arasmada,
I hope you find your way back to this thread. There has been some good information posted.
I neglected to mentioned the seat belt issue on my previous post, though several others have brought it up. Good.
Assuming you eventually do read this, I did want you to know that if you find a rig which might work for you but lacks the necessary number of seat belts, you can add them yourself. A dealership usually will not for "liability reasons". Our rig came with 12 belts from the factory (we have a dual sofa/dual slide class A) and I added some across the rear bed to keep the kids put when they're sleeping and night and I'm rolling us down the road. I bought them from
GotBelts.com. And they sell all of the hardware too.
Personally, I'm not a big fan of renting as you'll end up spending a chunk of change on the rental which could go toward the purchase of the RV. Since you're looking for older rigs anyway, you shouldn't really have to deal with much (if any) depreciation, so if you need to sell, you should be able to recoup your expenses. (I've even read some posts on here where people have bought, used it for a short while, and then sold at a profit. Pretty impressive, but if you do your research before hand, it IS possible.)
Dare I mention this, but with a larger family, you might want to consider a Class A rig as well. They generally have more storage space (important with 7!), larger holding tanks (also important) and generally better weight ratings (though you still have to check). That's how we ended up with our A. Started looking at hybrids to tow behind our Odyssey and ended up with the rig in our signature which tows the minivan. Oh well. But in retrospect, it's worked perfectly for us. But we did about 2 years of research before pulling the trigger, and this was our first RV purchase of any kind. Kids can sleep anywhere, so air mattresses or sleeping bags on the floors will work if the dinette and sofa(s) aren't sufficient. We've done 9 in ours plus an overweight golden retriever. Cozy...but doable.
Or at least look at the Kodiak chassis based Class C's that came out around 2004 or so. Again, better weight ratings, holding tanks, etc. yet still a Class C form.
And we did look at a full-size van pulling a trailer. That IS a good option, but everyone has to travel in the van so you lose the convenience of having restroom/kitchen/refrigerator at your fingertips when needed. Plus, we have used our rig for long day trips from the house. We wouldn't do that with a trailer.
Oh, by the way, have you given any thought to what type of vehicle you will tow with you? You'll probably want to tow something to venture out of the campgrounds without breaking camp each time. For 7 people, the 2000-2004 Honda Odysseys (we have a 2001) work very well and can be towed four-down. There aren't many 7 passenger, four-down towable vehicles.
Anyway, as I said, I strongly encourage you to do lots of research before you buy.
Good Luck,
~Rick
