the tanks on the old truck. This truck is a 4x4, which means you lose 500 pounds of hauling capacity, but we're still rated to tow 24,000 pounds, which is a lot more than the 17,700 pound towing capacity of the 2000 truck.
The bells and whistles on the new truck include power leather driver and passenger seats, power/heated mirrors which not only extend electronically but also fold in for tight spaces, a locking tail gate with a folding handle and a folding step to help us get into the back of the truck, chrome everywhere, polished aluminum wheels, power sliding rear window, am/fm 6 disc CD changer with Sirius radio, auto-dimming rear view mirror, separate climate controls (YAY!), woodgrain details, traction control, back up sensor, high capacity tow package, adjustable gas/brake pedals (not memory set, but powered) and I think that's it. The nice thing is that Ford now puts these together in their Louisville, Kentucky factory so the truck all fits, instead of having a conversion company start off with a cab and rails and then chop and cut and weld to make a 350 bed fit on a 450 truck rail set. The truck sits a bit lower too, so it's easier to climb in and out of it and the ride? Oh my, the difference in the ride is night and day between the two trucks. And then there's the turning radius; the new truck turns almost as well as a minivan. It drives like a dream. And because it was manufactured all by Ford and not specially made by a conversion company, the new truck cost the same as the 2000 truck.
At this time, about the only thing we'll add to the truck will be a Rhino-liner spray on bedliner and probably a Ziebart undercoating for rust protection. While we don't plan on traveling through snow, we do travel in areas where the sea air is salt-laden. And the graphics, of course. Because the RV Vagabonds can't drive just a plain old truck--you need to KNOW that it's the RV Vagabonds truckin' on down the road.
So although buying a new truck was the last thing on our minds, this should do it for us. We envision another ten years of fulltime rving, so we should be good to go on the truck and we figurie that good maintainance and remodeling our Palisades fifth wheel will make it last. We are happy with the set up and quality of the fifth wheel and we believe that reupholstering and recarpeting when the time comes will see us through. Unless of course, we win the lottery. Then I have my eye on a Heartland Landmark fifth wheel. Heh.
Our Second 5th Wheel and our Fourth RV
We don't learn easily from our mistakes. What was our next one? Going to the Tampa RV Super Show in Florida.
It's now January of 2002 and we're staying in Punta Gorda, Florida for a month. We spent a couple of days acclimating to the area and then made arrangements in Punta Gorda to have a power chip and an exhaust brake installed on the F450. This meant we had to rent a car for the day, so once we dropped the truck off we decided to drive to Tampa to the RV Supershow. Not a smart thing to do as we ended up ordering a new 2002 National RV Palisades fifth wheel. The new general manager of the towables division for National RV was there and we mentioned some improvements/items we would liketo see in a rig before we ordered one and between him and the local dealer they agreed to all of our requirements and modifications. We wanted a set of cabinets to replace a bank of drawers in the kitchen, a safe installed in the floor of the closet, a magic bed sofa in place of the hide-away sofa bed and a heat pump/air conditioning unit for the living room. Of course, all this wheeling and dealing took hours, as we looked at almost all the fifth wheels on the grounds (my gosh, who could count them all?) and then went back to the Palisades and compared and then we had paperwork, yada, yada. But by the end of the day the order was placed and we were going to be the owners of a new rig and had a truck well equipped to handle it.
The Maiden Voyage
The Second Motorhome
We Switch to a Fifth Wheel
Putting the cart before the horse
Why a Ford F450 and How We Outfitted It
Ford F450 Redux
Our Second 5th Wheel and our Fourth RV
