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Ttaylor6407's avatar
Ttaylor6407
Explorer
Dec 29, 2019

Newbie To Full Tine

Fell in love with idea of full timing last year. Started researching, knew it had to be a toyhauler for my bike. Rented a small one (19 ft) for a long weekend just to see how I liked and loved it. Wanted to rent more, bigger ones but not much offered around my area for rentals. I'm thinking retirement in a couple of years but not going to wait until then to start rv'ing so just about ready to pull the trigger on a starter TH, not one that's had all the bells and whistles for living in full time, but one that gets me at least a good feel for it and to enjoy some good camping. My research shows that most folks think used is the best way to go because of depreciation and initial breakage but for what I'm initially looking to get I'm not seeing much in the way of used that provides a lot savins. I'm looking at 2019 Coachman Catalina 26th (still new) for about 18k. Not too huge an investment and figure it would be a great starter. Not sure what kind of trade in I might get in a couple of years but if over 10k I'd be good with it. Anyone familiar with this TH, or have any advice on my plan?

5 Replies

  • I would suggest buying anything with as little wood as possible. Especially flooring. Long term it is the Achilles heel of rv durability.
  • If you don't really know what you want buying used is a very good start. Depreciation on new RV's is staggering. You don't want to buy new, then decide one or two years later you want something else, you'll really get hosed on trade in or sales. Be careful on financing too, 15 years is common and you'll end up paying twice the purchase price (about) when all is said and done.

    WELCOME to RV'g!
  • Thanks Rob. Yeah I've been educating myself on the lifestyle including domicile (probably SD..maybe Tx), healthcare, mail, taxes, and host of other things. Spend a lot time one blogs/blogs and reading RV resources. Been learning as much as I can from anything to black/grey water dumping to towing. I realize the real learning process starts when I start pulling my own.
  • There's a LOT more to full-timing than just finding the RV you want. Go over to the Escapees RV Club web site and read in their educational section about legal domicile, etc. You can also get a lot of really good information on RV-Dreams.com. There's also a full-timing sub-forum on this forum, but not as well organized as the other two resources. Jumping off the full-time cliff without educating yourself and preparing can result in some real issues.

    Rob