We Want a Class C Motor Home

[pdub]

Just a little more food for thought. Happy New Year!

Dan

Thanks Dan and ALL !! We've just got to go out looking to see what we think about what, and we will after the outside environment thaws out. Happy New Year!

[SuperBuickGuy]

I vastly prefer car-hauler trailers because of the brakes and if you damage whatever it is you're towing when you're out doing whatever you do, it's no-problem; just load and haul away. Trailering negative is the added weight of the trailer.
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I prefer car haulers to car dollies because usually what comes home doesn't have a reliable axle (or tires)

[Loren]

Yes, a car hauler trailer is a fabulous enablement device, causing broken old crap you'd otherwise never look at twice to attain an irresistible glow, whispering to your soul that "this could be yours"... All sorts of stuff that would otherwise be denied, to a person without the means to haul it.


My experience, anyhow.

[Deaf Bob]

I like trailers over dollies, the old post kind or the drive on is because sometimes the frame of the derby car is on the ground while the tire is not....
Locked rears do not like the street too good..

[Monster]

The Mercedes is Diesel ... a 24 footer. They've made the M-B chassis long enough for those to be available used.

I like the look of that Merc !

[Russell]

Trailers are the best option. I have never been involved in a flat tow. The one time I was involved in a dolly it went ok but a car trailer with a winch is the best way to go.

[silver_bullet]

I agree with where you stand... I did not realize that a tow bar is referred to as a flat tow elsewhere... up here flat tow is a car trailer....

[Mike Copeland]

My wife and I have been camping for more than 35 years. We have a 36" 5th wheel trailer, and when I retired the second time (hopefully the 3rd time will stick) we bought a 41' class A motorhome. A lot of people prefer a class C because they are more comfortable driving it. I prefer the class A for a few reasons. First, I like the openness of the windshield when driving down the road. You see the world much different with that big windshield sitting high in the coach. Second, because you are living in it, there is never enough room. Our coach has 4 slides, and when you put them out it makes a huge difference. Third, and very important to me is the towing capacity. Ours is rated to tow 10,000 pounds. Most class C's are rated for 5000 pounds. I tow a trailer, either open or enclosed, with a car or Jeep most of the time.

The disadvantages are first the cost. We bought ours new. We usually keep our RV's around 10 years. I don't like repairing stuff all the time, especially the roof, so buying new is worth the cost to me. Plus, I am pretty good at negotiations and I can usually buy them cheap enough to eliminate the first year loss. My last coach I was able to buy for over $90,000 off the sticker price. Second, plates and insurance are expensive. Our plates are $1100 a year, and insurance runs another $1200 a year. We are lucky enough to have room to store it at home, but if you have to pay it can add up. Using a trailer instead of flat towing can be a PIA. My coach with the trailer is 67' long. You have to think about that everywhere you go. Fuel stops, shopping, rest areas, you name it. When you are in a camp ground, you have to unload the car from the trailer, then find someplace to pare the trailer. All campgrounds don't have extra parking, so you have to put it on your lot. Tow bars and tow dolly are easier, but I like the trailer because I haul a golf cart on the same trailer. Plus, you never know when you find something you have to have. If you flat tow the law requires you to have brakes in the towed vehicle. It can cost over $1000 to add them, plus another $1000 for a good tow bar.

i recemond you buy the biggest coach you can afford. There is NEVER enough room in them. Never buy a class A or class C without a slide. More is always better. If you are looking at used, the roof is the #1 thing to check. They leak as they age, and a leaking roof destroys the value. Most coaches have low miles because people don't use them much. As they age, things like fuel and brake lines age and cause issues. It is hard to find a shop on the road to repair them, and you do t ever want to play to have one towed. Most everything on them is expensive, and lots of little things fail. Watch the wheelbase. Many motor homes have short wheelbases because the chassis cost goes up a lot as the wheelbase gets longer. Short wheelbases cause them to sway, ride bad, and I have seen the structure break when towing a trailer.

This is is not a cheap thing to do, buy if you are like us, there is no better way to see the country.

[Dan Barlow]

If you finally decide you have to buy new or almost new for reliability sake , for all the expense if would be cheaper to just drive red and stay in a hotel . And wouldn't that be much fun. No set up virtually no clean up . No work driving that monstrosity down the road . Just hope in the car.........either of the three to disperse the miles and depending on where you go or what you plan on doing .

[Mike Copeland]

Speaking as a guy that spent over 100 nights a year in hotels, they have their place, but when you are living on the road it is much nicer to have your own place.

And if if it is only about the money, an RV will never make sense.

[SuperBuickGuy]

If you finally decide you have to buy new or almost new for reliability sake , for all the expense if would be cheaper to just drive red and stay in a hotel . And wouldn't that be much fun. No set up virtually no clean up . No work driving that monstrosity down the road . Just hope in the car.........either of the three to disperse the miles and depending on where you go or what you plan on doing .

They don't build hotels where I want to go. Not just that, but if they built a hotel where I was going - I'd go somewhere else.

[Loren]

Mom and Dad's van, purchased new in '74 and given an interior and plumbing by them. They took five months or so when they were in their fifties travelling in Mexico and to the Panama Canal, then to Alaska around '76 and after that other shorter trips (I've told the story here but never pics). They spent the first years of their retirement mostly in the van, generally in Baja CA, which is about when they wanted more room for stuff and added the rear box. Why didn't they at-least buy a long-wheelbase version to start with? Answer was, in Mex. and Central America there were places they went where the short one barely fit. Potty is contained, for a shower you go outside or jump in whatever river you're camped by. There's all kinds of camping for sure, the parents always preferred doing it off-the-beaten-path and without much along.

Anyhow as they approached retirement they became semi-serious back packers and minimalists so this was like a palace to them and used as a home base for things like hiking the Pacific Trail and canoeing the boundary waters in MN (there is a canoe rack on top, they would pack that boat up and spend a week out). In case of outings w/ the whole family, tents and such came along. Used about 250K miles total, when Dad was done with it I asked if he could just park it here and so it remains. I've considered revitalizing and 4WD'ing it for trips such as in Death Valley but will probably not, although Dad is a little annoyed at me for not using it as intended I think I may rig up my pickup truck for that-type thing instead.

I had enough time travelling in the van as a kid (that Alaska trip!) that our 24' old-motor home project feels expansive and should be all we need for the highway when we're ready to do that more.

[pdub]

Speaking as a guy that spent over 100 nights a year in hotels, they have their place, but when you are living on the road it is much nicer to have your own place.

And if if it is only about the money, an RV will never make sense.

Well Hey Mike!!!! Long time no hear, and a great story you've written!

And I can speak as a guy who for 8 years spent more like closer to 300 nights per year in motels, and that was forced, not fun travel to wherever I'd rather be. That, and eating from restaurants every meal for that many days on end. Even at home people say, "Hey, Let's go out to eat!" Well, no, that's never our choice as to how to get away.

We want to cook and eat. And take Kenny the Cat with us so we don't have to worry about him back home, he would be un-board-able. And we want to smoke in our bedroom, wherever we park our bedroom, not have to go downstairs and outside into whatever weather. That, and see America. Neither of us here at Weeville have seen a whole lot of it person.

[silver_bullet]

We have also been told by friends that a good roadside assistance plan such as AAA or Good Sam is an invaluable asset to make sure you have....

[Mike Copeland]

Nice to still be around. One of the reasons we bought a motorhome was because of our dogs. We want to have them with us