People have been asking for a full tour of our Brinkley Model Z 3515 since we bought it, and we finally filmed one. This is the fifth wheel we live in every day, so this isn't a dealer walkthrough. It's the honest version: the features we'd buy again, the design choices we complain about, and the small upgrades that made it livable. Also, at one point Fabiola gets a little too friendly with a closet. We left that in.
Watch the full video on YouTube to see every room for yourself.
The projects came first
Before the tour, we knocked out a few outside jobs that had been on the list for weeks. The big one was swapping in Valterra twist-on waste valves, which give us a second layer of protection at the sewer connection so there are no surprises when we pull the factory handles. We also added a propane gauge with a built-in leak detector on each tank, dropped water leak sensors under the sinks, and hooked up a water pressure regulator so a campground with aggressive city water can't blow out our plumbing. None of these took more than a few minutes to install, and all of them exist because we've read enough horror stories to be paranoid.
Kitchen and living room
The kitchen is where the 3515 earns its keep. Counter space is real, the residential fridge holds a full grocery run, and there's enough drawer storage that we still have two empty ones after a year of accumulating stuff. The living room has the big theater seats and the fireplace, and the windows make it feel less like a trailer and more like a small apartment. Our main complaint is the same one every RV owner has: some cabinet latches and trim pieces feel like they were chosen by someone who never drove the thing down a bumpy road.
Two offices, because we both work
We work full time from the rig, so the floor plan had to give us both a desk. Nathan's office lives in the front, Fabiola's setup is in the back, and having a door between them is the difference between two productive workdays and two people on video calls talking over each other. If you're shopping fifth wheels as a working couple, count the workspaces before you count the TVs.
One Control, bathroom, bedroom
The One Control panel runs the tanks, slides, lighting, and HVAC from one screen, and we use it constantly. The bathroom has a real shower with enough headroom for Nathan, and the bedroom fits a king bed with a wardrobe that swallowed everything we brought. That wardrobe is also the closet that briefly tried to keep Fabiola. Watch the video for that one; we're not going to do it justice in text.
So, can we live in this full time?
We already do, and after this tour we're more convinced than ever that we picked the right rig. It's not perfect. We have a list of gripes and a longer list of future projects. But the 3515 gives us two offices, a kitchen we actually cook in, and storage we haven't filled, and that's what full-timing needs more than any showroom feature.
See every room, every complaint, and the closet incident: watch the full tour on YouTube. We also send a short weekly newsletter about where we are and what broke this week. The signup form is on our newsletter page.