I'm thinking about buying an RV.
 

I was thinking of getting something like this Class B here. Has anyone experience with RV life and share any tips for deciding and buying one?

Thanks.

Not familiar with that size, but on the larger ones make sure it has a cold weather package. This is especially true if you are buying one used or from the south. The link you posted was for a conversion van not really an RV so I don't know if this will apply or help.


edit; actually that's bigger than it looks.

That's what she said

If you are alone for a few days that is fine.

It is stealthy enough to go places other RVS can not, and the mileage is very decent.

Traded in my 22 foot B for a 20 C and it is a world of difference. Though more piggish on the road, it is so much more comfortable and is liveable for long stretches 2 or more weeks without an issue. I spent once 7 weeks with 2 cats as well as my GF and was not going nuts.

If you are driving 600 miles a day to spend 4 days in it when you get there (alone or with just a GF) get the B. If you want to drive 300-400 miles a day and take many weeks or months off, get a B (or trailer)

I have a trailer too. With me and the wife and 2 kids it worked great for a week or 2. Awesome for a weekend. More of a pain to drive, park and set up, but way more comfortable than a B. Trailer drops my mileage about 5 mpg if I am careful and in FL. other places as much a 9mpg.

I have also had a pop up camper. Other than in very cold climates, very comfortable to sleep, cook and and shower in for 2 - tight for 4. Rainy day where you can't go outside and you are stir crazy in it though.

When I was kid the grandparents used to take me camping in Indiana Potato Creek, Turkey Run, etc... Started in a tent, then they moved up to a Pop-Up camper, after the pop-up camper they opted for hotel trips instead of moving up to an RV. I'd probably prefer one on the smaller end if just occasional trips or not a ton of people going as better MPG and more convenient. Would go bigger if I planned on doing some hardcore longer trips or if I had mad family I had to cart with. :2 cents:

I have a view24j 2011 on Mercedes Benz chassis, love it.
Put big screen, directv and it's a true getaway mancave.

Buy it a year old, cheaper and all the bugs worked out.

That is a van. Why pay so much for a van when you can get something much more comfortable in class c for $20,000 used?

that's a fantastic class b in the op. dang. Just spent the summer vacationing throughout southern california in a 33' class A. tons of dry camping. if you are going to spend any amount of time inside your motorhome I would go bigger, class A. if you are super very active and plan on mostly using your motorhome to get you to your destination and you will mostly be outside of your rig and using it mostly to sleep, etc, the class B would work well.

There isn't much difference in price between luxury class B motorhomes and class A. Certainly class A rigs can reach holy fucking shit prices but you can get a crazy sweet class A used for 100k$ and roll up anywhere in style and pizazz.

a BIG benefit to class A rigs are the slideouts. If you are going to relax inside, they make it much more roomy and homey.

I used to have a fantasy of quitting my job and getting an RV to travel the country filming amateur porn scenes. One of these days I might just do it.

In answer to the OP's question, there is a guy online named Bill Myers who has a lot of advice about RV life. I think his site is bmyers.com.

Add a solar panel and a extra battery unless you like the sound of your generator.

I've often thought about getting a conversion van and touring the country. For me it would more of a super comfortable car that I can lounge around in during breaks in driving to get stuff done and occasionally spend the night in when a hotel isn't an option.

No names mentioned, but two of us from our industry recently sold everything they owned and have just gone on the road. Not a road trip, but they are touring different countries. Frankly, I am a bit jealous. I've always wanted to do something similar. I guess that's the joy of not having kids.

That's a Sprinter van, and they are utter pieces of shit. Trust me, don't EVER buy a Sprinter van. At one point I owned 6 of them for my expedited freight business, and I'm down to my last one and am selling it this week. Just check out any of the Sprinter van forums and read horror story after horror story about how shitty they are built, and how fucking expensive they are to repair, especially now that you can no longer get Chrysler parts for them and can only get parts for the new Sprinters from Mercedes Benz.

In the last month I've had the turbo replaced on my last Sprinter for $2000 and the EGR valve for $1800 (and they go out regularly on Sprinters). And that is a pre 2006 model that doesn't require DEF fuel, those are a fucking headache I would never want to deal with...

I heard that class B is great choice !

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I'm more leaning towards the fuel economy of a smaller RV. I do plan on installing solar panels and extra batteries. It will be something to stay in long term.

I just spent the last 8 months traveling the country in a VW westy. Don't under estimate how much driving a big as camper sucks ass.. not to mention how much camping g in RV parks sucks.

I started out with a class b and hated it, once I realized I didn't need half the shit in an RV traveling was soo much more enjoyable. I'll be doing it again next year, but have to head back to Fl for a bit.

fill me in, how much does it suck driving a big as camper? I just drove my class A many thousands of miles over the last months, what did I miss? my stand-up shower? storage for things like a couple surfboards and a guitar? the queen size bed? my satellite dish? a modern day toilet? Being able to drive 99% of all roads, byways, highways, parking lots, entrances, exits, campsites, parks, etc?

Switch to all led lighting. Get at least 1 solar fan roof vent. Get as much solar as you can afford if you are dry camping (most national parks do not have hookups)

RENT what you want (and your second choice) before you buy. It may be a real eye opener.

My class B was a Roadtrek 22 that was built like a tank and it did get about 17mpg (not towing or loaded heavy). No real mechanical problems. Shitty for long term. Shitty Shower system. Terrible roof room for solar panels. Zero storage on roof.

My Class C (20 foot) gets about 11mpg if I am lucky. Great shower (most national parks have no showers).

The inside of the camper takes longer to heat it up and cool it off BUT MAINTAINS IT FAR BETTER. Tons of windows space that opens with screens so you don't have to run the AC as much. Generators suck do what you can to not have to turn one on.

Tons of roof space. 4 large solar panels and a clam shell up top! Sat dish is not mounted up top. So I pull up my canoes or my aluminum john boat and drive with it on the roof. Tons of power to pull my trailers or my Honda (drops down to 9mpg).

For long term long distance, driving the class C and pulling the Honda and using the Honda as the run around vehicle and site seeing car save me a ton of $$$ on gas. I go away for long stretches.

There are many places (besides virtually most parking garages) you can not just go to with a class B.

I sold my class B. Got a slightly used "C". Upgraded it to the max and had about $40k left over from the sale of the class B I bought new.

A good shower, toilet and real top notch bed on the road are priceless.

A place to actually stretch out inside and watch a 40inch TV while it is raining is too.

Try washing dishes in a BS sink or cooking real meals with a EZ bake oven.

you will need to seriously research this before buying. If you are going to work out of this motorhome, you will need BIG batteries and several solar panels. 1 solar panel for an RV will at most provide 150watts to recharge your house battery bank. If you are working, laptop, printer, internet, lights, etc. count on needing 500+ watts of solar panels and at least 1 4d deep-cycle battery, which is 2 feet long and weighs 150 pounds.

Perhaps camping to you, is pretending you are at home in your living room, or perhaps having a nice view of the sewer hose on the camper five feet from you is your thing..

Myself, I like to actually go out doors.. not buy the t shirt and pretend I did..

http://i.imgur.com/IvlEUhx.jpg

Try to bring your class a there....

Better fuel economy? Easier handling?

crockett, always the debbie downer. the part that just zings over your stupid fucking head is the simple fact camping is a personal experience unique to each camper.

different strokes for different strokes but you're too fucking uptight about your style of camping you felt the need to come in here and ASAP denigrate big ass motorhomes.

you're a fucking sad case and I'm just stoked people like you don't camp at surf spots.

fuck off you sad fuck. :1orglaugh

You were the one acting all uppity about your driving on every road, satellite dishes and stand up showers.. you asked what you were missing so I showed you.. why so mad?

dipshit, are you for real? I asked you what I missed about the shitty living of a big as motorhome that you wrote and felt the need to start your op in here off with.


fuck you are sad. you are not welcome here in socal 72 degrees on the beach today, surf was STELLAR last few days with santa ana winds.


http://www.san-simeon-lodging.com/im...k_SVRA-2lg.png

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

you must have left your brains back at that truck stop when you got shit all over yourself emptying your black tank 1x a week. lolx, that vw prolly doesn't even have a black tank does it? you shit in a porta toilet and empty it every time you stop.


which is more than fucking fine with me, let's get that real fucking straight. I'm not the one that needed to justify my camping style by shit talking your's. nevertheless, I can play that stupid fucking game with you about RV life.

Why are you so mad?

lolz, what the fuck makes you think I'm mad? dude, you've been stuffed into that vw for too long

me? take gfy srsly? :1orglaugh

Man, you really are mad.. I bet you will feel pretty fucking stupid when you reread my first post and see I never said shit about you.. yet for some reason you jump to conclusions like a mindless baboon.

so instead of 21 century living, connectivity and power (room for batts and panels) with my class A, I should get a volkswagon van so I can hang out with debbie downer in some random spot at the end of a dirt road and shit in a bucket.

no thanks.!

so again crockett, I'll ask you the same sincere question I originally asked, what the fuck was it I underestimated, or anyone underestimated, about a big ass motorhome?

I still have no clue why you are going off on this hissy fit. I simply told him not to under estimate how much it sucks to drive a large RV around. I did start with a large class b and I thought it sucked. Yes it was roomy and comfortable, but it sucked to drive and sucked in traffic.


However my westy is the size of a normal van, gets good mpg and I can take it anywhere and I have. I don't have to hook up to power because if you look close you will see two 100w solar panels on the roof and inside I have 2 type 31 agm deep cycles. Those just happened to give me that 21 century connectivity that you seem so worried about.

I power a 12v fridge, a 12v TV with HD anntenna, and still have plenty of power to charge my laptop and tablet. Oh yea, I have Internet too as I'm using it now to post..

In 8 months I've never once had to plug in to electric or pay for a shitty campground to sit 5 ft from some ass hole who brings half his house with him and runs his generator all day and night..

Does it really bug you this much, that someone can do everything you can and more with something not even half the size? Really I don't get why you are so upset..

Yawn.

Answer the fucking question crockett . I'm still waiting on you to tell us all about how big as rv owners only get the t-shirt and miss out on it.

Fill me in.

Great advice. The campground thing is not for everyone.

I've been looking at one of these. (except the drop down rear door to load my snowmobile or atv in)

Not exactly an RV but it has holes on the bottom so I can fish out of it in the winter time :-)

that thing looks nice! 'm digging the hydraulic lowering system man! that is a huge plus for ice fishing. does the system level too ? I have a computerized hydraulic leveling system on my rig, being level while camping is a very nice thing to have.

if your way is so much more pure why not just get a honda civic and a tent then?

To be honest I don't know. I've been in a few of these at sportsman shows this year. The problem is all the reps are always busy.

I am heading here in 2 weeks to see if I can't swing some kind of deal on one. Great question to add to my growing list of questions.

22nd Annual St. Paul Ice Fishing & Winter Sports Show | GS Events

if it doesn't, the good news is lake ice is always level i reckon so the leveling feature would only be handy for you if you camp on ground.

hope you score a deal !

I guess the first thing to decide is what exactly you want to do with it. Is it just for weekend fun or vacations or to be a full timer? I would imagine after a few days or couple of weeks you will get real tired of that classB you posted a link to. Do you have any other RV's in mind that you may be considering?


We have a 40' MCI-7 coach, it is set up to live off grid for up to 2 months or we plug into electric at campgrounds 50/30 amp setup to run anything we need.
We carry 200 gallons of water, 90 gallon propane tank, 100 gallons of regular fuel for the generator and 140 of diesel to run the coach, have 3 AC units, central heat, shower toilet, complete kitchen, satellite 2 flat screens (one up front and 1 in the bedroom)........pretty much can take off anytime we want and have the comforts of home.

Good Luck!

Nice looking outfit you have there!

that is a good-looking rig, it's not mine though.

I've got a 33 pace arrow.

stock photo:
http://git.me/photo/2014/03/05/49317...e-Arrow-33.jpg

Your MCI sounds mighty fine! I"m liking the quantities on those tanks, except for the weight when full :winkwink: gotta be 4000 pounds of liquids when topped off eh. dang. but you get a couple weeks dry camping out of that which is sweet.

i've got 85 gallon fuel, 80 gallon fresh water and 25 gal propane. the fuel tank supplies both the chassis motor and the 7kw gen. with the batteries topped off nicely and all tanks filled, we can get a 7-10 days of dry camping.

connectivity, that's another story. Was using Millenicom for data- 20 gigs for $90, they bought verizon bandwidth and resold. Verizon just shut them down.

We can hop on various wifi networks, I've got 2 15db tp-link omni-directional antennas that retract onto the roof, when extended they're ~24 feet in the air and combined can pull in wifi signal from ~30 miles away but it's not consistent. the satellite data signal is about as inconsistent also.

Why are you so mad about what I think? If you are happy driving around some 30ft long mobile home with a trailer behind it then more power to you.

I mean hey if you like spending an hour after you get somewhere leveling your rig,hooking up water, sewerage lines and unhooking your tag along trailer to sit 5ft from the next rv, while paying 50 bucks a night who am I to argue with your way.


Myself on the other hand I kinda like quick easy go anywhere set up in 5mins and I'm done.

I mean hell maybe you like hanging out in Walmart parking lots while you travel because the rig is too big to park anywhere else..


Once again who am I to tell you that's the wrong way.. I simply told the OP that driving big rvs sucks ass if you travel alot..

Myself, I just drove from CO to FL and spent about $200 in gas..but hey my way isn't for everyone..

Once again we have another guy that seems ofended that someone does it differently. When did I say anything about pure or what ever?

I simply stated driving around a monstrosity of a RV is not my cup of tea. I prefer to not be tethered to a giant mobile home on wheels when I can fit everything I need in something the size of what I use.

If you need a 50ft slide out everything or whatever floats your boat, then have at it. I just offered the OP a difference of opinion and you guys seem to be offened..

yet again, you think I'm mad. :1orglaugh gofuckyourself.

I simply asked you wtf you meant by underestimating how much it sucks to travel in comfort. You kept dodging the question and finally made up this bullshit about my 3+ months of surfing cali waves and travelling, having one of the best vacations we've ever had and checking off a few bucket list items.

but hey, I couldn't give a shit what kind of camping you enjoy crockett, just don't try and fuck with mine because I do fuck back.

nevertheless. enjoy shitting in a bucket and sleeping unlevel in-between parking outside of starbucks so you can use their wifi. and don't even try and bullshit me that you get wifi parked at the end of that dirt road. :1orglaugh

http://i.imgur.com/IvlEUhx.jpg

that's not at all what you wrote. You might have said this to yourself, but between your brain cell and your thumb things changed, what you hammered out was insulting.

and again, gofuckyourself on your private little retreat there.

this is what you wrote in reply to my question.

again, gofuckyourself, and in fact, I would try and bring my class A there. I'd set-up right next to your punk ass and it would seem like a fucking eclipse just happened to you. then I'd fire up my generator so the exhaust fumes into your wide open van and we crank tunes until 4 am throwing malt liquor bottles on your shitty rollout carpet. After a few days, I'll dump my shitter tank and gray tank next to you and be on my way.

:1orglaugh

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

ATC 250R? what year? I have an 82 250r that's been bored to 325. Faster than hell

We're looking at getting a diesel pusher and getting a Harley lift for the back. No trailer. Then take that to Sturgis next year

Y'all will have the time of your lives if you do that man! no shit. Saw one of those fancy lifts on the back of a sweet diesel pusher recently, it's ideal. ride on, ride off. push a button, a couple tied downs, done.

Already found one lift, $3,000 , little bit of welding, which I can do. Lift limit is 1,000 pounds so I'm covered. I've seen a couple, they're pretty cool

We have a pop-up which is more than enough for our family of 5. We haven't left Florida with it yet though, only weekend or the occasional holiday week camping so far. Prior, we would go in our tent and were perfectly happy, the popup allows us to do it with a few more comforts of home in case of rain - which is common here in Florida;)

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/...psc2eb70b1.jpg