We Want a Class C Motor Home

[Deaf Bob]

Friend bought a camper for his 4X4.. Lifted dualie Ford, dropped it back down when the camper became exciting on curves.. Bought a motorhome.. No more climbing over the cab to go to sleep..

If I have one with the bed over the cab, grands get it! Daughter has a trailer.. All the bells n whistles!.

Motorhomes, Sue can go lay down or fix lunch on the go

[pdub]

Motorhomes, Sue can go lay down or fix lunch on the go

Ohhh nooooo. Sit down and fasten your seat belt. If we get in a wreck and hit something.....

[SuperBuickGuy]

Class C is a motorhome that looks like a camper attached to a van - those have overhead beds with a window looking forward. Class A looks like a large, shoebox. They have the most room and get almost exactly the same fuel economy as a class C.

Just like cars, ask yourself what you want to do. You have trailers, campers, and motorhomes that come in all sizes and shapes.... and for all lifestyles. Your first question is where to you want to go - if you don't mind stacked neighbors of RV parks, then the larger the better and the more slideouts the better. OTOH, I have all the same amenities in my Suburban - and my Suburban is actually kind of large comparatively for those who like dispersed camping (fancy term for parking and camping on the shoulder).

I've owned every type of RV there is.... so I'll try to get a bit of overview of each. The major benefit of a Class C or A is you can tow behind it. My parents have an A and tow a Suzuki sidekick behind it (or a trailer with their road bikes), or a boat or whatever. As I said before, A has more room, but it also feels bigger.... which isn't a deal on the highway and it's kind of fun driving your couch down the freeway. Off the freeway, my grandpa was famous for knocking the siding off his Winnebago. Class C is nice if you have kids or dogs you want to avoid, but limited headroom and of course climbing up can be a challenge.... as can getting out to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Trailers - you could pull a reasonable trailer with Blue, but if you want to go to the track and bring a car for racing, you both will be driving.

What usually happens is people keep getting larger and larger motorhomes until they give up or die.... as I'm contrarian, I had a 29 foot class A and have gotten smaller and smaller though with that said, I'm thinking about putting a sleeping box on the back of my suburban....

Fuel economy. 10 mpg. I don't care what you tow or drive. 10 mpg. My 29 foot with a 454 got 10. My 24 foot class c got 10. My k1500 chevy pickup pulling a 5th wheel got 10.... if you want better, diesel, but be warned most diesels are pusher motorhomes and they can cost a lot. With that said, I have a lot of friends that have fully embraced the RV lifestyle - so that they sold their home and lived where ever. The one most appealing to me was the friend who went from owning a Christmas tree farm, to a rental, then to their Class A 35 foot which they went from Baja Mexico in the winter to Oregon in the Summer. They lived on the beach and fished, they came north and worked the National Parks as a camp ranger for free space rent during the summer.... which isn't a bad gig at all.

there, that's a start on reading.

[SuperBuickGuy]

with what I said before about not going larger - I am looking for a GMC motorhome because my wife is starting to do more and more trailing events - so being able to travel there in comfort without the headache of finding hotels is attractive to me.... and I'd put a 6.2 diesel in it with a turbo.... but don't do this, it's not for the uninitiated.

[Dan Barlow]

P will be using a supercharger

[Barry Donovan]

in bangor brewer maine they got this bus they call "the bat."

it has a wheelbase tucked, yet is a lot of room at the chassis, air ride.. the front is flat like a vw van.. just huge as a bus.

I watched it whip right around a corner my 96 gmc would argue with.

there must be some real nice rv's out there today.
just modern diesel tech is an incentive.

the materials like modern boats..
oh yeah.

and don't forget to check out maine like a tourist with an RV.

[DanStokes]

A couple of ideas. Like Russell said, RENT one first. Minimal investment and you may find that it isn't your cup o' tea so there's nothing to lose (except your rental fee). Try before you buy. And if you buyt go Diesel (I know - I'm a Diesel kind of guy but believe me on this). Any Diesel fitted to a truck chassis is a truck Diesel and built to be TOUGH. The gas engines are basically car engines and, while great engines, lack things like piston coolers and such that will allow a truck engine to live, more or less, forever. There's also a significant fuel economy improvement. There are large, Diesel-powered, van-based units on a Mercedes or Ford chassis that seem to be pretty stout and the main bed is at floor level in the designs I've seen - worth a look.

EDIT: Forgot to add - y'all can come visit here, too!

Have Fun!

Dan

[RockJustRock]

Class C is the sweet spot. My folks started out with a TransVan conversion, worked there way up to a Class A then went to the biggest Class C they could find. They'd live in it in Arizona all winter then base it out of the house in Wisconsin in the summer. My Dad wheeled them with a car on a tow bar until he was about 85. Being born in the 1910s and surviving the great depression they were the only luxuries my parents went all out on. Find a "winter" storage to park it in the summer and go hang out near Squirrel in the winter. DON'T come to any major city. When my folks "visited"me in Phoenix they couldn't understand me grousing about the park they got a great deal on in Northwest Phoenix (20 miles into the desert) when I lived in Tempe.

[SuperBuickGuy]

A couple of ideas. Like Russell said, RENT one first. Minimal investment and you may find that it isn't your cup o' tea so there's nothing to lose (except your rental fee). Try before you buy. And if you buyt go Diesel (I know - I'm a Diesel kind of guy but believe me on this). Any Diesel fitted to a truck chassis is a truck Diesel and built to be TOUGH. The gas engines are basically car engines and, while great engines, lack things like piston coolers and such that will allow a truck engine to live, more or less, forever. There's also a significant fuel economy improvement. There are large, Diesel-powered, van-based units on a Mercedes or Ford chassis that seem to be pretty stout and the main bed is at floor level in the designs I've seen - worth a look.

EDIT: Forgot to add - y'all can come visit here, too!

Have Fun!

Dan

I'm not convinced that it's worth the cost* difference to go diesel. Most people put 25000-50000 miles total on their RV and the 20% difference is fuel economy just doesn't seem to pencil out - especially since you can have fuel issues (gelling) that you'll never have with gas.

*call it an even $40,000 more for a diesel since you're now moving larger and to pusher style for similar equipment. Worst of all, if you have someone who can sleep when you're driving, having the motor under your main bed creates havoc there are well...

[RockJustRock]

Best story they tell was with a really big Class B with a full bed in the back but still a back door. They'd get tired of talking to each other and Mom would stretch out on the full bed. Dad stopped for gas and Mom bailed out to avoid using the on board facilities. Dad saddles up and miles down the road hears the back door flapping in the wind. They talked a LOT less on the rest of that trip after he doubled back and picked her up.

[RockJustRock]

And join Good Sam Club. They have a forum even.

http://forums.goodsamclub.com/

Get your butt ready to sit and READ for a while, another promising looking forum,

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/SuperCrvgroup/info

The Jayco Greyhawk seems REALLY popular with those folks.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Best story they tell was with a really big Class B with a full bed in the back but still a back door. They'd get tired of talking to each other and Mom would stretch out on the full bed. Dad stopped for gas and Mom bailed out to avoid using the on board facilities. Dad saddles up and miles down the road hears the back door flapping in the wind. They talked a LOT less on the rest of that trip after he doubled back and picked her up.

he doubled back? I know of one where he got her an airline ticket to catch up....

[pdub]

And join Good Sam Club. They have a forum even.

Wow, it's obvious that we have more learning than knowing going on right now. Unit didn't want to go to the dealership shopping today, she wants to ease into it slower. And that's fine too, this is not an emergency. And I had not been paying attention, it's dadgum cold here this week, at least for us old coots to be spending most of the day outside looking at RVs.

She did call the dealership in Ringgold this morning just to find out how the game is played. He said Y'all come on down, but bundle up, it's COLD. And he said some folks are waiting at 9:00 a.m. when they open and stay all day looking until they close. That's what we want and need to do, but it won't be this week.

[silver_bullet]

do shopping at dealers and rv shops for information... then hit craigslist for distressed sellers.... have a good mechanic available to check it out....

[SuperBuickGuy]

and do bundle up with your flame suit, RV salesmen make used car salesmen seem like angels.

and when they say "it's a simple leak to fix" .... run. just run.