Someone PLEASE knock some sense into my haid!

[Thumper]

I've developed a motorhome jones lately.

[Hombre]

I have a class C, and you have more time than me but I'll give you my .02

1. It's awesome to take and be able to stop anywhere you want (I also think traveler / nomadic in you will like that more than most)
2. RV parks are some of the friendliest people in the world
3. It may say it sleeps 8 but its really only comfortable for 2
4. They're like a boat, something always need fixin
5. They tend to get used a few times then put up for long extended periods of time,


Overall they do give you a lot of flexibility in travel. See something you like, pull over and stay the night. I took my sabbatical and we drove from Seattle to West Yellowstone, up to the North East entrance, the Grand Tetons and ultimately Oklahoma.

[Hombre]

Ours

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[Hombre]

Ours

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Again

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[quercus alba]

1) they get negative gas milage

2) RV parks have some of the nicest axe murderers in the world

3) you might be mistaken for Buckrub

[Hombre]

1. Is very true.
2. I take comfort that it would be quite coincidental to have 2 axe murders at the same RV park
3. Thump could be so lucky

[Thumper]

Well, I've had the bug a few times before and it always reminds me of my BOAT joneses. I've had prolly 10 boats over the years and finally called it quits about 15 years ago (even though I live on a lake). I just finally got over it and haven't had the urge to get another one since. BUT ... the itch to get a motorhome took the place of the boat urges. It comes and goes, but has been rekindled lately and I've been snooping around for the past few months. I found what I "think" is a good deal at an estate sale this weekend. Problem is, it's about 1-1/2 hours out of town and I don't know the people. If it were local, I could probably name my price as I have a VERY close relationship with most of the local estate sale companies and actually work for four of them whenever they're short-handed. Anyway, I don't want to start out with a new $150,000 rig, but I'd rather go used, get my feet wet and decide if it's what I really want to do. I have rented a few times from Good Sam's (I think that was it?) and enjoyed it, but that's been years ago.

Anyway, the one I'm looking at is in excellent condition and carries the usual story. The older couple bought it and never used it. It's a 2011, so it's 10 years old, but only has 13K on the clock. The big negative for me is it's a PHORD ... (a F450 chassis with the V10 Triton motor). I'd prolly rather have diesel, but these days, I think the higher diesel prices and the ridiculous maintenance cost difference almost makes it a fair trade-off going gas. It's a 26-footer and has 3 pull-outs. He's only asking $45K, but I'm gonna walk in with $37,500 in my pocket and ask him if he'll take $35K, but let him talk me out of the extra $2500 if he tries real hard. I could very well drive back home without it (IF I don't get weak and cave, then pull out my checkbook).

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[johnboy]

I've had a bunch of rv trailers/5th wheels but never a motorhome. I agree with all the above comments. My last trailer was a Jayco and I was not impressed with the interior finish. Very flimsy with everything held together (barely) with little staples and something came apart every time we went over a bump. Exterior was good. Look close for any water intrusion and make sure all the 'stuff' works cause it's expensive to fix or replace. Have fun.

[Thumper]

Wow John, all the reviews I've read on the Jayco's praise the quality and workmanship of the interiors. Crap! Now you've gone and thrown sand in the Vaseline.

Yeah, I've had friends and relatives who have always had motorhomes (or campers/trailers) and water leaks seemed to be a constant issue with all of them. They said it's just one of those things you expect form time to time and have to stay on top of. We just spent the weekend with a buddy of mine who set up at a campground about 20 minutes from here. He has a rig he tows and has a big assed Chevy 2500 w/diesel. Half his rig is a big storage area in the back where he hauls a golf cart and misc. crap he needs for his sites. I think I'd rather have the living space and tow a small trailer (ya' GOTS ta' have a golf cart!). I realize, with a motorhome, you end up with a vehicle you can't really use unless you're traveling, but I'd just rather not have to tow a big rig like that. I asked why he didn't just haul his golf cart in the bed of his truck (it's not a 5th wheel), but the dang thing stands 10 frigging feet off the ground and it scared the bejeebers out'ta him trying to load/unload the thing. He does have fold-down bunks in his storage area, so it adds some sleeping room for kids or whatever once he unloads everything. I guess every set-up has its pros and cons, but I personally prefer the "motorhome" set-up.

I also have a few buddies with class A diesel pushers, but I think it's a bit ridiculous having that much money sitting in the driveway. One of my buds has $800,000 tied up in his motorhome. I have to admit, it was nice when I used to go to the NASCAR races with him, but it's a couple bucks out of my price range!

[BarryBobPosthole]

Just don’t drive one mph faster in the fast lane than the person next to you in the slow lane.
Geezer.
BKB

[Thumper]

Ha! Don’t get me started! We have to deal with the Yankees down here. They have no place they really have to be, so drive 15 mph UNDER the speed limit and in the fast lane!

I seriously doubt I’ll be dragging this thing home with me. I’ll be low-balling the guy and plan to stick to my guns, so unless he’s extremely flexible, I’ll prolly have time to get it out of my system until the urge hits me again.

[Thumper]

What a frigging maroon!!! I drove up to "buy" that motorhome this morning ... had the cash and a Walther PPKS in my pocket! When I got there, the motorhome was pulled out onto the street "for easier inspection". It was very nice with a few odds & ends that needed to be addressed due to it sitting so long, BUT ... the dude (deceased owner) was a bazillionaire and has 4-5 houses scattered around. One here in Central Florida, one in Miami, one in Colorado and I'm not sure where the others are. He definitely LOVED to spend money and it's apparent he didn't really NEED anything, but he WANTED lots of stuff. That place was stacked from floor to ceiling with tons of cool stuff ... most of it brand new and never even taken out of the packaging. He was definitely a tool freak and must have had every tool known to man ... brand new, never used. Who the "F" needs 750 frigging screwdrivers??? He had 'em! A tool freak could go into sensory overload at this place. Hand tools, electric tools, air tools ... you name it, he had it ... in multiples. One large room in the house was the "electronics room" ... stereos, flat screen tv's, electronics stuff I didn't even know what it was ... piled high, in the boxes. The "music room" ... you name it, it was in there. Fenders, Gibsons and who knows what else? Must'a been 30-40 guitars, 6-8 keyboards, stands, amps, mics ... again, you name it, it was in there. Then there was the "camera room". Between the music room and the camera room, the Lenster would'a had a gooey mess in his shorts after walking around in there. Art? Crapola! It was stacked floor to ceiling. Nice art work, oils, etc, but major tonnage of signed photos of rock/movie stars ... including The Beetles, Hendrix ... oh heck, name a great, he had something signed and could have easily opened his own Hard Rock joint with all the memorabilia. I might add, ALL the art was nicely (and expensively) framed ... most with COA's.

I found out he was some bigwig attorney who somehow managed to remain single all his life and did NOTHING but buy toys! Motorcycles??? A garage full of them, from Harleys to vintage Kawasakis. Harley clothing, leather jackets, boots ... again, name it, he had it ... all still in their original packaging. There must have been 10 Shoei (probably the best made imho) motorcycle helmets, new, in their boxes. He had 20-30 vintage automobiles (most had been pre-sold to collectors), but there were still 5-6 of them left, including a Rolls with 3,500 mi. showing. I talked to a neighbor who said he'd get the "I wants", buy what he wanted, drive it around the block a few times, then would park it and forget about it as he'd move on the the next "I want" on his list. Same with the motorhome I went to purchase ... it's a 2011 with 13,000 miles on it. I was told all those miles were from 3 round-trips from his Florida house to his Colorado house, then he tired of it and it's been parked ever since. I could go on and on, but clearly, this was one crazy estate sale and the guy obviously had more money than he knew what to do with.

But I digress ... back to my "What a frigging maroon" statement above. The dipshit estate sale guy decided to pull the motorhome out onto the street for easier inspection, but instead of moving a couple cars out of the driveway, he decided to drive across the yard. Problem is, there's a shallow ditch running along the street. Now this thing is a 26-foot motorhome that must have about a 12-foot overhang behind the rear wheels! Ummmm, how the "F" do you think you're gonna go off-roading and cross a drainage ditch in a frigging motorhome? Needless to say, he dragged the ass end and lifted the rear wheels off the ground, then had to have a guy in a truck drag him out of the ditch and onto the road. During the process he ripped the whole end cap off the back of the motorhome, which cracked the taillight lens' and folded the ladder in half before it yanked the mounts out of the fiberglass , ripped the trailer (towing package) wiring from under the chassis and I simply didn't have the energy to get on my hands and knees to see if the potable/grey & blackwater tanks survived the journey. The thing looked like it'd been rear-ended by a simi and the end cap was folded up completely across the back and around the sides!

Oh, did I say the bazillionaire had also built a huge garage and this motorhome never even saw the light of day except for the 13,000 miles it was driven? I asked the guy what he wants NOW that he's done his best to destroy an almost pristine motorhome and he mumbled something about an "easy fix" and he'd knock $200 off the price. Ha ha ha ha ha! It's not "just" a bumper ... the whole end cap is one piece ... it's the rear, bedroom wall. Needless to say, I made a 4-1/2 hour round trip for nothing this morning. There are plenty more pics, but just a few here will give you some idea. (The back cap was folded up completely across the rear, but for some reason, I forgot to take a pic of the whole back end). I asked him when he did this and he said about 30-mins. before I drove up! ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!

Needless to say, I wandered around to drool over all the goodies, then got back in the car, Lynn and I went out for a nice lunch and headed back home.

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[Hombre]

WOW - He probably saved you a lot a trouble.

[BarryBobPosthole]

I think of George Carlin every time I read one of your estate sale stories.

“One person’s ‘shit’ is another person’s ‘stuff”

BKB

[Thumper]

It pretty much sucked actually. This thing looked like it had just rolled off the assembly line, BUT had "sitting unused issues". For example, the "new" tires are 10 years old ... I'd drive it home, but would never hit the road with 'em. The interior was like new and didn't appear like he'd ever spent a night in the thing. Open the hood of that big 'ol F450 and it looks brand spankin' new, other than a bit of dust. Heck, it was garage kept it's whole life. My guess is, it was just a toy to him and on any cross country trip, he'd park it in the lot and stay at a hotel. The stove, microwave, etc, had never been used (still had labels on them). I don't know if the fridge had ever been used, but there was no indication it had been. The front (driver & passenger) seats needed reupholstered (kind'a dry rotted?) as well as the sofa. All other soft items, carpet, queen bed, drapes, etc. looked brand new. Theres a tv in the main cabin as well as the bedroom and the remotes are still in their original packaging. I don't believe the bathroom had ever been used as there was still a factory "seal" on the toilet. The Onan 4K generator still had the tape across the gas cap. I think he just thought it was cool to drive and didn't have any intention of "using" it for it's intended purpose ... not unlike 99% of his other toys. I'd had estimates on everything I needed to do, tires, upholstery, fluids/filters, etc. and figured them into the price and it was still $15,000 under book.

But body work? I'm an extremely anal dufus. If my car gets a door ding, I can't sleep at night and am ready to trade it in the next day. I'm not talkin' 'bout the ton of "hunting beaters" I've owned, I mean my personal drivers. Dumb? Maybe, but it's just me. I scratch it, I wanna trade it. The end cap getting ripped off of this thing and him trying to minimalize (maybe out of embarrassment) the whole thing was a 100% deal breaker to me. I do have a motorhome collision repair shop about 10 miles from my house. It's been there for years and has excellent reviews, so I MIGHT be inclined to drop in, show them my pics and see if they can give me a ball-park estimate. I could always fix it, turn it and maybe clear $15-$20K. But, in my younger years, I'd have prolly been all over it, nowadays .... I think I'm just gonna walk away from the whole deal. Heck, I AM retired, right?

Tomorrow is the last day of the sale. I "might" call and if they still have it (which I'm sure they will), I may offer to make that thing go away for measly pocket change ... then again, maybe not. If you can't tell, I'm a little torn and sitting on the fence right now. It's just a coin toss and depends on how I feel tomorrow afternoon. If I had ANY sense, I'd close this book and wrap that thing in duct tape so I wouldn't be tempted to re-open it.

[Bwana]

Sorry to hear your dream was crunched out from under you Thump.

[johnboy]

I think your first instinct to walk away was right. Hell, maybe run away. Sitting unused for years is not good for a machine with as many systems as a motorhome. Things just rot. Was that engine ever serviced before being parked? Most likely not. That entire end cap needs replacing and whatever else he ripped up. $$$ and headaches. There must be a whole buncha used rigs for sale down there in retirement land. Look some more. Take your time till you find the right one.

[Thumper]

I've talked to a ton of RV people John, both friends as well as people in the business. Both have told me the used rv market is getting ready to explode. I've been told that during the Covid mess and travel bans (airlines shut down), the rv market exploded as people went on a buying spree as a travel alternative. Now that the transportation market is opening up, the used rv market is predicted to get saturated. Who knows? Makes sense in a way. We'll see.

[johnboy]

Same up here. Lots of people bought rv's so they would have 'something to do' and will find out that rv'ing really isn't to their taste. There will be lots of units on the used market this year.

[Hombre]

Same up here. Lots of people bought rv's so they would have 'something to do' and will find out that rv'ing really isn't to their taste. There will be lots of units on the used market this year.

I resemble this remark. I'm going to use it a few more years and really like it but I don't see myself as a lifer. They're a lot of up keep and I don't think I'll use it enough.

[johnboy]

Yeah, most of us find that an rv is just a pile of money that blocks our driveway most of the time. They are great toys but very few actually get used all that much. Been there and done that.

We used to actually 'camp' back when that meant digging your own biffie but that was because we were doing things (dirt biking, fishing etc.) in the boonies
and not just camping. When we got away from that we started the rv'ing thing and found that even the nicest campgrounds were not really for us. Whatever turns your crank.

[Hombre]

When we moved to Snoqualmie we use to go on 3 day camping trips every fathers day because I got my choice, and June is a pretty good month here. I miss the campfire, no wifi / cell service and great conversation. Somewhere along the way the kids got old enough to camp on their own, and when that happened the wife put a hard stop on camping that didn't include comfortable surroundings..so here we are with an RV

[johnboy]

Comfort got more important as we got older. I remember the first unit we got with an actual bathroom onboard - a '94 9.5 ft Shadow Cruiser truck camper. We figured we were in hog heaven. Loaded on my Chev 2500 HD 4x4 we could get that thing into some pretty gnarly spots. Good times.

[BarryBobPosthole]

We camp about once a year when we go float the Current. (campers ain’t camping, they’re RVing) We do like to rent cabins or houses most places. Showers and clean sheets are hard to beat! At the end of a three day camping trip things can be kind of ripe.

BKB

[Thumper]

Well, after thinking long and hard about this, I've decided to go the travel trailer route. I'd love the convenience of a "motorhome", but it just seems silly having a vehicle sitting and depreciating while I'm not using it. Plus, if I like my tow vehicle, but blow it on my choice of trailers, I can always trade the travel trailer and keep my tow vehicle. (or vice versa). Another thought is, if I'm on the road and have trouble with the camper itself, I can drop it off for repair and drive the truck to a hotel or whatever. Same goes if I have a problem on the road with my tow vehicle. I can park the camper, drop off the vehicle and catch a ride back to the camper (or rent a car if I need transportation). Otherwise, with a motorhome, I'd need to rent a car AND pay for a hotel room. It just makes more sense to me and if I can drive a semi, I'm not worried about backing a trailer. I've also decided against a 5th wheel. I want to retain the bed for "stuff" ... or possibly a golf cart. Prob. is, I guess the ol' 'Yota needs to go. I'm thinkin' 'bout picking up a Phord F250 Super Duty (turbo diesel). Man-o-man ... I've had a 'Yota truck since my first one in 1981. This is going to be a major change. Anyway, I hit 4 different dealerships today and have pretty much decided I really like this 35-footer w/dual a/c's and 2 tv's (living room and bedroom). The main is a 50" tv with a "fireplace" and reclining theater chairs.

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[Arty]

Dang thump, that’s nice!
We just spent about 3 months looking around different lots and a lot of online listings when we upgraded from our popup to a hybrid.
They sure do make them fancy now a days !

35’!?! You gonna be able to negotiate the KFC drive thru with that behind you ?


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[BarryBobPosthole]

Damn boy, did you win the lottery or something?

BKB

[Thumper]

Yessir. We looked at about a bazillion models and thought this one was the best fit. I also had to learn how their length is figured. I believe the “living area” is actually 31’-32’ (can’t remember persactly) but the 35’ is the total length (with hitch). I’ve been thinking about something like this for quite a while, but “life” just kept getting in the way. My brother and his wife retired a few years ago and bought a (class C) motorhome. They have been on the road constantly and have yet to tire of it. They did take a break last year (Oct. ‘2020) to accompany us on our Panama Canal cruise, and talking with him just fanned the flame. That’s about the time I seriously started thinking about this and researching. My closest buddy here in town bought his a few years back and they’ve been taking it out for “local” weekends away for the past 3-4 years. His wife retired 12/31 and he’ll be retiring later this year. They plan to hit the open road once he has the time to take longer trips. We met up with them at a local campground last weekend and that just added a bit of fuel to the fire. I already had plans to attend that estate sale (to look at that motorhome) and maybe it was for the best when the dufe destroyed it. My buddy here has a travel trailer and that was the impetus to change my mind from a motorhome to a travel trailer. Once I expanded my focus and looked at the broader picture, I’ve decided the trailer route would be a better fit for us.

[Thumper]

Ha! P-hole, I realized my truck just sits in the driveway now. It’s a 2016 (bought 2015) and shows just under 18,000 miles. I figure it’s sale would pay for the majority of my tow vehicle and I’d still have it available if Lynn’s car isn’t available for some reason. We’ve reached the point, we could actually get by with one car these days, but I’m just not quite prepared to go there yet. We haven’t cruised or taken a vacation since before Covid, so my eBay $$$ has been banked. I’m not getting any younger and just decided I needed to shit or get off the pot. I haven’t had a boat to throw money at for probably 20 years, so that helps. When I was forced into retirement, we learned to live very frugally and in the meantime I’ve paid off the house and all debts. I guess being debt free is making me antsy. I’m not used to it.

[quercus alba]

Now you and Buckrub will be able to travel around the country together. The two of you will be on the KFC most wanted list in no time, a regular Barney and Clive