Sailboats and Travel Trailers-a lot in common
Having owned a 42 foot ocean going sailboat and having crossed the pacific in it from Seattle to SE Asia, as well as many other shorter trips it strikes me that many of the high quality products made ...
Forum Discussion
valhalla360 wrote:
Some marine parts are better (not all) but to buy them take the inflated RV prices and double them for "marine grade".
If you are bored, stripping out the RV electical system may be fun but an RV isn't nearly as rough on systems as a boat. Plus a $20k RV corresponds to a $150k boat. It may make sense to dump $20k into retrofitting a $150k boat's systems...not so much a $20k RV.
I agree with you that RV's in general are nearly not as rough on systems as a boat. The important point is that on the ocean you cannot call the Good Sam Tow Truck to pull you out of a problem. So systems must be reliable and hardy. I also agree that the outlay must make economic sense.
I do disagree however that prices "double" for marine Equipment. Marine grade Equipment is often made to strict Coast Guard or international standards that do cost more to meet in many cases and thus the higher prices. But I have found the prices to be about the same or even less in some cases for many items that are compatible with RV's.
And just for the record I didnt spend anywhere near $20k rewiring my boat....(this does not include the Radar, Radios, Weather Fax etc etc.)
My point was do it yourself with high quality stuff and you will avoid a lot of small costly repairs because you will be able to fix it. And Calders book is good enough to walk even a novice through complicated repairs and installations....
My main objective was to offer good alternative sources that not everyone may have known or thought about.
