Travel Trailer vs. Motorhome (my situation)
I did a search in the Search box here for "travel trailer vs. motorhome" and it gets zero results. You can try it for yourself. I even tried "travel trailer motorhome". Nada. (that's Spanish for n...
Forum Discussion
2manytoyz
Thanks for all that info. That's a beautiful motorhome you have. I might still go that route. I know that the HD trucks are expensive (I would probably need an F250), but big truck + big TT is still significantly less than big RV + Jeep. The Jeep Wranglers aren't cheap, either, and I would want the 4 door version (more $$$).
There are a few points you raised that I would quibble with.
1 - You start off comparing a new big truck to a lightly used big RV. Sure, you can save money if you go used, but then you can go used on the big truck and it's still cheaper. We need to compare apples to apples. Used to used or new to new. The last thing I would probably buy is a used motorhome. I think there are too many more expensive gotchas that could bite me later and I'm not an expert at inspecting all of those things (and I don't know how to pick an "expert" I would trust). It's new or nothing for me.
2 - You talk about how much easier it is to set up the motorhome, but you don't mention the toad. Is there a button you can push to unhook the toad without getting wet in the rain? Apples to apples again. I'm not going to travel in a motorhome unless I pull a Jeep. If I'm going to buy and tow a Jeep I want to unhook it when I get to the campground. I guess you can unhook it later when the rain stops if you have a big enough space to wait, but I think a lot of RV parks don't have spaces that long or you'd probably have to pay extra for them.
3 - You make the class A sound safer than a big truck in a head on collision. At high speed nothing is very safe, but I would feel safer with the engine compartment in front of me instead of under me. And a big HD truck sits pretty high, too. It's not like the car in your example.
One other pro for the big truck + big TT that I left off my initial post is that (I think) you can find more mechanics who know how to work on an HD truck than a Class A motorhome engine, but I may be wrong about that. That's what my brother tells me about his Class C motorhome, that it's easier to find service because it's based on a Ford or Chevy truck. Class C is another can of worms that I had considered earlier, but it's probably not for me.
Steve
Thanks for all that info. That's a beautiful motorhome you have. I might still go that route. I know that the HD trucks are expensive (I would probably need an F250), but big truck + big TT is still significantly less than big RV + Jeep. The Jeep Wranglers aren't cheap, either, and I would want the 4 door version (more $$$).
There are a few points you raised that I would quibble with.
1 - You start off comparing a new big truck to a lightly used big RV. Sure, you can save money if you go used, but then you can go used on the big truck and it's still cheaper. We need to compare apples to apples. Used to used or new to new. The last thing I would probably buy is a used motorhome. I think there are too many more expensive gotchas that could bite me later and I'm not an expert at inspecting all of those things (and I don't know how to pick an "expert" I would trust). It's new or nothing for me.
2 - You talk about how much easier it is to set up the motorhome, but you don't mention the toad. Is there a button you can push to unhook the toad without getting wet in the rain? Apples to apples again. I'm not going to travel in a motorhome unless I pull a Jeep. If I'm going to buy and tow a Jeep I want to unhook it when I get to the campground. I guess you can unhook it later when the rain stops if you have a big enough space to wait, but I think a lot of RV parks don't have spaces that long or you'd probably have to pay extra for them.
3 - You make the class A sound safer than a big truck in a head on collision. At high speed nothing is very safe, but I would feel safer with the engine compartment in front of me instead of under me. And a big HD truck sits pretty high, too. It's not like the car in your example.
One other pro for the big truck + big TT that I left off my initial post is that (I think) you can find more mechanics who know how to work on an HD truck than a Class A motorhome engine, but I may be wrong about that. That's what my brother tells me about his Class C motorhome, that it's easier to find service because it's based on a Ford or Chevy truck. Class C is another can of worms that I had considered earlier, but it's probably not for me.
Steve
