Looking at a 2003 R-Vision Trail LIte 5282S | RV NEWB

[AndyMan]

My wife and I have two small kids (2 & 5). I've tent camped all my life and would really like to get into RV'ing. I've found a promising 5th wheel about 200 miles from me, but I don't know SQUAT about them.



The price on this R-Vision Trail Lite 5282s is pretty appealing, but I would like ot know about the quality.



One thing that scares me about it is that it's ~30ft and according to the RV dealer only weighs ~3k lbs. That seems about 9k lbs too light for a 30ft 5th wheel.



Other than that, what do I look for in a good used unit?



Can someone help me out here? I'm looking for a 5th wheel camper preferably a bunkhouse type in about the $10 -$15k range.



Thanks.

 

[PKnoerzer]

They do have some very light trailers, but their 30' fifth wheels are at least 6000#.



Things to watch out for - 14" rims. Even for a light trailer I wouldn't want that small a tire.



The holding tanks and roofs are the most troublesome in travel trailers. If the tanks are wet in storage, stuff grows in there and you may never get the smell out. For the roof, if there are no tears or patches and the caulking looks good, you should be OK.



Good luck! 5th wheels are very liveable and your CTD won't hardly know is back there.

 

[AndyMan]

Great information thanks.



Yeah, I just looked up the value on NADA and there the weight was claimed at roughly 5800lbs. That's a little more reasonable, but still pretty light.



They are asking $12,700 for it, and it books out between $14k and $16k. SEEMS to be a good deal. It's got one small manual slide, and an awning. Ducted 13,500BTU air. Bunkhouse, stereo, nice kitchen. Sleeps 9.

 

[RJOL]

A four year old trailer for $12,700 might not be a good deal if it's built cheap. There's no way around this. I don't know anything about R-Vision it. I'd have this trailer throughly checked out before I bought it...

 

[Grizzly]

AndyMan, I will be more then happy to look it up on my Rv Consumer Guide, but I can not find that brand. Can you give more information, such as the manufacture. Other good quality brands to consider are Nash and Arctic Fox, both made by Northwood.

 

[Ramtough]

The weight claimed is always light. You will be surprised by how much weight you will add with fluids and personal effects. My 31' Wilderness weighs 10,800 wet & loaded. The claimed empy weight was around 8,500. My 5W has two slides so it is heavier than a trailer without the slides.



If you don't know much about trailers, you would make a worthy investment to have a trailer mechanic give it a good going over. There are a lot of things on a trailer that can be VERY expensive to fix if they fail, like A/C, refrigerator, furnace, hot water heater, running gear, etc. , etc.



In addition to the cost of the trailer, you are going to spend a fair amount of money equipping the truck and getting all of the stuff you need for camping.



The upside is that a trailer made it possible for my family to do many things whe could have never afforded. It also made it possible for us to do many things we could have never done, like spend weekends at races and college football games. I would not be without one.

 

[Grizzly]

Oh well, looks like AndyMan changed his mind on the R Vision Trail Lite.

 

[AndyMan]

No, it's not that. I'm just up in the air as to whether it's worth driving the 200 odd miles to go look at it. I haven't really gotten a feel as to whether they're a good manufacturer or not. At this point, I'm not as worried about the price as I am the quality.



I do appreciate everyone's willingness to help though.



Thanks,

Andy

 

[Boomer II]

I have a 27' R vision, the quality to me is on par with most travel trailers. I've had no problems with mine, but I keep it in one place and haven't towed it around much. I had a Bigfoot truck camper and it still had cheesy drawer sockets and blind hardware. I've been happy with mine so far.

 

[K5IP]

I paid just under $13k for an new, very well equiped Nash 21. 5. (2003). Book weight was 4800 lb but it does weigh close to 5500 wet.

No slide, but it has held up well during several Alaska trips. Another Alaska trip is planned this summer.

Good quality, no frills.

All of these things are discounted quite a bit with carefull negotiations.

so be carefull about the price.

Rog

 

[Grizzly]

I paid just under $13k for an new, very well equiped Nash 21. 5. (2003). Book weight was 4800 lb but it does weigh close to 5500 wet.

No slide, but it has held up well during several Alaska trips. Another Alaska trip is planned this summer.

Good quality, no frills.

All of these things are discounted quite a bit with carefull negotiations.

so be carefull about the price.

Rog

I agree, for the price you can't beat a Nash or an AcrticFox. We made a trip to Alaska last year (06) and planning our third trip for next year (08).