Moving past your first trailer

I went from a pop-up, to pod, to 27 foot hard-side with standard hitch, and about 2 years ago my fiance and I bought a 27 foot 5th wheel (half-ton towable) and F150 to match.  Quite a change from where I was 16 years ago when I got the pod.  But we intend to take long trips - and have already - so I still wanted the room, and the 5th wheel for ease of towing.  I took my fiance camping soon after we started dating and she was all-in.  She did some tent camping trips in the past so she wasn't completely new to it all.

I've never owned a Ford before, but when I started looking at tow vehicle options 3 years ago almost nothing else on the market came close to the specs.  We got the 3.5 eco boost with max tow package, and with 400 hp and 500 ft/lbs, I barely know the 10,000 lb camper is even back there even on hills.  And added bonus, I barely notice large wind gusts in the F150, towing or not.  We were able to take my prior 27 foot camper on one long camping trip after we got the Ford and I could feel a definite difference between it and the Suburban that I used to tow for 11 years.  And that with the WDH not dialed in for the Ford, since I knew that was going to be the only trip.  I'm completely sold on the F150 as an A+ towing platform.  One downside, after we got the truck we realized just how much tech it has and got scared about future repairs, so we found a dealership out west that sells extended warranties with a discount and we bought one.  I'm the type that never buys the extended warranties, but I was fine with this one.  Sure enough we have a camera that is acting flaky...

I'm also sold on the 5th wheel.  It allowed me to feel comfortable fairly quickly with my fiance getting behind the wheel even though she's never towed any type of trailer before.  I don't have to do all of the driving anymore, yay!  No worries about sway, no more dealing with a WDH.  Downside, the huge hitch in the bed of the truck all the time.  Too heavy for one person to lift.  But I'm working on clearing out my garage and that may allow me to attach a hoist to the rafters.

A note about my camper, it has the 4-season package, and for several reasons I don't like it.  The sealed belly prevents me from inspecting everything, I can't trace the plumbing to verify that this sink goes to X and that sink to Y, and if I ever need to replace one of the dump valves I'm going to have to make a mess of it just getting in.  Oh, and the only normal way to heat the underbelly is with the propane furnace.  I hate using the furnace.  Loud, and gulps propane.  Sitting still I can throw a space heater under there but going down the road I don't have a choice.  I did multiple winter trips with my pod, down to single digits; I just dry camped and used the bath house.  I would be fine doing that again.

I'll post a quick catch-up elsewhere.

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