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Little bit of a tangent... I am thinking of getting a travel trailer and living in it full time... Any forums, tips, experiences, models to look at you can shar

Little bit of a tangent... I am thinking of getting a travel trailer and living in it full time... Any forums, tips, experiences, models to look at you can share?? I have 0 experience with this.

sanswork 10y ago
Rent an RV for a month and live in it full time first before buying one. After you're sure that you want to live in one then get a Good Sam membership and the rest will come naturally.
- SwellJoe 10y ago
  Or, just buy an old one. Renting costs ~$100/day (and that doesn't include the cost of RV parks, fuel, etc.). You can buy a travel trailer for not much more than a month of renting, if you don't mind an older one. Buying a new RV would be madness, of course unless you're really sure you want to live this way and have a lot of spare cash laying around. They depreciate at an incredibly high rate. My first motorhome cost a bit over $30k when I bought it (it was 7 years old when I bought it), and I sold it last year for $12000, after living in it for most of the six years that I owned it. If you take your time, and shop carefully, you can find really great deals. But, yeah, it's definitely a major life change, and one that maybe shouldn't be dived into without careful consideration.
  - sanswork 10y ago
    Yeah but then if you don't like it you're stuck with an old travel trailer or RV to try and sell(hard) or store until it rusts away(space/money). Spending $3000 to validate a pretty huge lifestyle change isn't that much really. We got lucky that we really enjoyed it when we bought ours but I could understand a lot of people finding the lifestyle ultimately a lot different from what they expected.
SwellJoe 10y ago
I can, and do, talk for hours about RVs. I love them. I love cranky old RVs, in particular (I live in a 1984 Avion...which is one of the all-aluminum models, of which Airstream is the best-known manufacturer and the only current manufacturer). There are forums for every major manufacturer of RVs, most of them are super helpful; a bunch of retired old-timers who love talking about their RVs. I'd recommend you spend some time learning about them. There are definitely quality differences; usually you get what you pay for, though buying older can get you a great deal, comparatively speaking. I would much prefer a high quality old rig to a cheap newer rig. But, older rigs can have a lot of hidden problems; my Avion has had a much rougher life and needs a lot more work than previous owner disclosed (for a variety of reasons I bought it knowing it needed work but some of the work it needed/needs is beyond what I expected or could reasonably find in the brief inspection I gave it). One probably can't easily summarize everything one should know before buying an RV, but I'd recommend you start reading up on them now, and don't plan to buy for at least a month or more. Go visit RV dealers (with no intention to buy new, or even to buy from a dealer at all, as they will overcharge by a huge amount in the majority of cases...it's normal to pay half what a dealer would charge for a used RV). Do you already have a tow vehicle? That's probably where you need to start, if you plan to go the travel trailer route. If you plan to live in the trailer full-time, you probably need a big truck to haul it; I've got a diesel F250, and it works great. With a weight distribution hitch it'll comfortably haul more than my house (which is probably about 9000 pounds loaded with tanks full). As the other commenter recommended, road side service from Good Sam is a great idea; I've used both Good Sam and AAA, and Good Sam does a slightly better job getting the right sized tow truck out to you when you need it.
- infiniteseeker 10y ago
  >Do you already have a tow vehicle? That's probably where you need to start, if you plan > to go the travel trailer route. If you plan to live in the trailer full-time, you > probably need a big truck to haul it; I've got a diesel F250, and it works great. With >a weight distribution hitch it'll comfortably haul more than my house (which is probably >about 9000 pounds loaded with tanks full). Yep I have an older F150 XL pickup. It is harsh on gas consumption and with towing the trailer that will get quite a bit worse but the savings can be substantial in the long run I suppose (as opposed to living in an apartment/house) I live in Canada and would like something that is easier for 4 season usage. I can make do with warm clothes and down blankets etc but for example while working on my laptop in the winter, it will be easier without gloves ;-) I can do without buying new but I am not too mechanically handy and do not want to spend a lot of money paying someone else to fix any issues with older trailers. However, I would definitely be down for buying something older if it is in good shape.

Little bit of a tangent... I am thinking of getting a travel trailer and living in it full time... Any forums, tips, experiences, models to look at you can share?? I have 0 experience with this.

sanswork 10y ago

Rent an RV for a month and live in it full time first before buying one. After you're sure that you want to live in one then get a Good Sam membership and the rest will come naturally.

SwellJoe 10y ago
Or, just buy an old one. Renting costs ~$100/day (and that doesn't include the cost of RV parks, fuel, etc.). You can buy a travel trailer for not much more than a month of renting, if you don't mind an older one. Buying a new RV would be madness, of course unless you're really sure you want to live this way and have a lot of spare cash laying around. They depreciate at an incredibly high rate. My first motorhome cost a bit over $30k when I bought it (it was 7 years old when I bought it), and I sold it last year for $12000, after living in it for most of the six years that I owned it. If you take your time, and shop carefully, you can find really great deals. But, yeah, it's definitely a major life change, and one that maybe shouldn't be dived into without careful consideration.
- sanswork 10y ago
  Yeah but then if you don't like it you're stuck with an old travel trailer or RV to try and sell(hard) or store until it rusts away(space/money). Spending $3000 to validate a pretty huge lifestyle change isn't that much really. We got lucky that we really enjoyed it when we bought ours but I could understand a lot of people finding the lifestyle ultimately a lot different from what they expected.

SwellJoe 10y ago

I can, and do, talk for hours about RVs. I love them. I love cranky old RVs, in particular (I live in a 1984 Avion...which is one of the all-aluminum models, of which Airstream is the best-known manufacturer and the only current manufacturer). There are forums for every major manufacturer of RVs, most of them are super helpful; a bunch of retired old-timers who love talking about their RVs. I'd recommend you spend some time learning about them. There are definitely quality differences; usually you get what you pay for, though buying older can get you a great deal, comparatively speaking. I would much prefer a high quality old rig to a cheap newer rig. But, older rigs can have a lot of hidden problems; my Avion has had a much rougher life and needs a lot more work than previous owner disclosed (for a variety of reasons I bought it knowing it needed work but some of the work it needed/needs is beyond what I expected or could reasonably find in the brief inspection I gave it). One probably can't easily summarize everything one should know before buying an RV, but I'd recommend you start reading up on them now, and don't plan to buy for at least a month or more. Go visit RV dealers (with no intention to buy new, or even to buy from a dealer at all, as they will overcharge by a huge amount in the majority of cases...it's normal to pay half what a dealer would charge for a used RV). Do you already have a tow vehicle? That's probably where you need to start, if you plan to go the travel trailer route. If you plan to live in the trailer full-time, you probably need a big truck to haul it; I've got a diesel F250, and it works great. With a weight distribution hitch it'll comfortably haul more than my house (which is probably about 9000 pounds loaded with tanks full). As the other commenter recommended, road side service from Good Sam is a great idea; I've used both Good Sam and AAA, and Good Sam does a slightly better job getting the right sized tow truck out to you when you need it.

infiniteseeker 10y ago
>Do you already have a tow vehicle? That's probably where you need to start, if you plan > to go the travel trailer route. If you plan to live in the trailer full-time, you > probably need a big truck to haul it; I've got a diesel F250, and it works great. With >a weight distribution hitch it'll comfortably haul more than my house (which is probably >about 9000 pounds loaded with tanks full). Yep I have an older F150 XL pickup. It is harsh on gas consumption and with towing the trailer that will get quite a bit worse but the savings can be substantial in the long run I suppose (as opposed to living in an apartment/house) I live in Canada and would like something that is easier for 4 season usage. I can make do with warm clothes and down blankets etc but for example while working on my laptop in the winter, it will be easier without gloves ;-) I can do without buying new but I am not too mechanically handy and do not want to spend a lot of money paying someone else to fix any issues with older trailers. However, I would definitely be down for buying something older if it is in good shape.