Fifth wheels are distinct from other towables not just for the bedroom area that rises up and over the bed of the truck above the hitch but also for their interior clearance which matches or exceeds that of a stick-built home, at least in the main compartment. This is one reason that it’s easier to live full time in a 5er than in a travel trailer. Travel trailers have maybe 6’5″ ceilings throughout, so even a person of below-average height might start to feel claustrophobic after a while. Lex was insistent on getting a 5er for just this reason. She stands nearly 5’10″ and since she works from home would be spending a lot of time in a small, enclosed space. She thought she’d go stir crazy in a travel trailer in short order.
The ceiling itself in a fifth wheel is more or less flat, sloping slightly to the rear of the trailer. The floor, on the other hand, is what changes. In a fifth wheel, there are steps up from one part of the RV to the other, so the headroom decreases with each step up. The Blue Beast has an 8-foot ceiling in the living area (the largest part of the RV), maybe a 6’5″ ceiling in the bathroom, and then a 6′ ceiling in the bedroom. The bedroom is the only place Lex has an issue, and even then, only because she can bang her head on the TV antenna crank if she isn’t careful.
In the living and bedroom areas, there are several overhead storage compartments. In the bedroom, I, at 5’4″, can reach the compartments with no problem. In the living room, I can reach the cabinets in the slides, but I have a hard time with the one sat the rear of the trailer over the picture window. I also have a tough time raising and lowering the skylight vent in the living room and removing the A/C filter for cleaning.
RV dealers and suppliers are well aware of this problem and have stocked accordingly. In every RV supply place I’ve been, there are an assortment of steps and ladders available, almost all of them of the folding variety, to help alleviate the problem of RVing while short. I bought a little collapsible stepstool called the E-Z Foldz. It’s one of those as-seen-on-TV type products. Appropriately enough, it’s a bright blue, and even though it’s plastic, it will support my weight without falling apart. It’s rated for 300#, but I’m pretty sure it could hold even more than that. This little step lets me reach the ceiling and the compartments here in the RV, and it folds up flat, so I can put it away and avoid tripping over it.
Mama's little helper
The only thing I need a bit more height to reach is the A/C filter. It’s flush to a part of the ceiling that is a bit more elevated than the rest of the living room. For this I have a small, three-step aluminum Gorilla ladder that we bought back when we lived in the apartment. It helped me hang pictures and whatnot. Since we would no doubt need a ladder to deal with the exterior of the RV and this particular one was so compact, I ended up keeping it. I’m very glad I did. It helps me get the awning up and down (or it will once the awning is repaired), helps me reach all the exterior windows, and lets me change that A/C filter. I keep the ladder in the basement storage at the front of the RV, so it’s easy enough to get to when I need it. The little blue stepstool stays inside since that’s where I use it the most.
One problem that remains that I’m not sure how to solve is the problem of needing a full-size ladder to help us reach the exterior of the RV. Yes, there’s a ladder attached to the back of the trailer that is meant to let people access the roof. The problem with is is that it doesn’t seem all that sturdy. Lex and I afraid that it won’t support our weight. Plus, the way it’s built means it leans out and back a little, making it pretty tough to climb even for smaller folks. Our friend Kathy went up to wash the roof for us, and she didn’t care for the ladder one bit. She weighs less than 150′, so if she’s not comfortable with the thing, we certainly aren’t. The problem with buying a full-size ladder is that we have nowhere to put it. Sure, we might be able to store it in the basement if the basement weren’t already full. I’d hesitate to keep it in the back of the truck since it might walk off.
In the meantime, I think we’ll just try to bribe Lex’s strapping young nephew to come over when we need something done to the roof . He hustled up there once before to cut some overhanging branches away for us and seemed to have no problem. I’m sure we could entice him out with the promise of cold, hard cash.
Tags: maintenance, MJ, rv
