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

Hawaii808 wrote:
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....

I am in the 808 also, congratulation and enjoy. I am a few years behind you before i set off, my self Full Timing. Check out the Fifth Wheel Trailers around the 30-35 ft range. Excel, DRV, NuWa are Full time Fifth Wheels trailers, great customer support. Its difficult to get into the Federal/State parks above 36', Can be done with practice. I will be heading for SD, for my domicile state.
What everyone has mentioned you can buy your Trailers/motorhome anywhere Oregon, Montana have no sales tax and register where ever you domicile. Best of luck, see you down the road. Thank you for your service.
Scott

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?