I just received comment in my blog from Andersen Hitches.  It seems they have improved the coupling device on their hitch by adding a funnel which guides the ball hitch into the coupler.  This makes hitching up far more easy and gives a little room for “slop” when hitching up.  I know that this feature will definitely be a benefit to me personally. 🙂

Here’s what the hitch comes with…

You can see the new addition of the funnel and how cleverly designed it is.  It just bolts on the receiver assembly which bolts to the kingpin of your coach.

Not sure if owners of existing hitches can fit these to their units but it would appear you could add it easily.  If the size of the aluminum billet hasn’t changed then this would be a no-brainer addition.

You can see that once fitted on the kingpin of your coach, it will be much easier to hitch to your tow vehicle.  You can be 3 inches off-center in any direction and still hitch up easily.

Andersen seems to be an innovative company that keeps refining and enhancing their products.  I think my mind is made up.  I’m going Andersen Ultimate 2… too!

 

NOTE:  I’ve received no promotion or incentive from anyone to write this article.

 

So after looking at finances and life situations we have to change our timeline for retirement somewhat.  There will be some financial penalties if I retire before the age of 59.5 so we have to push Project 2020 off until 2023.  So the full-time RV life will have to wait just a bit longer.  If you’ve noticed the countdown timer on the side of my webpage you’ll further notice that it has changed to reflect our change in timeline.

Um… I mean… More on trailer hitches.  Ahem.

So I’ve been studying these hitches more tonight and ran across this Andersen Ultimate 5th Wheel Hitch.

 

The way it works is you connect the frame above to a gooseneck hitch in the bed of your truck and cinch it down.  You then connect an adapter assembly to your 5th wheel king pin.

The adapter stays connected to the king pin.  To hitch the trailer you lower it down onto the ball at the top of the frame shown above.  The benefit of this hitch is that it doesn’t need to be lubricated, and is very easy to remove from the bed of the truck.  And because it only weighs 35 lbs, you don’t kill yourself taking it out.  And you have a clean truck bed when you’re not towing.

The downside is that since it is a ball adapter, many states require you to also use safety chains with the trailer.  Meh.  No big deal.  At any rate, I can still change my mind since I’m still dreaming.

Well, there isn’t a whole lot going on in the flying world or the RV world.  We’re really just kind of in a holding pattern, dreaming.  One thing I haven’t done a whole lot of is trying to find the beast of a truck that will pull our home on wheels.  Well, that’s not exactly true. I’ve done enough research to know I want a RAM 3500, dually, long bed, crew cab, tow prep, auto level, 4.10 rear axle ratio, AISIN transmission.  I know I want to buy it from Dennis Dhillon Dodge in Boise/Nampa ID.  I know I’ll have to special order it because almost no one carries the truck I’m looking for.  But other than that I haven’t looked into it too much. 🙂

I figure I need to get another year or two out of my van and I’ll trade it in and buy the truck at the same time. I also believe this truck will pull any Solitude we end up purchasing.  Right now we’re settled on the 369RL but who knows what Grand Design will come out with in a few years?  I’ve spec’ed out the truck here: Ram 3500 – Vehicle Summary

Along with the truck I’ll need a good 5th wheel hitch.  The B&W hitch has received very good reviews.  The only bad review I’ve heard is that the hitch is very heavy.

Yeah, looks pretty heavy!  But it fits into the Ram factory 5th wheel mounts with no problem.  Even though it’s a heavy hitch, I like the fact that it is easily removable (with help).  I have heard of people simply leaving it hitched up to their trailer, unlatching the bed mounts, and using the trailer’s leveling system to lift the hitch off the bed, and drive out from under it.  Then you can use the full bed of the truck.  When you’re done, drive back under the hitch, have the trailer lower back down, and re-latch the hitch to the truck.  I’m sure that’s easier said than done. 🙂

One of the many things I’ve been thinking about when considering RV’ing is Internet connectivity.  How do I ensure I stay connected?  I’ve researched solutions from several companies, and gotten some great ideas from Technomadia.com.  I think I’ve finally come up with a good workable solution that will have multiple sources of Internet that I can select to keep me connected.  Here’s basically what it looks like

 

The WiFi Ranger Elite and WiFi Ranger Go2 are sold as a package from WiFi Ranger.  The Elite is a signal booster and antenna combo and the Go2 is a router that has multiple inputs and a small ethernet switch.  It can use the ethernet ports or USB as Internet gateways.  It then sets up an internal WiFi network that you connect to.  Internet can come from the RV Park via the Elite antenna or via a hotspot tether to the Go2 via USB.

 

 

Since RV parks and campgrounds don’t always have the strongest cellular signals need some way to amplify those signals.  To bring in these weak signals for the Hotspot (or cell phones) I’m planning on also adding a signal booster like the one from WeBoost.  It will work with all North American cellular networks and will boost data and voice signals.  And will work with more than one phone at a time.  It comes with an external antenna that can be mounted on the RV or even your vehicle while you’re traveling.

So there you have it.  With multiple inputs and amplifiers this should pull in Internet where ever I happen to be.

I spent Saturday morning at the Cal-Expo RV and Boat Show in Sacramento.    The boats were interesting but that’s not what I went there for.  I went to take a look at Grand Design RV’s newest model the 380GK.  It’s basically the 35′ foot version of it’s bigger brother the 384GK.  I really like the floor plan of the 384GK the best but at 40 feet long it seems a bit long for a trailer towing newbie like me.  The 380GK is 5 feet shorter but has same great kitchen layout as the 384GK.

After looking at the model, however, I’ve decided that we’re going to stick with the 369RL. While we love the spaciousness of the 384GK and the basement storage is HUGE, the problem is the pantry space is limited and it’s load carrying capacity is less than the 369.  Though I like the 380GK, it just doesn’t have the interior storage that I think we’re going to need.  I think we’ll stick with the 369RL.

Saw a great article on the Roads Less Traveled blog about the new Ram 3500 truck they just bought.  THAT is almost exactly the truck I am looking for.  The article is here: http://roadslesstraveled.us/dodge-ram-3500-dually-truck-best-rv-fifth-wheel-trailer-towing/

At the last moment I decided to take my wife away for an overnighter for Valentine’s Day.  Our favorite hotel is The Westin along the Sacramento River in Sacramento.  Cristy loves the large bedroom and very large bathroom with big claw-foot bathtub.  We were lucky enough to get a river view this time!

The next day we headed over to the former McClellan Air Force Base.  Now just an economic zone of sorts.  One of the local RV companies had rented a large hangar and held an indoor RV show.  Since they are a Grand Design RV dealer I wanted to give Cristy a chance to look at her favorite RV’s again.

Second runner-up, Grand Design Reflection 337RLS:

We both really like the layout of this coach.  I also like that it is lighter and does not require as heavy duty a truck to pull it.  However, it is small, and the materials are lighter weight (cheaprer) than the other models we liked.  Here are a few pictures we took of the 337RLS:

First runner-up, Solitude 384GK:

Cristy really likes this one.  There is tons of storage in the kitchen and throughout the unit.  Really the only draw back is that it’s useful load is only around 2500 lbs.  That’s not a whole lot for a house on wheels.   This may still be an option though.  Here are a few pictures:

And the winner is, Solitude 369RL:

This has the same general floor plan as the others but is more spacious and open.  It also has the greatest useful load at 3300 lbs.  It is their most popular model and so there should be a lot of used models on the market when we are ready to purchase.  Again, we took some pictures of this unit:

 

So there you have it.  We have now decided on our next home.