truck camper vs. popup trailer
i'm planning a 6 month coast to coast trip (CA to NY) from April to Sept next year. we are a couple, 55/45, planning a mixture of RV/camping and discount hotels when we can find them on groupon/pri...
Forum Discussion
Part of the decision process is deciding how you want to travel. If you plan to spend 1-2 days at a spot and then move on this is much easier to do with a camper on a truck or with a class B motorhome. If you want to spend a week at a location then having a trailer you can leave at a campsite and a vehicle that is easy to drive around and explore is a better way to go.
To get a usable shower for a 6-month adventure you will need a larger RV and the least expensive approach is a 19' trailer and a vehicle to tow it. With a trailer a break down with the tow vehicle is more of a problem as you do not want to abandon the trailer by the side of the road.
Before you go to far in the process you do need to decide how you want to travel and how much time you want to spend dealing with an RV each day. With the motel route you arrive, go to your room and unpack, and the next morning take off again. With an RV it is more complicated with electrical hookups, water tank to fill, waste tank to dump, leveling jacks, etc. and for a trip where you spend only a couple days in a location this takes away from your time enjoying the area. It gets complicated quite quickly.
There are advantages to buying a used class C motorhome that is fully equipped and all the gear is included in the price as the owner is not moving up or down and planning to buy another RV. Then the cost is the difference between what it costs to buy and what you will get when you sell it and the cost for fuel. Motorhomes as a whole are priced more on age than mileage and a 2008 motorhome could be sold 6 months later at the end of your trip with only a gain of 5,000 miles on the odometer for close to what you paid for it at the start of your trip. The cost then is the 600 gallons of gas at $4.00 a gallon and the cost for campground fees.
I would look for a used class C that is still being manufactured as it will be easier to sell at the end of your travels. I would get one that has a gas engine as it will be much easier to find gas wherever you travel and it will be one less thing to worry about. I would avoid a motorhome or any RV that has been sitting unused for a couple years or longer for a variety of reasons.
For a motorhome there are websites with owners forums by manufacturer so you can look for problems with a particular make of motorhome and how easy it was to get parts or what tends to fail and how easy it is to get repairs made.
With an RV you have to buy a lot of stuff that you will need that is not needed when staying each night at a motel or inn. Stuff like coffee maker, TV, bath towels, bed sheets, toiletries, and cleaning supplies.
With our travels by car or by RV the cost is the same either way. The advantage of the RV is in being able to stay at places where there are no motels and being able to cook our own meals. Food costs are the same but we can prepare meals that are healthier and taste better than what we can find in restaurants and we don't have to be lucky to find good food as we do when visiting an area and trying to determine which restaurants are the least bad.
To get a usable shower for a 6-month adventure you will need a larger RV and the least expensive approach is a 19' trailer and a vehicle to tow it. With a trailer a break down with the tow vehicle is more of a problem as you do not want to abandon the trailer by the side of the road.
Before you go to far in the process you do need to decide how you want to travel and how much time you want to spend dealing with an RV each day. With the motel route you arrive, go to your room and unpack, and the next morning take off again. With an RV it is more complicated with electrical hookups, water tank to fill, waste tank to dump, leveling jacks, etc. and for a trip where you spend only a couple days in a location this takes away from your time enjoying the area. It gets complicated quite quickly.
There are advantages to buying a used class C motorhome that is fully equipped and all the gear is included in the price as the owner is not moving up or down and planning to buy another RV. Then the cost is the difference between what it costs to buy and what you will get when you sell it and the cost for fuel. Motorhomes as a whole are priced more on age than mileage and a 2008 motorhome could be sold 6 months later at the end of your trip with only a gain of 5,000 miles on the odometer for close to what you paid for it at the start of your trip. The cost then is the 600 gallons of gas at $4.00 a gallon and the cost for campground fees.
I would look for a used class C that is still being manufactured as it will be easier to sell at the end of your travels. I would get one that has a gas engine as it will be much easier to find gas wherever you travel and it will be one less thing to worry about. I would avoid a motorhome or any RV that has been sitting unused for a couple years or longer for a variety of reasons.
For a motorhome there are websites with owners forums by manufacturer so you can look for problems with a particular make of motorhome and how easy it was to get parts or what tends to fail and how easy it is to get repairs made.
With an RV you have to buy a lot of stuff that you will need that is not needed when staying each night at a motel or inn. Stuff like coffee maker, TV, bath towels, bed sheets, toiletries, and cleaning supplies.
With our travels by car or by RV the cost is the same either way. The advantage of the RV is in being able to stay at places where there are no motels and being able to cook our own meals. Food costs are the same but we can prepare meals that are healthier and taste better than what we can find in restaurants and we don't have to be lucky to find good food as we do when visiting an area and trying to determine which restaurants are the least bad.
