Wife wanted to something similar. I whined that I'm retired, and towing a trailer, 5th wheel, whatever would be work. I don't wanna work no more. I'm winning, for now.
Tell her to call us (both of us) if she wants to hear some good and bad about 5th wheels.
As for you, towing a fiver is a lot nicer than a bumper tow. Night and day. As is hitching. It will spoil me forever. And I have towed a lot of trailers. We went on our honeymoon centuries ago in a big pop-up Coleman. And been towing stuff my whole life. But no fivers until the one we just sold.
It isn’t work at all, comparatively. I really enjoyed towing that thing. Here’s something the size of a small house behind me and it just sat there and never did anything bad. Ever. Even during the worst panic stop I’ve ever had to do with a trailer, it just stayed back there.
We ultimately sold ours because the original life plan and jobs had changed DRAMATICALLY from when we bought it until this year. (Originally when we bought it, I was 80-90% work from home and as long as I had internet I never went anywhere near the office if I could avoid it. She had multiple days off per week and they could be moved around, so we were going to wander a bit, and I would work in the camper by day, and we’d enjoy a campfire by night, and we only had the one big (really high dog.
ALL of that changed in two years. LOL. So... the fiver sat too much. We loved it for Oshkosh and the occasional trip, but frankly we already live in the country so we didn’t need to get out of the rat race or anything. Ha.
We got a bit lucky on the consignment and didn’t lose much from brand new to selling it four years later but we were about to drop the price again when it sold.
Talk about depreciation. And she HAD to have a new one once she saw one... but we managed to escape without too much pain in that regard.
Well in RV depreciation levels of pain, that is. If I counted up the hotel rooms that money would have paid for... we lost. But we did enjoy it while we had it. Kinda. There were some downsides.
So we did okay. Bought a slightly unpopular model (laid out for empty nesters not big families, tons of space but really only comfortable for two over long periods and two more if they wanted to crash in the living room every night. And paid less for it because we got it after the local RV show in the dead of winter, so they really want last year’s models gone. Then sold it for a higher than expected price at the end.
Anyway... seriously... if she wants some good and bad stories give us a ring when we’re both home. A couple of the repairs were awful. Really awful for something “new with warranty”. Breaking the truck wasn’t fun but a fiver was purposefully chosen in that regard. I won’t put a motor on the part I have to live in, because guess where you’re living when the motorized part goes to the shop? In the shop. Literally. No thanks. Disconnect one from the other and tow one to the shop and one to the nearest RV Park which is exactly what we did. We watched movies on DVD for three days but didn’t have to live at the Dodge dealership. Ha. Had A/C. Microwave. Oven. But fridge with adult beverages. All the comforts of home.
I do know this. I wouldn’t have bought it if I didn’t have land to park it on when not in use. Paying to park them in storage lots around here is CRAZY. Lots of $$$. Wedged in like sardines.
