Pros and Cons of living full-time in a Motorhome?

Tom-D said:
Our Liability and collision runs a little less than 10 bucks a month. that is with zero deductible on glass, and full replacement collision.
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That has to be with the base loaded into your other vehicles. That or you have a really really low liability limit. There’s no way your entire insurance bill for that thing is less than $120/year.
 
denverpilot said:
That has to be with the base loaded into your other vehicles. That or you have a really really low liability limit. There’s no way your entire insurance bill for that thing is less than $120/year.
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I don't know how the math got messed up, but our insurance bill for the year is close to 1,000.00 per year.
 
Insurance on a 5th Wheel is optional.
The tow vehicle covers it.
 
FORANE said:
Insurance on a 5th Wheel is optional.
The tow vehicle covers it.
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Not on all policies. Careful with that assumption. Devil is in the details.

Talking with one of our agents, they’re getting out of the trailer insurance biz. Bigger money involved in wrecks and big rebuilds and damage when they’re hit by things (parked or moving) and they can’t charge enough to make it up with more and more people RVing.

Another gotcha. We had towing coverage on our insurance when we lost the fuel pump on the Dodge towing the fiver. The insurance company reported that to the insurance database as two claims. One to tow the Dodge, one to tow the trailer. Three claims in theee years is one of those death knell things for your rates trying to switch companies. Same thing with glass coverage. It’ll get reported as a claim. Just as a side note.

If you ever want to shop insurance rates, keep glass coverage off your insurance, and towing. Get an auto club membership if you want to pre-pay for towing. Otherwise just pay cash.

I have a friend who’s made claims of tens of thousands of dollars for hail damage on newer cars. There’s no way his insurer has made a dime on him. He shopped and can get excellent rates because those claims are taken from disaster funds.

Me? My rates are stuck in stupidville because we took advantage of the laziness of insuring glass, towing, etc... all the stupid add ons... with our current carrier. All the other carriers see is number of claims.

Stuck on stupid. I’ve made my insurer money. He hasn’t. They’re well in the hole on him. He’s not switching though. He can’t believe with multiple huge hail claims he hasn’t been dropped.
 
Zero deductible on Glass covered two new windows this year for us, extra premium next to nothing.

3700.00 for the glass installed.
 

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NoBShere said:
Well, after reading this thread, living in a motorhome full-time sounds really f'ing complicated!
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Same thing I've always thought about this; before even reading the thread. I feel like if I want to spend maybe 200 days a year on the road, and I shop smart for my motels, mingle in some occasional tent camping, I can end up about money neutral, and leave the problems to someone else. I think this lifestyle worked 30 years ago when you could spend a night in a decent campground for $10, but now it's either Wal-Mart with no facilities, or pay well over half the motel cost for the campground?? Yikes....I'll take the swimming pool, breakfast, etc.
 
It's more than just a cost analysis. Ask anyone who is a road warrior and lives away from home. Hotels get old. It is nice to have your stuff, sleep in your bed, not have housekeeping move your stuff daily, not have drunks come down the hall banging on hotel room doors at 2am, etc.

As far as cost goes, my RV has not seen my house in over 2 years. This year RV maintenance and the campground bill is going to be around 5k, last year it was around 10k. You would be hard pressed to find a room as nice as my RV for that kind of cost.
 
We enjoy our coach. we go to places like Bella-Coola BC. fishing, and Conconully Wa. out of the way places that have no facilities, hotels or the like. and it is our spare bedroom when guests are here. We don't spend anywhere near 5k per year, except when we make a long trip. Alaska this spring round trip was less than 5K. When we go to the kids house we take the Newmar, they have a no hookup space for us, its very convenient.
The Northwest has many state and national forests that have camping for less than $10 per night. they all have dump stations and fresh water fill so every 4-5 days we pull off the pad, go dump, refill water and back to the pad. most parks and state forests have a 2 week limit.
We also use the coach for base camp when I go for Aircraft maintenance, it provides air and electrical power to run tools and heaters ect. when we can, we pull up in front of the aircraft extend the awning turn on the patio lights and go to work even when it is raining.
Plus it is great for pulling the big trailer when I go get projects.
Our empty weight is 27k (+-) max combined weight 45k, that is a huge load, way more than we'd ever need, loaded for the 3 month trip to AK this year we crossed the scales at 36.3k. we weigh the coach when I think we're heavy, just so I can adjust tire pressures.
 
FORANE said:
As far as cost goes, my RV has not seen my house in over 2 years. This year RV maintenance and the campground bill is going to be around 5k, last year it was around 10k. You would be hard pressed to find a room as nice as my RV for that kind of cost.
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Most of my maintenance costs are caused by my learning curve.
 
So, the thing is to buy TWO school buses (only one has to sorta run). Then you cut the top half off one and weld it on top of the other, then you have a two story motor home!
 
azblackbird said:
Given some of your comments, I have no doubt whatsoever that you are telling the 100% complete truth with that statement. :yes:
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As you get into the RV ing thing you'll learn how true that is. because you are about to start learning.
In 50 years of camping in all types of campers, I made a lot of beginner mistakes that I tried to pass on to you. but you seem dead set on making them all your self.
Go ahead on sonny, have a great life.
 
Tom-D said:
As you get into the RV ing thing you'll learn how true that is. because you are about to start learning. In 50 years of camping in all types of campers, I made a lot of beginner mistakes that I tried to pass on to you. but you seem dead set on making them all your self.
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It's not rocket science Tom. I'm not worried so much about the daily grind of keeping a coach well maintained and in working order, as I am about all the BS rules and regulations of when I'm on the road going from destination to destination, especially in a rig the size of what I'll be getting. You bust a port when you should have stopped, and the fines can be more than what a hot water heater would cost. Those are my main concerns. Making sure I cover all my bases from a legal sense point of view. ;)
 
azblackbird said:
It's not rocket science Tom. I'm not worried so much about the daily grind of keeping a coach well maintained and in working order, as I am about all the BS rules and regulations of when I'm on the road going from destination to destination, especially in a rig the size of what I'll be getting. You bust a port when you should have stopped, and the fines can be more than what a hot water heater would cost. Those are my main concerns. Making sure I cover all my bases from a legal sense point of view. ;)
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I guess that you missed the part about how much I spend on maintenance per year.
Just remember,, when you don't take the advice of those who have made the mistakes, you get to make them your self.
 
azblackbird said:
It's not rocket science Tom. I'm not worried so much about the daily grind of keeping a coach well maintained and in working order, as I am about all the BS rules and regulations of when I'm on the road going from destination to destination, especially in a rig the size of what I'll be getting. You bust a port when you should have stopped, and the fines can be more than what a hot water heater would cost. Those are my main concerns. Making sure I cover all my bases from a legal sense point of view. ;)
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This statement show us all, that you have no clue as to what RV rules are, RVs don't have ports that we are required to stop at. so wrapping that unit as a commercial business is the first big mistake you'll make.
 
Tom-D said:
I guess that you missed the part about how much I spend on maintenance per year.
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That just goes with the territory dude.

Tom-D said:
This statement show us all, that you have no clue as to what RV rules are, RVs don't have ports that we are required to stop at. so wrapping that unit as a commercial business is the first big mistake you'll make.
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That's why I decided not to wrap it with my business graphics. I did a little research on the matter and decided it's just not worth the hassle. I'll just be some retired old man rolling down the road in a big "RV" just like you see those that drive the big fancy Prevosts pulling the stackers. See... I already learned my first lesson. ;)
 
Good looking trailer. What are you pulling it with, 150 or 250?
 
FORANE said:
It's more than just a cost analysis. Ask anyone who is a road warrior and lives away from home. Hotels get old. It is nice to have your stuff, sleep in your bed, not have housekeeping move your stuff daily, not have drunks come down the hall banging on hotel room doors at 2am, etc.

As far as cost goes, my RV has not seen my house in over 2 years. This year RV maintenance and the campground bill is going to be around 5k, last year it was around 10k. You would be hard pressed to find a room as nice as my RV for that kind of cost.
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This was why we bought our fifth wheel. The convenience of just staying hitched up while stopping for a night and all our stuff being there and ready to go, was way beyond schlepping stuff into and out of rental cars and hotels. And your own bed is a big deal in the era of the return of bedbugs. We really liked traveling in it, but we simply weren’t using it enough.

When life changes again someday, we’ll buy another. We learned a couple of things with the first one, mainly that our preference for layout would be not to have the bed in a slide out. You lose the giant forward closet, but we realized we never filled it. It had hookups for a small washer and dryer In there also, and those were never used, and were just another thing that had to be drained during winterization.

Also access to the fridge must be possible without pushing a slide out also, and we did get that one right on this rig. But mentioning it for anyone shopping. A quick rest and lunch stop, you’ll want to get out the sandwich fixin’s and a cold soda, and any design that blocks access from the entrance door to the fridge or that blocks opening the fridge, is a no go. We loved not messing that one up in our layout choice.

(This is where Tom points out you can always get to the fridge and everything else in most of the coaches. I know. I know. I won’t be buying an RV with a drivetrain under it until I have a LOT more disposable income to spend on maintenance, because I could do everything to the fiver with a tall jack and a few hours of my time. Not so much with a motorized RV.)

mscard88 said:
Good looking trailer. What are you pulling it with, 150 or 250?
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My goodness. You haven’t seen @jesse giving me constant hell for not buying a new F-150 for MONTHS in the truck threads?! LOL.
 
With a lot of the discussion focused on getting around when retired, how long do people expect to be able to drive around the RV? I know in the yacht world, most people are back on land by the early 80s due to health. How long a run can you make generally make it with the RV?

Tim
 
mscard88 said:
Good looking trailer. What are you pulling it with, 150 or 250?
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'17 F150 3.5L EcoBoost
azblackbird said:
Nice! :thumbsup:

Those big TT's make for great "weekender" type rigs. Nice park too. Where the hell is everybody? Is it too cold or something? :dunno:
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The state parks around here die out rapidly after labor day. This weekend was unseasonably warm. From November 1 to early March the state parks are generally completely empty.
denverpilot said:
This was why we bought our fifth wheel. The convenience of just staying hitched up while stopping for a night and all our stuff being there and ready to go, was way beyond schlepping stuff into and out of rental cars and hotels. And your own bed is a big deal in the era of the return of bedbugs. We really liked traveling in it, but we simply weren’t using it enough.
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This is what attracted me. I'm just sick of all the BS of travel and find myself considerably happier and less stressed by traveling this way. It's so nice to have your house with you.
denverpilot said:
We learned a couple of things with the first one, mainly that our preference for layout would be not to have the bed in a slide out. You lose the giant forward closet, but we realized we never filled it. It had hookups for a small washer and dryer In there also, and those were never used, and were just another thing that had to be drained during winterization.

Also access to the fridge must be possible without pushing a slide out also, and we did get that one right on this rig. But mentioning it for anyone shopping. A quick rest and lunch stop, you’ll want to get out the sandwich fixin’s and a cold soda, and any design that blocks access from the entrance door to the fridge or that blocks opening the fridge, is a no go. We loved not messing that one up in our layout choice.
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I looked at a LOT of new campers and learned how picky I actually was about the layout. I didn't think I'd care much but I was shocked how many travel trailers were completely unusable with the slide-outs in. This wasn't acceptable to me as I plan on staying often in truck stops where I likely won't be able to extend the slides.

Mine is certainly a lot smaller with the slide-outs in. However the bed, fridge, kitchen, etc is all completely accessible. Though I'm not sure everything would be for a feller with a bigger belly than myself.
denverpilot said:
My goodness. You haven’t seen @jesse giving me constant hell for not buying a new F-150 for MONTHS in the truck threads?! LOL.
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Best truck in the world. You need one.
 
No huge problems on the initial shake-down test of the camper. Though I haven't even touched the plumbing on this yet (its winterized already) so I may find issues there come spring when I test it out.

Initially the 12V converter was refusing to come online when hooked up to shore power. I finally tracked that down to a blown fuse which resolved that problem.

The only other outstanding problem is the stereo/DVD entertainment center. It currently won't power on and there is a blown fuse in the electrical panel. Replacing the fuse causes it to blow instantly. Either the entertainment center is bad and shorted out or something else on that circuit is (possibly the wire). Don't think I'll chase that problem down until spring.
 
jesse said:
'
This is what attracted me. I'm just sick of all the BS of travel and find myself considerably happier and less stressed by traveling this way. It's so nice to have your house with you.

I looked at a LOT of new campers and learned how picky I actually was about the layout.
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Exactly..
Last year we delivered EZ parts to Odessa Tx. It was late in the evening when we finished the visit. we simply found a place on the ramp, dropped the jacks put out the slides, had dinner, watched movie, then had a good night's sleep.
It's great having your house with ya.
 
so....are we back to discussing living in a van down by the river....and eating gov cheese?...:lol:

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tspear said:
With a lot of the discussion focused on getting around when retired, how long do people expect to be able to drive around the RV? I know in the yacht world, most people are back on land by the early 80s due to health. How long a run can you make generally make it with the RV?
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Early to mid 80's sounds about. Remember... being 80 is the new 60 nowadays. I know a lot of 80 yr. olds who still ride dirt bikes, or are out on the golf course everyday, or who still run their own companies (my old boss being one of them). That means I've got almost 30 years (I'm 56) to roam the country before I hang it up. More than likely I'll do the full-timer stuff for about 10 years, then hang it up and buy a little ranch someplace and play cowboy. ;)

Tom-D said:
We're thinking about moving up.
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That's a nice rig Tom. You're missing a nose on that thing. :eek:
 
Lol that motorhome is probably the same sq feet as my condo ffs.
 
azblackbird said:
That's a nice rig Tom. You're missing a nose on that thing. :eek:
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Tell me that won't do every thing a Super C will, with better living quarters. at a much lower price.
 
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