ependydad...Doug

I know I'm resurrecting an older thread- but it sounds like the OP's trip isn't until December. We are in site 217 right now with our 42' fifth wheel with slides on both sides. We also have a crew cab/long bed truck.

Backing wasn't awful as it was on a curve and the angle of the site points the opening towards the curve. A little tricky due to the site post markers and recycling container out front, but we got in. Our camper's wheels are at the very back of the blacktop/cement pad and we didn't unhitch the truck (only staying for 1-night).

We have 3 slides on the driver's side and a 4th on the passenger side in the bunk house (it has opposing slides in the very rear). The site is cozy. My wife said she wouldn't be happy with it if we were here longer than just 1 night. There isn't room for our picnic table beside I the camper/under the awning. As it is, we just pushed it further back the site and aren't using it.

I have no horror stories, but my understanding is that AAA won't help you with your camper if your TV needs to be towed. And won't help with the camper in general (flat tire, axles, bearings, etc.). I dropped AAA and opted for Good Sam.

Haven't used AAA in a long time (and was woeful about using discounts from it) and haven't needed Good Sam yet. I have used the campground discount a few times now- not much, but every little bit is nice.

I agree with that statement, doesn't make me fee any better but just agree :rofl2:  :rofl2:

No kidding! :rofl2:

I get excited when the Lie-O-Meter in my truck shows over 13MPG empty, and haven't towed any distance yet with this one to know what it will get then. I just keep telling myself "I didn't buy this to get good fuel mileage" I seem to say that a lot as I'm pumping $120 worth of fuel into it every couple weeks.

All of our numbers are hand-calculated using an app. I've only missed 3 or 4 fill-ups and just reset the app calculations during that time. It's been pretty consistent full mileage. I'm hopeful now that we're nearing 25,000 miles that it'll start to creep up and get better (supposedly!). I highly doubt it, but a man can dream...

Do you have an actual link to where these should be ordered from?

Don't discount a truck they are as nice if not nicer then some cars now a day

 

I agree there... I guess I'm just more girlie, girlie than I thought and a truck seems so... rough.  Plus, we have little ones so the space of a trunk area (SUV) is really needed... that and a 3rd row.

When we bought our truck, we were expecting our son (hoping for a velociraptor, but ended up with the boy). I was also commuting regularly and the truck was to be my wife's daily driver. We got a hard rolltop cover to turn the bed into a trunk. We also tied in the tailgate lock to the automatic power locks so that it automatically locks and unlocks. And finally installed an EZ Assist lowering mechanism- you can literally open it and let go and it slowly descends to be fully open.

The third row is the kicker. In the crew cab, the truck has more room and is nicer than my car BY FAR. But, a third row would require something like a Cowtown Sleeper. It can be done, just isn't stock.

But, we can pull just about anything that I want. :D And it's a beautiful truck to boot!

You guys both have me beat black and blue. 13-14 highway and 12 around town. 8-11 towing my 14,500 pound fifth wheel.

13 and 14 ram diesels mpg have gone up a lot due to now they use def.

It's the gearing - they're 4.10 gears and it's a 4x4. It all adds up and ends up with crappy mileage. But hey- it's a towing machine!

I just got a 2013 Dodge 2500 crew can. It has the 342 rear end which is nice for when I'm empty. Averaging 21.2 mpg. Pulls really nice and has built in tow mirrors.

Well that beats my f350 I average 16 in town and 18 to 20 on the highway depending on speed.

You guys both have me beat black and blue. 13-14 highway and 12 around town. 8-11 towing my 14,500 pound fifth wheel.

Instead of starting a new thread...I have some questions to add here..

First off, when considering a 5er vs a TT, should I be looking at different specs for the tow vehicle?

Not really- but the amount of weight that the camper pushes down on the truck is higher for fifth wheels than travel trailers. This weight comes off of what is called your payload or cargo carrying capacity. A fifth wheel typically has 20-25% (with fringe cases as low as 15-16%, but it's not common) and a travel trailer has 10%-15%.

Also, I was checking out trailer life's tow guides and they list the "towing capacity". Can someone once and for all explain the difference between that and the GVwR?

The towing capacity is how much your truck can *pull*. It is calculated with a completely empty truck and only a 150 pound driver. I'm willing to argue that they don't even calculate extra weight for hitches. It's purely a marketing number because of chubby drivers like me who like to bring our families and some stuff in the truck. :D

The GVWR is what the truck is designed to *carry*. This is called the gross vehicle weight rating. This number has to carry the truck itself, and everything in/on it- driver, passengers, child seats, traveling comforts (food, drinks, activities ", etc), travel tools (GPS, laptop, iPad, etc), truck bed cover/topper, anything in the truck bed (firewood, coolers, grills, bikes, funny hats, etc). You would be amazed at how quickly it adds up. My family days up 1,200 pounds of payload when we're ready for longer trips.

We are knee deep in truck hunting and the number we've been paying the most attention to is the GVWR. If that's the most important number, why doesn't the tow guide include it?

(Sorry for the structure of this post, tapatalk is not my friend!)

Unfortunately, the GVWR is generally on a sticker on the vehicle.

Or, to figure out a tow vehicles capacity- you can to work backwards to arrive at a calculation using the Tire and Load Information sticker. From that, you have to deduct the weights of the things you know to find out what is left over for tongue or pin weight.

I know I keep plugging my sites- but I have a few handy calculators at:

http://www.towingplanner.com/

I'm hopeful to eventually make them into an app, but for now they are formatted nicely for use on a phone/tablet.

If you find them confusing- let me know if a different tool/calculator would be helpful to you.

I just traded a 2011 F350 crew cab dually with 22k miles on it at a friend's dealership in central PA. It's in great shape. If anybody is in the market for a used dually let me know and I'll get you in touch with him.

Thanks for the heads up! I think that's a bit TOO much truck for us. But you offing it up is just one of the reasons why I love fiends so much!

Don't discount a 350 in single rear wheel if you come across one. You'll have a similar ride to a 3/4-ton truck but higher towing capacities.

I had never had it before but it sounded pretty neat. I found and used this recipe:

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Beverage/Limoncello.htm

I let each step sit for 40 days. I'll likely switch it up next time with a bit more syrup and let it not sit as long for the first step but longer for the second step.

The bottles are 185ml wine bottles, tasting corks (real cork) and shrinkwrap wrappers from the local home brew place. I'll switch to synthetic corks because I broke one (out of 3 bottles we've gone through so far). And the labels are my wife's doing- just regular printing on paper and made into a sticker using her scrapbook stuff. Turned out pretty sharp. :)

LOL, the first articles I wrote for my sister. Her and her ex-husband were long time seasonal campers. He took care of everything and when she wanted to keep camping after they split and she got a really old camper for free- I started writing things to help her and her boyfriend.

I'll often times take things from forums that seem like common questions and try to write a page about them. For instance, on Monday a "hybrid vs. not hybrid" post goes up from another forum. :)

Love your blog!  Thank you!!  :waycool:

Thanks! If there is anything that I can write about that you would find useful, please let me know!

You took the words right out of my mouth! These would be a nice compliment to my Limoncello!

 

Mmmm... Limoncello... I always keep a bottle in the fridge.  :)

I had actually never had it before making it. Can you describe what it is like to drink it? Is there any liquor burn/warmth while drinking it? Ours is pretty strong so far- BUT much tamer than last week (I bottled it last Friday).

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I love lemony baked goods!

You took the words right out of my mouth! These would be a nice compliment to my Limoncello!

Great pics. The pictures of your boy in the sand remind me of my little guy. He needs nightly hose downs when we camp.

That and LOVE the Go Pod.

Good to see you posting over here, hopefully you will get more involved mr 14 posts in 15 months :D

LOL, I can only be crazy attentive to one forum at a time. :) What's funny is likely 10 of those 14 posts were today and yesterday! :D

Another thing that you should watch is the cargo capacity of the tow vehicle. There will be a sticker on the drivers door jamb that will say something like "the weight of all passengers and cargo should not exceed XXXXlbs". Without getting too deep into it, make sure the weight of your family plus the tongue weight of the trailer do not exceed that.

Yep, this is the number that gets exceeded long before others. Here's a page of mine on figuring it out:

http://www.learntorv.com/p/what-can-i-tow.html

Here's a calculator that I also have that helps you figure things out based on the sticker:

http://www.towingplanner.com/Calculators/TowingPayloadEstimate

I think I had a small heart attack when I saw my spot and had to back in.  We had pushed through and it was dark when we got there.  That was the opposite of fun =)

When we went down to Orlando for Christmas 2012, we knew that we would be arriving after dark. We decided ahead of time to hole up in a hotel for the night before and parked the camper in their parking lot. It was a whole lot less stressful to get to our site at 11am than 8pm. :D

Completely thrilled, but also freaking out a little bit as while this man was explaining about the camper (how to do this and that) we came face-to-face with the full realization that we know NOTHING about how to set up, take down or maintain a camper.  Zero.  Nada.  Zip.  Yep... we're going into this blind (as I'm guessing several have).  So, come May if any of you fiends see a family with a Hybrid completely lost at 1) trying to back the thing into the spot and 2) trying to set it up....that would probably be us :)

 

Now... on to finding a tow vehicle....

I have a site that I've been working on that is supposed to help folks figure out the "art" (or is it a mix of "magic" and "luck") of RVing. See if this helps you:

http://www.learntorv.com/

Good luck!

Kelly- thanks for the info and links!

I think we've actually pretty well narrowed down that we are going to go to Chef Mickey's. The being outside part of the BBQ is killing it (late June/early-mid July is our approximate timeframe) and we like the characters there better than the others for my son's interests at this time. We think we're going to go mid-week one evening so our weekends stay free to go play elsewhere (I have to work full-time while we're down there).

Thanks everyone for the input!

Ependydad,

                  Glad to see you found your way over here, now why don't you try to join us in Gettysburg for our grand Gathering at Granite Hill, not sure what full hookup sites left that are close but I am sure there would be something close.

Surprisingly have been a long time, low posting member here. :)

When is that? We're likely headed down to Williamsburg at the same time.

On edit, I see it now:

http://www.fortfiends.net/forum/topic/11920-2014-easter-grand-gathering-in-gettysburg-pa/

Yeah, over Easter, we're likely headed the other way.

Just doing a quick google search, i found something at the Cape May Cafe, with Minnie, Donald and Goofy in beach attire.

 

Here is a review that might be helpful: http://www.disneytouristblog.com/cape-may-cafe-character-breakfast-review/

Thanks! We'll check it out.

Fort Wilderness

Outdoor Movie-campfire smores & Singalong-Meet Chip and Dale

Polynesian

Ohana breakfast

I believe its Mickey, Pluto, Lilo, and Stitch

Good food served fresh/family style

I had forgotten about the Campfire S'mores and Singalong. That sounds like it will be a nice thing to go visit one of the nights.

I do pretty much love anything at Ohanas. :)

The easiest way I've found to save on the GCs is at Target.  We have a Red Card (5%) and get our prescriptions filled at Target.  After every 5 Rxs, they mail us an additional 5% coupon.  Stack that with the Red Card and you save 9.75% on Disney GCs.  As a PP mentioned though, they only have $25 and $50 increments.  I did this a few weeks ago and cleared out the $50s and had to get a big stack of $25s too.  I think I ended up using 63 GCs to buy our APs.

Thanks for the info. My wife was trying to explain this to me the other day. Makes more sense reading it for myself.