Move to Motorhome

[LeBout]

After much thought and discussion my wife and I have decided to move from our TT to a motorhome to help facilitate our Oregon to Minnesota trips to visit our aging parents. I've been pulling TTs for years but have never owned a MH. I read over the FAQs and saw repeatedly that people cautioned about buying too small of a rig, but I never read an explanation as to WHY a smaller rig was discouraged.

We're looking for a 21 or 22 foot unit, and I've noticed most come with a Ford V-10. What kind of fuel economy (or lack thereof) can one expect from a V-10 on the highway? Thanks in advance for the answers.

[Oldtymeflyr]

Look at as many floor plans as you can, in person. Move the slides in and out. Move from the cockpit to the living area and get a true feel for the vehicle. Take it for a good long test drive.

Do a lot of reading on the Ford and Chevy platforms. The Chevy is preferred by many but obviously the Ford outsells the Chevy, I believe primarily because of price. There are many Ford owners on this forum who like their rig. Read reviews and do a lot of study.

We have a 24 foot Sprinter by Thor. We like it, plenty of living space with the slides out. No slides and it would not work for us. We travel long distances in a short amount of time. Its been a very good rig for us.

Good Luck!

Rick

[docsouce]

We have a Freedom Elite 22e by Thor Ford E350 Triton V10, 22ft box, 25ft bumper to bumper. No slides. Just the 2 of us. Both mid 60's and not big people.
Bought it new in the fall of 2015. Three, 10 week,10,000 mile cross country and numerous trips through New England and no major problems so far.
Gas mileage: 8 mpg. Sometimes a little less, rearly more. Just put a new set of Michelin Defenders on at 42,000. Very easy to maneuver and comfortable driving.
This RV has served us well.
If we were to replace this RV right now, I would get the Winnebago 25B floor plan. That recliner,couch, is the one big thing our current RV needs. DW also has serious back problems but we have learned how to deal with the corner bed.
Oh. There is ample storage for us, but for the extended journeys I bought a "Pro Series" trailer hitch cargo carrier and attached one of those plastic pool side storage boxes to the hitch. Useful for those special items we pick up along the way.

[bobndot]

LeBout, its going to depend on how you plan to use the rv.
Longer term stays, you will need a larger rv with more storage space for all your stuff, larger water and holding tanks and comforts like a sofa with a tv that's mounted in a place where you can actually view it without acrobatic circus training.
It would then pay to have a floorplan with an island bed opposed to a corner bed so its easier for you to move about.

Short term overnight stays can be done in a smaller rv. If my intended use was simply back n forth as a transportation vehicle with an overnight stay or two, I would choose a class B, like a Winnie 'Travato 59k' which gets better fuel mileage than a C and has comfortable twin beds (with a possible king insert option) plus a good size bath/shower.

Once you get to your destination, you will need to determine if you need to stay in the rv or stay in your parents house. Again, the size of rv will come into play. Do you have room to park it ?

If you choose a larger multi-purpose rv , you might need to consider towing a car, only you can determine if you need to do that or not. Its an expense to set up a car to tow.

[ron_dittmer]

LeBout wrote:
We're looking for a 21 or 22 foot unit, and I've noticed most come with a Ford V-10. What kind of fuel economy (or lack thereof) can one expect from a V-10 on the highway? Thanks in advance for the answers.

A rig in the category you state will be over 10mpg if it has the aerodynamic B+ over-cab front cap. Minus 1.5mpg if it has the big over-the-cab bed.

Our 2007 23'-8" long, 93" wide, and 9'-10" over-all height rig built on a 2007 E350-V10 rig SEEN HERE is most aerodynamic due to the B+ cap, angled transition walls, narrow width, and low height. Our trip average, we get 10.5mpg not towing, and 9.2mpg when towing our Jeep Liberty. That is considering that we typically cruise on the open road in the 67-68 mph range.

An E350 made in the past couple years will have 1.5mpg lower fuel economy than E350s made prior, primarily because the rear differential now is the same as the E450. It tows better yet, but at that sacrifice.

[DutchmenSport]

If the unit is 21 or 22 feet long, how much of that is actual living space? Is that 22 foot the total length of the Class C, or is it just the box (living space)? Remember, from the drivers seat forward, that is not living space. Perhaps that's why folks say to get larger. That front footage is deceiving based on true total length of the vehicle?????

[PartyOf_Five]

Our 31' has a long section behind the rear tires, and that sing could be why people say they're tough to drive. You do have you watch for it, and you are the length of a semi with a toad behind it, but otherwise it behaves very well and gets 6mpg going down the road at 70mph loaded to 15k lbs.
At that length, people opt for a class A to increase storage space, but you'd be surprised how little stuff you need on any given trip. Some good advice on the comments, find what works for you and enjoy

[pnichols]

LeBout wrote:
After much thought and discussion my wife and I have decided to move from our TT to a motorhome to help facilitate our Oregon to Minnesota trips to visit our aging parents. I've been pulling TTs for years but have never owned a MH. I read over the FAQs and saw repeatedly that people cautioned about buying too small of a rig, but I never read an explanation as to WHY a smaller rig was discouraged.

We're looking for a 21 or 22 foot unit, and I've noticed most come with a Ford V-10. What kind of fuel economy (or lack thereof) can one expect from a V-10 on the highway? Thanks in advance for the answers.

We love our 24 foot Itasca (Winnebago) Class C motorhome based on a rugged, easy-to-get-serviced, overkil Ford E450 chassis.

It's easy to heat, easy to cool, easy to park, easy to drive, has a whole lot of storage ... and makes a comfortable little nest for use to camp in with 30 amp hookups or drycamp for up to around a week. For evening relaxation, my wife uses it's single swiveling/sliding lounge chair with her feet propped up and I use the dinette. We use it's toilet area and shower with no problems when drycamping. We even give the dog a bath in it's shower stall!

My wife has a bad back so she gets the whole rear queen bed to spread out on for sleeping. I sleep all spread out on the cabover queen bed with it's easy access ladder. (I'm around 6'2")

It's small size is just right for my wife and I. It doesn't have slides and we don't tow. Our longest trip so far has been about 10 weeks while touring the U.S. -> with a mix of hookup campsites, dycamp campsites, and boondock camping off dirt/gravel roads. Our camping style is to be ready for anything anytime for maximum spontaneity and lack of hassles - both when in motion and when camped.

It's a myth that you need a large size RV in order to have "all the comforts of home". The Ford V10 delivers around 9-10 MPG using our cruising speeds of 58-61 MPH. It uses regular gas in it's 55 gallon fuel tank, which easily provides over 400 miles of range - plus providing a no-hassle source of fuel for the built-in generator.

[Islandman]

Our 23 ft. Coach House Class C with the Ford V10 gets about 10 mpg, but I keep the speed at about 60 mph or maybe a little higher. When towing our Jeep Wrangler, the mileage drops down a little to about 9 mpg. I could drive it faster, but what's the hurry especially on the two lane road that we tend to prefer rather than the interstates.

[IAMICHABOD]

If you are looking for a small RV I might suggest that you look at one on a Chevy Chassis they will get a bit better mileage than ones on a Ford Chassis and offer more comfort and better ride.

My 26Q Tioga on a Chevy chassis gets between 9.2 and 9.7 MPG depending on speed and wind.

I would also try to get one with a walk around bed and not one of the ones with the corner bed.There a many out there that have a full bed in a slide out.

I think that the ones that caution about buying a small RV have done so to put the family in and find that the tight quarters of a RV is not meant for a lot of people.Whereas with just a couple it may very well work out just right.

What you have to do is look at the floor plan that you might like then go look and walk around and see how it will fit your needs and comfort level,looking at the floor plan of your trailer I think you would find something just as nice and functional in a small RV.

Good Luck in your quest in finding the one that will fill all your needs and comfort level.

[DrewE]

It seems to me that a lot of people (not necessarily you) have the idea that a longer class C is much harder to drive than a shorter one, and for that reason are scared of getting one that's all that long. Others worry about site availability for larger units--which is indeed occasionally a valid concern, but in many cases not a problem in practice. Still others suspect that it has a significant impact on fuel mileage, which is generally not the case to any great extent. For what are often mistaken reasons, they seek to compromise convenience and usability (tank sizes, etc.) when that's not really necessary.

The reality, in terms of driving, is that length makes very little difference on the road, and some difference when maneuvering around tight areas. The width and height are more noticeable concerns. I'd guess you may have some general awareness of these sorts of issues with your experience with a travel trailer.

As far as gas mileage, with my twenty year old class C based on the Ford E series platform, I average somewhere between 7.5 and 8 mpg, probably closer to 7.5 most of the time. New ones do a little bit better, maybe 1 mpg better, thanks to engine and especially transmission improvements. As with any motorhome, one's speed has a very significant impact on fuel mileage, since during highway travel most of the power is used in overcoming air resistance and that increases enormously with speed (I think it's approximately proportional to the speed cubed in rough terms).

[hotjag1]

I've never owned a Class C, but I'll make a couple of guesses why people say not to get one too small.
It needs to be big enough to have a walk around queen bed as climbing in and out of an overhead bed could get very tiring.

Also, larger motorhomes tend to have more storage compartments, larger holding tanks, and fresh water tanks. Actual Class C owners can hopefully give more insight.

[MDKMDK]

In something small, light, and aerodynamic, you might get around 10 MPG on the freeway on cruise control with no winds or hills, give or take. Some will say you'll get 10 or more, but that's questionable. Any situation that requires invoking the "legendary power" of the V10, will reduce the MPG to nearer 4 or lower as the RPMs increase to provide it.
In our 2016 Sunstar (27' long bread box, ready to travel weight around 13,000 lbs) I figure we got around 6 MPG overall average, for the short time we owned it. We towed a 4500lb Wrangler to get those numbers. On one long trip.

[Jack_Spratt]

Our Leprechaun 260 DSF averages about 7.8 mpg.
Keeping it closer to 62 It’s gotten up to 8.3.
This is towing a Jeep.