Boat to travel trailer

Welcome to the forum. I can't answer your question but, I'm sure another member has done what you are talking about.

When you have questions about a TT or towing, don't hesitate to ask. There is a lot of experience and information available.

And, I envy your lifestyle. Living on a boat and traveling in a RV. I don't think it can get any better. :)

Well I might be able to help as I crossed the Pacific in my 42 foot Cheoy Lee named Oceanus.

You will move less in an RV obviously and of course depending on the size of your boat you may have more room, which we need to know to make any intelligent comments.

The biggest thing I have found that my experience on board does for me here in the RV is that after refitting my boat, replacing all the electrical and plumbing myself and installing all of the Radar, Nav Computers, Radios, weather faxes etc...nothing I face doing in the RV is much of a challenge.

The next best thing is that I use the higher quality Marine grade products when I do fix something in my RV.

And I for one would rather deal with Marinas and or customs docks than most RV Parks.

I don't have direct experience with boat living but I think boat to trailer are quite similar ...... compact living....and you are already used to that. Have you picked out your RV? Have your tow vehicle? Your plan is perfect IMO. We are a helpful bunch here so ask any questions you like. Enjoy your travels.

Very easy transition. Fact is, a trailer is far simpler & much cheaper than a boat. It is also much roomier, even with the wasted space that RVs have.

No more buying bottom paint at $200-$300 a gal & needs to be redone in a year or so, use the boat or not. Now you are talking tire replacement. Much cheaper. No more bilge pumps, depth finders, expensive electronics like radar to deal with. Campgrounds are much cheaper than marina slips & you get charged by the site, not by the foot. Fuel is cheaper too & you measure your economy in terms of miles to the gallon, not gallons to the mile or things like gallons per hour doing 12mph if you are lucky.

Oh yeah, RVs go lots of places boats don't have a hope of going.

As former very active boaters we considered a trawler but quickly scrubbed the idea for the RV. No regrets. If we want a boat someplace we can always rent or charter.

If the boat is rockin', don't come a knockin'

If the trailer is rockin', put the stabilizers down.


Space wise, I think you will find you have more space. You can always come out of the trailer, set up chairs, table, etc... You can even walk around outside if you want to. Can't do that on a boat.

Veebyes wrote:
Very easy transition. Fact is, a trailer is far simpler & much cheaper than a boat. It is also much roomier, even with the wasted space that RVs have.

No more buying bottom paint at $200-$300 a gal & needs to be redone in a year or so, use the boat or not. Now you are talking tire replacement. Much cheaper. No more bilge pumps, depth finders, expensive electronics like radar to deal with. Campgrounds are much cheaper than marina slips & you get charged by the site, not by the foot. Fuel is cheaper too & you measure your economy in terms of miles to the gallon, not gallons to the mile or things like gallons per hour doing 12mph if you are lucky.

Oh yeah, RVs go lots of places boats don't have a hope of going.

As former very active boaters we considered a trawler but quickly scrubbed the idea for the RV. No regrets. If we want a boat someplace we can always rent or charter.

Really? I'd like to see you get your RV to Pape'ete, Bora Bora, Micronesia, the Solomon Islands, or even mundane Hawa'ii.

And yes you are right...you can't just pull over and have Good Sam come and bail you out, you MUST be self sufficient, highly capable and very sure of your abilities.

Speaking as one who has crossed the Pacific from Seattle to Hawaii to Guam through the Philippines and on to SE Asia I can tell you NOTHING in the RV world Compares to the open ocean, the sense of wonder, and the confidence of total self reliance you get on the ocean.

Curious, do you live at a Marina? Or anchor somewhere?

Reason I ask is that living in a Marina is probably very similar to a campground or RV resort.

Anchoring is probably vastly different.

In other words, if you're not used to close neighbors, that may be the biggest transition

pira114 wrote:
Curious, do you live at a Marina? Or anchor somewhere?

Reason I ask is that living in a Marina is probably very similar to a campground or RV resort.

Anchoring is probably vastly different.

In other words, if you're not used to close neighbors, that may be the biggest transition

Good point. We do a bit of both and like both. Spend more time on the hook. The nice part about a boat or RV is if you don't like your neighbors, it's easy to move.

ken56 wrote:
I don't have direct experience with boat living but I think boat to trailer are quite similar ...... compact living....and you are already used to that. Have you picked out your RV? Have your tow vehicle? Your plan is perfect IMO. We are a helpful bunch here so ask any questions you like. Enjoy your travels.

Yes and no. Haven't bought anything yet but actively pursuing a Ford F-150 with Ecoboost. I had one before we sold everything and moved on to the boat and really liked it.. It has the towing capacity we'll need as we're looking at 20 - 24 ft trailers. Haven't settled on a trailer yet but like the Murphy bed set up in the Jayco White Hawk. We want to buy used if possible to keep the cost down. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

Boondocking (anchoring out) is much much easier on a boat than in an RV. We called the Chesapeake Bay home for a few years and loved all the gunkholes. In an RV, on the east coast, good boondocking locations (with views) are few and far between. Head west, and the boondocking is almost limitless.

The amount of space in an RV when compared to a similar sized boat is amazing. We felt we were in a luxury mansion in comparison. And the fact that you could take a walk any time you wanted... Everything is much easier in an RV except traffic and crowds.

We started out in a travel trailer but, after 6 months, switched to a class A. A class A with a toad is like a boat and dinghy. A truck and trailer just didn't work for us.

But, we figure another 2-3 years of full time RVing and we will go back to a boat. We really miss it.

Best of luck in with your future plans!