Aloha everyone,My wife and I will be full-timing it at the end of next year. We have a lot to do before then i.e. sell our home, big estate sale, etc, etc...... As you can all tell, we come from the 50th state(Hawaii). My research on coaches will be 40'to 45' class A (D). Please give me any advice, because I have done a lot of research the pass couple of years and still deciding which model. I hear the best states to buy coaches are Texas, Florida, and SD. We are retired military and will be staying at bases with RV sites, National Parks and ??????Any advice would be helpful... We have once owned class C motor home on the mainland when our kids(2)growing up and we like the traveling lifestyle. Much Mahalo's to all and be safe (God Bless) R&R from the 808 state....

Welcome back to the mainland. And thanks for your service. Unless you have really deep pockets to support that monster MH you might reconsider your ideas. A MH is probably the most expensive form of RVing there is. But if your heart is set in That direction, then come on. Don't forget Oregon for your purchase. We have no sales tax and direct flights between the islands and PDX. There are several large dealers within an hours drive of the airport that have a good selection of both new and used RV's.. Did I mention no sales tax and reasonable title and registration fees?

I think you will find that TX, FL and SD are the states most full-timers declare for their domiciles largely because they have no state income tax and are full-timer friendly with numerous mail forwarding services, etc. There is really no reason why you have to purchase your RV in those states since you can have it titled in any state regardless of where you buy. Even if the dealer you buy from is not set up to obtain plates from, say, SD, it is no big deal to get one of the SD mail forwarding services to help assist in that process.Since you are coming to the mainland without any fixed domicile, you might want to consider purchasing your RV through a Montana LLC. Montana has no vehicle titling tax so your purchase will be less expensive. Setting up an LLC for this purpose is something done by a variety of firms in the state. I'm sure my comments will provoke reactions from people who will claim this is a scam and you can get in trouble doing it. The people who get in trouble are folks who use this process to try to avoid taxes in their home states and keep the RV in those home states despite registering it in MT. In your case it is unlikely you will have the RV in Hawaii :B so you shouldn't have any problems with that state. There is nothing that prevents people from having vehicles registered in multiple states and living in only one of them; just ask Mitt Romney. You are the perfect candidates for doing this; PM me if you have specific questions on this or full-timing in general.

Thank you for your service. You enable us to have the freedom to travel this beautiful country. Freedom isn't free. We full time in a 33' Class A Country Coach Allure with 2 slides and have plenty of room. With multiple slides you can reduce the length of the Class A and still have lots of room. If you are going to National Parks or state parks, some of their sites are not suitable for 40-45' coaches. We also like Corps of Engineers parks. You can find them on www.recreation.gov For military campgrounds, we use www.militarycampgrounds.us Some brands to look for: Foretravel, Newmar, Country Coach, Tiffin.

Never having had a Class A. But I would believe sdianel advise would prove true, especially, the "If you are going to National Parks or state parks, some of their sites are not suitable for 40-45' coaches."Longer the rig, would have to start limiting the places one can take them. Since you will be free to choose where you will buy a coach, I'd think doing a few web searches for the best price would work well for you. Good Luck with your Quest.

DesertHawk wrote:Never having had a Class A. But I would believe sdianel advise would prove true, especially, the "If you are going to National Parks or state parks, some of their sites are not suitable for 40-45' coaches."Longer the rig, would have to start limiting the places one can take them. With all due respect, this is a statement usually made by people who don't own large MH's. With a 40 footer we have yet to find a park we couldn't stay at. Sure, some parks will have fewer sites we fit into and with lengths over 40 some parks will be tight, but we've stayed in Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Teton NP, and Jasper and Banff National Parks in Alberta without any problems whatsoever. All you have to do when making reservations is pay attention to the vehicle length permitted on the site you are reserving. If you wanted to make sure you fit into every single RV site you would probably have to own a Class B; it's not that big a deal to find larger sites.

From the Aloha State..Full-time next year on the Mainland

16 Replies

RoadXYZ
Explorer II
Sep 13, 2013
It has already been said, but would personally not go over 40', preferably 39 ft rig. Many of the rv/state/COE parks we have stayed in do have limitations as to size of rigs .. we are in a private park at this time (between volunteering stints) and the sites can only accommodate 40' rigs .. nothing longer.

We have several 36-40'motorhomes in the park at this time .. they do have spots with water/electric only for those rigs over 40'. We saw a delightful motorhome which had a garage in the rear for a little electric vehicle, but most of what we have seen tow their vehicles while traveling - one couple we know though are doing it by him driving the motorhome and she drives the car.

Good luck in your future plans ...
beemerphile1
Explorer
Sep 12, 2013
Oops!
Scott16
Explorer
Sep 05, 2013
texasclarks wrote:
rockhillmanor wrote:
I guess the obligatory question is:
WHY would you ever want to leave Hawaii for the states? :B

I can think of many reasons why I would want to leave Hawaii for the continental US. The first being to see a lot more diverse scenery.

Yes, Hawaii is a beautiful state...but I think after a few years I would get tired of the 'island lifestyle'.

Thank you for your replies.
Yes Oahu Hawaii has been my home,(and is nice to live) going on 28 years with 2-1/2 Everett Washington in the Navy. Originally born in Renton Washington where we always went camping all the time in the Cascades Mountains.
You do get tired of all the Island life style, traffic Congestion all the time, not counting the accidents then it is compounded. The price of gas is $4.25 a gallon of un-leaded gas, Diesel is pushing $5.00.
To go anywhere off Island and to the other Islands it is a plane trip of course. I cannot remember the last time i went to Waikiki beach after being here a while. All of the State parks close at sunset, so no over night camping. Due to the homeless that used to live there. So the State way of fixing the problem was to shut down the parks at sunset, and run off the homeless.
So yes to conclude this long winded answer is Hawaii is a Beautiful state to live in, you can't beat the weather. It is just starting to get too confining for myself and family (Wife). Its just time to go and do things like RVing, and travel slowly not in a hurry, while we are still young enough to do it.
So the planning continues.
Thank you all for the replies and will be contiune to ask all of you questions to go Full Time in a few years.
Scott
texasclarks
Explorer
Sep 05, 2013
rockhillmanor wrote:
I guess the obligatory question is:
WHY would you ever want to leave Hawaii for the states? :B

I can think of many reasons why I would want to leave Hawaii for the continental US. The first being to see a lot more diverse scenery.

Yes, Hawaii is a beautiful state...but I think after a few years I would get tired of the 'island lifestyle'.
BarbaraOK
Explorer
Sep 05, 2013
You can buy in Oregon, but when you go to register, you will pay the sales tax in whatever state you register in, because unless you retire in Oregon and already a citizen, then you can't use Oregon as your domicile.

Montana LLCs work well for fulltimers IF you make sure you don't spend over whatever amount of time the state where you domicile says you can. States around Montana are getting quite vigorous in going after people who use the LLC to avoid paying sales tax to their domicile state. Texas allows LLCs provided that you don't state longer than 30 days in the state in any one year.

Don't let the naysayers deter you from getting the size coach you want. Yes, there will be a few places you can't go, but most places you will be able to fit in. If I were buying right now I would be looking at a 3-4 year old (or maybe older depending upon your budget) Foretravel. Very well built coach. Motorhomes of Texas probably has more used Foretravels that anyone else. And don't be afraid to look at orphan coaches - - lots of good ones out there.

I would also suggest you get on the Escapees forum - more information about fulltiming. Look at the Graduating to Fulltime, which has people who will be starting the same year as you - - great way to get to know people who are going through the same process at the same time with the same concerns/fixes as you are experiencing.

Barb
rockhillmanor
Explorer II
Sep 05, 2013
I guess the obligatory question is:
WHY would you ever want to leave Hawaii for the states? :B
Scott16
Explorer
Sep 03, 2013
hitchup wrote:
Like Docj, we've bought RV's and TV's in other states than FL and only required to pay the FL sales tax when transferring the tags over to the new vehicle.

Whether we've done our own financing or dealer does it, we only pay a small Document fee to the state we're purchasing in.

Thank you hitchup, for the information it is really Appreciated.
Scott
hitchup
Explorer
Sep 03, 2013
Like Docj, we've bought RV's and TV's in other states than FL and only required to pay the FL sales tax when transferring the tags over to the new vehicle.

Whether we've done our own financing or dealer does it, we only pay a small Document fee to the state we're purchasing in.
Scott16
Explorer
Sep 03, 2013
docj wrote:
Scott16 wrote:
Oregon, Montana have no sales tax and register where ever you domicile.

I have bought vehicles in several states and nowhere did I pay a "sales tax" regardless of the state's laws. I paid a "titling fee (or tax)" based on the purchase price to the state where I wanted the vehicle titled.

A couple of years ago when living in MD I bought a truck in PA; I didn't pay PA tax because the vehicle was registered in MD. My MH was purchased in IL and was registered in MT; there was no tax paid to IL. My toad was bought from a car dealer in MD and it had an NC title; it was registered in MT with no taxes paid to NC or MD. There is absolutely no reason that the OP needs to buy his RV in OR or MT just because they are tax-free states. The tax he pays will be determined by where it is registered.

Thank You Doc, I've read a few people buying in route to their domicile residence did not hear the end result. Appreciate the information, i stand corrected. I plan move to SD Establish residence and buy in what ever state i find my Fifth Wheel. Truck will be ordered from SD. Register both in SD. It's going to take about three to four months to get outfitted and ready to go i fugure. No reason to rush and make a mistake.
Scott
docj
Explorer
Sep 03, 2013
Scott16 wrote:
Oregon, Montana have no sales tax and register where ever you domicile.

I have bought vehicles in several states and nowhere did I pay a "sales tax" regardless of the state's laws. I paid a "titling fee (or tax)" based on the purchase price to the state where I wanted the vehicle titled.

A couple of years ago when living in MD I bought a truck in PA; I didn't pay PA tax because the vehicle was registered in MD. My MH was purchased in IL and was registered in MT; there was no tax paid to IL. My toad was bought from a car dealer in MD and it had an NC title; it was registered in MT with no taxes paid to NC or MD. There is absolutely no reason that the OP needs to buy his RV in OR or MT just because they are tax-free states. The tax he pays will be determined by where it is registered.