Happy St. Pat's--a day early. Just finished my corned beef and cabbage after returning from the Tacoma RV show. I was far more focused on what I actually wanted to pull this time and really examined the 17-24 foot travel trailers. I think I'm much closer to choosing my new home. Of course I still had to tour my share of quarter million dollar Class As and 5ers for my wife and daughter to dream about, and Class Cs for my sister to dream about, but in the end, I'm still convinced that I'm going to be towing a light-weight TT behind my new Ford F150 that I bought this week.
But here's the thing. Everytime I talked to a salesperson, I started looking at a $20-25k pricetag and then thinking about another 5k in mods that I'd want to make. Each time I explained what I wanted in a trailer, the factory rep would get excited about custom-building me the right trailer for $30-40k. Ain't gonna happen.
I've about decided that I need to find a decent used-but-not-too-used trailer from one of my favorite mfgs and then spend the next few months customizing it. The top contenders at the moment are Cougar, Passport, Milan, and Tracer. But I want to change out most of the electric for 12v using solar panels and no inverter, including LED lighting. I couldn't care less about TV as I haven't watched one in months, but I need a satelite connection for the Internet in order to run my business from anywhere I happen to be parked. I don't know where my journey will lead me, so I want to make sure that I'm adequately insulated for both cold and hot weather. And I'll tear out either the spare bunkbeds or the dinette to put in my office. When I get that done, I'll pretty much have what I want, though I might strip out the linoleum and install a Pergo floor or other similer lightweight (bamboo?) flooring. Probably remove the ratty mattresses and get high-grade memory foam with a thick pad for "heavenly" comfort. I'd like to have some of my own furniture rather than the built-in crap that most of the units have. And I'd still like to hit the road at under $20k.
Oh yeah, the show. For declaring itself the "flagship RV Show" of the northwest, this was a bust. Not nearly as big as the Seattle show last month (my first), no seminars and workshops, and everyone focused on selling what they have to sell. I'm sure I missed a few dealers because they were just too buried in the maze to find. Poulsbo RV is smart to keep about half their stock outside the doors rather than on the showfloor. I didn't find a single unit that I'd put money down on today, in spite of all the salespeople trying to sell me on what they had to offer. Really felt like the worst of carlots. I kept expecting a salesperson to call their sales manager over to see if they couldn't close the deal. Hey! There wasn't a deal to close! Get over it.
Still, the people in RVing that I met, the other show attendees, and the people I've met here--all of them are reason enough to know I've made the right decision. Here's to being on the road in August!
Wayzgoose
But here's the thing. Everytime I talked to a salesperson, I started looking at a $20-25k pricetag and then thinking about another 5k in mods that I'd want to make. Each time I explained what I wanted in a trailer, the factory rep would get excited about custom-building me the right trailer for $30-40k. Ain't gonna happen.
I've about decided that I need to find a decent used-but-not-too-used trailer from one of my favorite mfgs and then spend the next few months customizing it. The top contenders at the moment are Cougar, Passport, Milan, and Tracer. But I want to change out most of the electric for 12v using solar panels and no inverter, including LED lighting. I couldn't care less about TV as I haven't watched one in months, but I need a satelite connection for the Internet in order to run my business from anywhere I happen to be parked. I don't know where my journey will lead me, so I want to make sure that I'm adequately insulated for both cold and hot weather. And I'll tear out either the spare bunkbeds or the dinette to put in my office. When I get that done, I'll pretty much have what I want, though I might strip out the linoleum and install a Pergo floor or other similer lightweight (bamboo?) flooring. Probably remove the ratty mattresses and get high-grade memory foam with a thick pad for "heavenly" comfort. I'd like to have some of my own furniture rather than the built-in crap that most of the units have. And I'd still like to hit the road at under $20k.
Oh yeah, the show. For declaring itself the "flagship RV Show" of the northwest, this was a bust. Not nearly as big as the Seattle show last month (my first), no seminars and workshops, and everyone focused on selling what they have to sell. I'm sure I missed a few dealers because they were just too buried in the maze to find. Poulsbo RV is smart to keep about half their stock outside the doors rather than on the showfloor. I didn't find a single unit that I'd put money down on today, in spite of all the salespeople trying to sell me on what they had to offer. Really felt like the worst of carlots. I kept expecting a salesperson to call their sales manager over to see if they couldn't close the deal. Hey! There wasn't a deal to close! Get over it.
Still, the people in RVing that I met, the other show attendees, and the people I've met here--all of them are reason enough to know I've made the right decision. Here's to being on the road in August!
Wayzgoose
