Safari is a wonderful brand of RV, and most are really well built, expensive units. However those are the diesel pushers, or the gas powered Treks on the John Deere chassis with a 460" gas engine.
The John Deere chassis has several problems of it's own, so I would not recommend one of those either.
The 3.9L Izusu is a wonderful city delivery truck, and will see many hundreds of miles before failure. However it would be considered underpowered for a 12,000 pound RV, with only about 140 HP. If you don't mind the low power, it can work out fine. Slow but fine.
Also the RV is only about 90" wide on the outside, so about 88" on the inside. Many new RV's are 102" wide on the outside, and 100" wide on the inside, or about a full foot wider. This makes them feel so much larger. And most now come with slide outs. Not to say it would not make a great full time unit, but combine that with living in a area that goes way below 10F, and the low power, small interior size, and other "Minor" problems, they all add up to something that you will not enjoy living in during a cold winter storm, where the water filler will freeze solid, you can not drain the tanks for a couple weeks, ect.
If you wanted to live in a area that was always over 10F, then it might work well. If you can stand being in a space that is about the size of your current bedroom, for all your living, cooking, bathroom, ect.
By the way, I have lived in a 30' Bounder, 102" wide, gas 460" power on a Ford chassis (much improved over the John Deere chassis.) I lived in it for 7 years. The first two, I was traveling around the country, then 4 years parked in a RV park (9 months) and then on a ranch (4 more years).
It never really seemed to small for me, but I also could not bring a date back to the RV. I had to live with a minimal amount of stuff, it all had to fit in the RV when I moved from one area to another. I had a subscription to Direct TV, and did not mind being alone for months at a time. I could camp for 3 weeks in one location (rent free) and take a daily shower, still not be bored, go sightseeing, bring home 2 each 7.5 gallon containers of water, and refill my 100 gallon tank, so I only needed to go to campgrounds every 3 weeks or so.
I have a 415 watt solar system, with a 1,500 watt inverter, but mainly use the 300 watt inverter to convert the 12 VDC into 120 VAC to run the TV, VCR, DVD, charge the laptop, ect.
The refrigerator runs on propane. My 18 gallon tank lasts for about 6 weeks when running the furnace a little bit, run the refrigerator, and water heater only when needed. It would last about 3 months of summer between refills, due to needing to heat the water less, and not running the furnace as much.
The typical RV uses 35 AH daily, and that can be made up with a 120 watt solar panel, they put out about 7 amps, X 5 hours, and you get 35 AH put back each day. (taking into consideration that the sun is not noon bright all day long, and you get about 5 hours worth at the maximum rated input on a good sunny day.) Higher elevations and cooler temps increase the solar panel output, while at the same time increase the need to run the high amp draw furnace.
To heat my RV in the winter, I mainly used my Olympic catalytic heater. It does not produce much CO gas, while heating the RV without using any 12 volt power. It is a glowing red flame, and you need to leave a window open a little bit.
Anyway feel free to ask more questions. I am sure that someone will answer them.
Escapees.com is a group that owns a few campgrounds, and also has a mail forwarding service. Started by a couple that full timed in a RV while her husband worked as a electrician in various states across the country.
I guess my next piece of advice is to discourage you as much as possible. However if you are determined to give it a try, despite me saying it is not for everyone, you might be the type willing to full time in a RV. Please consider moving out of Colorado, at least in the winter.
Fred.
