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5th Wheel Company's Celtic Rambler, with a colour-matched Navara to pull it, is my 'lottery win unit'!!!  Absolutely stunning.

Hi, friends of ours have a 5th wheel, and it's really very good, combines the space of an RV with the bonus of a separate vehicle to get about in, albeit a pickup.

You could look at a website for Niche-Marketing who are dealers in 5th wheels and have a range of new and secondhand models. www.niche-marketing.net should find them.

All the best.

Hello everyone - I am new to the forum.  I have a 5thWheelCo Celtic Rambler, had it for 18-months now and I have had some problems. The biggest complaint I have is that the Japanese/Korean/Thai "European" pickups are not man for the job, even when they are weight uprated and chipped.  I had a diesel ISUZU Rodeo Denver Max 3.0L and it struggled on hills on motorways, I never felt the brakes were good enough either.  The Celtic Rambler fully loaded for a continental tour can weigh up to 4500 kgs you need a big truck to handle it properly without struggling up hills. I now have a Ford F-150 with a Triton 5.4L petrol engine it pulls its like its not there and the braking is superb.  Fuel consumption suffers though - 11/14 mpg - I now have an LPG conversion so the cost has suddenly halved.  The Americans know what to do when it comes to recreational towing!  Saying all that the Celtic Rambler is a dream to live in long term, so comfortable and modern. The underfloor heating and other comforts make it first choice over and American M/H.

Anyone else out there with a Celtic Rambler? There doesn't seem to be many of us.

Oh wow, firstly welcome to UKCS Essar and secondly how lucky are you!  OH and I had a sit in one a couple of years ago and spoke at length to the lady owner of the company.  We are intending to travel ultimately and this would be our dream outfit!  Interesting to hear your comments about the tow vehicle though.

LPG conversion is the way to go, once I settle on a vehicle I will have LPG put in for sure.  I hope you have some great holidays, if you are ever Yeovil way give me a shout as I would love to see your outfit.

Ali

Quote: Originally posted by essar on 18/10/2007

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Hello everyone - I am new to the forum. ........... Anyone else out there with a Celtic Rambler? There doesn't seem to be many of us.

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Hi Essar, I'm new to this forum too and the reason I joined was that my wife had seen your posting re 5th wheelers when trawling.

My wife and I currently fulltime in an A Class RV but the running costs are starting to get just tooooooooo much and so we are interested in a 5ver, particularly the Welsh built Celtic Rambler.

I would be extremely gratefull if you would contact me so that we can talk at length reagarding all aspects of the Rambler, and what thy're like to live with full time.

Regards

Paul Wrigley

paul.wrigley at baesystems.com

Quote: Originally posted by essar on 18/10/2007

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Anyone else out there with a Celtic Rambler? There doesn't seem to be many of us.

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Hi, I also have a Celtic Rambler fifth wheel Trailer, we bought it 3 years ago and still love it, interesting what you say about the pulling power of navara/Izusu etc - I originally towed my trailer with a Navara D22 however, at the beginning of this year purchased a new Nissan Navara Aventurer.  My original plan was to buy a Nissan Titan from the US and bring it in as a private import.  Problem was that Nissan would not honour the warranty and would not even service the thing.  My next option was the F150 or Dodge Ram but I finished up buying the Navara –   I totally agree with you, 8 cylinders are better than 4 ?    The Navara does pull the Rambler quite adiquatly but it has to work very hard when setting of on a slight incline,  it does take its toll on the clutch!  I am impressed with the Navara and it does the job fine but one of the Yank beasts would be much better.

Here is a link to my rig:

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k22/jpd56/Image199.jpg

 I haven’t had any major problems with the Trailer, few issues with the Side out and parking brake has been the only problems.  My trailer is due back into Fifth Wheel on 11^th November for a service and the fitting of a Side out awning (leaks when parked-up in Storage).    As you say there doesn’t seem to many of us “Ramblers” about so it may be nice if we could keep in touch to compare notes etc. 

JPD

Hi everyone interested in the Celtic Rambler.

We are currently at Camping Roseleda, Conil de la Frontera, Nr. Cadiz having left home on the 18/10/2007.  We have travelled through Belgium, France, Spain and into Portugal and back to Spain - about 2300miles all told. As various people have mentioned you have to watch where you stay, the French, Portuguese & Spanish sites tend to have very small pitches, more designed for tents and small caravans than RV size rigs.  I can recommend Parc Verger, Limoges only 9 pitches but all with sewage, fresh & 16-amps. Avoid La Cubilas, Nr. Vallodolid a Camping & Caravanning overnighter - first class dump! - same with Camping Olhao in Portugal, very overcrowded with rigs camping on roadsides & car parks - a real nightmare place.  Try Camping Albufeira in Portugal - good size pitches although a bit pricey.

The Ford F150 has been a dream, no problems with cruising motorways and pulling up those French & Spanish hills.  The LPG conversion has been a godsend, definitely no difference in performance or fuel consumption to unleaded - all for less than half price. LPG/Autogas readily available throughout UK & France, I found two GPL (LPG) fill ups in Portugal (one behind a farm house up a dirt track) but none in Spain (so far).  Unleaded is about 20p litre cheaper in France, 22p in Spain, LPG is about the same 42p to 51p per litre.

We've redecorated the inside of the Celtic Rambler (whilst at Albufeira), Leroy Merlin is Iberia's B & Q, better range and even cheaper.  We've had to callout Europ Assistance to have a bracket holding the suspension valve between caravan wheels welded back on - the Spanish road surfaces (incl motorways) are full of pot holes, we think one heavy hit did for the bracket, the original design is quite clever, but the positioning of the t-bracket support is poor.  I had it re-welded and strenthened with supporting bars - should be better than original.

We are staying here until the 5th January, undecided yet where we head next, but intend to head home just before Easter,

Dear Zaskar

With the Ford F-150 (5.4 Triton ffv engine) pulling the Celtic Rambler we get about 10 mpg.  The Ford is new (07) imported and warranted and serviced by Ford, left hand drive and ideal for European touring.  If I had my time over again I would go for a Travel Trailer rather than a 5th wheel - look at the Phantom from General Coach (Toronto) - it has modern interiors (like the Celtic Rambler) and all same facilities for half the price, alternatively, buy a 2nd hand US travel trailer and re-do the interior completely (got to be cheaper still) - totally bespoke!  You still have a truck to use whilst on site (you still need a truck or a big SUV to tow it).

The Celtic Rambler is great for living in but I feel there are too many things that can go wrong, more than with an RV or a travel trailer - Compressor on truck links into truck brakes and drives the air suspension and pneumatic brakes on the caravan. The brakes/suspension on the caravan are much more complex than a standard caravan motion brake or electric brakes.  Having no engine of its own, charging of batteries is dependent upon, truck when travelling, mains when hooked up or solar panels when not.  You can't just turn the engine on to give it a boost.  We carry a genny just in case.

contact email steve.robertson at ukonline.co.uk

Calder Leisure import them, they were at the NEC last year. The kountrylite model is made for Europe-. in trim weight etc.Very nice and cheaper than Celtic Ramblers.

Saw some awsome ones in Canada last year-but the pickups are bigger and fuel is cheaper.

 Saw a Dodge Ram in free paper there- new for $24k (Canadian) diesel or petrol! About £19k UK and gas was about 90p a litre!

Could maybe import a US pickup and convert to LPG?