This topic contains 12 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by 
Phil 6 months, 1 week ago.
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Our beloved sailboat sank off the coast of Cuba about one month ago (long, sad, off-topic story) and we are now very serious about boondocking in a fifth wheel. Last week, we invested in a 2011 F 250 King Ranch with a short (6′ 8″) bed and now need to find something to pull with it. We are leaning toward something less than two years old in the 35 to 40 foot range. We’ve looked at a few and like the improvements made in the newer models. My questions:
1. What are the “quality” brands (the Buicks) and which ones should we avoid (the Yugos)?
2. Can we get by without a slider-type hitch with our short bed? Does the trailer itself matter in this regard or are they all about the same? I don’t want to bash the back of the cab, but, on the other hand, I don’t want to spend money on something I don’t need.
3. What brands of hitches are preferred? The truck came with the factory-installed B&W under-the-bed hitch base, so I would just need to get the part that goes inside the bed. The B&W 3300 looks like it should work – unless I need a slider-type.
Many thanks for any and all suggestions. We are eager to get out of the Hoosier State before the snow flies again and to meet up with y’all.
Phil McGovern
Hey Phil,I’m a Fort Wayne native.Haven’t lived there in years but still visit from time to time.
Glad to hear your safe but sorry to hear about your sail boat.I love old boats
There is a story I want to hear more about tho.A sailboat and off the coast of Cuba.If we ever meet out there,I hope you will share the story with us.
I really can’t help on which brand to buy anymore,there are so many it seems.
I am curious about the tow rig tho.Everyone loves a good Ford but I raised an eyebrow when I noted you intended to pull a 35 to 40 footer with an F250 short box.With all due respect from someone who has pulled just about everything over the years with just about everything,it sure seems like you might be going abit light on the truck for what you want to pull.I would think at least an F350 dually to pull that kind of length and the weight that comes with it.
There are others that are way more into weights and measures here and elsewhere than me,but in my opinion,if you pull that length and weight with an F250,even with air bags,your just asking to sink again,and the Coast Guard frowns on the use of EPIRBs in Kansas,lol.I’ll keep reading with interest.Have a great week
Thanks, Trip and Lisa. It’s good to hear from a fellow Hoosier. I appreciate your thoughts and we’ll definitely think about a smaller, lighter trailer since I’m not about to give up my wonderful “new” truck.
Best wishes,
Phil
PS: I do know how to spell “horse”. I’d blame the spellchecker, but I’m pretty sure “hourse” isn’t a word.
Phil, I found this article I think should help answer your question. (2011 F250 tow rating)
http://rvingwithmarkpolk.com/2012/03/21/caution-why-tru…- This reply was modified 7 months, 1 week ago by
Pamela & Anna.
Hey Phil for what it’s worth a fellow we know bought a set up like ours (Ram short box) but did not go with the slider hitch. Within a week he crunched his cab. Having the slider has allowed us to get in and out of some tight spots. We use a Ram 2500 HD to pull our 28 ft Forest River Wildcat. As for weight the newer 5’vers are getting much lighter due to new material. We where looking at a 40 ft ultra light on the weekend that we could safely pull.
Have a look at rvtowcheck.com which should help decide what you can safely pull.
I want to hear about this boat sinking too. Sounds like quite the story.
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Terry & Carol:Thanks for the great suggestions. I’ll definitely follow up on them. It seems I might have been a little ambitious in thinking of towing a 5er longer than 35′ with a 3/4 ton truck. I have the Trailer Life “Guide to Towing” but haven’t really studied it yet. Yes, a sliding hitch would be smart, but I just hate to spend the $$$ unless it’s necessary. I guess it would be cheaper than trying to unbash the cab of my truck. Is there such a thing as a sliding pin box? Seems that could be easier to manage than a sliding hitch.We do plan to add a lot of cargo like extra batteries, solar panels, Honda 2000 generator and similar stuff for boondocking, so that just worsens the situation, doesn’t it? Maybe bigger isn’t always better.We have looked at a “new” 2014 40′ Forest River Blue Ridge that we liked a lot, but it sounds like it would be too big for the truck. Are you happy with the overall quality of your Forest River? I’m convinced that they and Grand Design are well built units that hold up well.A couple of people have been kind enough to ask about our recent sailboat drama. If Ray will forgive me, I am attaching the final column in a series that Margaret had been writing for our local newspaper. it’s a pretty good summary of what happened.Best wishes and thanks again,Phil
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The Sinking of Sunshine
We bought our Wildcat used (its a 2008) and it’s in great condition. This has been our first year and have had no issues (knock on wood). Appears to be well built. Now that we have our first year in the boss has a few ideas for a newer unit. Slide out for the bedroom and 2 slides for the main living area. That puts us around the 32 ft range. Like the layouts for the Blue Ridge and have been looking at the Grand Design. GD’s tend to be heavier units.
As to the sinking of your boat – what a heart breaker. You’ll never know what happened to the engines! I would have thought the Coast Guard would have had pumps to pump out the water.
Hi Phil, I have been hauling our 40′ Keystone Sprinter Copper Canyon 5er with our single rear wheel 2002 Chevy 2500 HD 4×4 for 5+ years now. And we spend a good part of that time on gravel roads. ( Just ask Ray & Anne!) Our rear axle is the same one in the Chevy 3500 dually, just without the extra two tires. I did install rear overload “Super Springs” and Firestone air bags. With that said you can over load your rear tires and have a blow out. This can be hard to control to a stop, but a front blowout on a dually will pull hard to the side of the blowout so that to can be hard to control. When there is jobs I drive a Tanker Truck in the oil fields, I had a steer tire go on me and fought it to a stop. The biggest thing is not to max out your GAWR and your GCVWR of your PU. You should be able to find your trucks 5th wheel hitch weight rating, then find a 5er hitch weight that doesn’t go over it.(Including your cargo, look for the 5er’s CCC rating/Cargo Carrying Cap.) Also find a trailer with a GVWR that does not go over your PU’s GCVWR and GTWR.
If you run singles on your truck use the best and highest weight rating you can get. I run Toyo M-55 265/75/R-16 with a weight rating of 3500 lbs. This is 500 lbs under what the axle is rated at when used as a dually. The length of a trailer is not as important as how heavy it is and the 5th wheel hitch weight.
One more thing is how much you use your 5er, if you only going out 4 or 5 times a year then you need a truck you can use in your everyday life. If you are hitting the road as a fulltimer you may want to go the extra bucks for more truck. My dad’s friend gave it up because he had a big 4-door dually and only hauled 4 or 5 times a year and could not park good in town with just the truck.
Happy Trails!!!
Here is a good post blog Ray did on hauling trailers and weight.
http://www.loveyourrv.com/avoid-overloading-rv/
- This reply was modified 7 months, 1 week ago by
Eddie & Aileen.
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Wow! Thanks for taking the time to give me all that great information. I can see that I have a lot more homework to do before buying the 5er. It does help to have the truck already since I now know (or will soon know) what our limits are in picking an RV. So far, our favorite is a 2014 Forest River Blue Ridge 3775RL, but it’s too big for the truck, we’ll just have to find another one that’s lighter.
Meanwhile, I’ve printed out your response and all of your references and will study them until I know what I’m doing.
BTW, you have a very good looking rig. I hope to see you out there one of these days.
Phil
Terry: Thanks for the feedback. So far, I haven’t heard anything negative about the Forest River line and, from kicking a few tires, they do seem to be well built. It makes sense for the Grand Designs to be heavier since they are supposed to be made of better (heavier) materials. Their extra weight may be a good reason for us to look at other brands.
Thanks for the comment about our boat. Actually, we’re pretty sure that what killed the engines was contaminated diesel fuel. It was a mixture of Guatemalan, Belizian and Mexican fuel, none of which is famous for its cleanliness and, besides, some of it had been in the tank for over a year. The USCG engineer who tried to fix them told me that you should dump any fuel that’s more than 3 months old. He also said that the USCG (and probably the Navy) uses a “better grade” of fuel that probably doesn’t have to make the EPA folks happy. We changed the fuel filters at least 10 times, but the water and dirt had clogged up the injection pump. I didn’t have a spare on board and, besides, it would have been a major deal to replace it anyway.
Yes, they had pumps galore, but the Commander of the cutter was hell bent on getting back the US since they were at the end of a two month “patrol” and he and his crew couldn’t wait to get off the ship. Besides, they had picked up a Cuban migrant and wanted to offload him ASAP. Overall, it was just a bad set of circumstances, but the upside is that we are now very close to becoming (almost) fulltime RVers. We take some comfort in knowing that, of all the things that can go wrong with an RV, sinking is probably not one of them.
All the best,
Phil
Won’t speak about brands or lengths of 5ers (other than length-weight correlation), so, as others have already suggested (with good links), do diligent research on the capabilities/ratings of your horse for mating to a cart — a too-heavy cart pushing the horse down a mountain grade or on a level panic-stop might peg your pucker factor! Assuming a 2011 250 is similar to GM’s 3/4 & 1 tons (from 2011 on, their drive-trains & frames are exactly the same, except for OEM, i.e. DOT, weight ratings — the 1-T has one additional rear leaf-spring & they’re wider), your horse likely has sufficient pulling power for long, large rigs.
After much research, personally chose a 2011 Duramax 1-ton, SRW, with 8′ bed & B&W. Long-beds are more challenging with longer turning radius for parking, etc., but, after pulling my 40′ 18,000#GVW 5er from north central NV thru UT & WY to CO in mid-April during the I-80 storms/pile-ups, don’t regret my decision & will gladly tolerate parking inconvenience.
After beating this “hourse” re weight ratings, will share some info re hitches.
Again, after much research on trucks & hitches before purchase, specifically chose a LB truck (to avoid necessity/cost for a “slider”) & then ordered a relatively new product from Andersen — it’s a aluminum, goose-ball-mount, 5th-Wheel hitch that works well with my B&W under-bed mount: (http://www.andersenhitches.com/Products/3220–aluminum-ultimate-5th-wheel-connectiongooseneck-version.aspx). Only weighs 32#, so quickly & easily removable, & was $742 from the OEM with S&H. By rotating its frame by 180 degrees when mounting on the bed’s ball, you gain add’l 4″ setback for your trailer (as authorized by Andersen).
And B&W has a 4″ Extender – Turnoverball™ Accessory (http://www.turnoverball.com/products/gooseneck-hitch/4-extender-turnoverball-accessory) that also provides 4″ setback. With both, you’d gain 8″ total setback that might provide enough clearance for a 5er’s nose with your SB. Downside would be the moving of your hitch-pin center-point weight back that far also.
This is NOT a personal recommendation for using either, or both, for your truck or intended application; merely throwin’ it your way for optional consideration. The all-aluminum Andersen hitch is so new that few dealers likely have them in stock yet, but if you were near the Denver area, would let you try mine for practical road-test. Best of luck with your decisions for hitches & trailers!
- This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by DT.
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Great information, DT. Thanks for taking the time to share it. As it happens, I just ordered the sliding hitch by B&W (Model 3400) this morning from http://www.etrailer.com. I decided that the extra $500 or so for the slider type hitch was a lot cheaper than repairing both the cab AND trailer when (not it) they connect. The tech support guy at etrailer.com also asked me if my insurance deductible isn’t $500 It is, of course. He also reminded me that, if I did get into even a non-destructive jack-knife situation, I would need to go through the hassle of unhitching the trailer, trying to straighten the truck out, re-hitching the trailer and starting all over again, probably resulting in another jack-knife. In the end, he convinced me to spend the extra $$$ for the slider. I like the idea of the aluminum gooseball mount but, as I said, I had already ordered the slider before I saw your post. Rats!
Regarding the short bed-long bed issue, I found that there are very few low-mileage, used F250’s on the market here in the Indianapolis area. I felt lucky to find even a short-bed one and we really wanted the crew cab for additional storage and for passengers. It had the diesel, lots of doo dads, the King Ranch trim, tow package, the factory installed B&W under-bed frame, and was very clean. Also, the price was right. Compared to my old F150 single seater, it felt like driving a bus. I’m sure a long bed would have felt like driving two busses. Yes, the extra bed space would be nice, but life is full of compromises.
In looking for a trailer, we’ll try to stick closer to the 35′ length than the 40′ I mentioned earlier. We got used to a king size bed on our boat and hope we can find a trailer with one. I guess they can be retro-fitted, can’t they?
Thanks again and we hope to meet you out there one of these days. Colorado is definitely on our list.
Phil
Once again, thanks to all for your great suggestions. They have been a tremendous help.
We went RV shopping over the week-end at a different dealer. We like the salesman a lot and he has been in the business for 15 years. He did a great job of listening and answering our questions. He obviously knows a lot and is very good at explaining things to a couple of newbies. He showed us 8 or 10 Keystone Cougars before one of them sang to us. It’s a 2016 (which he says is no different from the 2015’s) Cougar 333 MKS which has a length of 37′ 8″. It’s “shipping weight” is 10,555 lbs; it’s “carrying capacity” is 1,795 lbs, and it’s hitch weight is 1,950 lbs which — if I understand it correctly — should be well within our F250’s limits.
The asking price seemed very reasonable to us and it has nearly all the bells and whistles we wanted. Another plus is that there is a campground adjacent to the dealership and probably owned by the dealership. When you buy a unit from them, it includes two free nights at the campground which would give us two days to check it out, figure out how things work and ask questions before we disappear down the road with it.
Stay tuned….
Phil
- This reply was modified 7 months, 1 week ago by
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