Millennials and RVs

Funny. We started out tenting with a 1968 Mini Cooper, then went to a 72 VW van I camperized myself, then a pop up, a travel trailer and a couple of fifth wheels. Picture a VW van towing a small trailer containing a bunch of camping stuff, a canoe on top, two adults two kids and a large Labrador retriever inside. A book and AM radio were all we needed. Now I am looking for sites that have satellite reception and wifi. Just changing with the times.

I think that most kids who were brought up camping and RVing will likely do it themselves if they can.

colliehauler wrote:
As far as modern features how many of us older people would want to give up A/C, Bathrooms, Television and other features they were not available in the 50's.

I would gladly give up television. The other stuff, probably not.

Old Days wrote:
We didn't go to the Denver RV show this year, but if you do get a chance it is a lot of fun. I have seen a lot of those small campers up in the mountains they do have some cool features. I believe the young people still enjoy camping, its just finding the time to do it.

The last time I went to a RV show it was dominated by small entry level RV'S. I also took note of the demographics and it was mostly young people. As far as modern features how many of us older people would want to give up A/C, Bathrooms, Television and other features they were not available in the 50's.

ken56 wrote:
Economic conditions for those millennials is different today than when we were their age. It took some us boomers until we were in our 40's and 50's to achieve some sort of financial prosperity to afford the luxury of an RV, a nice RV. We raised families and paid for college and weddings. Millennials have delayed marriage and families for their careers. I see many 30 somethings at campgrounds today with little ones that have some very nice rigs, some have pop ups yes but that is the rarity IMO.

If my boomer parents had paid for my college, I'd have one hell of an RV.

Being in the HVAC trade for 35 yrs and working with the other trade groups I have talked to a bunch of them that are hands on and enjoy camping/rving. Most are under budget constraints and are just looking to enjoy the outdoors with their families. My guess most will give up camping when the kids fly the coop. As far as those high tech RV's I see it as a HGTV fad and not much more.

Mike

Economic conditions for those millennials is different today than when we were their age. It took some us boomers until we were in our 40's and 50's to achieve some sort of financial prosperity to afford the luxury of an RV, a nice RV. We raised families and paid for college and weddings. Millennials have delayed marriage and families for their careers. I see many 30 somethings at campgrounds today with little ones that have some very nice rigs, some have pop ups yes but that is the rarity IMO.

WTP-GC wrote:
while the older generation is buying 40' fifth wheels with 4 slides and all the comforts of home.

While at the same time calling millennials "soft"

LOL

I agree with WTP-GC .Well said

We didn't go to the Denver RV show this year, but if you do get a chance it is a lot of fun. I have seen a lot of those small campers up in the mountains they do have some cool features. I believe the young people still enjoy camping, its just finding the time to do it.

I don't agree with the premise of the article at all. Modern features like USB ports and WiFi boosters?? 30 years ago they were putting modern features like microwaves and TV jacks in campers to cater to baby-boomers. I'm not sure how keeping up with modern technologies automatically equates to an RV industry trying to appeal to a new breed of camper. It's just changing times.

But quite the contrary to the spirit of the article and some of the comments on here, I find that many folks in their 20's and 30's (so called millienials) are quite a bit more adventurous and outgoing than their older counterparts. They're buying pop-ups and small campers with fewer amenities while the older generation is buying 40' fifth wheels with 4 slides and all the comforts of home. We see younger folks getting out and exploring, hiking, and pitching tents in remote wildernesses while the older generation spends most of their time sitting in their luxury camper watching TV. Can't tell you how many "older" people I've come across in campgrounds that spend all day sitting in their rig.

Anytime topics like this come up, some of the more experienced RV'ers act like they're macho and seek the wild outdoors camping way away from civilization while chopping all their firewood by hand and doing all their cooking with cast iron pots hung over a fire...but the vast majority are actually pulling up in expensive rigs, trying to find 50A sites and griping because they can't find a good signal with their satellite.

Old people watch their entertainment on a TV and youngins watch it on a tablet or phone? What's the difference??