On the road for 15 years part to full time. Bought the first coach new, cheap, had a couple of chassis problems, not related to "cheap" but between warranty and Coach-net cost us nothing but a couple of days inconvenience. Drove that coach 45,000 miles in three years and completed the trade while broken down in rest area waiting for a tow, paid for by Coach-net.
Replaced that coach (Damon Daybreak 33') with new '04 Southwind 36' on Workhorse Chassis. The only mechanical failure in 110,000 miles (including Alaska) was burnt out exhaust donuts, total cost $250. I had every PM service in the book done on time or early. The only thing I did myself was the routine Generator service every 100 hours or year. Coach was sweet in good repair when traded, but the interior needed to be redone after 8 years of living in it.
Bought the current coach in May 2012. There has been a fair amount of repair work done, but it has all been self inflicted. there were two major repairs, new floor in the DS/LR slideout and the roof rails were replaced. Tiffin took care of the that, even told us it needed to be done. Cost was a couple of week camping on their dime in Red Bay. Not the most pleasant camping but we all have to be someplace. The interior failures have been minor, no more than you would experience in a s&b and mostly fully covered by Tiffin. We love the coach.
Clearly this is not a poor person's activity and I am prepared for large expense should it happen, but it is our lifestyle and it fits within our financial ability. I know there are much less expensive ways to RV, but those were not our need or choice.
