so is 29 ft the cutoff for not towing a toad ?

You need to determine where you will be camping most and whether or not you can make do without a car. The first 5 years we owned our 32' Class C we were toadless. The first year, we unhooked and drove the motorhome around. For us, the size wasn't an issue. The inconvenience of unhooking and re-hooking was a hassle. The cities we visited in the south (except Savannah) are relatively RV friendly with RV parking available.

For the next 3 years, if it were needed, we rented a car. Most of the campgrounds we stay at are far from town or any stores. A handful are in the mountains, so bicycling with a few grocery bags would be a challenge. Yes, we'd stock up before getting to camp, but there are always times when things are needed.

Then we bought a Honda CRV because we needed a new car, so it is our toad. I was not reluctant to tow the first 5 years, we just didn't have a toad at the time and didn't need a new car, so we did without. Having the toad is much easier. I love to ride my bike, but having the toad is just more convenient. A 10 mile ride to the store in the car is 20 minutes round trip. On the bicycle, it is easily 2 hours round trip.

-Michael

I would not use an RV without a toad. We would just miss too much. We have driven many roads that would either not have been fun or not have been possible without the toad. We also do not want to hook, unhook and level every day when we go out and see the sights.

Terryallan wrote:
But then you WILL have to unhook, when you leave, and setup again. Also ANY MH is too large to drive around in "many" old historical towns. Charleston SC comes to mind, and no, You are not going to ride your bike to town from any Charleston CG, or from any Myrtle Beach CG, or from any NC mountain campgrounds.

Were I you. Unless you don't plan to leave the CG. I would tow a vehicle.

You can park your RV in a parking garage in Charleston, right in downtown, that has the height and spaces dedicated to RV's, for $10 a day.

http://www.cheddaryeti.com/2012/05/15/parked-in-charleston-south-carolina/

There are several campgrounds close by also.

Charles

luberhill wrote:
I know before I was told anything 29 ft or less would be good for not having a toad as you could still use it to go into town etc....we don't want to tow,,,just bring our bikes..to go much longer is tricky on small town or country roads etc...thoughts ?,,,just wife,me,dog

I have a 24 and don't use toad. I would say a cutoff is not being able to pull through two parking spots at the back of a parking lot. Which you should be able to do with high 20s length. I don't think there is any firm cutoff, but the shorter you are the more choices you have for parking. I personally don't mind walking a bit, and that is exactly what I've had to do at times.

When we travel we stop at places to explore and that includes miles and miles of gravel roads or backcountry roads. We don't park and just go to town for groceries, etc. We have seen wonderful sights with our Jeep.

So much depends on weather and where you will be boondocking. So many times we are camped at forest service camp sights and for all practical this is boondocking and doing something like last week fishing 10 miles away. Yes the MH would have gone there but its a old logging road, ruff and slow travel. So the toad was, a no break down camp to go fishing in the morning and returned to a leveled Rv in the evening. We have at time put the bikes on the MH and gone, worked out fine but we limited how far to travel. But as I say depends on how much you like to stay in one spot and not break camp everytime you want to see or do something. Plus even a smaller RV can be a pain in the butt to find parking when at a interesting stop.

LEN

Johno02 wrote:
bikes, or bicycles?? bikes, no toad needed. bicycles, DrewE has the right words. With our 31', getting around in it is not the problem, setting up and breaking down a campsite is. There have been times that we have taken the rig touring, just so we could have the kitchen and facilities while we were there.

Bicycles

bikes, or bicycles?? bikes, no toad needed. bicycles, DrewE has the right words. With our 31', getting around in it is not the problem, setting up and breaking down a campsite is. There have been times that we have taken the rig touring, just so we could have the kitchen and facilities while we were there.

There's no magic number for needing a toad, though rather obviously the larger the motorhome the greater the inconvenience in using it for general transportation.

I don't use a toad with my 32' motorhome. For suburban or rural areas, it's not too inconvenient; I can park easily in any two front-to-back parking spaces in a parking lot. (A 29' would also need two parking spaces, I think, in most cases.) I would not want it in a large city, but then again I don't think I'd want any motorhome bigger than a class B in a large city.

I think it depends as much on how you approach camping and setting up camp. If your setup consists of pulling in and getting level and plugging in the electric, then disembarking for a trip is pretty quick. If, on the other hand, you hook up electricity and water and sewer and cable and deploy the awning and unroll an outside mat and hook the grill up to the RV tank and spread pink flamingos around and so on and so forth, it will naturally take rather longer to head out for the day. Likewise, if you don't tend to spend many days at one campsite, it's easier to run errands when you're on the road anyway than if you spend a couple weeks at each stop.

But then you WILL have to unhook, when you leave, and setup again. Also ANY MH is too large to drive around in "many" old historical towns. Charleston SC comes to mind, and no, You are not going to ride your bike to town from any Charleston CG, or from any Myrtle Beach CG, or from any NC mountain campgrounds.

Were I you. Unless you don't plan to leave the CG. I would tow a vehicle.