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 nothing) I added a space in "motor home". Same thing. I even tried to Google "rv.net travel trailer vs. motorhome". Not much there, either. So that's why I'm posting a new thread about this often discussed subject.
I'm leaning towards a big truck + big trailer, but I wish I could find what I want in an economical Class A + Jeep Wrangler. (I was going to retire a year ago, but decided to wait another 18 months) I will only buy new, but money is still an object for me in retirement. I might go fifth wheel, but they cost more and I don't want to give up so much truck bed storage. I'll explain how I plan to use it and what I've seen so far (I started looking about 3 years ago). My planned purchase date is March, 2020. Maybe someone will see a solution that will change my mind.
I'm early 60s and retired. I plan to sell my furniture when my apartment lease is up and live in the RV. I will put some small, important personal possessions in a small storage space. I plan to travel South to North in the Spring, then North to South in the Fall. I want to see some smaller cities and maybe get back to (cheaper) apartment life in a few years in a smaller city that I like. Dallas is a great place to work, but I wouldn't want to live here. :-)
I plan to travel about 1 to 2 hours every few days and then explore the area a little. No 4 to 8 hour trips. I'm interested in the small/medium cities as much as the state/national parks. I think I should be able to find places to check out in a 1 to 2 hour transit and then spend 1 or 2 days exploring the area. Then in the Winter and Summer we will either set up camp in an RV park, or visit Latin America using AirBnB for medium term rentals. Yo hablo español muy bien.
Pros and Cons of big truck + big trailer:
Pros
1 - Cheaper any way you cut it (I used to be a CPA, so I'm confident about the numbers comparing travel trailer apples to motorhome with a toad apples).
2 - I love the Grand Design Reflection 312BHTS; it checks all my boxes, except that it's very big. I wish it could be smaller, but I have a lot of boxes to check. I don't see any motorhome with a similar layout because they have the seats up front.
3 - Only 1 motor to maintain.
4 - Slide outs are a little deeper.
5 - If the motor breaks we still have our home (yes, I've heard that with a motorhome you can arrange to live in the shop parking lot sometimes).
Cons
1 - I would rather drive a Jeep Wrangler than a big a$$ truck.
2 - The motorhome would probably have a generator which I would want to purchase extra for the trailer (still cheaper).
3 - Set up would probably be a little easier with a motorhome + Jeep.
4 - The ability to walk back to the kitchen or bath is nice in a motorhome, but for us it won't matter as much because we won't be making long trips between camps.
I've seen some motorhomes that wow me inside, but they have been in the $200,000+ range. Too rich for my pockets. Otherwise, the GD 312BHTS wows me more. I still love doing its online walk-through tour.
Any alternate suggestions before I make my big plunge?
Thanks, Steve
I'm leaning towards a big truck + big trailer, but I wish I could find what I want in an economical Class A + Jeep Wrangler. (I was going to retire a year ago, but decided to wait another 18 months) I will only buy new, but money is still an object for me in retirement. I might go fifth wheel, but they cost more and I don't want to give up so much truck bed storage. I'll explain how I plan to use it and what I've seen so far (I started looking about 3 years ago). My planned purchase date is March, 2020. Maybe someone will see a solution that will change my mind.
I'm early 60s and retired. I plan to sell my furniture when my apartment lease is up and live in the RV. I will put some small, important personal possessions in a small storage space. I plan to travel South to North in the Spring, then North to South in the Fall. I want to see some smaller cities and maybe get back to (cheaper) apartment life in a few years in a smaller city that I like. Dallas is a great place to work, but I wouldn't want to live here. :-)
I plan to travel about 1 to 2 hours every few days and then explore the area a little. No 4 to 8 hour trips. I'm interested in the small/medium cities as much as the state/national parks. I think I should be able to find places to check out in a 1 to 2 hour transit and then spend 1 or 2 days exploring the area. Then in the Winter and Summer we will either set up camp in an RV park, or visit Latin America using AirBnB for medium term rentals. Yo hablo español muy bien.
Pros and Cons of big truck + big trailer:
Pros
1 - Cheaper any way you cut it (I used to be a CPA, so I'm confident about the numbers comparing travel trailer apples to motorhome with a toad apples).
2 - I love the Grand Design Reflection 312BHTS; it checks all my boxes, except that it's very big. I wish it could be smaller, but I have a lot of boxes to check. I don't see any motorhome with a similar layout because they have the seats up front.
3 - Only 1 motor to maintain.
4 - Slide outs are a little deeper.
5 - If the motor breaks we still have our home (yes, I've heard that with a motorhome you can arrange to live in the shop parking lot sometimes).
Cons
1 - I would rather drive a Jeep Wrangler than a big a$$ truck.
2 - The motorhome would probably have a generator which I would want to purchase extra for the trailer (still cheaper).
3 - Set up would probably be a little easier with a motorhome + Jeep.
4 - The ability to walk back to the kitchen or bath is nice in a motorhome, but for us it won't matter as much because we won't be making long trips between camps.
I've seen some motorhomes that wow me inside, but they have been in the $200,000+ range. Too rich for my pockets. Otherwise, the GD 312BHTS wows me more. I still love doing its online walk-through tour.
Any alternate suggestions before I make my big plunge?
Thanks, Steve
