Getting Ready to Retire - RV-Dreams Community Forum

jtrack · RV-Dreams Community Member

Getting Ready to Retire

TRAILERKING · RV-Dreams Family Member

Congrat's.........Welcome aboard.

jtrack · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks King,

Love your signature block.

Second Chance · RV-Dreams Family Member

John,

Thoroughly peruse the informational sections on RV-Dreams.com. Howard and Linda have put together a wealth of information. Also look into the Escapees RV Club. They are the oldest organization focused on full-timing and have both a resource side and a forums side to their web operations. Membership is quite reasonable (and a discount for active/retired military and veterans) and will give you access to resources that non-members cannot view. Consider it "homework." After that, head back to the forums here and at Escapees and post any questions you might have in the appropriate topical sub-forums. We only hit the road full-time last year, but between RV-Dreams and Escapees, there are members with probably thousands of years of combined experience in about every kind of rig imaginable. Tighten your harness and enjoy the ride!

Rob

RonC · RV-Dreams Family Member

First, welcome to the best source of information on this subject that there is. This life style is different than what you are currently doing. Full disclosure here, we aren't, yet, full timers, but we are on an extended trip and learning "what we don't know". That said, there is a HUGE difference in the amount of space you'll have. We have a 41 foot long 5th wheel with 5 slides (so it's big) but there are bigger. You will have less of everything (shirts, hats, dresses, shorts, shoes, belts, cans of soup, boxes of cereal...you get the idea). That is the hard part ... getting down to the "critical few" things you actually need, versus the "trivial many" that you currently have ... at least that's true for us. If your whole world can fit in a 400 square foot box, that's really different than a 4,000 square foot house that is FULL of stuff, and a 3 car garage that's also FULL of cars and a marina with a boat and a hanger with an airplane. All of that has to go. This can be a very liberating lifestyle, but it isn't for everyone. The people on this board have WONDERFUL real world experience and a caring willingness to share it openly with you. Welcome!!

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

John,

First of all, welcome to the RV Dreams forums. Secondly, thanks for your service in the military.

And thirdly, feel free to ask questions as there are no "dumb" questions. The only dumb ones are those that aren't asked, and thus, one makes expensive or time consuming mistakes.

As for your truck, if you plan to stay with it, you will be limited pretty greatly, especially when considering a full time lifestyle in the RV. For the most part around here, we recommend one first choose the RV that they want to purchase and find out what the GVWR (Gross Vehicular Weight Rating) for that RV is. Then, look at the rear axle weight ratings (RAWR) to see how much weight your rear axle can handle and the GCVW (Gross Combined Vehicular Weight) of your tow vehicle. I'd suggest weighing your truck with full fuel, all passengers and cargo that you think it will be carrying to get an idea of your truck's weight.

Then, with the GCVW of your truck in mind, see what weight allowance you would have for an RV that would put the combined weight of both parts of the rig under the GCVW. I say all this because you mentioned the possibility of a 35 foot fifth wheel. While you might find an RV of that size that would be light enough, I'm skeptical of how it would work for you for full time living.

Good luck with your research and planning.

Terry