If you had a budget of $200k....
... and want to full-time for around 5 - 8 years all across the country, what would YOU get? And why?
Forum Discussion
I always liked the Alpine motorhomes, They came with high enough HP to get them up the grades of western Washington where they where built until a few years ago.
They came with dual fuel fillers that are tucked behind the grill, so you slide out the generator, and expose both fuel fillers. I liked the idea of pulling up towards the pump and being able to see the fuel filler locations as you get close to the pump.
Motorhome Magazine did a write up on the Alpine RV back in the 90's I think.
Another orphan coach (they both went out of production during the economical problems of 2004 - 2006) is Country Coach. My friend has one, and I really enjoyed driving it! Well built, and they also made Provost conversions too.
You can find a lot of RV's at RV search.com
I toured a Fleetwood 'Discovery' in 2004, at a FMCA show in Pomona. Two dealers offered to sell me the coach for $107,000 while the retail was around 167,000. My guess is that both dealers did not need to pre-buy the coach, and had very low overhead to cover when selling me the coach, so they could make a great deal at the show. I did not buy, because I had no idea what the dealership would offer me for my 97 Bounder, and could not possibly know my payment until later.
Anyway I took a test drive, with a Fleetwood design engineer driving, and he demonstrated the air brakes. First he took the RV to about 35 on a empty back road near the Pomona Fairgrounds. Applied the brakes normally. Then took it up to 35 and pulled the "Parking air brake". This slowed the motorhome very quickly, but does not lock up the brakes, we needed to hang on, but not to tightly.
Next he took the RV back to 35 and applied the brakes as hard as possible, letting the ABS brake the RV as quickly as possible, telling everyone to hang on tight this time, Good thing we did, the brakes work fantastic!
So it is good to know that in a emergency, such as the driver passing out, you can pull the parking brake on that RV at full speed, it will stop. . .
A couple of years later, I saw a similar Expidition RV on sale for $115,000 at a dealership, about 2 years old, and I was thinking that if I had bought that one at the show, it still would be worth about what I paid for it 2 years later, because the show price was such a great deal, and also wondered how much of a bath the owners who paid retail price had to take to sell a $167,000 RV for $115,000 a couple of years later. Even if they paid a 'sale' price of $147,000, they would have lost about $32,000 in addition to any sales tax, and whatever fees the DMV would have charged the new owners.
I still plan on buying a new RV, yet will get the dealership to offer a lower price because I understand how the pricing system works. I will shop dealerships out of state, and over the internet to see who offers a great price. I might not make a friend with the nearby dealership, but will save thousands on the purchase price.
As for full timing:
Many who full time do it because they want to see this wonderful country of ours! That is why I full timed for a year. I had a great time, stayed in many great National Parks, and BLM land that was low cost or free. I still have a bunch of places I want to see, and want to spend a summer at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. There is about 100 square miles to explore there, forests, deserts, and some wonderful meadows to park in while seeing it all!
Check out FreeCampgrounds.com
They list many great places to camp. Along with some such as 'Joes Tire Shop' - we parked there overnight and got something fixed in the morning. I did not post any parking lots to park in, that is easy enough to find. I listed BLM sites, and some great campgrounds that are free or less than $10. Some like Forest service are $15, but you get 1/2 off with a 65+ senior card discount, or handicap discount.
I want to explore Moab, and the many great dry camping areas on the bluffs that overlook the Colorado River. A lot of RV's that I saw there in 2002 looked like they where having a great time!
My RV is set up for dry camping. It has a 100 gallon fresh water tank, 59 black, 42 grey (is that backwords or what??) and 4 golf cart batteries. To this I installed a 400 watt solar system, satellite dish, and several other things. My solar system cost me about $3,000, but has saved me $10 a night in camping fees more than 300 times in 1994 - 2004. Another 300 times in 2004 - 2007 while I was full timing, and more since that time.
Now you can buy a 400 watt solar system for less than $750 that my original pair of 45 watt panels cost me in 1994! SunElec.com Look for 12 volt nominal panels, that actually put out nearly 21 volts peak. Wire this to a PWM solar controller, and install them on the roof, with wires going down the refrigerator vent (if you have a propane refrigerator). Then to the controller, then to the batteries.
For panel mounts, I cut some 2" angle aluminum from Home Depot to 6" long with 3 screws #10 into the roof, and 5/16" hole for a 1/4" bolt into the solar panel frame. Some rubber roof sealant finished the job, and sealed the screw holes.
Good luck on finding something!
Fred.
They came with dual fuel fillers that are tucked behind the grill, so you slide out the generator, and expose both fuel fillers. I liked the idea of pulling up towards the pump and being able to see the fuel filler locations as you get close to the pump.
Motorhome Magazine did a write up on the Alpine RV back in the 90's I think.
Another orphan coach (they both went out of production during the economical problems of 2004 - 2006) is Country Coach. My friend has one, and I really enjoyed driving it! Well built, and they also made Provost conversions too.
You can find a lot of RV's at RV search.com
I toured a Fleetwood 'Discovery' in 2004, at a FMCA show in Pomona. Two dealers offered to sell me the coach for $107,000 while the retail was around 167,000. My guess is that both dealers did not need to pre-buy the coach, and had very low overhead to cover when selling me the coach, so they could make a great deal at the show. I did not buy, because I had no idea what the dealership would offer me for my 97 Bounder, and could not possibly know my payment until later.
Anyway I took a test drive, with a Fleetwood design engineer driving, and he demonstrated the air brakes. First he took the RV to about 35 on a empty back road near the Pomona Fairgrounds. Applied the brakes normally. Then took it up to 35 and pulled the "Parking air brake". This slowed the motorhome very quickly, but does not lock up the brakes, we needed to hang on, but not to tightly.
Next he took the RV back to 35 and applied the brakes as hard as possible, letting the ABS brake the RV as quickly as possible, telling everyone to hang on tight this time, Good thing we did, the brakes work fantastic!
So it is good to know that in a emergency, such as the driver passing out, you can pull the parking brake on that RV at full speed, it will stop. . .
A couple of years later, I saw a similar Expidition RV on sale for $115,000 at a dealership, about 2 years old, and I was thinking that if I had bought that one at the show, it still would be worth about what I paid for it 2 years later, because the show price was such a great deal, and also wondered how much of a bath the owners who paid retail price had to take to sell a $167,000 RV for $115,000 a couple of years later. Even if they paid a 'sale' price of $147,000, they would have lost about $32,000 in addition to any sales tax, and whatever fees the DMV would have charged the new owners.
I still plan on buying a new RV, yet will get the dealership to offer a lower price because I understand how the pricing system works. I will shop dealerships out of state, and over the internet to see who offers a great price. I might not make a friend with the nearby dealership, but will save thousands on the purchase price.
As for full timing:
Many who full time do it because they want to see this wonderful country of ours! That is why I full timed for a year. I had a great time, stayed in many great National Parks, and BLM land that was low cost or free. I still have a bunch of places I want to see, and want to spend a summer at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. There is about 100 square miles to explore there, forests, deserts, and some wonderful meadows to park in while seeing it all!
Check out FreeCampgrounds.com
They list many great places to camp. Along with some such as 'Joes Tire Shop' - we parked there overnight and got something fixed in the morning. I did not post any parking lots to park in, that is easy enough to find. I listed BLM sites, and some great campgrounds that are free or less than $10. Some like Forest service are $15, but you get 1/2 off with a 65+ senior card discount, or handicap discount.
I want to explore Moab, and the many great dry camping areas on the bluffs that overlook the Colorado River. A lot of RV's that I saw there in 2002 looked like they where having a great time!
My RV is set up for dry camping. It has a 100 gallon fresh water tank, 59 black, 42 grey (is that backwords or what??) and 4 golf cart batteries. To this I installed a 400 watt solar system, satellite dish, and several other things. My solar system cost me about $3,000, but has saved me $10 a night in camping fees more than 300 times in 1994 - 2004. Another 300 times in 2004 - 2007 while I was full timing, and more since that time.
Now you can buy a 400 watt solar system for less than $750 that my original pair of 45 watt panels cost me in 1994! SunElec.com Look for 12 volt nominal panels, that actually put out nearly 21 volts peak. Wire this to a PWM solar controller, and install them on the roof, with wires going down the refrigerator vent (if you have a propane refrigerator). Then to the controller, then to the batteries.
For panel mounts, I cut some 2" angle aluminum from Home Depot to 6" long with 3 screws #10 into the roof, and 5/16" hole for a 1/4" bolt into the solar panel frame. Some rubber roof sealant finished the job, and sealed the screw holes.
Good luck on finding something!
Fred.
