fifth wheel (1 Viewer)

Landy lover

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There are quite a few threads on this one a recent one worth looking at is 'Thinking of getting a 5er ' if you search for that it should come up. From the point of view of whether or not for the Kountry Lite it has got be be down to your personal choice and most importantly what are you going to do with it - if you are using it just for a couple of weeks or full timing is it just for the two of you or is it for a family of 8 - when we started looking we made a list of everything we had to have then made a short list of possible suppliers and 5'ers - we ended up with Niche Marketing
 

Ant&Debs

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5th Wheel

Hi White Eagle

Welcome from a another east sussex resident. There are a few 5ver owners here USA and European types. All are very helpful.

Regards Ant & debs

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old-mo

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seriously thinking about a fifth wheel probably kountry Lite any body got one any remarks


Hi, and welcome.. These are my own personell opinions on 5th wheels.

We had one for 10 months, and have reverted back to a MH and trailer for small car.

I think they are superb beasts, in all aspects, space/ease of manouvering/ car (set of wheels) to use for trips & sight seeing.... "But"..

other than a weekend away when we first got it, to see how things panned out,, our next trip was a (Supposed) 3-4 month tour of Europe,, which ended just over 2 months.

Our main aim was to visit as many places as possible, (Quaint little French/Spanish/Portugese/Italian etc. etc.) towns fishing villages and do all things touristy..

It did not work out,, because of our situation we had to have our own transport and local transport was out of the question..

We opted for a big Yank truck,, as we had heard of conflicting reports about towing a 5th wheel with the likes of a Nissan Navarro,, The truck performed superbly and was all I had expected, But and it was a huge "but" in our case,,,

They are a huge pain in the rear if you do want to do the touristy thing,, you can get snarled up in an awful lot of places Towns/Villages/sites/ country lanes etc..

Most parking bays are lined so as to fit a Fiat Uno/Brava type car, and not a 7 ft 8 inch wide X 18 ft 9 inch long truck,, Which in turn was the down side of owning and touring with the rig.. and hence the return to a MH,, and the end of October we are going to do the trip again, and this time see all the places we wanted to but missed.

Dont get me wrong,, I think they are a superb unit but have their limitations,, and if all you want to do is sit in a chair when you get to your destination/site, they are brilliant..

Possibly it is a posing thing, being fairly new to the UK they attract a lot of attention,, on sites and on the road, but dont me miss guided, and give it some serious thought as to what you want to do and where you intend to go..

Saying all that I miss mine and miss the truck,, and I may just have to buy a truck cos they are the bee`s knee`s..

I will now sit back with baited breath and wait for the remarks.. I have got broad shoulders and can take criticism. (spelt wrong I know) ::bigsmile:

I did not give it a fair chance...... I went to all the wrong places..... I stayed at all the wrong sites...... :winky:
 

Ant&Debs

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I can understand Old Mo. We spent a total of 3 months choosing a 5ver and tow vehicle. I dread to think of the mileage we covered going to 5ver suppliers. USA and European. Trade Shows. I would like to say that the best information I received was from this site and 5ver Owners.

We looked at what the UK had to offer, but we had specific needs we wanted a 5ver that we could transport 2 Road Legal Quad bikes as we did not want to just use a pickup when sited. We went to a well know UK Supplier to see if this was possible, they offered to build us one at a cost of over £30,000.00 but it took them over 3 weeks to get back to us, so lost sale there!

We finally decided on a USA Model Wildcat 31THSB from forestriver that will give us all we need.

It was a struggle and sometimes your head wants to explode!:cry:
 

Sundowners

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old-mo is right---------------a yank truck is not the ideal vehicle for site-seeing in Cornish villages and the like.
We love our Dodge and even though it needs 4 spaces in Tesco we are prepared to take it wherever we go.
When we were on the road before , we found that it was often better to go into cities via public transport. we don't do much of that type of site-seeing now, we are much more inclined to stay away from those tourist type places and head for the hills and backwoods.
To be honest, we don't intend to use the 5er abroard, our plan is to use the Dodge with the truck-camper (demountable). although a sub 30ft 5er should be OK with a suitable tow truck. It's all down to what you want to do ------it's always a compromise and working out what is important to you.
Nigel & Pamala

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Landy lover

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Hi, and welcome.. These are my own personell opinions on 5th wheels.
We opted for a big Yank truck,, as we had heard of conflicting reports about towing a 5th wheel with the likes of a Nissan Navarro,, The truck performed superbly and was all I had expected, But and it was a huge "but" in our case,,,

They are a huge pain in the rear if you do want to do the touristy thing,, you can get snarled up in an awful lot of places Towns/Villages/sites/ country lanes etc..

:winky:

Hi Old Mo I would totally agree with you we looked very closely at the situation re what to pull it with - I have had a personal love affair with Land Rovers since the age of 10 and have had Landys of some form or another for most of my driving life - I think if I had not been able to pull with a Landy then I would not have had a 5'er. I can park in most car parks width and length but the height is over 2 metres so very seldom can I get in to underground or multi storey car parks but it makes a superb tug. The great thing is that everyone knows a Land Rover so no one complains.
 

GIBLA53

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HI and welcome I own (now 1 month) a KountryLite and am absolutely delighted with it . As stated look in the 5th wheel forums and you will read very detailed threads and comments from owners of Calder products and other importers . Its a minefield !!!!! so you really need to very carefully investigate and research yourself . I can only say that Calder ( Alex and Marguerite Sutherland) is a family run company and are very willing to help. Your needs desires and useage is the main thing to look at then match the 5th wheeler you like to a suitable pick-up , this is the difficult and even now confusing aspect. Don't just go with the recommended Nissan Navara do a lot of very considered research into this. Alan
 

vwalan

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hi. as you can see i use a mitsubishi canter shortened by about 2ft. i kept the wheel base original. i find it fits just about any where. the trailer is about 20ft6ins.altogether just under10mtr. it works very well .have had it 10yrs ,first with a vw lt50,too underpowered. now with a 3.9ltr engine great. i also like the isuzu truck that looks like mine. i prefer the truck/small lorry look as i find it works much better for wild camping .i hardly ever use sites cos i,m too tight.hope you find what you are looking for. i know i have. cheers alan.

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tink

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Hi like Alan I also use a light truck a Ford Transit dbl cab with a Niche Marketing Sunvalley 26' as you can see I have room to carry a motorcycle/quad between back of cab & fifth wheel with still plenty of clearance on turning,I find the Transit works for me in the week it's the workhorse carrying everything for the smallholding & assorted building works.It returns 29mpg empty & 25mpg pulling the 5ver it also Carry's 6 people with plenty of space.
 

Griffs

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Hi
Got to agree with old-mo we had a fifth wheel for a year, luxury living but at a price, we are now back to a 26ft rv and it is so easy for travelling.
I drove for a living, back in the early seventies, europe mid east etc and have got plenty of experience but we are very happy with our m-home.
If you go down the fifth wheel route make sure you get a proper set up ie weight limits etc because if you are pulled in with say no parking brake (as an example) you will get done:Doh::Doh: and possibly a prob order, get yourself a nice yank truck a 250 or similar.
All the best with your searches:thumb::Cool::thumb::Cool:
 

vwalan

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doesnt have to be expensive to have a 5er. keep your eyes on ebay lots nice ones on there you just need to do a bit of work. throw in an old settee n old wardrobe thats what i did.

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