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Got Our New-To-Us Fiver


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Well it took more than a few weeks to get my fiver at a price I wanted. Remember I am very well qualified to inspect and evaluate a fiver and all of its systems. My new toy is a Mobile Scout Sunnybrook 29 footer, 2003 vintage but with a new cooling unit on the reefer that is two years old, and brand new tires as well as no leaks or past leaks or evidence in the basement, roof, or the interior. It had been recaulked with the correct sealants about two years ago so it is due again. It actually looks pretty new save for a little sun fading on the carpet that we will dye easily. New tires in the last year all around and a very nice floor plan. Now before anyone thinks I am getting "older than could be nice and reliable" think again. But I will admit I had to go through a lot of junkers from 2003 to 2009 to find my gem. I fell into an Andersen hitch from the original buyer unused. http://www.andersenhitches.com/Catalog/ultimate-5th-wheel-connection.aspx That because the Dodge truck I wanted was a 2006 Cummins with the direct rail injection that made them very quiet. But instead of my preferred long bed, it has a short bed. 125k miles and got it for less than half of retail as well. http://s1359.photobucket.com/user/RV_Roadie/media/Pups%20and%20Property/Vehicles/P9170042Small_zps36a86ed1.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0 Y'all have to remember that I buy all my rigs used and pay cash. This is my third Dodge Diesel and our third Fiver as well. We've had a bad two months of rain here and we also bought a new house. That triggered the trailer buy now as they are moving our mobile home out of the way to build the new dirt pad and pour the concrete, then move in our new double wide manufactured home. So it is in temporary storage despite the fact that we have five acres as it is all mud and only now starting to dry out.

 

So RV again has an RV, and I can tinker with it to my heart's content. I look to be dry and have the RV Pad installed by May. But we will be living in this one for the month estimated that the construction takes with the pups as we do not want to leave our unoccupied trailer unattended as it stays until the new one is ready and we can move all our stuff into it. Anyone who read my website knows we do just fine and can do all the mods we want ourselves save making a mattress, that will be a memory foam like we sleep in now.

 

Tomorrow the brake controller goes in after I install the Andersen Ultimate Hitch and all is ready. I should be able to bring it home here in a few weeks. I just need the backyard field to be dry enough to turn it around and get it positioned for the next couple of months.

 

It is actually better than most of the newer ones we looked at. So we remain debt free and have a weekender, and one for my back surgery with Laser Spinal in Oklahoma City in the month after I haul all our stuff with some help from our old home to the new one. I can take some pain and then get it fixed later. After replacing one cervical vertebrae and stabilizing four lumbar, they won't let one lift much more then five pounds for awhile.

 

I have one question as technology and products have come a long way since we came off the road in the same year this one was made.

 

The seller has two gallons of Dehco/Elixer Plas-t-cote Rubber Roof Coating, the barcode is 50391-461287. It came from PPL Motor Homes and their part # is 38-1508, phone 1-800-755-4775. One gallon cover 200 square feet, I bought 2 gallons at $49.99 each and $11.00 shipping. He will take $90.00. http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-roofs/40119.htm

 

 

Any users or links to research on it other than the manufacturer claims? I know back in the 90s there were some really bad products that messed roofing up rather than seal and give the life of the EPDM a few more years of satisfactory service.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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Thanks Linda,

I'll post some pics on my Photobucket page. Nothing that fancy at all, just a solid well built fiver.

 

BTW folks I called Dicor and did some research and what I thought I'd remembered was the case. EPDM and Brite Tek roof sealers and top cpoats really need an activator and two step process to insure the new top coat adheres to the roofing material as well as being durable to justify the $500.00 investment they take for the "right stuff." http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-roofs/dicor-rubber-roof.htm The products in that link are what looks like the best bet. Dicor makes the EPDM https://www.dicorproducts.com/catalog/roof-products/membranes-and-installation-products/brite-ply-epdm-rubber-roofing/ and the TPO https://www.dicorproducts.com/catalog/roof-products/membranes-and-installation-products/britetek-roof-membrane/ roofing membranes for the industry. They don't just make after market cleaners and treatments. And they are guaranteed to not contain petroleum distillates that harm both EPDM and TPO RV roofing materials.

 

The first step and the coating all must be done on the same day, and when no particulates and/or windblown debris will get on it. Thankfully there are no leaks so we can wait until after the pollen season which down here is coating all our stuff now and for the next month or two. I am so excited to be able to get in an RV and travel again with my own bed, toilet, electronics, and closets along with me, go anywhere without using possibly bedbug infested hotels. I will do the roof coating because the life of a "rubber" roof is ten years warranted, so it is over by two years and in need of recaulking maintenance and the much less than a new roof two step coating from the manufacturer. It rides very high and travels beautifully. I can't wait to get the truck and hitch all installed and ready, and for the ground to dry up enough to take it home from the storage lot. The roof looks solid and both it, and the A/C shroud need cleaning. I will be doing inspections of the separator in the ducted A/C plenum, and service out the A/C, water heater, furnace, awning, and the plumbing including cleaning out the two gray water tanks and the black water, and sanitize the fresh water system including the water heater and inside cold and hot water lines.

 

I had to think twice about how to unlock and unroll the awning! Funny how stuff that became second nature in seven years of fulltiming have to be relearned if not used for twelve years.

 

:blink::D

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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Congrats on the new rig Derek!

 

Let me know how well that Anderson hitch works. It is intriguing and the first goose neck I've seen that looks safe to me. I look at others and just envision the hitch snapping. I know they're used by a lot of people but it's just a mental comparison of all that mass standing on a vertical beam vs. a traditional 5th wheel hitch.

Dave & Tish
Beagle Bagles & Snoopy

RIP Snoopy we lost you 5-11-14 but you'll always travel with us
On the road somewhere.
AF retired, 70-90
A truck and a trailer

“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion” -unknown

HoD vay' wej qoH SoH je nep! ngebmo' vIt neH 'ach SoHbe' loD Hem, wa' ngebmo'. nuqneH...

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Thanks I will Dave. If it sucks I will definitely say so. I am looking for the stability I am seeing in the Amazon.com reviews by a lot of folks. As well I see the same lack of leverage with the ball at the top. Several folks tried to say it is still a gooseneck at first glance and would transfer the same forces as the tubes. What they over look is that if they put a ball at the top of the tubes and the bottom they wouldn't work at all. The Ultimate really does offer more movement and control from what I see. And since I had the gooseneck ball already installed in the truck when I bought it, and I ran into the Andersen unused for 200 bucks, it will be remarkable string of good fortune.

 

Dave you have got to see the videos in the gooseneck thread here that I posted once you get some fast free connections. The 12 minute one about the aluminum version is a hoot! They crush one, install it anyway, and hook up an 18 wheeler trailer loaded with two sand rails and go to the dunes at highway speeds. Then they come back and have their daughter, a slight 9 or ten year old ( don't get me to lying!) undo the hitch from the truck bed and carry it to storage alone! Mine is steel so is a bit heavier but still easy for me to carry with a bad back as long as I am careful.

 

Hey it feels good to be doing posts about RV tech again!

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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I had to think twice about how to unlock and unroll the awning! Funny how stuff that became second nature in seven years of fulltiming have to be relearned if not used for twelve years.

 

 

 

If you have the chance, change over to an electric awning. We'd never had one in all of our years of fulltiming until we got our current motorhome, which came with one (we probably wouldn't have ordered it that way). Wow! We both wonder why in the heck we didn't have one years ago!

LindaH
2014 Winnebago Aspect 27K
2011 Kia Soul

 

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Linda,

I'll keep that in mind. We need to use it a bit first to be sure we are going to keep it.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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Ours is almost exactly like this one. http://www.campingworld.com/rvsales/imagelist.cfm?v=395321

 

Here is the outside: http://www.kriswillisrv.com/vehicle_picture.asp?picture=images%2Fkriswillisrv%2FVP1286850_1_large.jpg&year=2003&name=2850+SL&manuf=Sunnybrook

 

The floor plan is the same but ours looks newer, and the cabinets in the bunk area have a stereo in one. Our color is also nicer in our opinion, kind of a bright sea aqua. The drapes and patterns are the same, just brighter. This fiver was used very little. The tires are one year old and have one trip on them according to the couple who sold it to us.

 

It is not anything big and fancy, just exactly what we needed now. And for six and a half, a bargain. I'll be doing my usual mods in it.

 

We will be living in it for the four to six weeks it takes to do the foundation and get the house in and hooked up. Then again for the neck and back surgery if the raised yellow welt doesn't recur down my back from surgical allergic reaction. Like MRSA, but pre-Op not post Op. This MRSA stands for Might Run, Surgery Approaching. :lol:

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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I second (or is that third) the electric awning. We ONLY have our awning out if we are under it. Having the electric makes it easy to use - thus we use it more.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
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Yeah Bill,

It is amazing how much labor it takes to remove set entrance paver walkways and cyclone fencing alone! Glad they have the equipment to move the decks and carport. I bought a tractor boom for my big tractor since I won't be lifting much for a while later. The house first is so I can lift and carry all the little boxes it will take to move. They are moving the little temporary single wide we planned to replace immediately 12 years ago when we came off the road. :blink:

 

We were going to build our dream home etc. But we invested my down payment cash into a stock, then realized we both detest the heat/humidity and cold/humidity here, and miss four seasons and some relief from the constant winter rains. We like our watershed supply coming in snow and gradual snowmelt in spring. We will likely be moving to Colorado where our son will be an hour North in Denver and buying/building there. But even that could change.

 

In the meantime we've found that a beautiful manufactured home can be had for the price of a mid range Mercedes! So we are doing that as it increases quality of life and property value of our little acreage. Our neighbor already committed to buying whenever we choose to sell for a 10 acre family compound when his five and mine are combined. This is his only shot and we make a handsome 30% profit on our investment.

 

Back to the small fiver. What brand of electric awnings are you guys using? Did you install, have them done, or order the new rigs with them. I like the idea of them too. I need to look at some and see how hard retrofitting for power will be. Any links for doing one someone here has good experience with?

 

As far as traveling again, hey, we are healthy and will start back slowly doing some weekends and visiting our son in Colorado. So yes, we will be on the road some too.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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Our HitchHiker came with the A&E electric awning with wind sensor and remote. I have found the wind sensor to be of dubious value. The remote is kept in the truck. it's handy when coming back when it's raining. :)

 

Newt

2012 HitchHiker Discover America 345 LKSB

2009 Dodge/Cummins

 

LIVINGSTON TX

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