Major repair costs for a Class C
I live in Florida and I would like to travel and see North America while I still can, but on a stipend of 2,000 USD per month. I can get a used Class C motorhome for around 5,000 - one short enough to...
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Your $5000 price target determines your year range (it is going to be '80s or older to be that cheap and usable) and you don't need to worry about brands because the individual RVs will be those that have proven themselves by 20+ years of survival.
Your repair risks will be most likely related to the house, but at $5000 you should be considering only RVs in sound condition with everything working. "Needs work but runs" deals are more often in the under $2000 range. I have a neighbor who picked up a 22 foot Brave (a small type A, something else to consider) for $1000, he probably needs another $2000 into the house part to change it from the weekend camping shelter it is now into a functional self-contained RV for travel.
Chassis and running gear, you want that in good condition from the start. Most likely cost is tires, because they get too old to be safe long before wearing out, and run $1000 to $1500 for a set of six. If you get one so old it has 16.5 instead of 16 inch wheels, tires can be almost impossible to find at any price.
Next risk is brakes, they deteriorate by corrosion while sitting, and a medium truck brake repair/replacement can be a few hundred to more than a thousand dollars. I had to have my brake calipers replaced at about 30,000 miles and ten years old because corrosion kept them from releasing; another $1200.
Engines? A remanufactured big-block V8, Chevy or Ford, will be $2000-3000 for a long-block plus labor for installation, which might double the price, and then there can be issues with the condition of the parts that get transferred from old engine to new, because failures there are much more likely than a failure of the core.
Transmission? A rebuilt TH400 (most likely transmission mated to a GM big block 70s vintage) is around $1200-1500, with maybe $100 credit for your rebuildable core. Labor added to that. It might be a little less for a local shop to rebuild yours, costs depend on extent of the rebuild, how many parts reused, what parts are replaced. That's actually pretty cheap compared to rebuild costs on modern automatics.
But you should be more concerned about the condition of the house: no leaks, no former leaks, no water damage to the structure.
Staying in National Park campgrounds, quite often there will be camp stores in the more developed campgrounds, but prices will be high. Many RV parks I've used have had their own stores, or been withing walking distance (a few miles) of a grocery or convenience store. Most of my stays are under a week in length, so it is not difficult grocery shopping enroute to be ready for a stay.
I can't see you staying in National Park campgrounds on a $1500 budget. In many of the popular parks, the campgrounds with RV hookups can be nearly $50 a day. In areas less popular and less remote, expect fees more like $20-30 a day with utilities, $12-16 a day with no utilities (but maybe water available nearby).
Forest Service campgrounds can have lower fees, but often no utilities beyond pit toilets. Dispersed (wilderness) camping is sometimes possible on Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service properties, but more and more these are becoming fee areas. In the middle of the country I use state parks ($12 to $35 a day depending on facilities and demand) and the recreational access sites on US Army Corps of Engineers flood management projects ($12 to $20 a day).
Almost all public-owned recreational properties have time limits. 14 days is most common, some high demand areas may have seven day limits.
If you want to live in parks or recreation areas, you might look into work-camping, your labor in exchange for a place to park and hook up, and sometimes at privately owned RV parks, some wages to go along with that. Work weeks might be anything from 10 hours to more than 40 hours (with pay) but there is almost always an expectation than you will be there for "the season" and not for just a couple of weeks or a couple of months.
I hitch with many of these part time jobs is that you may be expected to have your own transportation, so many people living this lifestyle have a towable RV and something to tow it, and less often are using a motorhome and a second towed vehicle. In a national park in western Colorado I met a work camper living in a pop-up tent camper (about 10 years old) getting around in a 20-year old small pickup, but he had been doing it since the camper was new (and the truck 10 years old) so he probably started out with more than your initial budget.
Your repair risks will be most likely related to the house, but at $5000 you should be considering only RVs in sound condition with everything working. "Needs work but runs" deals are more often in the under $2000 range. I have a neighbor who picked up a 22 foot Brave (a small type A, something else to consider) for $1000, he probably needs another $2000 into the house part to change it from the weekend camping shelter it is now into a functional self-contained RV for travel.
Chassis and running gear, you want that in good condition from the start. Most likely cost is tires, because they get too old to be safe long before wearing out, and run $1000 to $1500 for a set of six. If you get one so old it has 16.5 instead of 16 inch wheels, tires can be almost impossible to find at any price.
Next risk is brakes, they deteriorate by corrosion while sitting, and a medium truck brake repair/replacement can be a few hundred to more than a thousand dollars. I had to have my brake calipers replaced at about 30,000 miles and ten years old because corrosion kept them from releasing; another $1200.
Engines? A remanufactured big-block V8, Chevy or Ford, will be $2000-3000 for a long-block plus labor for installation, which might double the price, and then there can be issues with the condition of the parts that get transferred from old engine to new, because failures there are much more likely than a failure of the core.
Transmission? A rebuilt TH400 (most likely transmission mated to a GM big block 70s vintage) is around $1200-1500, with maybe $100 credit for your rebuildable core. Labor added to that. It might be a little less for a local shop to rebuild yours, costs depend on extent of the rebuild, how many parts reused, what parts are replaced. That's actually pretty cheap compared to rebuild costs on modern automatics.
But you should be more concerned about the condition of the house: no leaks, no former leaks, no water damage to the structure.
Staying in National Park campgrounds, quite often there will be camp stores in the more developed campgrounds, but prices will be high. Many RV parks I've used have had their own stores, or been withing walking distance (a few miles) of a grocery or convenience store. Most of my stays are under a week in length, so it is not difficult grocery shopping enroute to be ready for a stay.
I can't see you staying in National Park campgrounds on a $1500 budget. In many of the popular parks, the campgrounds with RV hookups can be nearly $50 a day. In areas less popular and less remote, expect fees more like $20-30 a day with utilities, $12-16 a day with no utilities (but maybe water available nearby).
Forest Service campgrounds can have lower fees, but often no utilities beyond pit toilets. Dispersed (wilderness) camping is sometimes possible on Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service properties, but more and more these are becoming fee areas. In the middle of the country I use state parks ($12 to $35 a day depending on facilities and demand) and the recreational access sites on US Army Corps of Engineers flood management projects ($12 to $20 a day).
Almost all public-owned recreational properties have time limits. 14 days is most common, some high demand areas may have seven day limits.
If you want to live in parks or recreation areas, you might look into work-camping, your labor in exchange for a place to park and hook up, and sometimes at privately owned RV parks, some wages to go along with that. Work weeks might be anything from 10 hours to more than 40 hours (with pay) but there is almost always an expectation than you will be there for "the season" and not for just a couple of weeks or a couple of months.
I hitch with many of these part time jobs is that you may be expected to have your own transportation, so many people living this lifestyle have a towable RV and something to tow it, and less often are using a motorhome and a second towed vehicle. In a national park in western Colorado I met a work camper living in a pop-up tent camper (about 10 years old) getting around in a 20-year old small pickup, but he had been doing it since the camper was new (and the truck 10 years old) so he probably started out with more than your initial budget.
