Hello everyone. I'm pretty new to all of this. My father in-law just passed away a few months ago and left behind a 2001 (think thats the right year) Fleetwood Wilderness 825 5x for us to use. We have used it before but to a limited degree. It has not been used for about a year or more and has been sitting inside a shop. We are planning on using it this coming weekend so what all do I need to do to it to get it ready? I'm not sure what all if any he winterized. So far I have:
Aired up the tires, plugged it in to charge the batteries and make sure everything is working. I also turned on the cold water to make sure the water pump still worked, but I forgot to check the hot water.
Ive been reading what I could about de-winterizing but the links in the FAQ aren't working for some reason. I was also planning on putting some bleach into the tanks and letting it set for a while, then draining and rinsing.
does anyone know if this particular model has a hot water heater bypass that I need to check on, or where it would be located at?
Thank you guys,
Trevor
2007 Dodge 2500 QC SWB
6.7CTD 6spd auto 4x4
2001 Fleetwood wilderness 825 5X
2008 Polaris Sportsman 800 Touring - Stealth Black
2007 Can-am 800 - sold
2000 Polaris Sportsman 700
When you turned on the water it would be pink if it had been winterized. The fresh water tank needs to be sanitized. Do a search on this site as I cannot remember the amount of bleach to use. It is not much. Do not turn on the water heater until you determine if it has been bypassed. It will harm the heating element. The bypass will be at the water heater. Probably two valves. You will have to determine which way will let water flow to the heater. When you aired up the tires what psi did you leave them. You will probably need to use the max. psi for that tire to be safe. It is located on the sidewall of the tire. Underiflated tires are a risk for a blowout. If it has a awning make sure it is secure and you know how to use it. Do not leave it open with any strong winds. If you are not familier with the hitch setup get someone who is knowledgable to show you how to use it. You want to be safe. You will need to know how to use the black and gray tanks. Mainly how to dump them. If you have full hookups do not leave the black tank open. Let it fill then dump. the solid waste will settle to the bottom and the liquids will drain off leaving you with a mess if you leave it open. I am sure others will have advice. Also just make you a checklist and take your time. Mainly relax and have a good time.
Keith & Patty / TN.
2004 27rl Crossroads Cruiser
2006 Ford F-250 Lariat The older I get. The better I used to be!
Hi Trevor, and welcome to the forum. Make sure you flush all the water lines, running them till all the pink stuff is out. Don't open water heater bypass till system is flushed. Don't want the pink stuff in water heater. If you have a bypass, its usually behind a door inside of the kitchen. Down at floor level. If its warm enough where you live, maybe it wasn't winterized. In that case, you want to drain the water heater. Water in there will be pretty stale, after setting for a year. Check battiers to make sure they are charging, and holding a charge. You need the battery to raise landing gear and operate slides even if plugged into shore power. Turn fridge on a coule days before leaving to be sure its cold. Usally need 24 to 48 hrs to get cold. Good luck, and enjoy. John
John Ret USArmy
Linda waiting
Jake (soft haired Wheaten terrier)
02 Ford F-250 7.3L PSD 4 x 4
05 Cardinal WBLX 29'
On top of all that, before I towed it very far I would get new tires. If they are the original equipment tires and the unit is a 2001, then the tires are 7 years old at least. They are beyond their useful life.
I guess you are already using the fifth since this is Sunday. If not I believe you need more time to get to know the rv. Try everything and live in it at home if you can to test everything. Tires were addressed and good information above. have fun
chevman
I would park it in my own drive way so that as It would be handy to look at and work on plus spend a night in it before the weekend knida like camping in your driveway. that way u get any bugs out before u go away for a weekend. good luck
Thanks guys. I was doing some maintenance and cleaning on it yesterday at my shop. We live in arkansas and it was insinde a shop so i dont think that he winterized it.
I found the drain for the hot water heater and let some out. There was no antifreeze in it, just water. So i went ahead and turned on the hot water heater and ran some water through the system to make sure it worked ok. I got some good hot water within 15 minutes or so. I put a little bit of bleach in the fresh water tank. I also put some laundry detergent in the rest of the tanks, but I couldnt find any water softner at my local walmart so that was a no go. (trying to follow geo-method)
I checked the batteries and one of them needed a little water so i brought it back up to level. They appear to be holding a good charge so far.
Tires, we will be getting some here pretty soon but next weekend we will just be pulling it up the road a few miles, to a local river. They are holding pressure well and there is no visible dry rot (of coarse thats not all there is to worry about).
We have camped in this camper many times before, my wife even lived in it for 2 months while they were building there new house. So we feel pretty comfortable with most everything, its just the little details that will get ya.
We will be leaving this coming friday and staying til sunday. I will have plenty of time to do anything else I need to before then. I went ahead and bought a new drinking water hose from wal-mart as well as a pressure regulator. I was going to go ahead and buy a in line filter but they were fresh out.
On a side note, we had to get a new fresh water tank cap, so we stopped by the local rv dealer. Stupid me decided i wanted to look at the toy haulers. We looked at the 2009 Cougar 320SRX. Man i wanted that thing pretty bad. It was absolutely awesome. After we left, my wife said that she wanted it, but i reminded her that we can enjoy our paid off unit much easier. Sure it would be nice to have a newer, nicer, bigger, fancier, and not to mention it being a toy hauler, but having something that is paid off gives you the oppurtunity to use it much more often. The only downside is we really would use a toy hauler more often then just a 5th wheel. Ah well.
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