I am Marlena of Florida. Happy to have discovered this community.

Need guidance in purchasing our first used 5th wheel.

Thanks, Marlena

Marlena,

First of all, welcome to the RV Dreams forums.  You will find this to be a good source of information, but for us to give you accurate answers, we need to have some more information.  But, communicating on a forum is a whole new process to many of us.  I think I must have read a lot before I ventured into making my first post.

Looking at your profile, I see that you have a 6-cylinder Ford F150.  With that in mind, keep in mind that because of the size of the truck and engine, you will be limited in the size of a trailer that you could purchase.  In order to know what to advise you, we need to know more about your plans.  For instance, are you planning on full-timing or part-timing in an RV?  Will you be doing your RV'ing in short segments like 1 or 2 weeks, or will your needs require longer stays?  If you are full-timing or planning on staying in your RV for an extended period, you may need a lot bigger trailer than what your truck can pull.

With respect to the F150, one's trailer would have to be pretty light.  When doing the research, especially if you will extended stay or full-timing, it is good to first choose a fifth wheel that you like and then purchase a truck that is capable of towing and handling the weight of the chosen trailer.  If you are only doing occasional camping, there are a few small fifth wheels that an F150 might pull, but I'd worry about the engine still.  I suggest you go to a Ford dealer and let them look at your truck and the "data plate" on the driver's side door post so they could tell you how heavy of a camper your truck could pull.

Good luck with all the research and planning.  Don't be afraid to ask questions, even if you think it is a "dumb" question.  The only dumb questions are those that aren't asked and one then finds out later it was an expensive mistake to presume a concept or need.

Terry

Thank you so much, nice that I found you all. Thanks for replying, Bear2, Terry and Jo.

Our use is somewhat different than most perhaps. For the first 4-6 years, we will not be traveling, we will be living in the thing on our property while we build. Yes, we understand we have a light wt V-6 4.2 engine. Didn't know that when we bought it 2 months ago but didn't know we would be interested in purchasing a 5th wheel at the time too. The gas mileage was a big concern. We went from a 26 year old Toyota to the newer truck and just love it. The 8 foot bed will be great for moving us to the country. We are looking for a camper top or at least a tono cover to get better mileage. Later for travel we would get a larger truck.

I may travel after that from FL to Ohio of course with a larger fruck

Close to purchasing a 2005 Keystone Outback, from a dealer at a price we like.

Dealer will be delivering it to our land and hopefully hook it up, I don't know how difficult that is our not. What things do we need to look at as far as wear.

The tires look as good as new.

1. I know we should check underneath to see if there were any leaks. One model had a big 12" hole where they probably had fixed plumbing, that's about when we decided to go to a dealer.
2. Look at the roof to see if it had been coated lately if the dealer does not know.
3. Look for soft spots on the floor and leakage in the inside ceilings. 
4. The smell of it inside is important to us too, shouldn't have offensive odors.
5. Check  the slider rubber seal to see if it is cracked and over worn.
6. Look at the awning wear.
7. The dealer will be giving us a full walk through as they will hook it all up. Hopefully they will hook it up to a sewage system i don't know much about that, they may not even be able to do that. What are things that can go worn with one a 7 year old Keystone?