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!!
Hi; I'm Dave. I'm a (near) 62 year old single guy whose spent almost 40 years in the high end software development world. It turns out that I have a chance to retire in a bit less than six months; at the end of October. I'm really thinking about a transition to full time RV living. Right now I'm in a research stage. I'm probably not going to be able to take any trips before the end of October. So it would be a full "jump" at the end of October (or whenever my house sells).
I've had a dream for years of not staying in one place; just moving around, slowly. Spend a week or two in one place; then move on. I've been getting more and more comfortable with the idea of full time RV living.
As a data has gotten more real, I've started doing some research.
I was looking first at "smaller" motorhomes; 30 foot or less Class C's; or maybe the "similar" sized small Class A's. My impression though is that weight management is much more difficult with those units. My "intuition" tells me that even for a single person, you'd want a real CCC of at least 3000 pounds. 4000 pounds would be better.
Recently I've been thinking more about fifth wheels. Assuming you don't get ridiculous with carrying "junk" with you, carrying capacity should be fine. There'd be a learning curve to driving a fifth wheel, including backing up. By traveling single, I might not have a "spotter".
What feels "right" to me at the moment are models like the Keystone Montana 3160RL & the Heartland Bighorn 3270RS. Fifth wheels that are at least advertised for the full time community with at least some level of winterization. Both are roughly a 16000 pound max weight. Both (looking at real selling prices) might be had new for the low 60K's or under. (Within budget). A tow vehicle in the range F-350DRW/3500HD DRW might be suitable and have "enough" margin. (And within budget).
I have gone though these models at a local dealer. Both seem reasonable (even luxurious). A 35 foot length seems doable. Thinking about shorter lengths, I don't think I could go "short enough" to make a real difference in finding usable camping sites. I think I'm comfortable about a 350/3500 tow vehicle and a 35 foot fifth wheel.
I'm starting to get a bit impatient for the end of October now; trying to decide when to take the final steps (clearing out the house for sale).
Thanks for listening, and hope to meet some people in the future.
Hi, Dave. Have you done any RVing? Jumping in fulltime from none would be a...great leap of faith IMO. Next have you a favorite style of camping? I like federal, state and county grounds (see my signature lines) most without hookups. These will have length limits in many cases with California state parks leading the "shorty only" list. Three things to think about I guess...do you want to jump into fulltime W/O a tryout period, where will you be camping most of the time, and how big to buy based on the answers to the first two.
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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.
Growing up; at one point our family had a truck bed mounted camper (and fitted 2 adults and 5 kids into it; my Dad built some bunk beds). That had to be sold for a move. After that for some vacations we rented a Class C once; and a pop-up tent trailer a few times.
As an adult, it's been more "luxury" car camping (a tent you can walk into; sleep on a very good cot, etc.).
I'm at the point now where I need a challenge; need to do something that I haven't been doing for decades.
I still have obligations until the end of October. After that, I have nothing tying me to Oregon other than a house that I don't want to spend the rest of my life in.
So I'm getting mentally ready to do something else. I may find somewhere else that I want to stay. I may want to just wander until I'm too old to continue. Workamping occasionally sounds interesting.
I will be 62 this year also and lost my wife of almost 40 years a little over a year ago so I have been traveling alone for a little over a year now.
I travel in a 42 Foot 5th Wheel and have thought about and looked at some smaller Class A Motorhome but after many walkthroughs I am very happy with my current 5th Wheel and have decided to stay with what I currently have.
I looked at a number of brands, floor plans and layouts, I found them to be smaller living spaces, smaller bathrooms and more cramped than my current 5er and just could not bring myself to go smaller and lose the space and openness of my rig.
First of all ... welcome! You are going thru the same process that most of us did regarding what type of RV would work best for you. That is not something anyone should try to sway you one way or the other. Each type has strengths and weaknesses and you'll just have to decide which compromises you are willing to make, as they all require some compromise. It's not an emergency decision, so take your time and enjoy the process. Finally, your decision is not forever ... you can change your mind down the road and switch to something else. There are people on this forum who started in 5th wheels and later moved into a class A. There are others who started in a class A and then moved to a 5th wheel. It's hard to find the "perfect" RV, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. If I were you, I'd buy what "feels" right to you and then go have some fun. Best of Luck.
-- Edited by RonC on Friday 19th of May 2017 08:08:24 AM
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Ron and Janice
2016 Ford F350, King Ranch, DRW, 4x4, CC, 6.7 PS Diesel, remote control air lift system
2017 Durango Gold 381REF, Lambright furniture, MCD shades, morRYDE IS, 8K Disc brakes, GY G114 LR H Tires, 27,320 lbs CGVW
