Forum Discussion

hicksey75's avatar
hicksey75
Explorer
Feb 21, 2018

First Time Purchase

We live in Florida and intend to travel the country and will spend time at the inlaws in Texas.We currently have a 31ft Rockwood Bunkhouse travel trailer and are looking to upgrade to a Class A to head off across the country for the summers. I found the Winnebago Intent 31p and we really like it, with the beds and room for the kids in a smaller motorhome. My concern is that it only has 1 15k ac unit. Our current trailer has 2 ac's but only one is ducted and cools the entire trailer. The additional one cools only the bedroom. The Winnebago is completely ducted and seems to move quite a bit more air than our current unit. We seem to lose a lot of air out of the vents one the unit. There is no option to add a second ac or I would gladly do so. Other than that the RV seems perfect, especially for the price, but I can't find much real world info on the quality of the Winnebago as it is a new model.

A secondary question I have is that our local La Mesa dealer is only willing to give us an extremely low offer on our 2016 trade in. I don't expect to get the purchase price back but it seems quite low and wondering if anyone else has experience or advice in that realm.

I am really looking to any advice and opinions concerning our first foray into motorized camping. I have traveled in rv's as a child and want to give my children the same experience. We love the trailer but it is not conducive to long distance trips and how we want to travel.
Thanks in advance
Class A
  • msturtz's avatar
    msturtz
    Explorer
    May 29, 2018
    I would like to save you some serious grief. We purchased a 31' class C rig. The tanks (fresh, grey, black) were way too small the battery capacity was way too low, the available payload was grossly insufficient. And only 30 amp service with a single AC. It really depends on how you want to use the rig. If you are camping and traveling in cooler less humid areas of the country a single AC 30 amp rig may work. We seriously regretted buying a rig too small. We intended on dry camping a lot. Impossible to do with what we had. We pended up trading it in on the shortest DP we could find that had the capacity to actually dry camp. Our new rig has 4 6V 229AH coach batteries a residential refrigerator, air suspension, 100 gallons of freshwater, 6KW QD 6000 invertergenerator (So quiet you can hardly hear it running.) 2KW inverter that runs all the outlets in the coach without running the generator (except the ACs). We have done entire trips without ever stopping at an RV park. That is freedom! Btw our 31' gas rig was a 2014 and our DP is a 2014 so yes we took a bath on the trade in. Paid 118K on the gas rig was offered $70k. BTW ours was "front line ready" with no reconditioning required. They sold it nearly immediately at a major profit.
  • msturtz's avatar
    msturtz
    Explorer
    Feb 22, 2018
    I understand you are considering a Gas Class A. They can be a good option. Keep in mind that it has only a 18k GVWR chassis. That limits your water, propane and cargo not counting people. It is common to "under buy". It is better and more cost effective in the long run to be realistic about what you intend on doing with your coach. It might be that you get a larger Class A that will accommodate your needs but may be used. How many people do you travel with? Do you want to boondock? What area of the country do you travel in? (High humidity areas are very AC dependent and require larger generators so you can run both ACs at the same time.) Do you intend on your passengers being able to be entertained on the road?
  • Isaac-1's avatar
    Isaac-1
    Explorer
    Feb 21, 2018
    I live in western Louisiana, 20 miles from Texas and have a 28 ft class A with dual pane windows, and no slides and a ducted 13.5KBTU heatpump / air conditioner, in the summer it is ok in the shade, but out in full sun it fails to keep up, and certainly will not pull down the temperature while the sun is up. For summer trips I pre-cool it the night before departure and run the generator while on the road to keep it tolerable.
  • msturtz's avatar
    msturtz
    Explorer
    Feb 21, 2018
    Dealers always low ball trade-ins. Has the dealer seen your unit? Was it "front line ready"? Front line ready means the unit has been completely cleaned inside and out, and reconditioned all broken items have been repaired etc. and the unit winterized. Make sure the roof is clean and all seams resealed. To the dealer time is money. If they take in a trade that requires even "normal" reconditioning it can cost them thousands of dollars in time (can't sell a rig that is in the shop and money (direct for reconditioning and repairs).
  • kerrlakeRoo's avatar
    kerrlakeRoo
    Explorer
    Feb 21, 2018
    As others have mentioned, the coach is limited to a 30 amp service, and the genny is only a 4000 watt unit. So the single 15k is likely all you can do. If you know you will be using it in extremely hot weather (yes I saw Fl & Tx) you could look at the window locations and consider a portable unit as an add on occasionally, but you would have to run an extension cord from a separate source. I would think a 6000 to 8000 btu portable would be all the supplement you would need.
  • Mickeyfan0805's avatar
    Mickeyfan0805
    Explorer
    Feb 21, 2018
    I can't speak to a class A, but we have a 34' TT with a single 15k AC and we do fine (and I like it cool!). Some of it might depend on where you plan to spend those summers and how cool you need things to be.

    As for trade - we consistently see on here that trade offers are typically quite low. If you are looking at NADA or others, those numbers can be misleading for a trade. As mentioned above, you either need to own that a trade offer is going to be low and accept it (for the sake of convenience) or do the leg-work to make more by selling it yourself.
  • Mile_High's avatar
    Mile_High
    Explorer
    Feb 21, 2018
    That's a 30A coach, so there probably is no option for a 2nd AC. The 31P is the largest floorplan, so you are probably at the limit for 1 AC. If it were me, I would jump up a model or two and get into a 50A unit.
  • gfs1943's avatar
    gfs1943
    Explorer
    Feb 21, 2018
    You never win on a trade-in. It may delay your purchase somewhat, but you will come out better if you sell your trailer privately, then buy the Class A.

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