RV for Central America Trip

Will your family survive the trip? Those are pretty tight accommodations for 5 people. Where are you going to stuff all your things for a year? Class C's have lousy storage. You'd have a better chance of success in a Class A. Are you a good mechanic for when your RV takes a dump?

Are your kids really willing to leave their friends and activities for a year? I remember taking month long trips as a kid because dad wanted to visit his family out of state. My brother and I wanted to stay home with our friends.

It sounds like a neat trip.

Have you ever taken an RV trip before? If not, I strongly suggest renting one for a few days before buying. You will get a much better feel for things that are important to you in one, and some features to look for or avoid, and frankly how it suits your family dynamics. A year is a long time to spend together in a pretty tiny box. Then spend some time in the units you're thinking about and go through the motions of daily life: can you sit down to eat? cook and do dishes? switch the dinette or couch to a bed and back again? have room for schoolwork? Is there a place for the trash can, clean clothes, dirty laundry, and the other things you'll have to carry? Also look at the weight sticker to see how much you can carry without overloading the chassis; with five on a long trip, it will be a good bit to carry, even though some of the five are small people.

I would not buy a new RV and pack it up for trip. If you must buy new get it at least 6 months ahead of time and put some miles on it to work out the kinks. My preference would be 1 or 2 years old with 20,000 miles on it. These things are a rolling conglomeration of parts and systems, supplied by the lowest bidder. All waiting for the most inopportune time to fail.

Renting is a super idea. I do not see an issue, large family's crossed the US in conestoga wagons and most of them survived.

jjrbus wrote:
I would not buy a new RV and pack it up for trip. If you must buy new get it at least 6 months ahead of time and put some miles on it to work out the kinks. My preference would be 1 or 2 years old with 20,000 miles on it. These things are a rolling conglomeration of parts and systems, supplied by the lowest bidder. All waiting for the most inopportune time to fail.

I do not see an issue, large family's crossed the US in conestoga wagons and most of them survived.

Good advice.

The other (minor) issue is that in those areas (and we have spent many winters in our motorhome in Mexico) a brand new vehicle will stick out more than a used one.

DrewE wrote:
It sounds like a neat trip.

Have you ever taken an RV trip before? If not, I strongly suggest renting one for a few days before buying. You will get a much better feel for things that are important to you in one, and some features to look for or avoid, and frankly how it suits your family dynamics. A year is a long time to spend together in a pretty tiny box. Then spend some time in the units you're thinking about and go through the motions of daily life: can you sit down to eat? cook and do dishes? switch the dinette or couch to a bed and back again? have room for schoolwork? Is there a place for the trash can, clean clothes, dirty laundry, and the other things you'll have to carry? Also look at the weight sticker to see how much you can carry without overloading the chassis; with five on a long trip, it will be a good bit to carry, even though some of the five are small people.

Those are all very good things to think about. We do have some experience with RV. We had a 1985 Econoline campervan that just died on us a few months ago, that we used almost every weekend for the last few years. We even had a 2 weeks trip with it which was a bit tight on us but we managed. Last year we rented a 30' class C camper for 2 weeks to see how that compares and we understood that it was too big for our needs and we can definitely manage with something smaller.

jjrbus wrote:
I would not buy a new RV and pack it up for trip. If you must buy new get it at least 6 months ahead of time and put some miles on it to work out the kinks. My preference would be 1 or 2 years old with 20,000 miles on it. These things are a rolling conglomeration of parts and systems, supplied by the lowest bidder. All waiting for the most inopportune time to fail.

Renting is a super idea. I do not see an issue, large family's crossed the US in conestoga wagons and most of them survived.

We are definitely not looking at buying something new. I posted those links only to show the kind of RV we are thinking of. We are currently looking at a 2015 with 20,000 miles. Do you think that is too old? Should we go with something newer? older?

And by the way, we are looking at buying very soon so we have about 6 months before we go on the trip to work everything out. To learn the mechanics, work on the storage, modify whatever needs to be modified, etc.

I understand what you want to do and the need to stay small. I would look at the same size C with a full wall slide like the Leprechaun 240FS just to give you some more room when camping for the night or days on end. Also I would look at a short Class A like the Vegas 25.6. You will have limited storage and FW in these short units. A TT in the same size will give you much more storage and FW when you consider the bed of the truck.

What an educational, and experience-filled trip that could be- and at the right ages too. We try to take a few months or at least a few weeks each Summer, and now can travel very lightly- but appreciate having the extra space for unforseen and for extra space on rainy days. C class lets you drive while they sleep, which is very helpful. I also wouldn't want to disconnect a trailer daily if my goal is to tour rather than to spend many days in one place. We spent a few days with a French family matching yours that did just fine in a 22' - they started in Boston, went to Vancouver, and ended in Cancun. I'd love to read your adventures, please DM your blog, and also if we can share any tips. Traveling in a unit for which parts are easily available South of the border would be my primary driver, but I've not researched what's common.

Gjac wrote:
I understand what you want to do and the need to stay small. I would look at the same size C with a full wall slide like the Leprechaun 240FS just to give you some more room when camping for the night or days on end.

And, given some of the very rough roads you will be on and topes you will not see until too late, I would recommend exactly the opposite-- a no slide unit. Better structural integrity and more storage.

For that trip a rugged, KISS theory RV is what I would recommend.

Yes, if spending a week or more in a CG, slides are great. But on a trip like you are planning-- not so much.