Should we Rent or Buy an RV?
Our family (my wife, 3 kids, 11, 8 and 3) is planning a month long vacation this summer. We're going to hit the midwest including the Dakotas, Yellowstone, Glacier NP, some of Utah, Colorado and as ma...
Forum Discussion
Boulter,
I like your plan but will not comment on the practicality of it now.
While I admit that I am kind of a paranoid dweeb (and a couple of kinds of engineer), I have always found it useful to engage a spreadsheet. You should start there and with a planning package. Use what ever spreadsheet you like and do your best to include everything you can think of while at it.
For the planning package, the best I know of today (this may start a firestorm) is one called Furkot this will recommend both End of Day and Fuel Stops. I personally find those two essential. It unfortunately has the drawback of being a webapp. So, using it underway is a real big problem. There are others, but Furkot is Free. Most unfortunately, the two good stand-alones are both gone now. Route planning is easy to do online, but (if you are unlucky) that plan will be junk by the third morning.
Renting verses buying, that is just too open until you have settled on actual units. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. These are both practical and financial issues that you will have to work out. Remember to put storage cost into owning. If you are an owner, you will have to cover all the maintenance costs. These along with storage, can be an issue. It is still better than a horse that eats or a boat that can sink, but not a lot in either case.
A non-spreadsheet item to include if you buy is the peripheral activities value. If we used our coach only for vacations, it would be a huge waste of money. It does, however, invite us to go places and do things that were impractical by the car/motel/restaurant mode. Have you considered the other things you might like to do if you have the means? What was a long day drive do and return just became an evening drive, do for the day, and then return. Or going to kids events. With a coach, they can have support nearby. You don't need to always by a campsite with a self contained unit. Any flat place will do (store lots and rest areas) for an overnight.
The Bunkhouse versions I have seen gave up a lot of convenience for the extra beds, you need to look at that closely.
Now, Why is the plan junk three days out? (If you are unlucky?)
Because one of the great things about traveling in a self-contained RV that is great is that you don't need to much of a plan. We have discovered that there is a lot of this country that we had not heard of and so as we travel, the navigator is reading charts (I am a mariner, they are always charts)(maps) guide books and such and looking at road side signs for interesting places. Like, if you cross NY on the Southern Tier, you will go right past the Corning Glass Museum. That is just the start. (Notice you weren't even out of Boston (Chelsea) 400 miles.)
Please keep us informed how this works out for you.
Matt
I like your plan but will not comment on the practicality of it now.
While I admit that I am kind of a paranoid dweeb (and a couple of kinds of engineer), I have always found it useful to engage a spreadsheet. You should start there and with a planning package. Use what ever spreadsheet you like and do your best to include everything you can think of while at it.
For the planning package, the best I know of today (this may start a firestorm) is one called Furkot this will recommend both End of Day and Fuel Stops. I personally find those two essential. It unfortunately has the drawback of being a webapp. So, using it underway is a real big problem. There are others, but Furkot is Free. Most unfortunately, the two good stand-alones are both gone now. Route planning is easy to do online, but (if you are unlucky) that plan will be junk by the third morning.
Renting verses buying, that is just too open until you have settled on actual units. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. These are both practical and financial issues that you will have to work out. Remember to put storage cost into owning. If you are an owner, you will have to cover all the maintenance costs. These along with storage, can be an issue. It is still better than a horse that eats or a boat that can sink, but not a lot in either case.
A non-spreadsheet item to include if you buy is the peripheral activities value. If we used our coach only for vacations, it would be a huge waste of money. It does, however, invite us to go places and do things that were impractical by the car/motel/restaurant mode. Have you considered the other things you might like to do if you have the means? What was a long day drive do and return just became an evening drive, do for the day, and then return. Or going to kids events. With a coach, they can have support nearby. You don't need to always by a campsite with a self contained unit. Any flat place will do (store lots and rest areas) for an overnight.
The Bunkhouse versions I have seen gave up a lot of convenience for the extra beds, you need to look at that closely.
Now, Why is the plan junk three days out? (If you are unlucky?)
Because one of the great things about traveling in a self-contained RV that is great is that you don't need to much of a plan. We have discovered that there is a lot of this country that we had not heard of and so as we travel, the navigator is reading charts (I am a mariner, they are always charts)(maps) guide books and such and looking at road side signs for interesting places. Like, if you cross NY on the Southern Tier, you will go right past the Corning Glass Museum. That is just the start. (Notice you weren't even out of Boston (Chelsea) 400 miles.)
Please keep us informed how this works out for you.
Matt
