Looking for Class A Motorhome and Suggestions

My wife, I and two teenage daughters live on our 38' sailboat in Mexico in the winters. We will be getting off our boat in the summers and looking for a motorhome to travel around in. We are looking for a Class A, 26' to 31' perferable less than $15k and 2000 or newer. We really like the Fleetwood Flare layout and have almost bought one, but it sold before we got there. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what make/models we should look at? Anyone have any RVs for sale that meet these specs? We have lived on boats for a long time, but new to RVs so looking for some insights. Thanks for anyone time!

My knee jerk advice is to up your budget, sure you can buy a 18 year old 30ish foot long class A for $15,000, but it likely will not be in the best of conditions, also those Fleetwood Flairs were entry level coaches and not built with the best of materials.

I agree with Isacc. 31 feet is way too short for four people. Besides living room you need room for your stuff and larger holding tanks. $15k is just not enough for a decent coach. You will need to spend at least that much putting it into usable condition. I lived solo full time in a 32 foot with three cats and it was very crowded. I would not go less than 35 foot for your family and I would not spend less than $25k.

You're getting some good advice there^  How you plan to use the RV will make a big difference also. Are you planning on serious boondocking? Full hookup resorts? Electric or electric and water state parks? Daughters use a tent any while parked? Do you mind using public toilets and showers? With four people, I would look at adding serious square footage with as much slide as I could get. If you are planning on boondocking or won't use public facilities, you will want the largest tanks you can find. Be aware, there's not too many bunkhouse class A's out there, and trust me, you will want a bunkhouse. Setting up and breaking down the sleeper sofa every morning and night will get old quick. My wife and I have a class C for camping that's 33' bumper to bumper and it gets real small after a couple of weeks. We full time in a 40' fifth wheel, and we really wouldn't want anything smaller for full-time use. Even that gets to be unhandy after a couple of nights with our 6 year old granddaughter visiting. We have a 50 gallon black tank in the fiver, and we get about two weeks out of it before having to dump. The C has 35 gallon black tank, and we have to use the great outdoors or public facilities to go two weeks on it. We have full hookups on the fiver, so gray tanks aren't a problem. With the C, we have to really conserve water use because of the small gray tank when not in a full hookup site. Doubling the amount of people will cut that time in half.

There are several members here that do the thing you are considering, or have just quit boating and went to a land based RV. Hopefully they will see your post and chime in with their experiences when they made their transitions.

If this family lives in a 38' sailboat for months at a time, then they probably have a decent understanding of portable living... although I'm not sure how sailboat length livability compares to RV length. It really all comes down to your planned usage, and if the RV is temporary/supplemental "vacation from the boat" type of experience or if it will also be more of a full-time living experience. That will dictate a lot of what size and floorplan types may work, which is much more important than year/make/model. Condition and prior maintenance is everything when it comes to used RV's.

I don't think a $15k older RV will automatically be a bad purchase, but it takes a lot of advance research to make sure you DON'T buy something that it fraught with problems. I' assume boats are similar. I bought our first RV, a Class A motorhome, for $12k. It was 13 years old at the time, and certainly "worn in" but well-maintained overall by previous owners... both full timers. We camped in it for 6 seasons and had a great time, lots of little repairs and projects here and there (which is a part of RV ownership) but nothing major. I sold it for $8k to a retired gentleman who also planned to live in it full time. Not bad for a then-18yo motorhome.

Make sure you take the time to climb around in some RV's and really get an idea of what they're like inside, before deciding on what you want. Large dealerships with considerable used inventory are a good place to do this. RV shows can be good too, but if you don't plan to buy a new one... no point in seeing a bunch of them.

I don't think a $15k older RV will automatically be a bad purchase, but it takes a lot of advance research to make sure you DON'T buy something that it fraught with problems

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I strongly agree with that. There are some excellent $15k RVs out there, but they are a rare prize rather than common, and it takes a knowledgeable buyer (or a professional inspector) to recognize which it is.  $15k is quite cheap for a Class A motorhome, so the chances of finding a good one go up substantially if the budget is $25k.