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czego82 said:
I think renting is total waste of money. First, average rental is $150 a day and gives you around 100 miles. With that in mind, I would be paying minimum $2,000 for every time I rent one. Do that 2-3 times every year and I have RV that is paid off in 5 years. Yes maintenance and upkeep adds to it but its nowhere as much to offset the cost.
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Obviously you have never owned an RV. I would rather rent and spend $6k per year than watch an RV depreciate in my yard while I slaved over the maintenance. RV parts, repairs, storage, insurance and maintenance are all very expensive.
 
SeilerBird said:
Obviously you have never owned an RV. I would rather rent and spend $6k per year than watch an RV depreciate in my yard while I slaved over the maintenance. RV parts, repairs, storage, insurance and maintenance are all very expensive.
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Obviously have not, in fact I have started this post by stating that fact alone.
How does RV that is 10yrs old depreciates $6k every year? Its worth $25k to start with at best at that point. I plan on keeping inside in the garage in my backyard so no storage. Insurance is cheap. Maintenance I can do myself.
How about something positive?
 
Dreamsend said:
From what you posted, I'd have to agree that renting an RV for one or two of your trips will put you well along the learning curve.  You mentioned that the cost is $150 per day, but that's what you'd pay for a motel room in the area you plan on recreating in.  Spending that $$$ is for a trip full of new stuff and excitement-- not just renting an RV.  It's not really wasted money. 

I'd also mention that you won't be able to park a 24 foot anything just about anywhere.  Quite the opposite.  You're too big for normal parking spaces, and will always need to be in the "outer" areas in shopping centers etc. and you need room to turn and maneuver.  As for truck stops, don't count on dumps or water fills.  While most of my experience is West of the Mississippi, they just don't offer those services all that often.  And as for overnighting in truck stops, again, doable some of the time, but is generally discouraged as more and more RVs are on the road these days.  And be aware that trucks don't turn off their engines while parked - it's noisy and very smelly.  You probably won't enjoy that.  If you plan to simply park in "parking lots", don't because you'll get a knock on your door overnight from the local constabulary.

You're still going to need public or private campgrounds it seems from what you posted.  Almost ALL of these will have bathrooms and most will have (pay) showers and water fills.  Again by renting and planning out a trip or two of several+ days, you may find you can get by without those amenities in what RV you choose.  Tent camping for the kids may also be an option, but I don't know what times of the year you plan on traveling. 

The point is, there are dozens of options out there - from teardrop pull campers, to truck campers, to Class Bs and Cs.  Road-tripping for recreational opportunities is a blast, but . .  there are chores also and it sounds as if you'd like to minimize the time and hassle of these.  Renting - for at least a 4-5 day trip - will provide you the best experience for learning what's needed.

As others have said, congrats on your research and for posting your question.

LInda
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Thank you for a good advice.
 
Patnsuzanne said:
As somebody new to rv?s you were wise to come here to learn from those that have been there, and are doing that.  I would suggest that you rent a unit as close to what you have in mind as possible, and take the family out for a long weekend, or even a week. If you are lucky, everything will go exactly as you have imagined. In that case, congratulations!  You can now proceed with your search secure in the knowledge that you know precisely what you are looking for.  If, on the other hand, this trip points out some issues you hadn?t anticipated, the bathroom is too small, the tanks need to be emptied too often, truck stops don?t offer make the best place to spend the night with the family, or whatever; congratulations again!  You have identified these issues before you dropped thousands of dollars on an rv that doesn?t fit the needs of your family and/or how you plan to use it. Maybe rent a couple of different rigs for different trips until you find just the right combination of floor plan, size, economy and comfort. That way when it comes time to spend your hard earned cash, you?ll have some real world experience and will have a much better idea of what will work for you.
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How do you like your trailer? What would you say are biggest disadvantages with it?
 
Hi czego82:  We are very pleased with our trailer and have put over 30,000 miles on it in 40 months. Over 340 nights spent in it as well. We are retired and take a couple of long trips every year, along with numerous shorter ones.  That being said, it?s just the two of us, although we have had some or all of the Grand children along for shorter trips. We have a ?rear living? arrangement, which means that there are a couple of easy chairs in the rear of the trailer with a big window across the back and a separate bedroom in the front. While the dinette and sofa both convert to beds, there are no dedicated beds like you will find in a bunkhouse floor plan. Everybody?s needs are different, of course, but since we live in the woods and can sit by a fire under the stars any time we want, we refer to our camping as ?taking our hotel room with us?. We enjoy hiking and unless we are visiting kinfolk, tend to plan our trips around access to trails. We like to set up in a state park and then spend our time hiking in the park, or other nearby trails. Having the truck to get to different trailheads and then back home to our trailer at the end of the day is a major advantage. We?re 30? hitch to bumper, and sometimes I wish we were a little shorter, but once we?re set up the room is sure nice. We do have a separate bathroom with a shower big enough to actually use and not having to depend on the parks facilities, or worse yet, a truck stop, is also super nice.  As far as disadvantages go, the primary ones are it?s length and weight. We?re a tad too long to get into some older state parks in the mountains and the weight, along with the frontal area, add up to pretty poor fuel mileage. Overall we get around 9 mpg towing. Maybe a little better if we are on the nice flat roads in Fla. That?s just the nature of the beast. Advantages include much lower initial cost over a motorized unit, lower insurance and I already had a good truck so we?re not having to deal with yet another vehicle to maintain.  That?s a long answer, but I hope it helps with your decision making process.
 
How does RV that is 10yrs old depreciates $6k every year?
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The NADA RV Guide shows an estimated depreciation of roughly 6% per year (not $6k/yr). At some point depreciation levels off and condition is the only measure of value. That point is older than 10 years but probably not much more than 15. That's just a guesstimate - the used RV market is nowhere near as highly structured as the used car market.
 
Patnsuzanne said:
Hi czego82:  We are very pleased with our trailer and have put over 30,000 miles on it in 40 months. Over 340 nights spent in it as well. We are retired and take a couple of long trips every year, along with numerous shorter ones.  That being said, it?s just the two of us, although we have had some or all of the Grand children along for shorter trips. We have a ?rear living? arrangement, which means that there are a couple of easy chairs in the rear of the trailer with a big window across the back and a separate bedroom in the front. While the dinette and sofa both convert to beds, there are no dedicated beds like you will find in a bunkhouse floor plan. Everybody?s needs are different, of course, but since we live in the woods and can sit by a fire under the stars any time we want, we refer to our camping as ?taking our hotel room with us?. We enjoy hiking and unless we are visiting kinfolk, tend to plan our trips around access to trails. We like to set up in a state park and then spend our time hiking in the park, or other nearby trails. Having the truck to get to different trailheads and then back home to our trailer at the end of the day is a major advantage. We?re 30? hitch to bumper, and sometimes I wish we were a little shorter, but once we?re set up the room is sure nice. We do have a separate bathroom with a shower big enough to actually use and not having to depend on the parks facilities, or worse yet, a truck stop, is also super nice.  As far as disadvantages go, the primary ones are it?s length and weight. We?re a tad too long to get into some older state parks in the mountains and the weight, along with the frontal area, add up to pretty poor fuel mileage. Overall we get around 9 mpg towing. Maybe a little better if we are on the nice flat roads in Fla. That?s just the nature of the beast. Advantages include much lower initial cost over a motorized unit, lower insurance and I already had a good truck so we?re not having to deal with yet another vehicle to maintain.  That?s a long answer, but I hope it helps with your decision making process.
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Thank you. If you had to choose again, what size would you go with? You mentioned that some parks have length limit.
Lastly, do you have 1/2ton truck?
I'm starting to warm up to the trailer idea since its fair to say only way that will allow us to go exploring or hiking in places where RV can't be parked.
 
Hi again:  I?ll try not to be so verbose this time and just answer your questions ?.  I can?t say that we would actually go to a smaller rig, at least for the foreseeable future.  We?ve spent a lot of time in it and it seems to suit us just fine. I will say that as a retired fire fighter, a second door was a deal breaker for us, and you just don?t see too many smaller trailers with two. As to your question about not getting into some parks:  at 30? we haven?t had too much problem, but as an example, a couple of very nice parks in the N Ga mountains, Black Rock and Amicolola Falls have rv size limits of 24 or 25 feet. We?ve hiked in Black Rock, and there?s no way I?d try to get our trailer up there. Very tight access road, as well as small sites once you get there. That was ok though, we were comfortably set up at Tallulah Falls SP, just a few miles away. 
The Tundra is considered a 1/2 ton, but that is becoming somewhat of an outdated term. It?s listed as having a towing capacity of 10,200 lbs, and a total cargo capacity of just over 1700 lbs. There are any number of threads on the Forum about the capability of various trucks and it can get pretty confusing. My understanding is that Toyota generally has the same trans and rear end package depending on whether you have the 4.6 or the 5.7 engine. The Detroit big three offer any number of combinations of engine, trans and rear end gearing. That?s ok when buying new, but it?s definitely something to thoroughly check out if you are looking at a used truck. That being said, we?ve had exactly zero issues with the Tundra and it?s handled our particular trailer very well under a wide variety of road and weather conditions.
One more thing to consider is where will you keep an RV, regardless of what you finally decide on?  It seems that many folks have HOA?s or other restrictions that prevent them from keeping their units at their residence and end up having to pay for storage at a remote location. Yet another added expense that many folks don?t take into account. Lastly, nobody here on the forum is trying to talk you into, or out of, anything. Please continue to look around here and take advantage of all the information available to you. Knowledge is the key to making a good decision and there?s plenty of it here!  ?
 
Czego82,

You really have to do more research. 
What you should really do is use a genuine spreadsheet.  If you don't know how, learn......
Put everything in it.  Not just camping costs, but include the storage bill if you can't keep it at home. 
Include the annual insurance bill. 
Fuel, add that in at about 8MPG.  (You might do better, but don't count on it.) 
Tires only last 8 years even if you don't go any place.    Belts and hoses go about 15. 
If it is a normal design, the roof will have to be inspected annually and probably redone every other year.
Annual Oil and other services.    Propane and dump costs.
If you will have to get a loan to do this, roll that in there.

Now, if you get to the bottom right corner and it still looks real good, go for it.  I don't think that there is a better way to travel with kids in tow.

In my case owning works out.  We are retired and I do all my own work and the coach lives in the barn at our home. 
Still,  Owning the coach (a 23' class A antique) costs us about 3000$/yr and that is just to hold the title in my hand. 

In our special case, it does come out favorably when compared to a car-based road trip or renting but that is mostly because we go places where there are either no accommodations at all or they are VERY expensive. 

But then again, we had a component failure this spring.  We were 900 miles from home.  With the help of friends, I got the wounded bird home and I still have work to do.  A couple of months of work before she goes out again. 

Matt 
 
Hi and welcome to the forum.

Everyone has different needs and desires and it might be worthwhile making a list of pros and cons.

To look at floorplans, go to

https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/used-rvs-for-sale

as there are lots and lots to look at.

You might find that the floorplan that would suit you and the family best would be a trailer or maybe not.  But this gives you a lot of options to look at.

We have a trailer and truck and no kids or pets as we are from the UK.  We love this set up as the trailer has not really cost us a lot in maintenance.  We got new tires this year and cost just over $500 for the 4 with a good rating and we had the bearings repacked last year before we set off (sorry don't have that cost to hand).  Apart from that we have not had much done.  Steve has done the roof maintenance which was fairly simple and we just ensure it is kept clean and washed and waxed.

Whilst we cannot get into some of the campgrounds I do not feel we have missed out as there is usually somewhere close by you can fit into.  Having the truck to take you off road or into the back country is in my opinion a real plus.  We have gone to some really great places that an RV just would not go to.

We have a gas truck that works really well for us, I think there are F150's out there now that have good towing and cargo carrying capacity that will work up to a certain weight, but please do your homework on that or come ask before you buy something, or if you do, get the sticker from the door and let us know what the details are and the experts can help with advice if you choose to go that route.

We also have a good amount of storage, not sure how important that is to you, but something to consider even for a few weeks. 

Consider what you like to do if it rains - sometimes we just move or we stay put and watch TV, read or play games.  You might need space for the kids to so some stuff like drawing or their games etc.

Anyhow, I am sure you will do your research as you have already started by coming here.

Ask any other questions as you need to.  Some folk might come over as negative but they are just trying to offer their opinions from their experiences.  As I said at the start everyone differs....

Again welcome and good luck with your search!

 
Patnsuzanne said:
Hi again:  I?ll try not to be so verbose this time and just answer your questions ?.  I can?t say that we would actually go to a smaller rig, at least for the foreseeable future.  We?ve spent a lot of time in it and it seems to suit us just fine. I will say that as a retired fire fighter, a second door was a deal breaker for us, and you just don?t see too many smaller trailers with two. As to your question about not getting into some parks:  at 30? we haven?t had too much problem, but as an example, a couple of very nice parks in the N Ga mountains, Black Rock and Amicolola Falls have rv size limits of 24 or 25 feet. We?ve hiked in Black Rock, and there?s no way I?d try to get our trailer up there. Very tight access road, as well as small sites once you get there. That was ok though, we were comfortably set up at Tallulah Falls SP, just a few miles away. 
The Tundra is considered a 1/2 ton, but that is becoming somewhat of an outdated term. It?s listed as having a towing capacity of 10,200 lbs, and a total cargo capacity of just over 1700 lbs. There are any number of threads on the Forum about the capability of various trucks and it can get pretty confusing. My understanding is that Toyota generally has the same trans and rear end package depending on whether you have the 4.6 or the 5.7 engine. The Detroit big three offer any number of combinations of engine, trans and rear end gearing. That?s ok when buying new, but it?s definitely something to thoroughly check out if you are looking at a used truck. That being said, we?ve had exactly zero issues with the Tundra and it?s handled our particular trailer very well under a wide variety of road and weather conditions.
One more thing to consider is where will you keep an RV, regardless of what you finally decide on?  It seems that many folks have HOA?s or other restrictions that prevent them from keeping their units at their residence and end up having to pay for storage at a remote location. Yet another added expense that many folks don?t take into account. Lastly, nobody here on the forum is trying to talk you into, or out of, anything. Please continue to look around here and take advantage of all the information available to you. Knowledge is the key to making a good decision and there?s plenty of it here!  ?
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Thank you so much for all that great info. I'm looking at numerous F150s that have higher towing capability as well as Tundras but that is a different story.
I will keep on reading up on travel trailers as it now seems like a better choice. Luckily storage is no issue as I can keep in in a garage when not used.
Again, thank you
 
jackiemac said:
Hi and welcome to the forum.

Everyone has different needs and desires and it might be worthwhile making a list of pros and cons.

To look at floorplans, go to

https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/used-rvs-for-sale

as there are lots and lots to look at.

You might find that the floorplan that would suit you and the family best would be a trailer or maybe not.  But this gives you a lot of options to look at.

We have a trailer and truck and no kids or pets as we are from the UK.  We love this set up as the trailer has not really cost us a lot in maintenance.  We got new tires this year and cost just over $500 for the 4 with a good rating and we had the bearings repacked last year before we set off (sorry don't have that cost to hand).  Apart from that we have not had much done.  Steve has done the roof maintenance which was fairly simple and we just ensure it is kept clean and washed and waxed.

Whilst we cannot get into some of the campgrounds I do not feel we have missed out as there is usually somewhere close by you can fit into.  Having the truck to take you off road or into the back country is in my opinion a real plus.  We have gone to some really great places that an RV just would not go to.

We have a gas truck that works really well for us, I think there are F150's out there now that have good towing and cargo carrying capacity that will work up to a certain weight, but please do your homework on that or come ask before you buy something, or if you do, get the sticker from the door and let us know what the details are and the experts can help with advice if you choose to go that route.

We also have a good amount of storage, not sure how important that is to you, but something to consider even for a few weeks. 

Consider what you like to do if it rains - sometimes we just move or we stay put and watch TV, read or play games.  You might need space for the kids to so some stuff like drawing or their games etc.

Anyhow, I am sure you will do your research as you have already started by coming here.

Ask any other questions as you need to.  Some folk might come over as negative but they are just trying to offer their opinions from their experiences.  As I said at the start everyone differs....

Again welcome and good luck with your search!
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Than you, after reading all the reports here, I'm swaying now towards the trailer.
 
jackiemac said:
Hi and welcome to the forum.

Everyone has different needs and desires and it might be worthwhile making a list of pros and cons.

To look at floorplans, go to

https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/used-rvs-for-sale

as there are lots and lots to look at.

You might find that the floorplan that would suit you and the family best would be a trailer or maybe not.  But this gives you a lot of options to look at.

We have a trailer and truck and no kids or pets as we are from the UK.  We love this set up as the trailer has not really cost us a lot in maintenance.  We got new tires this year and cost just over $500 for the 4 with a good rating and we had the bearings repacked last year before we set off (sorry don't have that cost to hand).  Apart from that we have not had much done.  Steve has done the roof maintenance which was fairly simple and we just ensure it is kept clean and washed and waxed.

Whilst we cannot get into some of the campgrounds I do not feel we have missed out as there is usually somewhere close by you can fit into.  Having the truck to take you off road or into the back country is in my opinion a real plus.  We have gone to some really great places that an RV just would not go to.

We have a gas truck that works really well for us, I think there are F150's out there now that have good towing and cargo carrying capacity that will work up to a certain weight, but please do your homework on that or come ask before you buy something, or if you do, get the sticker from the door and let us know what the details are and the experts can help with advice if you choose to go that route.

We also have a good amount of storage, not sure how important that is to you, but something to consider even for a few weeks. 

Consider what you like to do if it rains - sometimes we just move or we stay put and watch TV, read or play games.  You might need space for the kids to so some stuff like drawing or their games etc.

Anyhow, I am sure you will do your research as you have already started by coming here.

Ask any other questions as you need to.  Some folk might come over as negative but they are just trying to offer their opinions from their experiences.  As I said at the start everyone differs....

Again welcome and good luck with your search!
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That website is great, thank you.

Are some brands better then others? Airstream is not in the budget but a see a lot of others that are fairly priced.
Aside from layout, what makes one more or less expensive then other?
 
czego82 said:
That website is great, thank you.

Are some brands better then others? Airstream is not in the budget but a see a lot of others that are fairly priced.
Aside from layout, what makes one more or less expensive then other?
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I'm sure there are brands that are deemed as better but it appears that even those brands can have problems. I suggest being really thorough in your research by choosing floor plans and then going to see them  in person if you can. Read through the checklists in our library to get a feel for the potential issues you might find.

Before purchase do a thorough inspection or pay to have one done by a qualified inspector so you dont get ripped off.

Water damage is one of the most common issues and I recommend being familiar with how to spot water damage, even on new rigs.

I'm sure others will have advice as I am not an expert. We have only had one trailer and it was the first one we were shown, although we did look at others.

Come back and ask if you see a couple that you like and you will get feedback on other folks experiences.

Good luck.
 
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