Boeing 747 Pilot looking for his 1st RV to explore America in between trips...

[TravisWatson]

Hello RV folks!!

Hi I'm Travis!!

40 years old, no family, no kids, no wife. I live in Nashville, TN in a simple loft, drive a nice car. I pretty much have everything I want in life. Now, in between my world wide traveling adventures, I'm yearning to RV it a while. All I need is a place to park the RV at an airport & my company will fly me wherever I need to go. My schedule is normally 17 days away, 13 days in...

I just saw this Mallard Sprinter M200 over in Oregon. I'll DEFINITELY have to spend a whole day & have someone inspect it from top to bottom. Who knows how longs its been sitting. CHECK IT OUT HERE:

https://www.rvtrader.com/listing/1990-Mallard-Sprinter+M200-5001442775

Thoughts? It has a bathroom & a shower. A shower is a MUST HAVE.

I've thought of buying new. But the depreciation... ughhh.

Anyhoo!! Thanks for reading! You can learn more about me & my traveling adventures at (link in profile).

Cheers,

Travis

 

[Lou Schneider]

Hi Travis, welcome to The RV Forum!

Now and for the next couple of months, the hotspots for used RVs are in the snowbird states.  Basically anywhere in Arizona south of the Mogollon Rim, south Texas and Florida.

Retirees from all over the country go there for the winter and while there, they trade up or something happens and they'd rather sell their RV instead of driving it back home.

RV dealers are anxious to get rid of their stock before the market thins out and it bakes in the summer sun until the snowbirds return next fall.

On that RV, the shifter looks like it has the older 3 speed automatic, which means it also has a carbureted engine.  Going a couple of years newer will give you the 4 speed overdrive transmission with a lockup torque converter and fuel injection instead of a carburetor.  All of these greatly improve driveability and fuel mileage.

I have a 27 ft. 1992 Hall Chaparral motorhome, also on the Chevy chassis and it has the 4 speed automatic and a fuel injected 454.  I get right around 10 MPG, motorhomes with the older drivetrain are in the 7-8 MPG range.

With any RV, you want to spend some time in it before deciding to buy.  Go through the motions of how you'll live in it.
For example, do you have enough room to take a shower, can you comfortably lay on the bed, use the toilet, etc.  Everyone's needs are different and a missing inch or two can make an enormous difference in something you're going to call home for weeks at a time.

 

[SeilerBird]

Welcome to the forum. There are only two problems I see with the Sprinter. One, it is too old and two it is too small. It is coming up on 30 years old. That is ancient for any RV. You will end up spending a fortune to keep it running. The roof on an RV needs to be inspected and patched yearly and resealed every five years or you end up with leaks. I would bet it has been a long time since anyone even looked at the roof. So count on a few grand to get the roof done.  RV tire wear is not measured by the tread it is measured by the age. RV tires over 7 years become very dangerous and you don't want to have blowout in an RV, so count on at least a grand for tires. Add in all the other repairs and maintenance the typical old RV needs and you have spent a lot of money just to get on the road. Keeping it there is not going to be cheap either. Something like this would be much better for you:

https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/used-rvs-for-sale/mini-motorhome/2003-jayco-greyhawk_rv-37275

 

[RedandSilver]

I'll echo SeilerBird on it being too old and too small.

Unless your a really short person you probably wouldn't even be able to stand up straight in a shower that size
or have much elbow room to move around in it.

You may think you don't need much room because your alone and don't have a lot of stuff - but things add up quickly and
if your going to use it for anything other than sleeping in it at the airport, you will want something bigger.

Your right about not buying new.  First time buyers should IMO (unless filthy rich) always by used.  It takes awhile to know
what there is to know about RVing and what you really want in a unit so it's unlikely anyone gets it right the first time.
If you fly 747's a bigger MH should be no problem for you.

All I need is a place to park the RV at an airport & my company will fly me wherever I need to go.

I'm going to assume you have a car.  IF you get a bigger MH you could tow a car behind it and then park the motorhome someplace
and drive the car to the airport to make your flight instead of always having to park the MH at the airport.  Could be an option for you
but the one you listed won't tow a car. 

One thing I will tell you is don't be in a rush to buy anything.  Many people spend 6 -24 months looking for the right unit to buy.
The ones that make rash decisions usually regret it and end up losing money getting something else.
One more thing is many people buy small and then upgrade over and over. 
When I bought my first ever MH I didn't want to be replacing it over and over so I purchase a used 40ft unit and I'm alone.
I can tell you this - I wouldn't want anything smaller either.  I'm not saying you have to get one that big but IMO buy bigger than
you think you need and it should last you a lot longer.

Good luck and ask anything you want as there is a wealth of knowledge on this forum.

 

 

[SeilerBird]

I agree with everything R&S said except the part about the rich buying new. When you buy new you must return it to the dealer to get all the problems fixed. Many times dealers then keep the RV and wait for parts, some times they wait for months, meanwhile you can't use the RV.  I lived in a 32 foot class A solo with no slides and three cats and it was way too small. I finally got me a 33 foot fiver with three slides and it is just about right perfect.

 

[TravisWatson]

Welcome to the forum. There are only two problems I see with the Sprinter. One, it is too old and two it is too small. It is coming up on 30 years old. That is ancient for any RV. You will end up spending a fortune to keep it running. The roof on an RV needs to be inspected and patched yearly and resealed every five years or you end up with leaks. I would bet it has been a long time since anyone even looked at the roof. So count on a few grand to get the roof done.  RV tire wear is not measured by the tread it is measured by the age. RV tires over 7 years become very dangerous and you don't want to have blowout in an RV, so count on at least a grand for tires. Add in all the other repairs and maintenance the typical old RV needs and you have spent a lot of money just to get on the road. Keeping it there is not going to be cheap either. Something like this would be much better for you:

https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/used-rvs-for-sale/mini-motorhome/2003-jayco-greyhawk_rv-37275

I checked out the Jayco GreyHawk! This would be so much more roomier & comfortable! My only worry - it might be too big to fit into tight places, out on narrow roads in desolate areas, etc.

For the 17 days I'm away, I'd just have to find long term airport parking. $10 or less per night would be the goal.

For the 13 days I'm using it.... STEALTH CAMPING. How & where do I sleep? I'd prefer to not have to do official RV Campgrounds & KOA's all the time. Walmart Parking lots? Truck Stops?

 

[SeilerBird]

I checked out the Jayco GreyHawk! This would be so much more roomier & comfortable! My only worry - it might be too big to fit into tight places, out on narrow roads in desolate areas, etc.

I lived in both a 27 footer and a 32 foot class As and never had a toad. I drove it wherever I went. No real problem at all. You adapt very quickly. There are no roads in this country too narrow for you unless you are going off road. Most of my shopping was done at Walmarts and they all have giant parking lots. Most all malls and strip malls can be parked in with ease. You are going to be spending 95% of your time living in the RV and 5% of the time driving it. In my mind it is much better to maximize the RV for living and not for driving.

 

[RedandSilver]

My only worry - it might be too big to fit into tight places, out on narrow roads in desolate areas, etc.

For the 17 days I'm away, I'd just have to find long term airport parking. $10 or less per night would be the goal.

For the 13 days I'm using it.... STEALTH CAMPING. How & where do I sleep? I'd prefer to not have to do official RV Campgrounds & KOA's all the time. Walmart Parking lots? Truck Stops?

Your worried about something that hasn't come to pass?  How do you think people like me with a 40th MH or BIGGER travel this country?
We all get by.  Yes there is some planning that takes place and you will learn not to go down dead end roads or other places that
will give you problems.  Some times you will have to drive a little farther to find an area to turn around in but I have never been stuck
even with my trailer attached being 65ft long.  So trust me, you will learn and the more you drive it the more comfortable you will become.

For the 17 days there are many campground that have storage spots and might very well let you park an RV there for a small fee.
Again you would need an RV big enough to pull a car and then take the car to the airport as I assume not all airports will have a place
to park an RV.

For the 13 days you use it - well again a little bigger RV will have larger holding tanks which will let you stay out of campgrounds longer.
Again with some planning you should be able to look up boondocking places for the area your in.  State parks and Federal Reserves are
sometimes places with wide open areas - some with hookups and some without.  Walmart parking lots are usually for one night and
usually a stop over for when traveling from cities far apart.  And know that not ALL Walmart's allow overnight parking.
Truck Stops tend to be noisy and crowded.  Same with Rest Areas but there free, again usually for only 1 night. 

In your case it might be wise to rent an RV and see how it drives and how it is to live in it for a week or 10 days.
It won't be cheap but it will answer a lot of questions you have and take away some worry. 

 

[scottydl]

For the 13 days I'm using it.... STEALTH CAMPING. How & where do I sleep? I'd prefer to not have to do official RV Campgrounds & KOA's all the time. Walmart Parking lots? Truck Stops?

Yes, yes, and yes!  There are a lot of cheaper, but really nice campgrounds that aren't "chain" places like KOA, Good Sam, etc.  My family loves county and state parks, and that's where we do most of our camping.  They are usually around $20/night, electric & water hookups included with access to dump station, and in the Midwest they are almost always situation around lakes/forests which give us great scenery, trails, boating, fishing, etc. if you are interested in those activities.  If you'll be traveling around between airports, check out Passport America... a cheap club to join that gives you 50% discounts at participating campgrounds and pays for itself after a few uses.  We discovered a few really neat off-the-path places when we were PA members.

While many metropolitan areas are restricting RV parking on streets (because it has turned into a transient problem in some areas), there are tons of places you can pull off and sleep for free if that's all you need.  Some truck stops even offer dump stations and free water fillup.  For showering in a smaller RV, you'd fill up your gray water tank (the one that catches all the drain water from sinks and shower) pretty quickly... so you'll need to plan for occasionally camping at a full hookup site or at least finding someplace to dump the tanks.

Check out more "Where to camp" type discussions in these forum sections... Destinations, RV Parks, Routes and its child board Camping at Wal*mart and other non-campgrounds.

As far as buying an RV, keep doing LOTS of research & ask LOTS of questions here to determine what style you want.  You have a real advantage of being able to easily fly anywhere in the country to check out an RV, so you're not limited to a small geographical area (in terms of online shopping).  Budget/floorplan/options/condition are your best purchase qualifiers.  Year/make/model don't mean all that much in most cases.

 

[WILDEBILL308]

Travis, welcome to the forum. Hear is a place to find a nice used coach. motorhomesoftexas.com/
I would look at the older Fortravle's. You need to be able to tow a car and you will be living in a coach for extended periods of time.
I hate to say it but the coach you linked to is junk. You would spend thousands of dollars to get it livable/drivable and it would  still be junk.
Bill

 

[Denver Transplant]

I checked out the Jayco GreyHawk! This would be so much more roomier & comfortable! My only worry - it might be too big to fit into tight places, out on narrow roads in desolate areas, etc.

For the 17 days I'm away, I'd just have to find long term airport parking. $10 or less per night would be the goal.

For the 13 days I'm using it.... STEALTH CAMPING. How & where do I sleep? I'd prefer to not have to do official RV Campgrounds & KOA's all the time. Walmart Parking lots? Truck Stops?

I you are interested in free and isolated camping, the spots to consider are those on BLM land. This is mostly in the west where there is tons of empty land. There area also lots of Forest Service campgrounds. You just need to be prepared to boondocks as services are generally zero on these sites.

BLM usually sets up dispersed camping locations so you are often not near anyone. Many of these spots are a few miles down a dirt road and many are accessible by fairly large RV's, trailers, 5th wheels etc. A great resource is Campendium where you will find lots of reviews of camping locations, including a lot of BLM spots that are identified only by coordinates. The reviewers often get some pretty big rigs back there, but you need to make sure about the roads. The BLM web sites will also have maps of their dispersed camping areas. The other source is blogs and Youtube videos from a variety of seasoned, often full time, campers who have been there and done that. These folks often find more out of the way places as they aren't big on long in the future reservations.

 

[TravisWatson]

I hate to say it but the coach you linked to is junk. You would spend thousands of dollars to get it livable/drivable and it would  still be junk.
Bill

Ya no worries! I have long since lost interest in that thing!! HA

 

[TravisWatson]

Travis, welcome to the forum. Hear is a place to find a nice used coach. motorhomesoftexas.com/

Cool site! I totally checked out that 2015 model! Something like that is way doable!! Livable too!!

http://motorhomesoftexas.com/coachrv/coachmen/2015--prism--24G--C2074

-T

 

[winslow]

Welcome, Travis! Sounds like you live an enviable life.

We bought a brand new rig, left from the previous model year, brand new from the dealer and got about 25% off MSRP without having to wonder what the previous owner did (or did not do) to it. We are a couple only, no kids, no dog, so we were attracted to a rig that just isn't practical for many family-type situations.

Because of your particular situation, you may find that there are rigs that suit you that aren't very popular for families traveling with kids or even couples that a dealer is just wishing for someone to take off their hands...finally!

Good luck out there!

 

[TravisWatson]

Welcome, Travis! Sounds like you live an enviable life.

Because of your particular situation, you may find that there are rigs that suit you that aren't very popular for families traveling with kids or even couples that a dealer is just wishing for someone to take off their hands...finally!

Good luck out there!

Show me what ya'll ended up getting!! Would be cool to see..

-T

 

[WILDEBILL308]

The only caution is smaller coaches like the one you linked to don't have verry big tanks so you are verrey limited to how long you can dry camp. They are allso limited on storage. This is important when you are basicley full timing between flites.
I allso caution about getting caught up in the "I need a small coach to get  into National Parks". I have ben to over 35 National parks and the fact is you might have the perfict size coach but you won't be able to get in because of the crowd. For example Yellowstone has over 30,000 visiters every day in July.  Some places you can't drive your coach in the park.
I would be looking at a older quality coach. Personaley I don't want anything newer than 2007 so I don't haave to deal with the new emishion headakes. 38-45' with a 4 down toad is what I would be looking for.
My current coach is in my sig.
Bill

 

[winslow]

Show me what ya'll ended up getting!! Would be cool to see..

-T

It's not a motorhome as I believe you're seeking, but it's perfect for us...you can see how it would be a nightmare for a family with kids, which I think it a major part of the market in the area where we were living when we bought it. So that brings up again what some others have mentioned - location matters when you're looking for a great deal. We were definitely lucky to be able to capitalize on a dealer's mistake.

 

[gwcowgill]

Cool site! I totally checked out that 2015 model! Something like that is way doable!! Livable too!!

http://motorhomesoftexas.com/coachrv/coachmen/2015--prism--24G--C2074

-T

I see a lot of people in these coaches and most really love them. They are tight for 2 but may fit your situation. The Mercedes diesel has been pretty reliable with excellent fuel economy from what I have heard.

 

[JudyJB]

You would probably be happier in a slightly smaller Class C, like 22-26'.  It would have more storage and  a bigger grey water (washing and shower) tank and larger black water (sewage) tank.

I have no towed vehicle behind my 32' motorhome, and i have had to fly to visit family and sick relatives.  When I do, I park my vehicle at the airport.  Many airports have what they call "oversized" vehicle parking on airport property.  I have parked at Tampa, Salt Lake City, & Las Vegas.  The first two were $9 per night, same as a car.  LV was $15.  So check with your airport parking administration. 

"Stealth" camping can be done, but a lot of Walmarts no longer allow overnight parking because of city rules.  And truck stops can be very noisy.  You might check into a monthly rate at a local campground, also.  You could leave it there while you are gone, and pick it up and travel when you get back.

And I don't think I have ever found a road too small for my 32' C.  There are some parkways in NY with low bridges, but that is unusual.  I am about 34 years older than you and have driven into every national park and camped in a lot of them. 

 

[ArdraF]

Safari made a Class A motorhome called a Trek until they were bought by Monaco.  It was a higher end diesel pusher that I thought perfect for one person - but not two.  The reason is that it's queen bed was a push-button drop-down over the front seats.  It had all the amenities of a higher end coach but was much shorter because it had no rear bedroom.  The full bathroom is across the rear of the coach. The reason we think it unsuitable for more than one person is that one person couldn't stay up watching TV so close to the other person trying to sleep.  But one person could be quite comfortable in a Trek, assuming you could find one in good condition.  They were made during the 1990s and up to about 2009 (I think).

ArdraF