Upgraded to a fifth wheel

[JMG1040]

We just upgrade to a nice 2008 Laredo 320TRL fifth wheel from a small Flagstaff travel trailer. Hope to fine a lot of great tips on this forum.

[toml-nm]

Nice unit, I know you will enjoy it when the weather warms some. We're located in New Mexico, Roswell area. We traded for a fifth wheel last fall, made a few trips before cold weather set in. Looking to go out next month,
we're ready. Lots of good info on this forum, very helpful....

[Flyguy]

Nice looking unit! Love the picture, kinda implies winning at the casino and driving off in a new 5ver and TV. How far from the truth is this?

[jje1960]

We just upgrade to a nice 2008 Laredo 320TRL fifth wheel from a small Flagstaff travel trailer. Hope to fine a lot of great tips on this forum.

Good luck with your new unit! This is our first year moving from TT to the 5th Wheel, first long weekend trip coming up in a couple of weeks.

[mobile42]

We just upgrade to a nice 2008 Laredo 320TRL fifth wheel from a small Flagstaff travel trailer. Hope to fine a lot of great tips on this forum.
Welcome to the 5th wheel family. Us too just recently upgraded from owning 2 bumper pulls TT's on Feb 2nd (this year). So far we love it but definitely not a single digit temperature type trailer. Our tanks froze for sure here in New Mexico.

[jje1960]

So far we love it but definitely not a single digit temperature type trailer. Our tanks froze for sure here in New Mexico.

Congrat's on your new unit. Question... did your unit come with the polar package? If so, were you using the furnace while your tanks froze? Thanks!

[bruno4]

You have a nice truck, now a trailer to match. Happy Trails!

[mobile42]

Congrat's on your new unit. Question... did your unit come with the polar package? If so, were you using the furnace while your tanks froze? Thanks!
Thank you and yes, it does have the Polar Package. The heater ran all night (Dometic Thermostat) and didn't help at all.

[jje1960]

Thank you and yes, it does have the Polar Package. The heater ran all night (Dometic Thermostat) and didn't help at all.

That's good to know. I can understand tanks freezing without the furnace running, like using space heaters or an overhead heat-pump but freezing with the furnace and it's under-belly ducting is horrible! Always learn good stuff on the forum.

[Maxzd]

That's good to know. I can understand tanks freezing without the furnace running, like using space heaters or an overhead heat-pump but freezing with the furnace and it's under-belly ducting is horrible! Always learn good stuff on the forum.

Wow, suprises me that tanks would freeze with heat. Sorry to hear that hopefully it didn't hurt the tank or hoses. I was lucky below freezing first night in my unit but no harm done. I only turned one tank on which was well used already... Woke up about 3am freezing, fridge check light was on, and the inside temperature said it was 56 degrees. Brrr.. Plus having to go outside etc. The Furnace is really fussy too but I guess is a safety feature. When the furnace ran out of propane the fan turns on for a minute and turns off won't run again. I guess no point wasting your batteries if there is no propane. So my first thought when the thermostat was set for 68 and it was actually 56 I thought it's the furnance or it's the thermostat that has an issue. After I realized it was propane I still couldn't get the furnace to fire, even though stove was lighting fine.. Takes several tries for the furnace to fore and purge the air out of the line. Required

Had the Cougar 325SRX out two weeks ago in Washington State off the pacific ocean. Temperature was just above freezing during the day and below freezing at night.. (3) 30lb propane tanks used for 7 days of camping but no freezing problems even with that one night of the tank running out for a couple hours.

I did three things though to improve heat flow before the maiden voyage, some of these easier than others, might be a good idea to consider these.

The first was upgrade the basement flexible heat duct make it larger. That pipe feeds the upper bedroom and essentially the heat from that pipe helps the basement storage. Also the pipe sits right next to the water pump. I double checked the insulation around the water tank. It's good not great, I added a bit just losely stuffed in there. In my unit you can access it thru the entertainment center. There is an access panel on the left door.

Second, I am not impressed with how the factory ducting is toward the back of the unit. Lazy and unacceptable when I got my keystone survey this was my only complaint other than sawdust not being vacuumed out of the ducts it's everywhere. In my unit the ducting ends past the kitchen before the inside door. JJE1960 take your vent cover off and take a picture towards the garage with the flash on. You'll be shocked, all they did was crush the ducting who knows how much heat loss there. No pipes and no point to running past the kitchen vent doesn't go into the garage floor anyway. I took a piece of aluminum bent it to fit snug into the duct right after that vent cover. Screwed it into the duct and used aluminum tape to seal around it. I 2 other 325SRX's at the dealer, same thing. This is a common practice so I encourage everyone who own's this unit or even a cougar 5th wheel to have a look. They shouldn't cut corners and finish it properly..

Third, I installed a vent with damper in the kitchen. Camping World sells them, I'm sure other RV stores do too. There is no benefit to heating kitchen area at night nobody is in there. When it's closed at night, the heat flow is significantly improved elsewhere including the basement. I might install a second one as there are two vents in the kitchen/living room.

Good luck solving it, but a space heater is always good insurance!

[jje1960]

Wow, suprises me that tanks would freeze with heat.
Good luck solving it, but a space heater is always good insurance!

Great info as usual Max. I frankly can't see how anyone could have a freeze problem unless they were not using the furnace. I suspect anyone having a freeze-up with a new Cougar is only using space heaters or overhead heat-pump unit. The furnace ducts go right by the tanks, I opened my storage compartment after having the furnace on and frankly felt the warm air coming out of the storage bay on my face. We are de-winterizing tomorrow, have a long weekend planned for upstate ny this coming weekend, pops 80th b-day. I know we have one full 30ibs tank and the genset in the back of the truck, so not worried about the freeze thing. I don't have time to mount the genset on the back with proper slide out mount or run the 30amp line to a plug in the front storage bay, so went to Home Depot, got a 50' 10/3 cord and will run that all the way underneath from the front to the back with plastic retainers for power to the main. Kind of cheating but will have genset power from the truck bed to the coffee maker in the morning on the way up!

[Handysam]

I too am surprised that the tanks would freeze. On our first trip with our new 327RES last October, I knew it was going to be below freezing, so for the heck of it I put a thermometer in the basement around the water pump and water lines. The first night the outside temps. got to 27 degrees, and with the heater running with a inside temp. of 68 the basement stayed around 43 when I checked it in the morning. The high temp for that day was 38. The second night it got down to 24 degrees had to set the inside temp at 69 and the following morning the basement temp. said 40. I must admit I was a little worried about the basement temps during our first trip and was pleasantly surprised.

[mobile42]

As I mentioned on another post, this freezing happen right at the beginning of this cold front that hit everyone in February and we were force to stay in Las Cruces (New Mexico) where the temperature was -8 for two days. As we finally arrived in Albuquerque, I crawled under this new trailer where the fresh water tank is located (at that rear) and attempted to remove the screws that hold that underbelly material to attempt to place heat tape at or close to the tank and water lines and I couldn't see the tank. There was another material insulating the tank (i guess). Keystone did a decent job but not enough to handle those minus degrees. I wasn't going to try to remove any material because it was all nicely pack and tucked like shipping a care package overseas if you know what I mean. The only expose pipe in this trailer is the one coming from the black water tank (and of course that won't be an issue). Both grey and black tanks and valves are not exposed at all to the elements. The only items expose are the drain pipe from the fresh water tank that does hang out 3 inches and the low drain outlets but that's it. Furnace ran all night, and I even placed a 60 watt light bulb in the basement and it was on all night too. I could feel the heat from the heater duct and the water heater so I know any freezing in that area would not be an issue.

As I type this, It is still below 32 degrees at night but the days have reach temperatures during the day where I was been able to completely drain my water tank. In the 2nd week of February, me and the DW took a trip to the 4 corners area and stayed for 10 days. I wanted to see how nice it would be to have running water so I hook up a garden hose (wrapped with heat tape and plugged in and fully insulated) and is a good feeling to see running water. There was a couple of nights that the temps dropped in the low teens and noticed the cold water faucet in the kitchen sink had frozed, hot water side seemed okay though and once again, heater is running. Artic Packages don't mean nothing, probably just a selling gimmic. Don't get me wrong, we love this trailer (327RES) and I'm going to hold on to for a long time just don't rely on your water supply tank when the temperatures drop into the teens and below...just my .02.

[JMG1040]

We just upgrade to a nice 2008 Laredo 320TRL fifth wheel from a small Flagstaff travel trailer. Hope to fine a lot of great tips on this forum.

Thanks for the heads-up about the fresh water tank freezing issue. Our old Flagstaff had both the tank and all water lines running up in the heated areas of the the trailer.

We do a lot of camping in the late fall here in New Mexico, mostly dry camping that will require carring fresh water. Looks like I'll need to spend some time exploring a safe way to keep my tank from freezing up on the cold nights before the end of the the summer camping season.

[Ron]

We just upgrade to a nice 2008 Laredo 320TRL fifth wheel from a small Flagstaff travel trailer. Hope to fine a lot of great tips on this forum.

You will enjoy pulling a fifth wheel, they pull alot better without the bounce, also backing into a campsite, jacknifeing to get into the tight spots is alot easier. We pull a goosneck horse trailer and a fifth wheel and I wouldn't do it any other way. Have a great time with the new unit and you will expolore all the possibilities with a fifth wheel...............Ron

[Jim7411]

We traded our Bullet Premier after owning it for one year. Upgraded to a Laredo 324rl. Absolutely no regrets! Installed a Reese Fifth Airborne pin box to eliminate the "chucking" and Steadyfast stabilizers to stop the rock n' roll. We took our first long trip to Death Valley last month. It's so much easier to tow than the bumper pull. "bouncey: