Trying to find a used Diesel Class A/Super C, that fits our family... It's HARD!

[pml]

You might wantto take a look at the Jayco Seneca super C. Some come with bunks  and most you could easily add bunks. I think a class c works well for families because of the over cab bunk provides an extra sleeping area. Jayco has been making the Seneca since 2006. Present models are on a Freightliner Chassis with a Cummins but older models come  on a Chevy chassis with the Duramax Diesel.

 

[Altonymous]

You might wantto take a look at the Jayco Seneca super C. Some come with bunks  and most you could easily add bunks. I think a class c works well for families because of the over cab bunk provides an extra sleeping area. Jayco has been making the Seneca since 2006. Present models are on a Freightliner Chassis with a Cummins but older models come  on a Chevy chassis with the Duramax Diesel.

I'm really not a big fan of the idea of sleeping over the generator.  So in order to make a Seneca work I think I'd end up tearing out the entire backend to put in a kids room, and then sleeping in the loft over the cab.  The garage makes a lot more sense in that case because at least I don't have to tear it all out and feel bad about it... 

 

[ironrat]

This is a bit off your request but how are you going to travel all the time with the kids? If your going to park for months at a time the gas rig is far better. Also a big toy hauler trailer would work well as you have the truck to drive around in. I think over all buying a empty bus and just building inside as you want may be the way to go.

 

[Altonymous]

Well we don't know how we're going to travel.  We'll kind of figure that out as we go.  We are planning to make is a standard to move every 2 weeks.  We might move more/less frequently.  We just won't know until we do.  We will be full-timers.  We are in the process of selling our home and once it sales we'll buckle down on getting an RV.  Right now we have the luxury of time while the house is for sale.  Ideally we'll pay the RV outright and have no payment, but we're willing to juggle a payment too if we have to.  For us we are expecting that means... ~$50k == no payment, anything above requires payment. 

We have no intention for parking for months at a time, I assume you say a gas is better because the engine won't be used as much and therefore the added expense of a diesel doesn't work out in our favor.

As for the trailer we definitely don't want the trailer.  We know that for a fact.  I have a Jeep.  I'm not going anywhere without my Jeep.  If it's a rock, I get over it.  A big part of the trip for me is hitting every rock trail I can put my wheels on.

 

[blw2]

I'm really not a big fan of the idea of sleeping over the generator.  So in order to make a Seneca work I think I'd end up tearing out the entire backend to put in a kids room, and then sleeping in the loft over the cab.  The garage makes a lot more sense in that case because at least I don't have to tear it all out and feel bad about it... 

in my C, and most that I have seen, the genny is not under the rear bedroom.  Mine is under the living room sofa, just behind the driver's seat.

My floorplan doesn't look like much on paper, but it works great for my family of 3 kids, but we're not full timing.  Currently, all three of my kids sleep comfortably in the overhead, with heads towards the front bumper....  I figure at least another year, maybe a bit more, before my oldest, now 9-1/2, won't fit well enough for that....
I can't imagine mine would be good long term though.  They do make a super c just like my plan, but bigger with a king instead of a queen, bigger tanks, etc....  I think other manufacturers have something similar too.  I would think those would work well for long stretches, but then I can't imagine any RV working great with 4 kids full time....

good luck in your search!

 

[ironrat]

You may not want a trailer and that is your business for sure, but in most states you can tow a fifth wheel trailer and have a car (jeep)trailer behind that. Just a thought.

P.S. what are you going to do for the kids schooling?

 

[Altonymous]

We have been homeschooling them, we will continue to do so.

I'd rather not create a train and deal with any legal issues that incurs as we move around.  We'll have enough to worry about.  Also, there's no way my wife would be willing to drive.

 

[Ned]

You may not want a trailer and that is your business for sure, but in most states you can tow a fifth wheel trailer and have a car (jeep)trailer behind that. Just a thought.

Not true, in those states that do allow double towing behind a 5th wheel trailer, the second trailer can be a 2 wheel boat type trailer only.  Other state don't allow double tows at all without a CDL with the proper endorsements.

 

[cadee2c]

I see you have put a lot of thought into this, but its not just about finding sleeping areas for everyone. One of the best pieces of advice I have seen here for families considering full timing is to think about what it would be like with all of you stuck inside the RV for several days at a time in inclement weather. Because rain happens. Pack up your kids and go to an RV dealer, load them all into any RV and see how it feels to actually have everyone inside.  I don't know if you've done any RVing with the kids yet, but if not try renting one for a week and see how that goes. Act like its raining outside the whole week, and keep everyone inside all day every day.

This will also help to consider where you will put everyone's stuff. Kids go through clothes, a lot of clothes. How will you do laundry? How often? You can get buy with just a few outfits each, but then you will be buying new outfits more often as they will wear out faster with so frequent washings. Also, consider the seasons, warm summer type shorts to chilly cool weather coats.  You will have to carry it all with you. And yes, you will also need warm clothes in Florida at times. 

You really should do all this before you sell your house, because you wont have a lot of time afterwards, and some people take a very long time just finding a good RV. And, once you've found one, you will also need time to do the remodeling and then move your stuff into it.

 

[Altonymous]

I see you have put a lot of thought into this, but its not just about finding sleeping areas for everyone. One of the best pieces of advice I have seen here for families considering full timing is to think about what it would be like with all of you stuck inside the RV for several days at a time in inclement weather. Because rain happens. Pack up your kids and go to an RV dealer, load them all into any RV and see how it feels to actually have everyone inside.  I don't know if you've done any RVing with the kids yet, but if not try renting one for a week and see how that goes. Act like its raining outside the whole week, and keep everyone inside all day every day.

This will also help to consider where you will put everyone's stuff. Kids go through clothes, a lot of clothes. How will you do laundry? How often? You can get buy with just a few outfits each, but then you will be buying new outfits more often as they will wear out faster with so frequent washings. Also, consider the seasons, warm summer type shorts to chilly cool weather coats.  You will have to carry it all with you. And yes, you will also need warm clothes in Florida at times. 

You really should do all this before you sell your house, because you wont have a lot of time afterwards, and some people take a very long time just finding a good RV. And, once you've found one, you will also need time to do the remodeling and then move your stuff into it.

I'm not trying to be rude, but we've gone through all this for months.  I work at home 100% of the time, my kids have always been home schooled.  We have lived in a 500 sq foot space together for 4 months with NO kitchen.  We still love each other and understand there are hard times that will come with this. 

We've been to multiple dealers and had all the kids with us for each trip. 

We've also talked about laundry, what our options are, we aren't sure if the laundry mat or having them on board will be better.  So it's another reason we're looking at the toy hauler.  It allows us to add them if we so desire.

We are currently living in my dad's house in FL while our house is on the market.  We can stay here as long as we like.  So I'm not sure where you get the idea we won't have a lot of time after we sell the house?  He's got 7 acres and an entire shop of tools at our disposal for retro-fitting the RV.  If you check out some of the sites I linked in my first post, especially the inspirationstationfam.com one you'll see they've given a really good overview of living full-time with kids on an RV.  They've addressed, sleeping, storage/organization, cooking, etc...  All from the perspective of being on the road full-time with more kids than we are taking.

On top of that we've also got it planned to live full-time for a month around the corner and down the street from my dad's house to see if we can cut it.  If we have to go home at the end for things or change things that's how it is.. it will help us understand what we need.  If we can't make the entire month then we'll put the RV back up for sell and learned a life lesson for us.

P.S. - I know this was my debut post and in my original post I said I'm soaking up all information like a sponge.  So I really appreciate the feedback.  However, we recently have just started buckling down and making the hard choices.  We have a spreadsheet with 7 tabs and lots of questions we are racking up that we need to get answered as well as the answers we've found along the way, resources to refer back to that we find so we can share information with each other, kids resources for the kids to read, reminders, and a number of other topics...

P.P.S. - I'd love for this thread to be focused on pro-cons of floor plans we've chosen and not trying to talk us out of doing it.  I know for a lot of people they don't understand the appeal of doing something like this.  For us there is no other thing we can think of we want to do more. 

Did I mention we also have a chocolate lab going with us.    I didn't want to give all the naysayers a heart-attack though...

 

[kenb1023]

Are you looking to buy new ore used or looking at both?  Winnebago has a few floor plans under both drives that would work.  I don't know how many you plan to sleep but one with a bath and a half is really nice.  Seems like there is always someone using the it when you need to go and that extra sink/toilet helps.  Some of my favorites are:
Winnebago Gassers: Sightseer 36Z, Adventurer 37F or 38Q
Winnebago Diesles: Forza 38R, Journy 40R