Looked all over the site for the right place for this. Apologies if I missed a better place for it.....anyway long story short, I'm off to Canada for 2 weeks holiday just me and wife (1st holiday since 2009) once back I intend to buy either american rv or 5th wheel thing is I can't decide which would be best.  To break down costs an rv would be £230 road tax and approx  £200 insurance. 5th wheel is no cost per year. RV could pose a problem with manoverability especially the rear overhang as Wales and Scotland is a first and roads aren't american rv friendly. My 3500 is too big for parking spaces in my local town.... been fined twice for not being inside parking bay.....!  so pros and cons for both. Also uk/europe are really getting on diesels but I have both petrol and diesel so not bothered. I'm a mechanic so neither petrol or diesel or trailer is an issue

I found going over speed bumps fast shakes the crabbiness loose sometimes.

 

You know it too bad MoparMan ain't married..... his experience would be golden in our sitiation.

What do you carry with you in the way of items you might need when many miles from home and break down,?  Not in the boonies but where you dont know which mechanic to call.  

 

When we broke down in Yuma I ended up calling the guy with most positive on-line reviews and in business over five years.  What a $3,000 mistake that turned out to be.

3 hours ago, 015point9 said:

What do you carry with you in the way of items you might need when many miles from home and break down,?  Not in the boonies but where you dont know which mechanic to call.  

I carry a bottle of aspirin.  When I brake down I take two and call my self in the morning.

 

I also carry a cellphone, a AAA card with RV towing for 200 miles and a credit card with a big limit.  A lot of places I travel through have no cell service like when I broke down north of Riggins, ID and the Idaho County Sheriff gave me a ride into town to make calls.

 

As for tools, I carry basic tools to replace hoses, belts, starter motor, injection pump along with a test light, digital multimeter, and a OBDII code reader. 

 

Which mechanic to call, that's a crapshoot.

 

  

9 hours ago, IBMobile said:

I also carry a cellphone, a AAA card with RV towing for 200 miles and a credit card with a big limit.  A lot of places I travel through have no cell service like when I broke down north of Riggins, ID and the Idaho County Sheriff gave me a ride into town to make calls

 

9 hours ago, IBMobile said:

Which mechanic to call, that's a crapshoot.

 

Yeah, who did you call? 

 

Seriously, this why I want to get the 911 area going again. There is so many member scattered around the US and Canada there is no reason why we could be able to lean on the membership pool here for support or times of need. 5,5xx plus members. 

 

Member Map

911 listing

 

Edited June 2, 20195 yr by Mopar1973Man

I have the trailer parked on my drive and hooked up, everthing works fine so I looked everywhere for the manuals with no luck and had started to look on ebay with no luck. I connected propane this weekend to check heating etc,all good and working and while i'm grovelling around the a/c  /heating intake there's all the manuals for everything tucked down the side of the cooker  why they were there is mystery, not as if it's short of cupboards ...........

It's now all cleaned and packed ready for a week in the North Yorkshire moors, off on Friday, North Yorks is 160 miles from me, yeah I know you guys would drive home every night but don't forget we're a tiny island and thats a drive here AND diesel is £6 a gallon, going to be parked 3 miles from the sea, hoping to get up to Lindisfarne  (the holy island)  but you can only get across twice a day and my truck aint going in no seawater, also several places to whale/ dolphin watch and it's the capital of the world for English fish and chips   2 more days at the grindstone then tools in the truck and off

Edited August 6, 20195 yr by wil440

17 hours ago, wil440 said:

It's now all cleaned and packed ready for a week in the North Yorkshire moors, off on Friday, North Yorks is 160 miles from me, yeah I know you guys would drive home every night but don't forget we're a tiny island and thats a drive here AND diesel is £6 a gallon, going to be parked 3 miles from the sea, hoping to get up to Lindisfarne  (the holy island)  but you can only get across twice a day and my truck aint going in no seawater, also several places to whale/ dolphin watch and it's the capital of the world for English fish and chips   2 more days at the grindstone then tools in the truck and off

I garauntee I am not 160 each way everyday. It's a holiday. The only driving I would do is to eat some those fish n chips you speak so highly of or to see some sites. At $8.5 a gallon I aint driving more than necessary.

 

Enjoy the trip.

Well I did think I'd got it all packed and good to go..... tools, water, lpg, beer, shorts, tees, boots, music.....oh and more beer.... wife added 3 houses worth tonight, I didn't realise our house contained so much rubbish.... well to be fair our house does not NOW contain any junk whatsoever it is all parked just behind my truck in a 4 wheeled very large shed that my truck has to tow 160 miles...... got my own back hooking up the Snap On Modis......other half asks "whats that for"  err "Just in case it goes bang"  the look of sheer panick was priceless.

I need to invite a certain Mr Armstrong along for the ride as whats packed I'm sure we're going to the moon

I like to think if brother Neil had had his better half with him, that he might not have made that first step properly. Also the lunar module would have been to heavy to lift off.

 

No offense meant Mr. Armstrong.

1 hour ago, wil440 said:

wife added 3 houses worth tonight

I have the same problem.  Before each trip I do a complete contain inventory of the 5th wheel.  If I have 12 rolls of paper towels on board for a 10 day trip she adds another 10 rolls;  90 paper plates add another 100.  Sugar, flower, walnuts, bananas, crushed pineapple, banking powder packed just incase to make a banana-nut bread; it was not made, had to carry it back in to the house.  

 It’s all about getting away from it all 

I know IBMobile telling it true as I've gone camping with him many times. He could set up a regular trading post and saloon at camp. He even tows a boat behind his 5th wheel full of stuff. 

Edited August 11, 20195 yr by JAG1

Trailer really does need to be a lot lighter going home as there are  2 pulls at 1 in 3  or 33 %   within 8 miles of where we parked luckily quite short but after that 2 25% downs and one is 3 miles.... come up that last friday.. 

Truck has developed a bad power steer/power brake leak on one brake accumlator line so not looking forward to the 25 for 3.

Most roads are just too small once off of the mains 

Best thing is mostly NO phone signal

2 hours ago, wil440 said:

 

Best thing is mostly NO phone signal

Arrived home saturday afternoon, brake accumulator pipe held but leaked bady all the way, parts to order for that, steering turned out to be vague to say the least, I did adjust the box but I need to take a better look at that, might need new ?  weight dist hitch needed but might just px for a 5th wheeler we'll see

Did 600 odd miles and used..... £500 ish on diesel. Truck did good mpg getting there and back but once in the north yorks moors it is very hilly with 20 to 33% grades down tiny lanes common so  a lot of miles driving slowly in second due to lanes being only about a foot wider than the truck and heavily wooded and sheep everywhere ☺

It sound like you had a mixed bag holiday with fun and new sights along with will we make it home in one piece.  £500 to go 600 miles, that's about $1/mile.  It might be cheaper to come to the States or Canada and rent a motorhome.  You can go camping with @JAG1 and me. 

25 minutes ago, IBMobile said:

It sound like you had a mixed bag holiday with fun and new sights along with will we make it home in one piece.  £500 to go 600 miles, that's about $1/mile.  It might be cheaper to come to the States or Canada and rent a motorhome.  You can go camping with @JAG1 and me. 

Yep you'd like it  mountains are big there.

1 hour ago, IBMobile said:

It sound like you had a mixed bag holiday with fun and new sights along with will we make it home in one piece.  £500 to go 600 miles, that's about $1/mile.  It might be cheaper to come to the States or Canada and rent a motorhome.  You can go camping with @JAG1 and me. 

Yes thats about it, great week and yes about $ a mile, but a lot of time in 1st/2nd during the week just meandering down tiny roads, I did think of renting  MH after our Canada trip last year but haven't been to the places in the uk I want to see yet. Truck got a real test and now I have a bigger list of stuff to take care of but the upside is we both think we would move there when I retire in a couple of yrs

 

57 minutes ago, JAG1 said:

Yep you'd like it  mountains are big there.

Yes Canadian mountains are a big item ☺

few pics of Yorkshire, note the pic of the real English pub made famous in a tv program called Heartbeat

 

Beautiful scenery. I especially like the funeral service/garage/convenience store combo. The train station looks like something you would see 50 years ago.