What RV is Right for You? Part 2 – Motorhomes

You’ve been waiting all week for this, haven’t you?  If you missed the first part of this series (types of trailers), stop for a bit and go read it.  Or look at the spreadsheet.  Whatever.  I don’t know your life.

Today we’re going to delve into the wonderful world of motorhomes and their nonsensical class system (similar to India’s caste system, only not at all in any way).  There is one super-important thing to remember when you’re thinking of full-time motorhoming – if your motorhome goes into the shop, your whole house goes into the shop.  Not so with trailers.  If you’d like the easier set-up/take-down though, motorhomes are the way to go.  And we’re off!

Motorhomes

Class A

Are you well-off?  Do you eat desserts made with edible gold leaves?  Do you love being the biggest thing on the road?  Do you love having a huuuuuge windshield with an awesome panoramic view?  Hey-hey!  Have I got the motorhome for you.  Class A motorhomes are the biggest you can get.  These are the flat-fronted beasts of the RV world. 

Living space: Class As have two or more slides (read part 1 if you don’t know what that means), so there is plenty of room to stretch your legs.

Storage: Interior storage is pretty good due to their large size, and their exterior storage is the best money can buy.  Go ahead, bring that baby grand (but not really; that would be a very stupid idea).

Versatility: Unfortunately due to their awesome exterior storage, these have really low ground clearance.  They’re safer if you stay on paved roads or very nice dirt roads.  And since they’re tall (like a 5^th wheel) you have pretty bad height clearance as well.  Once again, look out for short bridges and low branches.

Driving: High wind resistance, not the best visibility (if you choose to tow a car, get a camera), and kinda noisy if you get a “gasser.”  If you’ve got the money for it, spring for a diesel.  Their rear engines are quieter, more powerful, and longer-lasting. 

Gas Mileage: 8-10 MPG.  But you should have been expecting that.

Extra Needs: If you decide to tow a vehicle (colloquially known as a TOAD), make sure you get brake and light hook-ups along with your hitch.

Set-up/Take-down: Da best!  Since these are top-of-the-line, you just press a button, your jacks do the work, and you’re ready to play.  Unhitching your TOAD can be a pain though.

Costs: 50k-80k new, and these can get up to 800k if you’re insane.  Keep in mind that motorhomes will need more maintenance than trailers as well, so there’s some more cost.

Extra Tidbits: It’s hard to grocery shop with a class A.  TOADs are a smart idea.

Bus Conversions

I love this idea.  It’s kinda the hipster rage among RVers.  Pretty much you take an old bus (Greyhound or school are the most popular), gut it, and build a house inside.  Since it’s so popular, you can buy them pre-made or you can get creative and make your own. 

Living space: Technically these are class A motorhomes, but they don’t have any slides.  Still rather roomy due to their width and high ceilings though.

Storage: Depends on the type of bus you convert.  Greyhound buses usually have some exterior storage, while school buses don’t.  Interior storage is pretty good for both, and you can always fabricate extra shelving or something.

Versatility: Greyhounds need to stay on the pavement, but are welcomed into RV parks.  School buses can go pretty much anywhere (beast!), but some RV parks don’t like their aesthetic, so they might not let you in.

Driving: You might need a commercial driver’s license for these.  I’m not totally sure.  They do have high wind resistance/poor height clearance and everything that comes with a class A.  Greyhounds tend to be quieter, school buses tend to be louder.

Gas Mileage: 6-8 MPG.  Yeah…

Extra Needs: You’re probably going to want a TOAD and a generator.

Set-up/Take-down: Park on level ground.  That’s pretty much it, unless you install hydraulics or something.

Costs: These are a great deal – pre-made run from around 15k-25k, but if you can build your own it can be 10k or less.  The shells usually cost around 5k, and the remodel fees are up to you.

Extra Tidbits: It’s a bus.  It’s made to last forever.  So these are tough, safe, long-lasting, and awesome.  If you do break down though, it’s expensive.  Not many places are equipped to fix buses.

Class C

Trust me, I know my alphabet.  I know B comes after C.  Whoever made up motorhome classes didn’t know that though.  Class Cs are the motorhomes with the little bitty beds above the cab.  You know the ones.

Living space: Imagine a tiny apartment.  Like, in New York or something (not Hollywood’s NY though, where every waitress can afford a 3-bedroom).  That’s what you get with a class C motorhome.  Lots of them come with slides, so these can be pretty roomy.

Storage: Interior and exterior storage are both pretty good, but not as great as a class A.

Versatility: These have better height and ground clearance than class As, but they’re not as versatile as trailers.  You can drive these in town, but it’s a hassle; best to bring a TOAD.

Driving: Again, better than the class A but not great.  Get a camera if you have a TOAD.

Gas Mileage: 10-12 MPG (hurrah!)

Extra Needs: Same as a class A.

Set-up/Take-down: Same as a class A.

Costs: 50k-80k new (up to 140k).  Also need maintenance more than trailers.

Extra Tidbits: You can’t tell from this segment, but this is the kind of motorhome The Man and I would get.  Big enough for a tiny family, small enough that you can boondock a bit (long-term camping).  These are safer than class As and the cost difference between gassers and diesels isn’t as severe, but diesels are harder to find.  Try to find them.

Class B

Like Chris Farley, you too could live in a van down by the river!  These are often called van conversions or camper vans.  Why they’re B and not C, I’ll never know.  Because I’m too lazy to look it up. 

Living space: No, it’s seriously a van, guys.  Have you ever heard of a “wet bath?”  Your toilet and sink are INSIDE your shower.  Inside.  You shower over your toilet.  These do have tall ceilings, so you can usually stand up okay, but there aren’t any slides.

Storage: You’re going to find minimal interior storage and little-to-no exterior storage.  Remember in “Flight of the Conchords” when Jemaine lived in a storage closet?  You can experience that first-hand with a camper van.

Versatility: Here’s where they start to get awesome.  Where can your van go?  Your class B can go there too.  No TOAD needed.

Driving: Can you drive a van?  You can drive a class B!

Gas Mileage: Class Bs are vans.  Can I say this enough?  You’ll get the same mileage as a van.

Extra Needs: None!  You’ve got the super-van!

Set-up/Take-down: Park on level ground.  Bam.  Go play.

Costs: If you buy a new class B it will cost 40k-80k usually, but it can cost up to 125k.

Extra Tidbits: This is the smallest and safest motorhome.  If it’s just you, why not go for it?

Now that you’ve read both parts of this series, it’s pretty easy to see that there’s no one perfect answer for which RV you should choose.  A single person would have different needs than a family.  Someone living full-time would have different needs than a weekend camper.  Some people love luxury, some people want the bare minimum. 

Before buying an RV, talk to RV owners, test drive some RVs, maybe rent one you like for a week.  The RV Consumer Group (RVCG) has ratings listed for different makes, models, and years at www.rv.org; definitely check that out before purchasing.  Do your own research, figure out what you like, and, most of all, have fun! 

What RV is Right for You? Part 1 - Trailers

 I really want to write this post, but at the same time it’s super daunting.  So daunting that I considered just working out and writing tomorrow’s post instead.  If you know my feelings towards exercise, you now know how daunting this post is.

The problem is not the content, it’s getting all the information across without being boring.  See, The Man and I were trying to decide which RV we should live out of in our pipe dream future of being vagabonds, so I’ve done a ton of research on the topic.  Every single site I visited had good information, but it was just soooo boring.  So I’m going to give you two options today.

Option 1: Read this entire post, learn some trivia you can wow your friends with, and hope you don’t get bored.

Option 2: Check out the handy dandy spreadsheet of information I made instead (quicker version, but less entertaining…I hope).

Ready?  Let’s begin.

Growing up I always thought that RV just meant a motorhome.  You had RVs and you had trailers, but they weren’t the same thing.  Oh how wrong I was.  As you undoubtedly know, RV just means it’s a Recreational Vehicle.  Sooo many things are covered under the subject of RVs.  Today I’m going to focus on the ones you can live out of full-time, seeing as that’s my plan for the future (a girl can dream, right?).

We’re going to look at two main categories (trailer, motorhome) and some sub-categories of both.  I’ll tell you the pros and cons of each, and you can decide which one is best for your individual needs.  We’ll start with trailers.

Trailers

Travel Trailers

You can recognize travel trailers by their dorsal stripes and rufous throats, as well as their call: a hearty “Chirr-up!  Chirr-up!”  Wait, no.  I’ve been reading my birding book too much.  You can recognize travel trailers because they’re being towed by some type of vehicle and the hitch is distinctly between the two vehicles.  These can be super tiny (pulled by sedans) or pretty huge (pulled by trucks). 

Images taken from Google Images            

   

Living space: These have pretty low ceilings, but they can be roomy.  Some even come with “slides” (slide-out sections that can greatly increase space).

Storage: Not so good.  Little-to-no exterior storage, pretty sparse interior storage.  Most people store a lot of stuff in their towing vehicle.

Versatility: These can go most places your towing vehicle can go.

Driving: If you’ve never towed a big trailer before, think twice before buying one of these.  Jack-knifing is not just something gangsters do (yeah, I don’t know what gangsters do).  Wind can also be a problem, as well as really bumpy roads.

Gas Mileage: Compared to other RVs, this is great!  Only the Class B motorhome (we’ll get to that) is better.  Lots of trailers are smallish and try to be streamlined, and you can tow with a vehicle that’s not a huge gas hog.

Extra Needs: You definitely need a hitch.  Hensley hitches come highly recommended.  You’ll probably also need load-leveling bars and a generator.  Oh, and something to tow it with.  Make sure your vehicle is rated to tow the weight of your LOADED trailer.  Very important.

Set-up/Take-down: These are really difficult to back into spots, and the whole unhitching/hitching process is annoying.  Making sure it’s level can also be a hassle.  You’ll hate your trailer the first time you set up camp in a rainstorm.

Costs: Hands-down this is the best up-front cost (provided you have a towing vehicle already).  New travel trailers usually run from about 10k-30k, and their maintenance costs are pretty low.

Extra Tidbits: The climate of your trailer is not controlled while you’re driving, so you can get to the destination and have to wait for your trailer to cool down from 1000 degrees Fahrenheit.  Also, you have no idea what’s going on inside while you’re driving.  Fridge accidentally opened?  You’ll find out hours later when there’s food all over your house.  These also have a small water tank capacity, so you have to be super frugal with water use.  But who showers anyways?

                               

Wow.  That’s a lot of information.  Tell ya what, let’s make this a two-parter.  Today I’ll write about trailers, next week I’ll write about motorhomes.

5^th Wheels

These are the best.  If you already own a beastly truck with awesome towing capability, get a 5^th wheel.  For serious.  You can recognize 5^th wheels because their hitching mechanism lays in the truck bed.  These are NOT truck campers though; very different. 

THIS is a 5th wheel.

Image from Google Images.

Living space: Oh so lovely!  Living in a 5^th wheel can be like living in a small apartment.  Most of them have slides, so you just have all the space in the world.  Go ahead, throw a party in your trailer.  You can fit the whole neighborhood.  Plus, high ceilings!  Want a ceiling fan?  Get a ceiling fan.  No worries, mon.

Storage: These have wonderful interior storage (I mean, for a trailer, be reasonable), and their exterior storage is only beaten by Class A motorhomes.

Versatility: 5^th wheels have awesome ground clearance, but their height clearance isn’t so hot.  Be careful about going under short bridges and trees.

Driving: It’s still a trailer, but it’s the mother of all trailers.  Since the hitch is in the bed of the truck, you have a lot more stability and turning/backing up/everything is much easier than with a travel trailer.  It does have some high wind resistance due to its height though, so be careful when driving through southern Wyoming.  These can be blown over by wind.

Gas Mileage: 8-10 MPG.  Not so great.  I mean, it’s a huge trailer, and you need a gigantic truck to pull it, so this is kind of a given.  If you’re using a RV just don’t expect to get any higher than about 15 MPG ever.

Extra Needs: Do you have a ginormous truck?  (Wow, spell check says “ginormous” is a word.  Cool.)  If so, check and double-check what it’s rated to tow.  Remember, factor in that your trailer will be loaded when you’re driving.  You’ll also need that bed hitch thingy and probably a generator (depending on what model you get).

Set-up/Take-down: If you want to unhitch your towing vehicle you really need level ground to do so, but other than that set-up isn’t so bad.  Spring for the electric or hydraulic jacks; it will be worth it.

Costs: If you already own that humongous truck the up-front cost isn’t so bad.  Most cost from around 15k-50k, but if you’re super-fancy they can cost as much as a small house.  These need more maintenance than travel trailers, but they’re still better than motorhomes.

Extra Tidbits: Like their smaller cousins, these are not climate-controlled when you’re driving.  They do have pretty nice water tank capacity though, so that’s good.

Destination/Park Trailers

Have you always wanted to live in a trailer?  Do you dislike traveling but you think it’d be cool to live somewhere new every year or so?  Do the words “hey y’all” tug at the cockles of your heart?  This is the trailer for you!  This is a trailer home.  It can move a little bit more, but pretty much it’s a trailer home.

Home Sweet Home.
Image from Google Images.

Living space: Did you like how the 5^th wheel sounded?  Well this is even nicer.  Full fridge, electric water heater, direct hook-ups instead of tanks; welcome home.

Storage: These have little-to-no exterior storage (once again, not made to move around much), but their interior storage is lovely.

Versatility: Don’t expect to be traveling out to the boonies with this beast.  Due to its lack of storage tanks you’re pretty much stuck to RV parks.

Driving: If you have a gigantic truck and everything, go ahead and pull it to wherever you want to live, but it’s recommended you pay a service to drop the behemoth off for you.

Gas Mileage: Worse than a 5^th wheel.  Once again, pay the service.

Set-up/Take-down: You HAVE to be somewhere where you can hook up your power/water/sewer.  Also, there’s no leveling system.  Have I told you to pay a service enough times yet?

Costs: New destination trailers run from around 20k-80k.

Extra Tidbits: This is not really the RV for you if you want to travel a lot.  If you’re someone that spends your winter months in Florida or something, this could be for you.  If you want to move every month, think twice.  Very homey and nice though.

Tune in next week for part 2: motorhomes!