Getting ready to full time- help!

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Gonhad

New member
Joined
Apr 18, 2016
Posts
4
Hey there good peeps!!!

So this is my story. I currently rent and in total my cost of living is about 1,400$/mo. Its bern getting crazy so we decided we wanted to try the rv life because hey, you inly live once.
With a 2010 toyota tundra we are between 2 travel trailers:
2017 heartland pioneer w/ bunkhouse - $20k
2008 keystone laredo w/ slideout bunks in the back -14k

Any information on which would be best would be greatly appreciated. We are looking to stay at a campground that includes all hookup for $385/mo. I am hoping to minimize my living expense (renting and bills) to be able to saveand pay off some debt. we have a daughter who needs speechtherapy so for the next 6mo we are definetly staying stationary. As far as travel were planning on taking long weekend trips.
Im almost ready to pull the trigger on this whole adventure, im hooing you seasoned timers can give me some tips/advice/criticism on my life choice to make sure ive thought of all the bug things and important things.



Thanks!
 
Well first thing I need to point out is you gotta check the weight limit of your truck, some on the low end for that year of tundras have a max towing compacity of 4800 pounds others on the high end have 10800 from what I can find, that's a huge weight difference, and if you overload the truck it may destroy or damage it, you may even be unable to even MOVE the trailer safely.

I'll give you an example first for the 2017 trailer I found a weight of 6500 listed for dry weight for some a few at 5500 and a few at 8000+ depending on options, now let's assume you have a base model tundra with a max towing weight of 4800 pounds that your only 150 pounds and have no cargo save a tank of fuel, that means you can safely pull 4800 pounds (this not taking into account tounge weights and such and I'm dumbing this down as much as I can for ease of understanding).

Now let's take the average of 6500 for the dry weight trailer, that means the trailer weighs roughly 6500 pounds with no fluid no cargo no food no clothing no propane or propane tanks no battery nothing, just the weight of the trailer, just pulling that trailer empty you would be 1700 pounds overweight which is going to put a lot of strain on the engine and transmission as well as breaks shocks and frame, this is going to lead to repairs quickly and this if you don't blow a tire from the overload.

Now that THAT is out of the way, The second point to consider is not all campgrounds are going to let you park year round, some will some won't and depending on area and amenity's the price can swing wildly, I'll give you an example in my area there are 3 parks that allow full timing within a 50 mile radius the ones nearest the city and that have internet are $700 to $900 depending on size of trailer spot with everything per month and are metered as well for power, the ones near the small town are $700 but you pay extra for both internet and power and power is metered, the one I stay at is 30  miles from either town or city and has no internet but everything is included at $400, and this price will swing widely depending on state as well, then some may have 50 amp power some may not which is something to consider.

Third point to consider is when you get an R.V the payment insurance and lot rent can all add up to quite a bit of money, maybe more then your paying now especially with the new R.V your considering, and R.Vs in general require a lot of maintenance to full time in, and we can't just say this this and this are likely to break, it's totally random, my fridge may go out a week after I buy it, yours may out live YOU, so you either need to be handy or expect a lot of little repairs which will get costly quickly, and even new is no guarantee of no problems, a new trailer may have anything from cabnets not installed properly to in the case of my neighbor having the water pump installed backwards.

Final point to consider is you also may have problems staying near your doctor's and may even need to find new ones or drive several hours to them, ontop of various other headaches such as getting an adress and mail forwarded to you, you will also need to trim down much of what you own, trailers only have a finite amount of room, this may also lead to insurance problems down the road as well, and this is leaving out things such as full timing during the winter and the added costs of propane and burst pipes if your in a cold area and don't prepare properly for example.

Now then I hope this post helps you out a bit and doesn't scare you off, full time R.ving is worth the headaches but you need to go into it eyes wide open or it can bite you in the rear for being unprepared.
 
Hey! Thanks! Yes i double checked the tundra before buying and its towing is 8,900lbs.
I found a location that allows full timing @ $386/mo but we cant move to that location until august so we are staying at another site for the summer months @375/mo. Bith offer full hookups and wifi (no cable- but who needs it now a days?) i do have to still look into insurance.
My biggest problem is downsizing and getting rid of things!! I found a consignment store nearby that will hopefully let me sell a good bit of my furniture. All the small stuff im donating and sentimental items are getting placed in a small storage unit.
Both parks are about 20mns from our daughter's school and doctors :) that was a must! We've lucked out in that there are close by rv parks! And yeah the things breaking down and having to get fixed im hoping that the amount we will be able to save will hopefully be able to cover major damages if they arise.

We are about 2weeks away from gettingg the trailer and although i am getting nervous im still excited. Im sure it will take some getting use-to but why not?! This is happening!!! Thanks for the post
 
Gonhad said:
Bith offer full hookups and wifi (no cable- but who needs it now a days?)

It's unlikely you'll be able to stream video using the park's wifi, there's just no way for the park to build in enough bandwidth to support multiple video users.  Likewise, be careful to watch your data usage if you stream using the phone's 4G data.

Video streaming is a huge data hog - you can go through your monthly allotment streaming a movie or two.  Any you use data beyond your monthly plan will get very expensive very fast.

https://www.puretalkusa.com/blog/video-streaming-data-explained/
 

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