Miles per gallon on a 40 to 44 foot diesel

Fuel used to be an incidental expense. If you full time, you control the costs by staying longer in each location.

With a good enough solar system fuel costs while stationary may approach or be zero. If you can DIY solar costs about $3 per watt. I'd aim at 1400 watts for full time. That may be enough to run a single roof air conditioner.

The diesel generator fuel intake is usually placed at 1/4 tank reserve to prevent folks from accidentally stranding themselves.

If you have to worry about fuel milage you are going to hate owning a coach. It can be moderated by your amount of driving. You will not drive that many miles so it is not an issue. I put on 35K miles or so a year on the coach so it is a bigger factor but still not an issue if you consider I am not paying for a flight a rental car and a hotel and eating out every meal.

Depreciation and maintenance/tires cost way more than fuel.

10K miles per year at 7 mpg equals 1400 gallons of fuel.

10K miles per year at 10 mpg equals 1000 gallons of fuel.

At 3.50 per gallon the savings is about $1400.

The Onan Quiet Diesel is an inverter type so rpms go down with load.

Running ours 24 hrs per day in the heat averages to about 3/4 gallon per hour.

Silvercorvette, you didn't say what your price range would be but one thing that I wanted to point out is that a Prevost coach might fill most of your desires.

Liberty combines the black and grey tanks with one tank adding a grey water bypass. If allowed, I can open the grey water bypass and the water will exit under the coach or I can attach a hose and run it where ever I need to put it. Our holding tank is 189 gallons. Fresh water is also 189 gallons.

We have a 235 gallon fuel tank. At 54,000 lbs., we average about 6.5 mpg.

10 yr. old Prevost still look new in many cases. They have a safe and robust chassis with real front and rear bumpers. They have no steps that pop-out as all the steps are on the inside. There are no screen doors or door awnings (a compromise of a Prevost).

2005's or so would list for about 499K-599K. Check out Prevostcommunity.com in their 'sale' section to get an idea of price, years and amenities. Slides came out in early 2000 or so. These coaches offer a 20,000 lb. towing capacity.

Good luck on your search.
MM.

Like Mr. Mark, we have a Prevost. We never worry about fuel when running the genset while boondocking, because we have a 230 gallon fuel tank. We also have a 200 Gallon water tank and a 100 gallon gray and a 100 gallon black tank. The gray overflows into the black with a check valve. We can go a long time with no hookups. We can also go half way across the country on a tankful of fuel. We can run 2 AC units while going down the road without starting the generator.

I have a 100 gallon fuel tank in the Sahara running a 300 hp CAT and I start looking for a fuel stop at 800 miles on the ODO, which is about 760 actual. I normally put 80-85 gallons in. I run 63 mph on the road.

You can put a LOT of miles on a diesel motorhome before you'd have to worry. We spent a summer in Alaska and on the way up and back we just drove on the top half of the tank. Fuel stations there close down all the time so you can't be sure where the next station will be.

You'll have no worry with a diesel generator using too much fuel.

Fishinghat wrote:
Eventually, you're going to want "more space", and a 45 ft class A is as big as RVs go. It will have a diesel and a diesel generator, and at least a 100 gallon tank. Some coaches have a propane generator which is not anywhere as desirable as a diesel since you can run out of propane very quickly, but not diesel.

Generators are very efficient users of diesel, but they are noisy. You are probably going to want to add solar panels to reduce the running time of the generator.

As others have noted, your holding tanks will be more of a concern than fuel. Class A rigs generally have larger tanks then Class C, and possibly even a Super C.

My 23 yr old rig has a 40 gallon black water tank and 60 gal grey water tank. I believe my fresh water tank is 60 gallons, but my memory is failing me. My fuel tank holds 150 gallons. My wife and I can go two weeks boondocking. It is the black water tank that is our weakest link.

My second RV was a truck camper with two bar-b-que sized tanks running a propane generator. On hot days I would be luck if one propane tank lasted more than 3 days. Not only was a propane jenny expensive to run it was also hard to find a place to refill the tanks. The best thing about propane is that they are quiet,
Right now I am using two Honda 2,000 watt generators linked together in my 5th wheel RV. They are quiet, don't use much gas and easy to find a place the sells fuel. I love living in Anderson but I have no family here and houses are 700 feet to1,200 apart and with no one to check in on me I could wind up dead without anyone knowing about it or checking on me my two dogs could be trapped in my house. I plan on selling my house in Anderson and moving near my cousin in Myrtle Beach, Her husband died a couple years ago and she has children and cousins nearby. So if I move near by I will have people to take care of my dogs if something happens to me and we can travel together. I am considering either buying a small piece of land near her and having Myrtle beach as a home base. I love my 5th wheel, it came with central vac, two A/Cs and a lot of extras. Plus I added a sleep number bed, automatic DirecTV dish and washer/dryer but I think a motor home will be better for full timing it. I want something as large as possible because this will be my new home and a "A" seems to have more interior room and basement storage than a super C.

It is funny how my attitude and desires changed in the past 8 years. When I moved here I liked the privacy of being far apart from neighbors, but nowI could be one of those people you see it the ads that have fallen and can't get up. Believe it or not I am more worried about my dogs than myself if something like that were to happen.

Lantley wrote:
Seems like you are trying to get a lot done at once. Why not liquidate your stuff and full time with your current combo awhile. If you enjoy full time living you can move on to a class A from there. No need to jump in with both feet so fast

You are correct and that is what I have been doing and what I intend on doing. The past few years I have been living in an RV, I plan on spending the next few months in my 5th wheel then when I sell the house and cars I should be able to pay cash for a very nice class "A".

PS I have my RV in storage and drove over today cleaning it out getting ready for a trip. I am already getting excited about getting on the road.
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EDIT

The past few years I have been living in an RV

Change to
The past few years I have been living in an RV four to eight weeks a year

dave17352 wrote:
I would love to own a big class a if I could afford it and use it but I agree with the other person that suggested trying the full time life style in the rig you have now. If you like it then you can buy the whole enchilada. Your rig should be plenty comfortable tox experiment with.

I am at a pint in my life where I don't have much of a choice. I can't stay in this house anymore so I have to move and I sure as heck do not want to move into an apartment. I can go out today and trade my 5th wheel for and A and will be on a very tight budget and have to count every penny, but if I wait till after I sell the house I can afford a much nicer one without worry about having enough money to fill the tank with fuel