Length and Height

tem3000 wrote:
Sorry for the radio silence, folks. Everyone's contributions have been so, so helpful. While we haven't been for RV marital counseling (very good point, TxGearhead.), figuring out what we both want to do is turning out to be more useful than me finding some compromise that would make him grudgingly go along.

That said, I have managed to bring him to see different rv's. We haven't hit a mega one like Camper's World yet because I think it would overwhelm him and have the opposite effect from what I want. But for some reason, somehow, he's become intrigued by 5th wheels. If I talk about *actually* spending time long-term, or *actually* making a purchase, he closes down the conversation. But then he'll start calling out things he might theoretically like as we simultaneously surf on the sofa. He's become fascinated with ultralites, for example, and what the pros and cons are to different layouts.

A large part is that I have some understanding and vocabulary to keep the conversation going, and I thank you all for that. Learning about profiles, for example, and so much else.

This has me thinking about how, if two people decide to buy a 5th wheel or rv of any sort, inevitably one person will be more hesitant than the other. Or very often, at least. So I'm sure a lot of convincing goes on to make the other person more likely to go along. And it may be that the good or bad expectations don't match the reality of long-term traveling, and either one or both spouses unexpectedly falls in or out of love with the whole adventure. (Wife feeling claustrophobic and sleeping on the sofa isn't a perfect example, but it illustrates how the phenomenon can happen.)

So nothing is a guarantee when two people start out on something like this. I don't mean to switch the topic of the thread, but I'd love to hear how or if others have experienced coaxing a reluctant spouse to get in the 5th wheel/trailer world with or without final success. If so, what did the trick? Or what failed to work?

(Good Lord, this is a long post. It may break the internet. Thank you for reading this far.)

Here's a suggestion for you. YOU make up a list with 4 categories; Must-Haves, Be-nice-to-haves, Can-do-withouts, and Absolutely Nots. Ask your DH to do the same. Take the time to do this =seriously= and do them completely separately. Give yourselves a reasonable time, but don't leave it open-ended; say 30 days. Swap lists and see how you compare.

My own experience had me shopping for over 2 years as I was trying to get my old FW sold, first, but I was also comparing everything I could find that fit my most basic parameters. I had narrowed my selection down to 2 units. A KZ was my #1 choice and a very similar (like 90+% similar) Jayco was my #2 choice. I wasn't prepared to travel nearly 800 miles one-way to the closest KZ model that I could find, so had to make do with pictures until I got the old rig sold. There is a large Jayco dealer near us, so I took my wife to look at the particular rig I had in mind. As soon as we walked into it, she said, "wow, this is really nice, but where's the pantry." DOH! Never even occurred to me, as it had so much more storage that I didn't figure we'd need one. I never did get to look at the comparable KZ since it, too, didn't have a dedicated pantry. I still preferred KZ over Jayco for several reasons so, when a dealer not too far from us had something similar to at least look at, we drove an hour to check it out. DW says as we step in, "wow, this is =really= nice and I love the peninsula counter and sink." OK, so I knew which one we were going to get, at that point. :B That, and the fact that the dealership's owner wanted it gone off his lot since it'd been sitting there most of a year, it was a no-brainer.

Only other piece of advice I can give you is to use Camping World for "window shopping" and, when it comes to buying, go out of state if you have to to avoid dealing with them. IMO, they make used car salesmen look good.

Lyle