Length of Class A for us?

Fastcar said:

I'd stay as far from lazy days as possible. If you mean the dealership in FL.

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That's the one.  Why the negatives on this place?

I am going to need some place that caters to newbies.

ChinMusic,  do you have a price point in mind for your puchase?

There are several Forum members in Florida (including myself) who could help if you visit Lazydays.  32 footers are not available in hordes, but Lazydays has one of the largest inventories around and February is the busy trading season there. If they don't have one on one day, it may show up the next. Some other large dealers in the area as well.  Your best bet is to hook up with a reliable sales person a few months ahead of time and have them keep an eye out for rigs that meet your requirements.

I've bought two coaches at LD, as have many others here. They make an honest effort to take care of all their customers and the senior management will really stand behind what they sell, but that doesn't mean you don't have to look out for your own interests.

You aren't going to find a king bed in a used 32 footer, and twins aren't likely either. 32 feet is queen bed territory, so figure n doing some remodeling. That's another place where a BIG dealer can do more for you - they have the shops to re-configure a rig to whatever you want.

billwild said:

ChinMusic,  do you have a price point in mind for your puchase?

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I'm pretty flexible there with no financing necessary.  I generally think in terms of depreciation and know the more expensive the unit the faster the meter turns.  I have no idea if there is a difference in depreciation patterns among Class As (age, size, fuel, etc).  I do get the idea that an RV is a rapidly depreciating asset with new models taking the largest hit.

Gary RV Roamer said:

There are several Forum members in Florida (including myself) who could help if you visit Lazydays.  32 footers are not available in hordes, but Lazydays has one of the largest inventories around and February is the busy trading season there.

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That would be an INCREDIBLE help.  When I said "February" it was flexible.  January is possible as well.  I have a son taking over (joining) the business and can leave whenever I please.  I'd like to start my AT thru-hike in late Feb or early March.

The king bed is not a must.  I had not thought of the remodel option.

We also like a king bed.  When we bought ours, it had a short queen.  About a hundred bucks worth of wood, and three hours later, it had a nearly king sized bed (70" x 80").  It's 6" narrower than a regular king, but it's close enough.  We found you can purchase a "special cut" matress for not too much more than a regular matress.  I think the matress wound up costing around $600 or so.  We bought a super firm and then added a couple of layers of egg crate shaped foam to it.  Not quite as good as our pillow top at home, but close.  The key is to find a m/h that's easy to modify. Ours had 70" between the vanities on each side of the bed, so that determined our max matress width.  We didn't have to tear out any furniture.

AndyinLexington said:

We also like a king bed.  When we bought ours, it had a short queen.  About a hundred bucks worth of wood, and three hours later, it had a nearly king sized bed (70" x 80").  It's 6" narrower than a regular king, but it's close enough.  We found you can purchase a "special cut" matress for not too much more than a regular matress.  I think the matress wound up costing around $600 or so.  We bought a super firm and then added a couple of layers of egg crate shaped foam to it.  Not quite as good as our pillow top at home, but close.  The key is to find a m/h that's easy to modify. Ours had 70" between the vanities on each side of the bed, so that determined our max matress width.  We didn't have to tear out any furniture.

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Excellent thought to have in the back of my head.  Heck, even with MY limited carpentry skills, I could pull that off.

I live in central IL and drove to TX to get my newest RV. It has some issues but the floor plan is exactly what DW wanted. You are doing the right thing starting here LOTS of help. Pontiac rv would be most excellent place to go try some on for size. Ask away on questions we want you to go with knowedge to look at them.

Conquest aka Robert said:

You are doing the right thing starting here LOTS of help. Pontiac rv would be most excellent place to go try some on for size. Ask away on questions we want you to go with knowedge to look at them.

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Thanks.  Most forums I participate in I have some knowledge of the subject.  I kinda feel bad that all I'm gonna do here, for the near future anyway, is take.

I've been to Pontiac a couple times.  When driving to Chicago I just couldn't resist taking a peek.  I looked at what they had to get a feel for what was out there but never bothered their sales team.  I was just too far away from a purchase to waste their time.  I don't think I would feel that way now.

I would appreciate a "short list" of makes/models to look hard at in the 32' range.  I'm not asking for what is best.  I know that is unanswerable.  I guess I'm looking for homework.  I see that 32' is at the bottom of the diesel range.

Are there any articles on the site that discuss how much water/generator/etc capacity to look for?

Not much help with DP I drive a Gasser. As far as makers they all seem to do a decent job the first thing is floorplan which you have heard preached already. You can still use ebay to  research floorplans. Mine actually came from ebay listing. Wish I could have seen it first would have gotten better price but that is another story. 
I would stay in the size you are looking at and get the guide books to see length limits to see where you stand also. You should also consider where you will store the RV mine won't come up my drive it has to come up curb and across the yard to get to its spot. Also ground clearance in general I had to take the tow hitch off of mine do to it sitting so low it would drag coming out of parking lots coming back from TX. It was 8-10 inches off the ground.

I don't have to have a DP.  I'm open to a gasser.  Parking I should be fine at my office at pretty much any length.

I see that 32' is at the bottom of the diesel range.

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It used to be, but the Sprinter and Freightliner MCL diesel chassis has changed that. Many of them are Class C's, but not all.  You will also find a few C's on a Ford diesel van chassis, e.g. http://www.fourwinds-classc.com/overview.php?

Sprinter diesel Class C:  http://fleetwoodrv.com/jamboreeDSL

Small Class A diesel, the 28-31 ft Avanti rides on a Freightliner front diesel chassis.
http://www.avantirv.com/overview.php?

Gary RV Roamer said:

ItSmall Class A diesel, the 28-31 ft Avanti rides on a Freightliner front diesel chassis.

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I thought the whole advantage of the diesel was that it was in the back leading to a quieter drive.

ChinMusic said:

That's the one.  Why the negatives on this place?

I am going to need some place that caters to newbies.

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I guess I'm one who didn't get the wonderful service some rave about.

I purchased a new class C and went through a horror show getting things fixed. It took months of running back and forth and some things never were fixed to the point that I ended up driving 1K miles to the factory where they spent about 4 days with a crew fixing stuff.
Most of the items were not major but there were about 50 of them. LD's PDI seemed some how to have missed them, of course I did as well. Then LD assured me all would be taken care of.

Perhaps if I was spending over 200-500K things would be different or perhaps if a had a relationship with them it might have been handled differently.

I should also point out that this was AFTER they had reorganized and so on.

While looking for the used DP I just purchased never once did I think of looking at Lazy Day's. I looked every where else but there.

Imo they are all flash but no substance.

I'd suggest Goggling them and also going to a few consumer sites. I certainly wish I had prior to my dealings with them.

GoodLuck!!

ChinMusic said:

I thought the whole advantage of the diesel was that it was in the back leading to a quieter drive.

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That is true for many different motor homes, and these are usually referred to as DP's or Diesel Pushers. There are some diesel powered coaches available as front end diesels or FRED chassis's, not nearly as popular though.

Just as many of the larger DP's have air suspension and air brakes, not all diesel powered coaches do... Complicated eh???

Alfa38User said:

Complicated eh???

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As with most of life. The more you know, the more you know you don't know.

ChinMusic said:

I thought the whole advantage of the diesel was that it was in the back leading to a quieter drive.

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I'd say that advantage is combined with the overall heavier-duty drivetrain (able to run hundreds of thousands of miles) and much higher power and towing capacity.  Of course, higher purchase prices and maintenance costs come with the territory there as well.