How many miles do you drive in a year? Divide the cost of a fix by that mileage and decide if it's worth it. We have an '02 on a bog-standard F53 chassis and sure it rolls and wanders. We maybe do 1500 miles a year. Is it worth spending mega-bucks for a minor improvement? In my estimation, hell no! I'd rather spend the money on gasoline and CG fees. It's a 32' box truck, for goodness sake, so it doesn't ride like a Rolls-Royce. Personally, I'm can't see spending untold amounts of money trying to covert a pig's ear into a silk purse. I can live with the pig's ear for the amount of time we use it each season.
Due to family events (70th birthdays of both my sister and my wife within a week, and our 50th wedding anniversary the same time), I doubt we'll use the MH at all this season, except for additional living accommodations at the S&B. We'll have my sister and brother over from England, maybe our son and grand-daughter over from Japan and our three daughters, their spouses and the five US grand-kids (all but one are in their 20's with significant others). Labor Day weekend will be a real zoo!
It looks like DW and I, along with our two Labs, will be using the RV in the driveway and letting the visitors use the house!
The rig will probably be up for sale in September (if anyone's interested, send me a PM). On a Soc Sec budget, it's difficult to reconcile our travelling ideas with $4 gas and $40 CG fees. When we got our first RV, a 26' Class C, gas was $1.75 and CG fees rarely exceeded $25. Of course, a 1985 Ford 460 (carburetor), with enough smog gear to run the Queen Mary, meant gas mileage a lot worse than our current rig. We were lucky to get 6 mpg at sea level and it dropped to less than 5 at altitude (which we have a lot of around here!) The V-10 gives a consistent 8 mpg, regardless of altitude.
We'll be sorry to give up the lifestyle, but the $$ just don't make it feasible.
Frank Damp, DW - Eileen, pet - female Labrador (10 yrs old), location Anacortes, WA, retired RVers (since Dec 2014)
