If you purchase a fishing pole, you better be prepared to untangle fishing line .... some day! Because it will happen.
If you purchase an RV, you better be prepared to experience mechanical problems, because they will happen ... some day!
No one can purchase any RV and then forget it! You can't treat them like some discarded child's toy left in the yard in rain and snow, and then expect it to still be perfect after a year. The same is true for any RV.They (all) require diligent maintenance, form the first day of purchase. I don't think this can be emphasized enough. I would think, especially a MH that has, not only the box you live in, but the drive train and engine under it, making it even more complex. No one gets a new car and starts driving it until the engine burns up. From day 1, there is always some kind of maintenance on a new car, even if that means picking up the empty Pepsi cans from the floor.
I do think this is one of the disillusions (some) folk have regarding RV. "Drive it and forget it" mentality. And ... really ... looking at some RV that some people own, this is really their mentality. I've seen some pretty hideous looking RV in some seasonal campsites over my 60 years of living.
A salesmen once told me, people who purchase RV are usually a pretty happy bunch of people. RV's are not a necessity, unlike paying the electric bill in your home, it's a luxury item. And people who purchase RV are those people that have a better financial base, or else they simply know how to manage their money in a more creative way. Either way, RV's are purchased with "Disposable Money." That's what he called it. When you think about it, he was right. The money we spend on our RV's, for the initial purchase, and for the care and upkeep, and for the travel experiences, are all done with "Disposable Money." It's "extra" money we somehow eek out of our budgets and DON'T have to use on necessities of life.
With that said, anyone purchasing an RV (of any kind), needs to make sure they have adequate "Disposable Money" AFTER the purchase too. (or at least good enough credit to pay for a repair, and have some balance left on that credit card). If you have that "Disposable Money" available, whatever form that come is, savings, cash, credit card, stocks, investments, whatever, then RV-ing (with any type of camper) is a real pleasure! This eliminates all the stress and worry and fear of any RV failure that may occur, (or preventative maintenance that may be needed), because the money is available. Otherwise, the "stress" that RVing is suppose to relieve us from (the daily grind), all of a sudden becomes a much bigger burden that doesn't remove that "stress" any more, it compounds it, making us even more frustrated in life.
I really do believe this is the success of a happy camper, the financial stability of their choices. With that said, there really is no "bad" camper out there. When "they" get too expensive and begin to eat away at the comfort level of the "Disposable Money".... we sell them. It's just that simple.
I'm on my 4th RV. I've loved and completely enjoyed all 4 of my campers! And I will continue to have one until the day I die. Actually, my wife and I are planning on having a cremation and our ashes are to be put in an urn shaped like a camper! It's a life style we love, and hope we NEVER have to give it up.
