chaajoad
Well-known member
A little background ...
I live in the Seattle area and my daily commute is two hours each way. It always amazes folks but I've got a routine down and much of the trip is on a state ferry and is very pleasant. I watch a movie, read, have a bite to eat - even doze off. Because this area is ultra-expensive, the only way for us to have a nicer home with property is this commute. But for a few years I've wanted to work at least 1 of the 5 workdays at home and there's no reason why I can't. The big hold back: no real room for a home office.
So - I started checking out options. I thought of an addition to the house but to do it properly would a be a ton of cash. Then I thought - why not a TT? I can use it as an office and our family of 3 can take it out for RV'ing. After all, the NW is RV nirvana. I came very close to buying a trailer, including a near scalping by one dealer who almost had me talked into a new 28' TT for $26k - outrageous but you know how sales guys can sometimes sucker anyone into signing the deal NOW. I went back & forth; with a Ford Explorer as a TV, I was limited by weight to an absolute max of 5,000 lbs. And that's with NO water or anything else in that trailer. Plus a tranny cooler, etc. Lots of work for limited choices. And the ultralight trailers don't have the best rep.
It was my wife who finally mentioned a MH. I had resisted because of the expense and the fact that anything with an engine would be costly to fix/maintain, etc. Well, after nosing around, I decided that we should look into the MH option. I visited local dealers and was pretty much disappointed - musty smelling coaches that seemed overpriced. I scanned private ads and visited forums such as this. I then turned to ebay where I've purchased literally hundreds of items. I was pleasantly surprised to find a big selection of coaches. Many of them (the used ones) looked very well-maintained and it was obvious that coach owners felt the same away about their rigs as I do about my motorcycle - I keep it in top-notch shape and always clean.
To get to the point ... tonight I bought a 1999 35' Bounder. I'm pretty sure we'll pick it up next weekend. At least by the weekend after next.
We're excited, nervous and pretty happy. I get to use it as an office and get the second home tax advantage. And we all get to travel around the NW without paying hundreds each night for a B&B, hotel or restaurants.
It's a beautiful rig, man. I had the RV lust big time after I saw the ad. 35k miles, Tag axle, full-sized tub and a cool interior design. I had trouble with a lot of the coaches with the wild fabrics and colors - just my taste. But I wanted something a bit more subdued. The only thing I noticed (after I bought it, of course) was no awning. I didn't know that was an option but it's not a big deal.
So now we just pile in and go. And if we move (a topic my wife won't discuss we take it with us. At some point I imagine we'll get a small toad (see? I've picked up the lingo!) but for now we'll either rent a car for in-city stuff or - and this is mainly what we'll do - we'll stay AWAY from cities and hunker down in MH.
It's been literally months and months of back-and-forth but when I saw this rig, it was over. Guess I'll have post a photo as soon as I can. I'm pleased to see that through these forums, Bounders come off pretty good. I think we got an excellent price on a like-new coach so we're off to a good start. I know there will be challenges but at this point, we're jazzed!
Just thought I'd drop in and ramble a bit. Seems like a friendly place. See ya on the road!
I live in the Seattle area and my daily commute is two hours each way. It always amazes folks but I've got a routine down and much of the trip is on a state ferry and is very pleasant. I watch a movie, read, have a bite to eat - even doze off. Because this area is ultra-expensive, the only way for us to have a nicer home with property is this commute. But for a few years I've wanted to work at least 1 of the 5 workdays at home and there's no reason why I can't. The big hold back: no real room for a home office.
So - I started checking out options. I thought of an addition to the house but to do it properly would a be a ton of cash. Then I thought - why not a TT? I can use it as an office and our family of 3 can take it out for RV'ing. After all, the NW is RV nirvana. I came very close to buying a trailer, including a near scalping by one dealer who almost had me talked into a new 28' TT for $26k - outrageous but you know how sales guys can sometimes sucker anyone into signing the deal NOW. I went back & forth; with a Ford Explorer as a TV, I was limited by weight to an absolute max of 5,000 lbs. And that's with NO water or anything else in that trailer. Plus a tranny cooler, etc. Lots of work for limited choices. And the ultralight trailers don't have the best rep.
It was my wife who finally mentioned a MH. I had resisted because of the expense and the fact that anything with an engine would be costly to fix/maintain, etc. Well, after nosing around, I decided that we should look into the MH option. I visited local dealers and was pretty much disappointed - musty smelling coaches that seemed overpriced. I scanned private ads and visited forums such as this. I then turned to ebay where I've purchased literally hundreds of items. I was pleasantly surprised to find a big selection of coaches. Many of them (the used ones) looked very well-maintained and it was obvious that coach owners felt the same away about their rigs as I do about my motorcycle - I keep it in top-notch shape and always clean.
To get to the point ... tonight I bought a 1999 35' Bounder. I'm pretty sure we'll pick it up next weekend. At least by the weekend after next.
We're excited, nervous and pretty happy. I get to use it as an office and get the second home tax advantage. And we all get to travel around the NW without paying hundreds each night for a B&B, hotel or restaurants.
It's a beautiful rig, man. I had the RV lust big time after I saw the ad. 35k miles, Tag axle, full-sized tub and a cool interior design. I had trouble with a lot of the coaches with the wild fabrics and colors - just my taste. But I wanted something a bit more subdued. The only thing I noticed (after I bought it, of course) was no awning. I didn't know that was an option but it's not a big deal.
So now we just pile in and go. And if we move (a topic my wife won't discuss we take it with us. At some point I imagine we'll get a small toad (see? I've picked up the lingo!) but for now we'll either rent a car for in-city stuff or - and this is mainly what we'll do - we'll stay AWAY from cities and hunker down in MH.
It's been literally months and months of back-and-forth but when I saw this rig, it was over. Guess I'll have post a photo as soon as I can. I'm pleased to see that through these forums, Bounders come off pretty good. I think we got an excellent price on a like-new coach so we're off to a good start. I know there will be challenges but at this point, we're jazzed!
Just thought I'd drop in and ramble a bit. Seems like a friendly place. See ya on the road!