Too big for boondocking?

[Frank B]

dbrownalive:

As others have said, it depends on where you want to go. Are you of the 4x4 crowd? If so, then a 30 footer is pretty big.

As to 4 season, that will depend on your rig, and what you are willing to do to it. I doubt if there are ANY truly four season rigs that come out of the factories. We have an Arctic Fox 30 foot travel trailer with 2 slides that is claimed to be four season. However it froze up at 9 degrees F. Our previous Canadian made 5th wheel trailer with no slides that I spray foamed on the bottom was good to -20 F, fully wet, and NO freeze ups.  But I had to do a fair bit of retrofitting on that. About the only advantage you get with a so-called Four Seasons unit, is that you have dual pane glass. That is a valuable addition if you plan on retrofitting from there.

If it has slides, its cold weather performance is going to be reduced. Too much additional surface area, and slides are typically MUCH less insulated than the rig as a whole. No point having 6" fiberglass roof insulation if the honkin' big slide only has 2".

Where do you live, and where do you plan to boondock? That information will be very important.

I have read hundreds and hundreds of posts, and I can say that I have never found a better resource than the RV Forum.

Yeah, I heartily agree. One of the best resources on the web.

Frank.

 

[dbrownalive]

Thank you, thank you for all of your input.

Looking at a 2001 Thor Hurricane for an excellent price of $14,500.  Gas 496 GM with 102,000 miles.

The Thor brand seems strong.  It's got some crazy Tiki graphics decals, but looks very well maintained.  Paying cash for this unit would help our full-timing budget.

I'll need to travel 5 hours to see it, so any advice, in advance,  would be appreciated.

Dan and Leeann
Stevensville

 

[Hfx_Cdn]

    Dan, here is a link to the section from our Library on purchasing an RV, check out the various headings, as I'm sure you will find all kinds of helpful advice:  http://www.rvforum.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=38&Itemid=132

Ed

 

[garyb1st]

Thank you, thank you for all of your input.

Looking at a 2001 Thor Hurricane for an excellent price of $14,500.  Gas 496 GM with 102,000 miles.

The Thor brand seems strong.  It's got some crazy Tiki graphics decals, but looks very well maintained.  Paying cash for this unit would help our full-timing budget.

I'll need to travel 5 hours to see it, so any advice, in advance,  would be appreciated.

Dan and Leeann
Stevensville

The high mileage is a problem for a lot of people.  Don't know whether or not the concern is fact based or a psychological hurdle.  Keep us informed in you buy it.  We'd love to hear how it performs.  There's been a lot of talk about high mileage motorhomes.  We bought our 1999 with 72,000.  Have added 17,000 in the past two years and the engine is very strong.  It's hard to imagine it's going to fail after 100,000.  Like everything else, maintenance is the key. 

 

[driftless shifter]

!5 years old with 102K can be used as a bargaining chip. The engine is probably fine if it shows good oil pressure at hot idle. The problem is with wear items. Anything that is belt driven is subject to failure, belts and hoses could easily be original and the radiator could be silting up if it's never been flushed. These are a pita to replace but if you can do these repairs on an automobile you can do them on a motorhome for a whole bunch of less money than paying for it. A maintenance log would be nice to see, especially it the price is firm. I see you will be paying cash, have cash readily available and lowball the price with the mention of cash today. I buy used cars this way and always get the car for thousands less than the advertised price. Mama always likes it when Papa comes home with a fistful of cash.

Bill

 

[wolfdog]

No matter the miles I would suggest a compression test, best way to find internal engine healthy!

 

[Old Radios]

As stated above it depends on where you want to go.

Here in the Northeast we had to stay under 30' as many of the the sites we like don't allow anything over 30 feet and some much less. We like to canoe and kayak and most remote sites here that are on the water don't allow or accommodate longer rigs.  Out west it doesn't seem to be as much of a problem.  Not many National park or BLM land available for boondocking here in the Northeast so your pretty much limited to a park's size restrictions even if you might be able to squeeze in.