Buying class c <=24 ft , budget of 15K, what to avoid / look for

I like the Winnie much better than the Georgie. As far as leaks go almost all of them will by ten years of age. Patching the leaks is usually not a big deal. Eternabond is not very expensive and easy to apply.

Check the date code on the tires. It has to be less than 7 years old. RVs generally don't wear out tires, the sidewalls start cracking. So even if the tires look like they were installed yesterday, if they are 7 years or older you will have to replace them. And 6 motorhome tires are not cheap.

After you find the motorhome of your dreams and buy it you should consider joining Coachnet.org. For about a hundred a year you get free towing, roadside assistance and a whole bunch more.

And you might want to consider an extended warranty. That will give you the peace of mind that if your refer or any other major item bites the dust then you are covered. There are plenty of strong feeling about extended warranties, but I like them for the peace of mind they give you.

Hey Seilerbird,

what makes you favor the Winnie over the Georgie?

What does the date code on the tires look like? Is it just a date?

comsense said:

Hey Seilerbird,

what makes you favor the Winnie over the Georgie?

What does the date code on the tires look like? Is it just a date?

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I prefer Winnebago over Georgie because I have looked at a whole bunch of rigs and I just prefer the Winnies over most other motorhomes. They have been in business forever and will probably be in business forever.

Tire date codes: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

"Also, it's quite important that the refrigerator keeps running all the time, even when we are driving. (my wife has some medicine that has to stay refrigerated.)
When I visited the winnebago, the sales guy said the fridge can't run on battery and has to have the generator running or be on propane. Obviously this is not ideal /possible for driving. I have a feeling that the georgie boy owner said that the fridge would run on battery.... I assume this is because it has some sort of inverter? It is hard to install / costly to put in a inverter for the fridge / air-conditioning. I assume some sort of additional battery would be required?"

No RV refer runs on batteries. You can run the refer on propane while driving, but that is debatable. Some people swear it is dangerous, others have been doing it for many years. But the bottom line is you don't need to run the refer while driving. If the refer is at normal temperature when you start driving everything will still be very cold when you arrive where ever you are going 8 hours later. Nothing will defrost in that time period and it is rare you will driving more than 8 hours straight. Most of us don't drive more than 5 hours straight. RV refers are very well insulated.

And yes you can run the generator while driving. I do it frequently so I can run the A/C while heading down the road since my dash air doesn't work.

The most important thing when looking for an RV is the floor plan. If you don't love the floor plan you will never love the RV.

Thanks for the info on the refer.. Very useful.

comsense said:

Thanks for all the comments and advice everyone.
..............

Also, it's quite important that the refrigerator keeps running all the time, even when we are driving. (my wife has some medicine that has to stay refrigerated.)
When I visited the winnebago, the sales guy said the fridge can't run on battery and has to have the generator running or be on propane. Obviously this is not ideal /possible for driving. I have a feeling that the georgie boy owner said that the fridge would run on battery.... I assume this is because it has some sort of inverter? It is hard to install / costly to put in a inverter for the fridge / air-conditioning. I assume some sort of additional battery would be required?

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An awful lot of us run the fridge on propane while we are driving -- both with motorhomes and with towed trailers.  RV fridges are absorbtion cycle that use the propane to run the chilling cycle.  The house batteries provide 12VDC current to power the fridge's control board; however, that is a tiny draw -- a  person can run for days on a RV deep cycle house battery, if all that is running is the fridge. You can feel confident that you can run all day, including stops for lunch and and sightseeing, and your fridge will remain cold.
 
The only occasion where you would need to shut the fridge off, is during refueling.  You do not want the fridge propane flame burning or igniter sparking while you are fueling up.  Simply turn it off at the control panel on the fridge and back on again when you finish fueling.  You will still maintain cold and in fact you could maintain cold for hours as the fridge is very well insulated.  Just don't open the door. 

There are 3 way RV refrigerators that run on 120VAC, propane, or just 12VDC but they draw a lot of power from the batteries when on just 12VDC.  When driving, don't be afraid to run the refrigerator on propane, but if you really don't want to do that, the refrigerator will stay quite cold for hours if you keep the door shut.

seilerbird said:

Well you can giggle all you want but when two people say they want to spend an entire year in a 23 foot class C that rings alarm bells. You have a 29 footer, huge difference. And you have stated that you don't even have room to upgrade from a 14" TV to a 19" TV cause you don't have the room. That tells you everything you need to know about the amount of space in a class C.

I have lived in 2 different class As, 3 different class Bs and 2 different class Cs, so I have very extensive knowledge of the strengths and weakness' of the various classes. If you are going to live in a vehicle full time then a class A beats the others by a mile. If you are just doing weekend outings then a C will do nice.

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WOW!

Some people can live quite happily in smaller RV's.  Not everyone needs a ton of space and junk.  I'm in a 28 footer, 16+ months now, Class C, fulltime,  have traveled alone and with a friend who has hopped aboard for several trips, so there's been two of us in here for weeks at a time, plus the dog lives here.

Different folks have different lifestyles, some need a ton of room and storage, and some do not.

The TV remark is rather funny. I don't have a TV at all, because it's so low on my priority list, that I obviously don't care one way or the other. I could fit most any size TV  in here, but I have so very little time for a TV, so why bother? 

Here again, difference in lifestyles...  Some gotta have a TV, some don't. My days and nights are plenty busy, I've lived most of my life without a TV and don't see that as a problem. Others love a TV, have multiple ones in their RV and that's their choice.

On the other hand, I have to have internet, even slow internet, so I can work, others don't care for internet at all or have no need for it. I have a few friends who refuse to have a cell phone or email. Yes, in this day and age, there are still folks who can live without common electronics.

I've met couples living fulltime in RV's smaller than mine and they haven't killed each other yet. One couple I've known 20+ years,  did over 100,000 miles in a Class B (that's a camper van) and they're still in one piece.  Prior to that, I met them in the Caribbean when they were on a small sailboat doing thousands of nautical miles for years.

Some of us LOVE the freedom of owning LESS, doing more, having fun in our own way.

I don't think a couple proposing to travel  in a 23 footer for  a year should send off alarm bells. Some can do it quite happily, and others can't.

The world is a wonderful place, because many  people are so vastly different.

I lived in a 23' Class C for 8 months in Holbrook AZ, Feb-Sept and after New Years Day until mid September in Omaha NE. DearMissMermaid is correct. It all depends on how much stuff you can live without. There are several full-timing in a Toyota Class C whom I encountered on the Toyota Motorhome forum.

Millenniums of people lived/live happily in one room dwellings whether caves, tents, wagons or huts since humanity walked on earth. 

Hi all,

Still shopping around at this point, now back in California. There seems to be a lot more of the size RV's we are after here (class c 21 to 23 ft).

They are usually based on ford f-350 with 6.x Lt v10 engine.

I was wondering what the cost of replacement tyres would be if I had to replace them on a rv I bought.. I'm not sure of the size, but they all look similar on the different brand RV's I have seen. I want to factor this into the price of the vehicle.

Thanks,

Brad

Vans that size use a Light Truck (LT) tire in Load Range E. Prices should be in the $170-$250 range (each), depending on brand and quality. Add another $25 each for mounting, balancing, fees, etc.  I would figure $1500 or so for a set of 6.

My local RV place (In Banning California) has a 24' Class A (Gulf Stream Ultra Sport).  The size meets your requirements but it wont have the front cab over bed.  It will drive nicer and have more storage though.  See the link for more information.

http://www.rvt.com/dealerframe/rayboydsrvdetail.php?id=4548706

Jeff Brown

Hello Comsense..

We bought an RV to your spec last Saturday in LA after searching for a week...we too plan to travel the US and Canada (only for 8 months) - we are from England...

We got our van from a dealer - it was a great van, low mileage, 22 foot and under $15000...we ended up with 3 vans to pick between and would happily have travelled in all 3...there are some great deals out there...we used RVtraderonline as a starter...hopefully you will find something suitable soon..

We did look at bigger vans - but with the wild camping and mileage we plan to do we felt a smaller van was better for us - they are wider in the US so immediately feel more spacious anyway...

Good luck - hope you find a great van for your travels...
Tara

We have owned two Georgie Boys and we had no issues with either one of them, we just wanted newer and better...For the features and little extras for the price we will not complain one bit.  Our current one is a 2004 and looks brand new and nothing has fallen apart yet.

I just did 8 tires(firestone transforce ht) out the door for 1200.00. it took some effort to find best price but well worth the time.