The Harrells...brand new to RVing!

[Harrell-REDW]

Hi everyone!
We are complete "newbies" to the RV lifestyle. We just purchased our Redwood M-38 GK, to pick up on Saturday, October 8th. It's unfortunate we don't already have possession, because we would be headed north out of Matthew's path as we speak
Our plan is to put our house up for sale ASAP. We then plan to live in our RV, taking short weekend trips to get familiar and accustomed to RV living. As soon as the house sells, we plan to go "full-time" and, when my husband retires, travel the US! Any advice/suggestions about RV living and anything else helpful would be greatly appreciated!
I have a couple of questions right off the bat:
1...We currently own a 12 yr old Ford, F250 4x4. Is this vehicle adequate to pull our new Redwood adequately for short distances?
2...What is the best, most economical and quiet propane generator that would support the whole RV for a short amount of time?
We look forward to meeting everyone and making new friends on this forum. We also appreciate any input!
Thanks,
Marlene and Earl

 

[katy4man]

I am also new to this site....This is great site to get help from really friendly people and they are very helpful and knowledgeable....hope u enjoy it as much as I do...welcome!!!

 

[spindrift]

Congrats on the purchase of your new RW. If you haven't already, in addition to this site, I'd recommend an Escapees membership. Because of shear numbers, you'll likely find more info on the Escapees Forum than you ever will on this one, especially since there are such a large number of fulltimers over there.

Do you have a gasser or diesel in your Ford? I believe your truck is rated to tow approx. 12K pounds if it's a gasser and 15K if outfitted with the diesel. If you have the gasser, towing your RW would not be recommended. What do you consider a short distance?

The 5500 Onan is a well tested genny for your application. You can't go wrong with that choice if you're looking for a hard wired unit. Some folks have gone with the 6500.

 

[Travelin' Texans]

Congratulations on the new RW & many happy trails in your new lifestyle!! We've been fulltime for 8 1/2 years & the last 4 in our RW & have enjoyed every minute of it.
Can't help you with the generator as we don't have/ need one, don't plan to boondock, much too big for most State parks, don't have a residential frig, & don't usually travel far enough daily to get the inside too warm.
As far as your F250, the simple answer is NOPE, your best $$ would be spent on a 1 ton dually (DRW) diesel minimum if planning on lots of travel, I know it's a pain driving the dually everywhere, but when towing you'll be glad you have it. Our daily driver for the last 12 years has been a crew can dually, you learn to adjust, most times I can park better/straighter than most of the small cars in the parking lot.

 

[piper guy]

What Danny said - as the saying goes, " been there and done that with a single wheel truck". The 38GK is a great coach. However lightweight isn't in the vocabulary. You'll probably be pushing 17k lbs when you load up to go fulltime.

There may be som of the new SRW trucks that would handle it and be under GCWR but I'd still rather have the Dually to tow. We towed our 36RL for about 8000 miles with a 2012 F350 SRW and then bought the Dually. No comparison after towing another 22k plus miles with the Dually

 

[Ford truck guy]

Good luck with your new 38GK... I hope you love yours as much as we love our 38RL..

As far as the truck... I have done alot of crazy things in my past, hooking up to a 17K fiver with my 2004 F-250 is NOT one of them... I am a weekend warrior for the foreseeable future and use a 2015 F-350 SRW, and would not go any less. The newer generation trucks are rated to carry much more weight in the bed, those older gen trucks, not so much... After all, it's really all about how much you can carry, not tow..

I would urge you to rethink your towing decision, for your families sake..

Now, lets talk generators, i just had the Onan 6500 LP installed in my Redwood and am very happy with the decision. Just remember that by adding a generator, that will add an additional 300 pounds to an already pin weight.

 

[Shane Wood]

Congrats and welcome guys. I'm in the same boat as others you do not have enough truck unless hauling it a very short distance. Weigh the truck with everything including the wife kids and dogs, then do the same weight in with the trailer hooked up. You will find that you are over weight on you= GVRW and probably your tire weight ratings. A 5500 watt Onan I'll run everything in your trailer

 

[Iceman1777]

Congratulations on your new rig, and welcome to the Redwood community!

The Onan/Cummins generator seems to be the preferred among onboard generators and your RW should be prepped for it. As far as portable generators, I don't really have any experience but Costco has a propane-ready 7000 watt gen for about $700-$800.

On your Ford, you will likely be looking at an upgrade because of the weight of your RW. We towed our lighter Montana with a '15 F-250 SRW and it didn't take long to realize it was at its limits for weight. Upgraded to an F-350 DRW and was night and day. When the Redwood joined our family we didn't have to worry about a tow vehicle.

 

[johnboytoo]

We had a 13 38gk and towed it with a srw 13 350 that was upgraded with sway bars, air bags, and the wife called me the weight gestapo as I would complain about the shoes she would load up for a weekend trip

While we did more than weekend towing - we did not have a genny and basically kept the front of the 38gk empty so as too lessen the pin weight...

a few have found the factory weights are much, MUCH less than the real weights, so we were right at the max for our SRW truck... YRMV - it all depends on your GAWR's, your tires, etc...

here are our weights and ratings to give you an idea - rear axle weight ratings were my concern. such that I went to the state DMV and they let me 'buy/register' for 1000 lb more rating:

 

[Bob Morley]

Hi everyone!
We are complete "newbies" to the RV lifestyle. We just purchased our Redwood M-38 GK, to pick up on Saturday, October 8th. It's unfortunate we don't already have possession, because we would be headed north out of Matthew's path as we speak
Our plan is to put our house up for sale ASAP. We then plan to live in our RV, taking short weekend trips to get familiar and accustomed to RV living. As soon as the house sells, we plan to go "full-time" and, when my husband retires, travel the US! Any advice/suggestions about RV living and anything else helpful would be greatly appreciated!
I have a couple of questions right off the bat:
1...We currently own a 12 yr old Ford, F250 4x4. Is this vehicle adequate to pull our new Redwood adequately for short distances?
2...What is the best, most economical and quiet propane generator that would support the whole RV for a short amount of time?
We look forward to meeting everyone and making new friends on this forum. We also appreciate any input!
Thanks,
Marlene and Earl

Welcome to our Redwood family and congratulations your new RW. We installed an Onan Gold 6.5 KW propane gen and believe that could be a good choice for you. As to the F250 I believe you should consider a F350 dually. The best approach is to search Trailer Life Magazine for their article on sizing the truck to your RV. It involves having your Redwood weighed at a truck stop scale. It sounds involved however it is more about understanding your Redwood's weight and pin weight so you stay within a safe zone for your truck. Happy RV'ing.

 

[Grizzby]

Congrats on your RW purchase and welcome to the forum! We've been full-timing for three years and love the lifestyle! You need to invest in a truck that offers more capacity and performance. We have a one ton dually and would not consider anything less for full-timing. There are MANY threads on tow vehicle preferences...suggest you do the math on weigh capacities of your tow vehicle and RW. Hope everything goes smoothly for you guys as you transition to the RV'ing lifestyle!

Bob and Debbie

 

[RV4us2]

Welcome Marlene & Earl! Hope your pick-up tomorrow goes well. Have you performed the PDI already? If not, take your time and do a thorough inspection and operate everything at least once. We too have the 38GK and love it. We are also getting our house ready to sell next year and will be FT'ing. I also highly recommend a 1-ton Dually. Our GMC tows the Redwood like a dream, but any of the big 3 trucks will do you well. BTW, this is a great time of the model year to buy if you are looking for new. Happy "Glamping", and welcome to the RW family.

 

[dave and ginny]

Hi everyone!
We are complete "newbies" to the RV lifestyle. We just purchased our Redwood M-38 GK, to pick up on Saturday, October 8th. It's unfortunate we don't already have possession, because we would be headed north out of Matthew's path as we speak
Our plan is to put our house up for sale ASAP. We then plan to live in our RV, taking short weekend trips to get familiar and accustomed to RV living. As soon as the house sells, we plan to go "full-time" and, when my husband retires, travel the US! Any advice/suggestions about RV living and anything else helpful would be greatly appreciated!
I have a couple of questions right off the bat:
1...We currently own a 12 yr old Ford, F250 4x4. Is this vehicle adequate to pull our new Redwood adequately for short distances?
2...What is the best, most economical and quiet propane generator that would support the whole RV for a short amount of time?
We look forward to meeting everyone and making new friends on this forum. We also appreciate any input!
Thanks,
Marlene and Earl

Welcome to the RV world!

I'm sure you're going to find this lifestyle both fun and exciting. You simply take your home to a new yard and neighbors each time you move. You'll also experience some frustration and concern. Just remember it's all worth the hassle and is a great way to live. The forums, including this one is a wealth of information with friendly people willing to share their knowledge. You'll unfortunately see some negatives comments on the forums which is good because you can learn from other peoples problems.

I hope you have miles and miles of happiness and good health, just as Ginny and I have been fortunate enough to experience.

Happy Trails!