Our Home On Wheels

Welcome To Our Home

This page is simply to provide specifics of our full-timing rig. Many folks have asked detailed questions about our set-up, so here goes:

2006 Keystone Cambridge 358RLS

This (2006) is the first model year of the Cambridge. It is Keystone's first higher end fifth wheel designed with full-timers in mind. The Cambridge currently comes in two floorplans, the 358 like ours and the 361. The only difference is the center kitchen area. The 358 provides more counter space and cabinets while the 361 provides more open space in the center.

From front tip to the ladder on the back, our Cambridge measures 39'3". From the ground to the highest point on the roof (vent covers and satellite in stowed position), it measures 13'.

The Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) is 16,980. The Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR) is 7,000 per axle (two axles). We have weighed the RV and the truck at 26,660 pounds. That means the RV total weight is 18,200 pounds (26,660 less 8,460 for the truck by itself from a previous weigh-in). So we are technically 1,220 over our total GVWR for the RV by itself.

However, the good news is that the weight on the trailer axles is 13,740 and they are rated for 14,000 as mentioned above. Whew! That's close, but at least we are not over. The weight on the rear truck axle is 8,340, so we are well under the 12,000 pound rating for the dual wheel axle on the truck. So I believe we are safe as long as we only add weight to the front of the rig and do not put any more in the back.

Interior Modifications
Bedroom - The main bedroom closet contained a very flimsy plastic bar to hang clothes on. Also, though it has nice shoe slots for shoe storage, the slots are all in the back of the closet behind all the hanging clothes. Keeping the closet floor free of shoe clutter meant getting down very low and fighting through the clothes. So we replaced the clothes bar with a sturdy metal rod, and he placed it higher in the closet. This created more room below the clothes, so he was able to add a couple of risers under the clothes to organize the shoes that we wear most often. They are now organized and easily accessible and we have more room in the back of the closet to store our "situational shoes." The only issue with this reorganization is that the closet gets smaller at the top where the new bar is, so we have to make sure we use our smallest hangers so they don't interfere with the sliding doors.

The only other thing we did in the bedroom was modify the lower cabinet on the right under the TV closet. In that cabinet we have our satellite controller and Direcway internet equipment. We created a shelf to get the equipment up off the floor giving us more storage space underneath. The other modification was to the door on that same cabinet. If the satellite equipment does not get air flow and gets too hot, it has a safety feature that shuts it down. So we had to keep the door open most of the time (which Linda hated because it did not look good). So we took the door and replaced the wood center panel with a black mesh. Now air can get through with the door closed and it still looks good.

Kitchen Area - In the kitchen, we have a very large floor to ceiling pantry. The shelves could be adjusted to any spacing. However, the shelves were cheap and were bowing shortly after we filled up the pantry. So we added more solid shelves with lips to keep everything from shifting to the front (and thus fall out when the doors were opened). We also added more shelves to make more efficient use of the space.

Another kitchen modification was the installation of risers and a plate rack to make better use of the space in the very tall overhead cabinets over the counter separating the kitchen from the living area.

The final kitchen modifications (sorry, no photos of these) were the addition of one shelf in the laundry closet right inside the entry door; a lock on the very large, heavy drawer under the refrigerator to keep it closed during travel; and a three bottle wine rack in the small space between the overhead microwave and the refrigerator.

Living Area - We made the most changes in the living area. Most of the modifications revolved around the desk area. The top of the desk area included our all-in-one printer/copier/fax/scanner, our laptop docking station, our flat screen monitor, our wireless mouse recharging station, and of course our surge protecter where everything is plugged in. This set up, in order to fit, had everything off center and had cables going everywhere - it looked a mess and caused Linda great anxiety. :) Also, the large desk drawer that runs the width of the desk nook had a cover over it that was used to place the keyboard on when pulled out. The problem was the keyboard was too high and uncomfortable to use, and the desk drawer was almost useless because of the heavy cover. Under the full width desk drawer are two file drawers on the right (they were fine) and a very deep cabinet storage space on the left. The cabinet storage space had two doors and a plank divider between them that made storing anything large difficult and getting anything out of the back of the cabinet even more difficult.

So how did we attack these problems? Well, we placed a solid wood riser on top of the desk that holds the printer up and allows the laptop docking station to be slid underneath. All the cables now are hidden behind the riser, and everything is centered, looks nice, and is functional. We removed the large full width drawer and used the space to create a smaller, usable drawer at the top and a sliding keyboard tray below that at proper height. The keyboard tray has a facade that looks like another drawer when closed and folds down out of the way when in use.

We then inserted two sliding shelves in the lower left cabinet area to create more efficient space and to allow us to pull the shelves all the way out for easy access. In order to do that, we removed the center plank between the doors and attached it to one of them, so when closed it all still looks as it did before. These changes are all exceptional - we may even send the photos into Keystone for future modifications.

Over the TV in the entertainment center is another very deep cabinet that we use to store office supplies. Again it was difficult to get to anything in the back. So we created two more slide out shelves. We made two because the cabinet is so large the weight across a full shelf would have created too much stress when it is pulled out all the way.

Also, we installed an extra shelf to help organize the small storage cabinets over the desk area.

And, finally, we added risers to the cabinets at the rear of the RV over the recliners.

2005 Ford F-450

We bought the F-450 based solely on our close inspections of Ford's tow rating charts as compared to the anticipated weight of our loaded Cambridge.

We expected the Cambridge weight fully loaded to be somewhere between 17,000 and 20,000 pounds (it is actually 18,200). According to Ford's charts, the F-350's maximum tow capacity (for the most optimum towing equipment- Tow Boss) for a fifth wheel was only 16,200 pounds with a 23,500 Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR - is the total weight of both the trailer and the truck)). The F-450 Super Cab (the Super Cab has the folding back seat and half door, while the Crew Cab has the full back seat and full second door) capacity for a fifth wheel was 17,500 (26,000 GCWR) and up to 21,500 (and 30,000 GCWR) with the optional High Capacity Trailer Tow Package. So we opted for the F-450 with the High Capacity Trailer Tow Package for the best possible safety and towing combination. And since we weighed in at a combined weight of 26,660 pounds, the F350 would not have been enough and the F450 without the High Capacity Trailer Tow Package would have barely gotten by. So we feel like we made the right decision.

So our F-450 is a 6.0 Liter V8 Turbo Diesel Power Stroke with the High Capacity Trailer Tow Package and the TowCommand Integrated Trailer Brake Controller. It has dual rear wheels for maximum stability and tow capacity (12,000 GAWR for the rear axle). Since the F-450 is a commercial truck that comes off the line without a truck bed, we had to have that fitted after delivery to the dealer from the factory. We added a second fuel tank for total diesel fuel capacity of 64 gallons which should take us 640 miles at our 10 mph fuel efficiency with the fifth wheel in tow. That should mean that we will rarely have to maneuever the RV into a gas station as we never plan to drive over 500 miles between campsites.

Additional Items

Our hitch is a Husky 24,000 pound hitch that our dealer had installed. That was before we knew anything about anything. Now I am wishing that we had checked into a couple of the air ride hitches I have heard so much about. Oh well, maybe later.

Our hitch pin that came with the Cambridge is a Mor/Ryde with a 19,000 pound GVWR.

We have also added a spray-in bed liner to the pick-up. And we had a bed cover custom made to go around the hitch while hooked up so that it will keep anything stored in the bed dry and hidden from view at all times, whether hitched to the fifth wheel or not.

footer for home on wheels page