*Truck and Towing thread........ask your questions here.*

[Teamubr]

Any Ft Wilderness sites to recommend that are easier to access with a 43 ft 5th wheel?

What level site do you have reserved?

There are lots of sites we fit on. My prior rig was a 42ft 5er and long bed, crew cab dually. There are many more in the Premium/Premium Meadows sites, but still plenty in the Full sites. I have used this site to scope out sites. It has pics and their estimate of dfficulty.

https://wildernessprincess.net/loop-site-details/

I've also found the many YouTube videos of the loops to be helpful.

Ultimately, what I do is have an idea of the sites I like and when I arrive at the Fort, I ask the CM to pull out their book to see what site is currently available that has at least 60ft of pavement. If nothing is available or I really want a specific site, I'll see if that will be available and I wait.

Either way, I have always been able to find a site I can get into.

j

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

I have no site reserved.
Asking in advance for any tips or tales on the best sites for the bigger rigs to back into. Some may be an advantage.
Thanks.

 

[Teamubr]

I have been reserving Full sites lately. I like to stay for 10-16 days and the price difference between a Full and a Premium/Meadows adds up fast. The Full sites are thought to be smaller and don't accommodate big rigs. While the Full (and Preferred loops) are not as wide as Premium sites (12ft vs 18ft on average). There are sites long enough for us.

As for trees and other things to scrape up the sides and roof. The Fort does a really good job keeping trees and bushes trimmed. Much better than many campgrounds I've been in. I rarely have had an issue with low hanging branches on a site or loop road. Trash cans, transformers, fire hydrants, random fences, site posts and neighbors cars and golf carts are a different story. This was the view from my rig and the neighbors across the road. This was only on the weekend as there were mostly local folks that invited their family for the weekend. By Monday morning, it had mostly cleared out, but this shows a broader picture of some of the non-moveable challenges.



This was the same site as above from 2022. 1600 Loop, site 1624. My motorhome is as long as my old 5er (42ft). The coach and Jeep fit fine. I'm not quite as long as the 5er and dually, but close. I have some other pics with my 5er on some of the Premium sites for earlier visits at home. I'll post some of those for comparison.



j

 

[Teamubr]

Here are a couple of more examples.

This was the 1100 loop, site 1122 for the DIS meet in 2020. This was a Premium loop.

This was a super easy site to back into. The loop makes a turn to the left and all you do is pull far enough forward and back directly into it. There was quite a bit of vegetation at the edges of the site and despite it having 6 more ft of pavement, it felt narrower than the Full site above. It was deep enough for the truck and 5er, but due to being on a curve, I usually pulled the truck in at an agle to make sure I was out of the road.





This one was a nice site, although a bit short. Not very hard to get into as long as you missed the site post. This is in the 600 loop, site 618. It is a Premium Meadows site today. It backed up to the canal and had great views out the back. I couldn't push back too far because of the vegetation and drop off to the canal, but I still fit.







This "Premium" site wasn't as fun. It was 2017 a few days after hurricane Irma rolled across the Fort and closed it for almost a week. When they finally let us into the Fort, there were only a few loops open. This is site 1404, a Premium Meadows site today and was one of the only sites available. Pretty short and not terribly easy to get into due to being on the inside of a left hand curve and lots of trees. It did have extra apron, but the site post and utility post (green hose) weren't in the best place for a 42 ft trailer.





j

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

Good information thank you for posting

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

Starlink worth the cost?

Do I have it right?:
I understand on RVs it’s a simple fixed rectangle receiver on the roof. No aiming, sits flat.

With streaming getting better + so far our phones hot spots have fit our needs.

What’s your take on Starlink in/on the RV?

 

[Teamubr]

I've looked at Starlink, but the price (upfront and subscription) is still too high for me. You also need a fairly clear view of the sky. Permanent mounts on the roof may not have that clear view. Many places I go, I don't have that. I still have DirecTV and can set up the portable antenna where a have a shot through the trees.

I use my Verizon phone/tablet for internet, as long as I have a reasonable signal.

If you already have Starlink at home and a separate antenna for the RV, that makes the price a little more reasonable.

j

 

[jbrostek]

@Dive Bar Casanova I have fit my 42' 5th wheel in every style loop at FW. From Full, Preferred and Premium I have always found a site I can get into. So far only had been assigned one site that would not work because it was about 40' deep with a tree right at the end of the pad area. I couldn't even back up far enough not to have my hitch in the road. A call to the front desk, they agreed and moved me to a longer site in the same loop.

As for RV internet, Starlink is pretty good, but also needs a clear view of the sky to work well. FW doesn't really provide that. Plus I could not justify the high price for PT RV use. I do however, have a Tmobile hotspot, if you are a member of FMCA you can get their Tech Connect+ its a Tmobile based unlimited internet for much less monthly. It works great for me and I can get enough signal to stream in most places.

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

Wife is often online with her hospital, she works in a critical care unit and communication is essential so we’re looking into Starlink for the road.

Online Zoom meetings. Can’t complain she gets paid for them. In this era of $300 tank of diesel it helps the wallet.

5g /4g streaming / internet has been pretty good I must add.

 

[Stratman50th]

@Teamubr
So is this where I link my video of the 2020 Dismeet to demonstrate how "easy" it is to get into some of these sites?
Oh, and welcome to the forum @Dive Bar Casanova

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

Our 32' receiver hitch aka "Bumper pull" was a breeze in Ft Wilderness. The 43' 5'er takes some planing and thinking, and do I ever find it painful to have to think.

 

[Teamubr]

Wife is often online with her hospital, she works in a critical care unit and communication is essential so we’re looking into Starlink for the road.

Online Zoom meetings. Can’t complain she gets paid for them. In this era of $300 tank of diesel it helps the wallet.

Tell your wife Happy Hospital Week. And if she is a nurse, Happy Nurses Week last week.

I'm an old critical care ICU nurse too (Cardiothoracic ICU and Surgery, Burn Trauma ICU). I've had a "desk" job managing analytics teams for a long time though. My wife is a healthcare recruiter. We both work remotely a lot. My wife will probably work 1 of the 2 weeks we are at the DIS meet at the Fort in November. We just hotspot off our personal Verizon phones or our work T-Mobile phone. I am on Teams meetings 5-8 hours a day and have never had a problem.

Our 32' receiver hitch aka "Bumper pull" was a breeze in Ft Wilderness. The 43' 5'er takes some planing and thinking, and do I ever find it painful to have to think.

Some days I miss my "little" 31ft 5er. It would go almost anywhere. I love the Preferred loops, 100 specifically. But when I bought the 42ft 5er and now the 42ft coach, I just don't fit there anymore.

j

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

OK just posting this up for those of us that have the Trailer Tug.
No longer in production and nothing out there near as handy to use to back your trailer into & out of tricky parking spots.
I have several types of trailer movers, electric and gas and the Tug is amazing with it's hydrostatic drive, nothing like it.

They came powered with the Briggs and Stratton Intek 6.5 Vertical shaft gas engine.
On it's first service 17 years ago I went online to learn adjusting the valves, cleaning the carb jet and oil change. Maint beyond what the owners manual had illustrated or recommended. It was expensive and I take care of my stuff.

I learned the Intek was probably the reason Briggs and Stratton went bankrupt.

Never ran that good and unreliable.
It was a common and essential PTO for farm and industrial equipment and would grenade within a few hours of running time.
Cam shaft failure, connecting rod thru the crankcase wall,, valve failures, a puking mess farmers, ranchers and firewood choppers reported. Now videos all over You Tube.

In the 17 years me and my borrowing neighbors with 35 ft boats on trailers probably put less than 5 hours on it, then 20 hours of duty at the Jose' Cuervo Children's Hospital wing tight-fit spaces visitors RV park (that's another thread for a different forum but true, the RV park was paid for by & sponsored by Jose' Cuervo hence the name) and then,, ka-pow it grenaded.

No drop-in replacement motor from Briggs and Stratton's online parts & engine store which is also winding down operation when they sell out.

Farmers have been using the Harbor Freight $229 vertical shaft replacement motor with ease of installation and report it runs way better than the Buggs and Stratton.
I'm doing that now.

Getting the B&S off the tugs chassis was a bit difficult with a seized pully on the hard to access shaft until I busted out the sawsall. Cut through the B&S shaft like a knife in hot butter.
BTW 7/8" bore X 2.5" dia 4L/A pully. 37" 4l/A drive belt - big sellers on Amazon.

I'll be back with pics and tales of how the job went in part II.

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

Success! Now the neighbors can borrow it to shoe horn their trailers in.