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We really do not know what that number is .When we started this adventure 10 years ago we determined we had the financial

ability to do what we do. We use Quicken and all expenses are in a category so we could pull that data out. We still have a couple of bucks left over at the end of every month and no bill collectors are looking for us. We are good.

I just realized we are not full timers and may only be on the road 8 t o 9 months a year. We usually get at least 3 months " off the road" at our S&B.

What do you call it when a "Full-timer" parks it for 3 months at a campground or at a "lot" they own somewhere.

New Horizons will modify the chassis for a particular custom requirement. But in general the chassis are similar in the wide body lines and similar in the standard body (narrow). If there is something required to support a particular layout they will accommodate that. As will Spacecraft and Forks. All build custom coaches. All three have exceptionally robust chassis. You pay for that robustness in weight and dollars.

We were very impressed by the Continental coach by Forks at the Tampa RV show. Talk about Robust. Excellent in every respect. The weight was GVW 26,445 lbs a bit heavy for my F-350. HDT territory for sure When We pushed the reps they admitted that a F- 550 was minimum. The 45ssa5 has 5 slides and the outside diameter IS 45 feet. This was the only 5th wheel unit we saw that impressed us.

They are out of Shipshewana Ind and this is one plant we have not toured. We will this summer. The Forks reps were very up front in every respect.

Google DRV frame failures and you might come up with a few . There is no question that the DRV frame is sturdier than the frame under my Montana then again the DRV one street down from us has a GVWR 2000 lbs more than ours. They just might need a heavier frame to handle the additional weight. The folks that weigh our units at our national rally have data that documents that 60/65 % of units they weigh are overweight. We seem to have many frame design experts on these Rv forums that know Lippert makes a substandard frame .I am wondering why there has not been a lawsuit or recalls on these sub standard frames.

The certified welders that looked at our lippert frame all said they might have done it different but none of them called the frame sub standard or substandard welds.

"Rich a frame should NEVER fail for being only 1000 lbs overweight. If it does it is not built right"......... Say what?????

Now I myself would not know a crappy weld if I saw one as I am no welder or no expert .However certified welders have looked at my Lippert frame and did not see crappy welds. My frame failed at the overhang from what Keystone called "frame flex" It is good to know that being 1050 lbs overweight had nothing to do with it.

Montana uses the Lippert frame all keystone brands do. We have had two Montana's one had a frame issue the other did not. We have toured the Lippert plant in Elkhart several times. Lippert makes frames for many brands. I do not know what their failure rate is but had a person who should know tell us it was around 2% over all. Of course the more frames one makes the higher number of failures you will have..2% of 100K is a larger number the 2% of 10K.....yes???

On the frame issue we had we were a bit overweight like 1050 lbs.. No one other than us ever ran overweight and had a frame failure....Right....

We have traveled with a Cock A too for 17 years not a problem with fumes. You do have to have a health certificate in many States. We get one every year and keep it in the 5th wheel. I am not a bird fan but wife is so we have one. I am not a fan of travel with any pet. It is however IMO the easiest pet to travel with. They can be very noisy. They live for a very long time.

The bird travels in a cage in the back of the dually when on the road and never makes a sound as long as the truck is moving fast. I think the movement it sees through the windshield is to much for its bird brain and the brain shuts off while moving. It does get confused when going through a tunnel yelling nite, nite and bye, bye when it darkens then giving one big squawk when the light comes back. probably thinks that was a short night.