Move to Motorhome

LeBout wrote:
After much thought and discussion my wife and I have decided to move from our TT to a motorhome to help facilitate our Oregon to Minnesota trips to visit our aging parents. I've been pulling TTs for years but have never owned a MH. I read over the FAQs and saw repeatedly that people cautioned about buying too small of a rig, but I never read an explanation as to WHY a smaller rig was discouraged.

We're looking for a 21 or 22 foot unit, and I've noticed most come with a Ford V-10. What kind of fuel economy (or lack thereof) can one expect from a V-10 on the highway? Thanks in advance for the answers.

We love our 24 foot Itasca (Winnebago) Class C motorhome based on a rugged, easy-to-get-serviced, overkil Ford E450 chassis.

It's easy to heat, easy to cool, easy to park, easy to drive, has a whole lot of storage ... and makes a comfortable little nest for use to camp in with 30 amp hookups or drycamp for up to around a week. For evening relaxation, my wife uses it's single swiveling/sliding lounge chair with her feet propped up and I use the dinette. We use it's toilet area and shower with no problems when drycamping. We even give the dog a bath in it's shower stall!

My wife has a bad back so she gets the whole rear queen bed to spread out on for sleeping. I sleep all spread out on the cabover queen bed with it's easy access ladder. (I'm around 6'2")

It's small size is just right for my wife and I. It doesn't have slides and we don't tow. Our longest trip so far has been about 10 weeks while touring the U.S. -> with a mix of hookup campsites, dycamp campsites, and boondock camping off dirt/gravel roads. Our camping style is to be ready for anything anytime for maximum spontaneity and lack of hassles - both when in motion and when camped.

It's a myth that you need a large size RV in order to have "all the comforts of home". The Ford V10 delivers around 9-10 MPG using our cruising speeds of 58-61 MPH. It uses regular gas in it's 55 gallon fuel tank, which easily provides over 400 miles of range - plus providing a no-hassle source of fuel for the built-in generator.

Our 23 ft. Coach House Class C with the Ford V10 gets about 10 mpg, but I keep the speed at about 60 mph or maybe a little higher. When towing our Jeep Wrangler, the mileage drops down a little to about 9 mpg. I could drive it faster, but what's the hurry especially on the two lane road that we tend to prefer rather than the interstates.

If you are looking for a small RV I might suggest that you look at one on a Chevy Chassis they will get a bit better mileage than ones on a Ford Chassis and offer more comfort and better ride.

My 26Q Tioga on a Chevy chassis gets between 9.2 and 9.7 MPG depending on speed and wind.

I would also try to get one with a walk around bed and not one of the ones with the corner bed.There a many out there that have a full bed in a slide out.

I think that the ones that caution about buying a small RV have done so to put the family in and find that the tight quarters of a RV is not meant for a lot of people.Whereas with just a couple it may very well work out just right.

What you have to do is look at the floor plan that you might like then go look and walk around and see how it will fit your needs and comfort level,looking at the floor plan of your trailer I think you would find something just as nice and functional in a small RV.

Good Luck in your quest in finding the one that will fill all your needs and comfort level.

It seems to me that a lot of people (not necessarily you) have the idea that a longer class C is much harder to drive than a shorter one, and for that reason are scared of getting one that's all that long. Others worry about site availability for larger units--which is indeed occasionally a valid concern, but in many cases not a problem in practice. Still others suspect that it has a significant impact on fuel mileage, which is generally not the case to any great extent. For what are often mistaken reasons, they seek to compromise convenience and usability (tank sizes, etc.) when that's not really necessary.

The reality, in terms of driving, is that length makes very little difference on the road, and some difference when maneuvering around tight areas. The width and height are more noticeable concerns. I'd guess you may have some general awareness of these sorts of issues with your experience with a travel trailer.

As far as gas mileage, with my twenty year old class C based on the Ford E series platform, I average somewhere between 7.5 and 8 mpg, probably closer to 7.5 most of the time. New ones do a little bit better, maybe 1 mpg better, thanks to engine and especially transmission improvements. As with any motorhome, one's speed has a very significant impact on fuel mileage, since during highway travel most of the power is used in overcoming air resistance and that increases enormously with speed (I think it's approximately proportional to the speed cubed in rough terms).

I've never owned a Class C, but I'll make a couple of guesses why people say not to get one too small.
It needs to be big enough to have a walk around queen bed as climbing in and out of an overhead bed could get very tiring.

Also, larger motorhomes tend to have more storage compartments, larger holding tanks, and fresh water tanks. Actual Class C owners can hopefully give more insight.

In something small, light, and aerodynamic, you might get around 10 MPG on the freeway on cruise control with no winds or hills, give or take. Some will say you'll get 10 or more, but that's questionable. Any situation that requires invoking the "legendary power" of the V10, will reduce the MPG to nearer 4 or lower as the RPMs increase to provide it.
In our 2016 Sunstar (27' long bread box, ready to travel weight around 13,000 lbs) I figure we got around 6 MPG overall average, for the short time we owned it. We towed a 4500lb Wrangler to get those numbers. On one long trip.

Our Leprechaun 260 DSF averages about 7.8 mpg.
Keeping it closer to 62 It’s gotten up to 8.3.
This is towing a Jeep.