Ok, my first moho was a 73 open road in 80. It was a piece of junk. I used it for everything, hauling, kids, dogs, work, vacation and so on. I found the darn thing was like swiss army knife vehicle. I had a couple of pickups before that with camper shells and got tired of crouching over to sit on the 5 gal bucket. Insurance on an old moho is cheaper than a truck.
Diesel moho's are about 40% higher in intial cost and 50% more expensive to maintain. Perfect example, fan clutch, gas=$70 diesel=$800 plus another $800 to install. But, we as the public have been sold that diesel engines are so much better. So, most folks find it cheaper to live in a house than live in a diesel bus. they are right!! and you have more space. A basic diesel today costs about $200k, I can buy 3 houses in many parts of the country that are 5 times the size of a diesel coach. The cost of owning a house is far cheaper than owning a big diesel bus, just no way around it. So, yes many folks get tire of paying out stupid amounts of cash for what? The brag of I lived in a bus for a while? Yes, they finally see the error of their ways and settle down into a inexpensive house and buy a van or hit the road staying hotels.
It takes a special kind of person to live full time in an RV. Most have a life of about 100k miles and then you must start making stupid repairs. Sorry DP guys, but the water pipes in my gas moho are exactly the same material as in your DP. It is part of the "RV life"! What kind of repairs, vibration repairs mostly. Pipes that just start leaking, roofs that just start leaking, repainting inside and out, failing frigs... just all kinds of coach issues that happen to any coach. And of course the fancier the unit the higher the cost, but most of us don't think of this when we first start out! did I mention rust and dry rot????
In the past buying a house usually meant that your capital investment could be recovered when you sold you house. duh, rv's do not go up in value and the dealer organization here in the states does everything they can to insure that the average fella loses their shirt when they sell their RV. Most of the time the sales price for an RV is lower than the bank loan. This should be telling you something.
Yes, I quit full timing. Why? I wanted to do something else. I figured if I could fix an rv out in the middle of the Alaskan frontier I could build a house. Do I still have my class A? you bet, the same one for 17 years. I'm constantly repairing it! But... now that gas has dropped and I can use it again. When gas hit $3 per gal I quit using it. It was cheaper to drive the car and get a hotel room, now that it is back down again to the $1.50 range, except in California, I can travel in my moho again. A new 26 foot class A is $80k, so I figure I can put $10k into this one and still be way ahead. How awful I have to travel in my ratty old moho that has been customized to exactly how I like it. Hmmmm.....
Oh, yeah, the new moho graphics that peel off in a few years, I think they look like a huge, no, a really huge pidgeon, did a direct hit on those coaches. Whew, they are dog ugly and attract attention when one trys to boondock. No wonder the classic trailer thing has become so popular.
Ever wonder why boats use gel coat rather than clear coat paint? Another duh...... clear coat peels, concrete cracks, poop runs down hill and water must be under pressure to come out the faucet. Steel car skins don't flex like a moho does so guess what. You too need a new $12k paint job that looks like bird kaka.....
When was the last time you spent $12k to get your house painted???? So why do folks quit RVing?
"nuff" said
