Hi Everyone. Well, after 15 years the RV-Dreams Community Forum is coming to an end. Since it began in August 2005, we've had 58 Million page views, 124,000 posts, and we've spent about $15,000 to keep this valuable resource for RVers free and open. But since we are now off the road and have settled down for the next chapter of our lives, we are taking the Forum down effective June 30, 2021. It has been a tough decision, but it is now time.
We want to thank all of our members for their participation and input over the years, and we want to especially thank those that have acted as Moderators for us during our amazing journey living and traveling in our RV and growing the RV-Dreams Family. We will be forever proud to have been founders of this Forum and to have been supported by such a wonderful community. Thank you all!!
Since this is an introduction, here's a short about me:
I will be 56 in January. I grew up camping almost every spring/summer/fall weekend as a kid until about 17 years old with my parents, 3 siblings in a couple popup campers in the mid 60s to late 70's. I have a lot of fond memories of those times. My wife is a couple years younger than myself and had no prior camping experience before we married 23 years ago.
The only camping experiences my wife has had have been tent camping, all disasters. Our first tent was 8x8 and too small for our family of 5. Then we got a new 10x12 tent and nobody said anything about seam sealer and we were soaked out. Our last trip was to Panama City FL in a 12X15 tent and was pitifully miserable in the humid 105 degree heat. We abandon tents to look for popups. All was too expensive for my budget so we resorted to hotel stays. That was +20 years ago and a lot has changed. Wants, desires, goals, budgets all have changed.
I'll be retiring in about 6 years. We have 3 kids in college who will be finishing in the next year(s) or so. Our current house is WAY to big for the Mrs. and I to retire in with city taxes prohibitively high. We were going to sell the big house upon retirement and build a new smaller house in a plot of land we own in the N Georgia Blue Ridge mountains.
I've always had the camping bug, It's never left. I guess it just becomes part of you. My wife and myself began watching some TV shows like "going RV" which peaked our interest and it broke her misconception that camping will always equal misery. That was a couple months ago and we've done a lot of research around the net and visited several dealer lots to see what is available. We have decided to buy a RV and live in it part-time as I prepare our current home for sale (maintenance, painting etc). The kids will pay rent which will pay the mortgage. When that isn't sustainable (Kids move out etc) then we'll sell the house and live in the RV until the new place is built.
Earlier this month we actually put a down payment on a new Sand Piper 42' 5th wheel beauty. I didn't have any truck but I took for granted we would be able to rent a truck. The Mrs and I don't make those kinds of financial decisions at dealerships. We go home first, away from it all and talk about it. I researched for 5th wheel truck rentals but found none are available so we got our deposit back. We started looking at options and seriously considered getting a beautiful new 39ft Class A. We went home to discuss it and discovered the price of $109K would end up to be $240K so we backed out.
We also looked at pupup campers but the towing weight of our 2015 CRV is only 1500max. We didn't find anything big enough within that limit (Under 1KLB).
The Mrs really fell in love with 5th wheels so we've been working on that goal. A relative of mine is a salesman at a local Ford dealer and I got a wonderful deal on a 2012 Ford F350 6.7L Powerstroke, 8ft bed with the 3:1 axle and 5th wheel kit already installed. Its max towing capacity is about 16KLB. We need to pay off the truck first before getting any 5th wheel. It should take about 3 years to do so. The truck will be seldom used until then as we continue to research RV and learn from those before us (Which brings me here).
We hope to get a nice 5th wheel at that time with a max weight of around 10-12KLB. Probably a 30-38ft unit.
When the time comes, we are strongly considering a new unit. My wife wants to erase the old camping memories of struggle and misery with something brand new and I don't want to risk acquiring someone else's old problems. At least it would have a warranty for a time. But I myself is not closed to the idea of a "slightly" used 5th wheel.
I guess we'll just need to look around and see what's available then. It's amazing how much "stuff" a person can collect across +20 years. A few weeks ago I began selling "stuff" and hope to reduce it all by at least 90%. I should do that regardless of our RV choices. So we're just hanging out here at RV-Dreams learning what we can from those before us.
Thanks for reading!
-- Edited by Stevefury on Friday 26th of August 2016 01:07:58 PM
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2018 Grand Design Imagine 32 foot 2800BH, Husky Centerline TS hitch system, 2012 Ford F350 w 6.7L Powerstroke.
To add to my last post:
The Mrs and I really desire to go full time upon retirement. But we will need a "home base" to feel secure hence our retirement home.
We plan to go camping when we get our unit on the weekends and our vacations from work until retirement. When we sell the house then it will be full time RV'ing, at least for about 6-9 months.
Our experience during camping and the 6-9 month building time will also directly effect the construction of our retirement home. It may end up being a normal traditional log cabin home, or a glorified garage home with a 14h x 12w stall to store the camper when not in use.
If it happens that we leave the retirement house for a few years, return to home base for a few months then out again for a few years...... That's full timing.... right? (Ha ha ha)
Thanks again
-Steve
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2018 Grand Design Imagine 32 foot 2800BH, Husky Centerline TS hitch system, 2012 Ford F350 w 6.7L Powerstroke.
Update:
Yaay we got our first RV.
It's a 32 foot Grand Design Imagine 2800BH.
We have our first camping trip booked for 3 days, 3 weeks from now. Can't hardly wait.
I'll have lots of questions in the general areas here.
Thanks for looking :)
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2018 Grand Design Imagine 32 foot 2800BH, Husky Centerline TS hitch system, 2012 Ford F350 w 6.7L Powerstroke.
Welcome to the forum. Lots to learn and some great people here to learn from, hoping your next camping experience will be much better than tent camping☺ we tent camped for years but for FT we love all the comforts of home, just in a much smaller space.
Update: Yaay we got our first RV. It's a 32 foot Grand Design Imagine 2800BH. We have our first camping trip booked for 3 days, 3 weeks from now. Can't hardly wait. I'll have lots of questions in the general areas here. Thanks for looking :)
Congratulations! If you're interested, I would invite you to join the Grand Design Owners Forum: https://www.granddesignowners.com/forum/index.php . Great bunch of folks over there - and quite a bit different feel from the Facebook groups.
Rob
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2012 F350 DRW Lariat 6.7
PullRite OE 18K, Demco Glide Ride pinbox
2020 Solitude 310GK-R, MORryde IS, disc brakes, solar, DP windows
“The kids will pay rent which will pay the mortgage. When that isn't sustainable (Kids move out etc) then we'll sell the house and live in the RV until the new place is built.”
Check your plans with your CPA, EA or tax attorney.
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Winnebago TT 2101DS & 2020 Silverado LTZ Z71. 300 watts WindyNation solar w/MPPT, 2 Trojan T-125s. TALL flag pole. Prefer USFS, COE, BLM, USF&WS, NPS, TVA, state/county camps. 14 year Army vet-11B40 then 11A - old MOS 1542 & 1560.
