RVs, who owns them?

[BlueSky]

When I worked at the Crystal River Nuke plant in FL, a couple of transient contractor co-workers like I was lived in huge expensive MHs. Both of them bought the campsites they were renting for about $69k each. Sounded kinda high to me, but what do I know? By the way, one of the owners of the campground was the actor who played Radar on the tv series Mash. A rough calc told me that they were spending about $3k per month to live in those expensive MHs counting depreciation. I rented a nice home for about $1200/month while I worked there. It IS a big hassle to move and find another place to rent though when the job ends. Living in a MH or TT was appealing to me but I could never work it out. And many of my jobs tended to be in the frozen north where campgrounds were closed in the winter and pipes freezing would be an issue.

[videoarizona]

Howard beat me to it. I was going to suggest to rent various sizes and models and take mini-vacations around where you live. You could even pretend to go somewhere and stay home. The idea here is to see what size suits you best. What amenities you can live with/without, etc..

 

I first started with 2 class C's in the 80's. Found a rental dealer that was really good and stuck with him...renting 4 to 5 times a year for mini vacations, mostly to the Coast.

The Ford and the Dodge chassis were not to our liking in the Class C's. We switched to class A's and found 29ft was a tad small but 32 to 34 were just right for 2 adults and a kidlet. The brand we rented the most were the Fleetwood types. Liked all of the different units we rented. None had pull outs in those days.

 

Observations:

 

I would buy used. Lots of good late model units out there with minimum useage...stick with name brands for parts and service considerations.

 

32 to 34 goes anywhere. Easy in pull-through situations or backing into neat areas like Malibu, where we backed in the dark guided by our host...woke up the next morning looking out the rear picture window and seeing the ocean...no ground. Went out and the rear was hanging over the cliff. Cool.

 

Generators can be picky if not maintained. If you are traveling in hot areas, then you want a larger unit that will run both roof AC's in the larger models. One in bedroom and one in living room.

If you are going to travel in the cooler areas for most of your travels..or...travel with the weather...then a small unit may suffice. Again, the idea is to be able to know what you can run while AC is on, generator on and maybe want a cup of joe from microwave. I always preferred the generator that's mounted near the front....so if you are camping, it's farthest away from your pillows! I found them easier to work on there as well.

 

Go with units fully capable for propane, AC or DC. 30amp service is minimum. If your unit can also handle 120volts 20amp with an extension cord...that's a plus for those cooler areas where the AC isn't needed...and a campground may only have a standard household type outlet available.

 

Plumbing will normally give problems at some point...but easy to repair as long as you can reach it underneath.

 

Electrical is simple.

 

The large truck chassis are almost bulletproof. Gas or diesel is your choice. I prefer gas and always averaged around 10-12mpgs. 100 gallon tank minimum. Best chassis that I liked for ride and engine was GM.

 

Fresh water tank dependent upon your needs and how you use it...but make sure the gray and black water tanks are large enough to handle the amount of fresh you carry.

 

Roofs and windows will leak at some point. Kind of like a flat roof. Get some gunk recommended by your manufacturer and slop it on. The corners are the worst.

 

Premium tires are a must. Make sure whatever you buy has really good tires on. Better ride, better mileage and better wear. Those puppies are not cheap.

 

I stopped renting about the time pull-outs became the norm. My buddy had a $100K unit he bought new with both a bedroom and living room pull out. Darn things leaked air and he could never stay warm enough. Of course, he traveled through snow areas as well as warm. But I have no direct experience with them. Suggest you get on some RV forums for the models you like and read lots.

 

We are thinking the same thing now when Pat retires. Maybe get a small home some where out in boonies where we can park our toys, then pick up a 32 footer and a small trailer for the bikes. I'm not interested in a toy hauler. A trailer works more than well enough for me. Heck, today coming home from Phoenix after Cleveland trip...I saw a MH pulling an open trailer that had a large cycle crossways on it and a smart car right behind the cycle. That was smart! So maybe a Venture and an MG or something small to zoom around in!

 

Anyway..hope this helps, Steve. I personally like the lifestyle so much, that when I went to my 40th high school reunion back in New Hampshire the summer of 2006...I pulled the sailboat to use it as my RV. Stayed in RV parks for little $$ and got lots of strange looks when I pulled in with my Yukon pulling a 23foot sailboat RV! What fun!

david

Lake Lurleen, Alabama state park...near Tuscaloosa. Beautiful place to stay. I had a water view and backed in right next to the showers!

[BlueSky]

Had a small unit about 10 years ago after I retired. Expensive to buy, expensive to maintain, expensive to use (campgrounds/services), requires towing a second unit to move about at each destination. Sold it and we travel by car or trike and stay in motels/hotels. For those who have them and enjoy them, great. We found it was just more trouble by far than it was worth.

 

What I don't like about depending on motels is that you have to make a reservation to make sure you have a place to sleep and that puts you on too much of a schedule. You may want to stop a little longer and enjoy the scenery or local attractions. Every method of touring has its issues. Just have to make up your own mind about what is tolerable to you.

[Great White]

Had a small unit about 10 years ago after I retired. Expensive to buy, expensive to maintain, expensive to use (campgrounds/services), requires towing a second unit to move about at each destination. Sold it and we travel by car or trike and stay in motels/hotels. For those who have them and enjoy them, great. We found it was just more trouble by far than it was worth.

 

Money wise, probably worth it to use hotels/motels for traveling, especially if you only do it a couple times a year. For the money we spent on the trailer, probably could have staying in hotels for the next ten years when traveling. No setup and tear down is also a plus.

 

Problem with that for us is we have 3 big dogs. Makes hotels a PITA.

 

Getting them in and out, annoying other guests, worrying if they even give a woof, only allowed to use certain rooms or your just not allowed to stay at all.

 

Traveling with our trailer just makes more sense for us convenience wise.

 

All depends on your personal situation I guess.

 

 

 

It also doesn't hurt that our trailer is probably nicer than 95% of the hotel rooms out there!

 

[Flyinfool]

When I had my RV it was for use at an annual event. The event was 320 miles from home and all the fun happened after dark so an off site room was not an option. It only took one week of temps in the 100s and nights in the 90s all with high humidity. I never used the RV for anything other than that 1 week per year. But the AC and sitting at the table eating icecream while watching the tenters in the 100+ heat was worth the expense.

My next RV will be smaller, and be a toy hauler.

 

The point is that everyone's needs wants and desires are different. It will take some trips with some RVs to determine what is best for you and your situation.

[cowpuc]

Money wise, probably worth it to use hotels/motels for traveling, especially if you only do it a couple times a year. For the money we spent on the trailer, probably could have staying in hotels for the next ten years when traveling. No setup and tear down is also a plus.

Problem with that for us is we have 3 big dogs. Makes hotels a PITA.

 

Getting them in and out, annoying other guests, worrying if they even give a woof, only allowed to use certain rooms or your just not allowed to stay at all.

 

Traveling with our trailer just makes more sense for us convenience wise.

 

All depends on your personal situation I guess.

 

 

 

It also doesn't hurt that our trailer is probably nicer than 95% of the hotel rooms out there!

 

 

Sure brings back great memories of hittin the road with our 4 kids when they were little GW (I had/have REALLY great kids but they did like to join me in howling at the moon once in while - good Lord I miss my kids:8:), moteling was a pain in the gazoozy, only took us one 1 month trip to figure out that was no way to have fun! Picked up a 32 foot Sightseer Class A Motorhome. It was PERFECT for our needs, Onan Genny - dual roof air - Dodge chassis with a 419 big block in it (four barrel w/ headers and didnt do half bad on fuel = always got 9ish). We looked and looked for a "bunk house" - took about 6 months to find it but the 4 beds in the back worked PERFECT for our little kids,, they all had their own beddy byes and area to hang out. Soooo much fun coming out of places like Disney, Cedar Point or off the beach at The Bay of Fundy, toss on burgers, eat dinner, shower up the youngens and watch em fall asleep in the beds before even pulling out of the parking lot.. Wake up the next morning in a Walmart parking lot, play a little baseball game while Tip cooked breakfast and back on the road.. We ran that thing all over America and a lot of Canada..

Although I ALWAYS had fun with and enjoyed my kids thoroughly (played with them a LOT) back then regardless of how we traveled (this was pre-motorcycle touring with em) but I gotta say that knowing exactly what we needed/wanted in an RV then waiting and finding that unit paid off BIG TIME in endless, awesome memories..

 

In staying with forum rules,, here are a couple of my favorite pics of the interior of that ol Class A taken on our path looking for Tidal Bores out in Nova Scotia...

[M61A1MECH]

700 ft to the east is the beach, 700 ft to the west is the Indian River.

 

MidRSV, so are you on Meritt Island some where?

[Mike G in SC]

Here's our home for the winter. http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/02/dac21cbfd6da6e575c47dae149824fb1.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/02/cd983b7a13931b1d89b0688302e78429.jpg

700 ft to the east is the beach, 700 ft to the west is the Indian River.

 

Dennis, is the red SUV your tow vehicle? If so, what is it? What engine does it have? And then next obvious question how does it do for towing?

Thanks, Mike G.

[Midrsv]

MidRSV, so are you on Meritt Island some where?

 

No, we're on Hutchinson Island just north of Stuart.

[Midrsv]

Dennis, is the red SUV your tow vehicle? If so, what is it? What engine does it have? And then next obvious question how does it do for towing?

Thanks, Mike G.

 

My tow vehicle is a Chevy Tahoe with full tow package and 6.2L motor and 6 speed transmission. While the truck has plenty of power to pull and does, I am exceeding the axle and tow capacity. I am 1500 lbs or so over my tow capacity. I did tow from KY to Florida and took it slow and easy and had no problems. I only had to do that once. The trailer stays in Florida and I only have to move it on my lot in the fall and back off in the spring. If I used this trailer for travelling I would definitely upgade the tow vehicle. I'm sure I get a few looks from other RV owners when they see the rig on the road. I don't tow far and I don't tow fast. And in Florida you don't encounter many hills. Although, the 6.2L does remarkably well. When I brought it down from KY I crossed the mountain in TN at 55 mph @ 2700 rpm.

[djh3]

Midsrv, your not the only one that tows "over the limits". I see tons of them down here, little 1/2 ton trucks pulling trailer my 3/4 would be more suited to.

[b2dad]

We arrived at Jekyll Island, GA yesterday to stay for the next 2 months, then on south for the next 3 months.

It's Barbie and me and 3 cats. We are in a 34 foot class A pulling a 12 foot enclosed trailer that has a freezer full of food, my FJR, a pantry, 120v apartment size washer/dryer stack, and other miscellaneous things.

This setup works just perfect for us.

 

Where in Florida are you going for 3 months? What campground / Park?

thanks

Patti

[bj66]

My cousin just spent almost 3 months here visiting his dad this summer. He had a triple axle fifth wheel I'm guessing in the 40 foot range. He pulled an enclosed trailer with his bike inside. He used a single axle semi conversion to tow it. Expensive set up, but he loves it. He said the semi conversion is only way to go. Had a diesel dually before that. He said semi was more stable and was definitely better when it came time to stop.

As far as getting around with the semi after he was set up to camp, he said it wasn't too bad. Diesel dually isn't a whole lot of fun in tight spaces either. Plus he still has the bike. I didn't ask cost of whole outfit, but I can tell you this, common sense tells me a class A motorhomes would be cheaper. His 5th wheel wasn't cheap, and a single axle semi conversion isn't either.

If you are going used, you can buy a nice class A for almost as cheap as a class C. Class C is smaller and everybody wants those, I think people get intimidated by the size of the class A.....

Lastly as far as toyhauler go, I have a 26 foot enclosed with 14 foot of living quarters. It's a forest river conversion car trailer style. It's fine for 2 people for a week or so and that's it. If you are looking toy hauler style, pay extra attention to storage or lack of it. Not a fan of side loading models either. Usually doors aren't as wide and the doors are higher up on the frame side. This makes the ramp a lot steeper to load bike. Rear loading units use a dove tail ramp which decrease ramp angle making it easier and safer to load.

[Daveand Barbie]

Where in Florida are you going for 3 months? What campground / Park?

thanks

Patti

 

We have reservation at Shady Acres in Ft. Myers for January. After that, we are just going to go where our nose leads us. We may go on to the Keys, go to Flamingo in Jacksonville, or back to Jekyll Island. Jekyll has one of the best municipal tennis facilities in the country, which is important to me.

[Midrsv]

Where in Florida are you going for 3 months? What campground / Park?

thanks

Patti

 

Patti, if you're looking for a place in Florida check out Holiday Out. It's a condo RV park that has morphed into RV pads and permanent homes. About a third or more of the lots are still for RVs. Many of the lots are for rent and have returning renters each year but some are available. Here is the web site and there are rental units listed there. http://www.holidayout.org There are also two other similar parks, Venture 3 and Nettles Island. http://www.venture3.org and http://nettlesislandcondo.com

Venture is adjacent to our park and Nettles is a couple of miles down the road from us.

[cowpuc]

Tippy's Grand Parents use to stay all winter in Florida in their Class C for free somewhere near the Gulf.. Thinking it was some kind of County park or something.. I know they developed some really close friendships with others who stayed in that park every winter. This was back in 80's/90's,, no idea if places like that still exist...

[djh3]

We have reservation at Shady Acres in Ft. Myers for January. After that, we are just going to go where our nose leads us. We may go on to the Keys, go to Flamingo in Jacksonville, or back to Jekyll Island. Jekyll has one of the best municipal tennis facilities in the country, which is important to me.

Hmmm Maybe us Fl folks need to look at a meet and eat in Jan at like Fords restaurant over there.