Select an RV

Recently my wife and I were talking about our upcoming long-term tour of the country. I will be 62 years old and we have both dreamed of traveling around the country and seeing everything we have always wanted to see. We own 32ft. travel trailer and a dual Dodge 3500 diesel engine that we’d be towing it with. For some reason, I started to think that it would be nice to get a Class A. Apparently, she had been thinking the same thing. So we went to the dealers.

Having no idea what to look for, what kind of budget would be required for the platform, or even operating costs, we decided it would be a good idea to ask as many questions as possible. We are not new to the RV world, living full time on a fifth wheel for 10 years has taught us a lot. We are familiar with the problems of freezing water lines, tank discharge, assembly and disassembly. How to save storage and shopping space while living on a budget. So we knew what we wanted inside. But an A-Class is totally different from a fifth wheel on the outside.

We had to look at things differently when hitting the road. Our current fifth wheel is 42 feet. long. It is a toy transporter or garage unit. The rear of 14 feet. It was used as an office instead of transporting toys (motorcycles, ATVs, etc.). The storage outside was simply the basement area. With a Class A you have much more storage space. But even that seemed to raise questions. Why did some models offer transfer and others did not? Why do some models have a lot of storage space and others don’t? Also, almost all Class A RVs have a generator, why? What kind of maintenance do they need? How big would we need? How long will it work etc? It seemed that the more we started looking, the more questions we had. So the really important question, gasoline or diesel.

We really needed to narrow down the selection and get a feel for the costs of an A-Class. If you’ve looked around the A-Class, you know that diesel units cost more than gasoline units. Sometimes much more. But are they worth it? Our first problem was actually justifying a Class A on the platform we already have and pay for. My son answered that. His feelings were that a Class A offered more options. If you’re on the road and broke down, you had your TOAD (car that you towed behind the A-Class to get around town) that you could unhitch and drive to get help. Second was storage. Regardless of the A-Class type (gasoline or diesel), you still have much more storage space than a travel trailer. The operating costs of an A-Class compared to truck and trailer are also better. My truck averages 8 MPG towing the trailer. A Class A diesel is pretty much the same. But once camped, my car (TOAD) gets 30 MPG and the truck 16 MPG. Gasoline is currently 30 cents a gallon cheaper than diesel. Our total travel cost would be cheaper.

Next was the size of the platform. We found that if you’re going to keep your camping expenses low, your best bet was national and state parks along with dry camping. Many parks have a limit on the size of the platform they will allow. The closer you get to 40 feet, the more parks you will limit yourself to. 36 feet seems to be a sweet spot. Plenty of storage space and convenience and small enough to fit in as many places as possible. Funny how a little information can go a long way. Just knowing we wanted to stay around 36 feet. helped remove many of the platforms.

So now to tackle the big problem, gasoline or diesel. At first, this seemed like an easy problem. Gasoline is cheaper, gasoline-powered RVs are cheaper. All Class A’s offered a comfortable ride. All Class A’s offered enough storage space. Having worked on engines in my youth, I knew that a gasoline engine would not have the lifespan of a diesel, but I also knew that I could rebuild or replace them quite inexpensively when the time came. SO gas was … but why were diesels so much in demand? That pissed me off, so I started asking questions. It seems diesels get better mileage, more get up and go to the mountains, have more towing capacity, have better basement (storage) areas, and generally last a lot longer. When I applied my math skills to the numbers, it turned out that diesels had a lower operating cost, better resale value, and lasted longer than gasoline-powered RVs. Now it was really ripped, gasoline or diesel? Enter my son-in-law, mechanic. He had a simple advice … get a diesel. They’re quieter (the engine is usually at the rear), they come with a bigger generator (more electric to get things going), and they will last forever. Now we knew what to start narrowing down our search to. A diesel platform around 36 feet long.

Living space has always been a concern for me. Sometimes I get a little claustrophobic. Throw in a few people in a small space (think an elevator) and I’m close to losing it sometimes. So living in an 8 foot wide house on wheels could be a problem. The answer is slides. Diesel RV can have a lot of slippage. These widen the interior room quite a bit. But the more slides, the more expensive the drive and the more potential problems. After thinking about it, we decided that two slides would be sufficient and a large slide in the living room would be our minimum. After all, we only sleep in the bedroom. But we eat, read, entertain and relax in the living room.

We no longer have children living with us, so our next thought was a single room. Then the mother-in-law said that she would love to travel around the country. My wife also brought up the fact that she would love for the grandkids to travel with us from time to time. I know that some of you also have children that you cannot leave at home (although you may sometimes want to). We saw some Class A’s that have bunk rooms and they were actually very nice. That may be an option.

It was time to look at the budget. We had a basic idea of ​​what we now wanted in an RV. The problem became how much we wanted to spend and whether we could afford to buy what we needed.

I’ve always had an expensive taste. Going to RV shows, I quickly learned that if the RV price was less than $ 300,000, I really didn’t seem to like it. I also knew that we couldn’t afford to pay $ 300,000 on a new RV. Sitting down with the budget and financial information, we discovered what we could afford. We have a slightly different situation than most of you and it is a pending settlement of an insurance claim for my wife. For us, the agreement will be a determining factor in how much equipment we can buy. But for now, we knew that a new team was not in question, a used one would have to work.

New set of problems. Used means someone else’s problems. Now there are all kinds of things you can do to limit the problems you run into. Aftermarket insurance and warranties, good reviews before the sale by a qualified mechanic, talk to the previous owner, buy as new as possible, read opinions on forums, ask questions of professionals and users. In short, do your research.

So how do you use it? By researching the web, you can find all kinds of used Class A rigs. Some with very little mileage. All different sizes and all different ages. Taking my list of requirements, I started looking at local dealerships, then eBay, and then web searches. I can tell you this; There is no shortage of Class A diesel recreational vehicles for us to look at. Good Sams will cover a platform of up to 14 years. But every year it gets more expensive. So that you can cover yourself from major problems.

So there you have it, how to select an RV. With a lot of research and a little luck, you can find the perfect gear for your travels. Decide what you need, what you want, and what you can afford. Then look at local dealers so you can see what it says you should have versus what you want to have. Then search the web for units in your price range.

There are a lot of good quality checklists on the web to use to see the RV of your dreams once you’ve narrowed down a few. Use them too. Do you know a good mechanic? Take it with you; It never hurts to have an unbiased eye scrutinizing a major purchase.

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