boobdocking - M'home or 5er?
My wife & I are planning to be fulltimers soon, and will be doing alot of dispersed & BLM camping out West. I plan to install a sizable solar setup so we can operate pretty much independently for sev...
Forum Discussion
We've full-timed for 16 years (from Michigan, by the way - but nothing there now - sold it all). We love boondocking and national forest campgrounds along with national parks, state parks, county parks. That way of RVing is always our first choice. We fell in love with the West.
We started out with a 33' 5th wheel - Travel Supreme - two slides - pulled by a Dodge diesel. It worked well for 8 yr. although we both hated driving the big noisy truck around.
Then friends got us hooked on 4-wheeling and it was time to change RVs so we ended up with a 40' motorhome towing a Jeep Liberty and we've had that combo for 8+ years. We love the MH and Jeep - much better than the 5th wheel combo.
Someone mentioned if you break down you have no place to sleep. Not true. Whenever we've gone in for routine repairs and had to spend a night we were always able to spend it inside our motorhome on their lot - with electric. Friends do this also. We're never without our home.
If you break down on the road and are towing a car, you will have a way to drive to at least get a phone signal if in the boonies. If your truck breaks down you'll wait until someone comes to help. We find a car much more pleasant for siteseeing than a truck.
Motorhomes have a lot more bay storage than 5th wheels. They're a pleasure to drive because you're sitting up high with a big window expanse. We both drive it. We've recouped very nicely from many surgeries in our motorhome including knee replacement.
If you get a gas motorhome servicing will be a lot cheaper than a diesel. We had many positive recommendations about Newmar diesels and we wanted the 40' and travel mountains and the diesel works for us. We do move around constantly but stay put in the winter. We definitely didn't want more than 2 slides and both had to be on the same side. When utilizing public parks we encounter a lot of heavily treed areas and it's much easier if you don't have to deal with positioning a lot of slides inbetween trees. Of course, our favorite is desert boondocking so not many trees there!
Guess you just have to make comparison columns for comparisons and make your choices. Everyone RVs differently and have different needs. Ultimately, it's what YOU want. Good luck choosing and good luck in your new lifestyle. It's an awesome way to go!!
We started out with a 33' 5th wheel - Travel Supreme - two slides - pulled by a Dodge diesel. It worked well for 8 yr. although we both hated driving the big noisy truck around.
Then friends got us hooked on 4-wheeling and it was time to change RVs so we ended up with a 40' motorhome towing a Jeep Liberty and we've had that combo for 8+ years. We love the MH and Jeep - much better than the 5th wheel combo.
Someone mentioned if you break down you have no place to sleep. Not true. Whenever we've gone in for routine repairs and had to spend a night we were always able to spend it inside our motorhome on their lot - with electric. Friends do this also. We're never without our home.
If you break down on the road and are towing a car, you will have a way to drive to at least get a phone signal if in the boonies. If your truck breaks down you'll wait until someone comes to help. We find a car much more pleasant for siteseeing than a truck.
Motorhomes have a lot more bay storage than 5th wheels. They're a pleasure to drive because you're sitting up high with a big window expanse. We both drive it. We've recouped very nicely from many surgeries in our motorhome including knee replacement.
If you get a gas motorhome servicing will be a lot cheaper than a diesel. We had many positive recommendations about Newmar diesels and we wanted the 40' and travel mountains and the diesel works for us. We do move around constantly but stay put in the winter. We definitely didn't want more than 2 slides and both had to be on the same side. When utilizing public parks we encounter a lot of heavily treed areas and it's much easier if you don't have to deal with positioning a lot of slides inbetween trees. Of course, our favorite is desert boondocking so not many trees there!
Guess you just have to make comparison columns for comparisons and make your choices. Everyone RVs differently and have different needs. Ultimately, it's what YOU want. Good luck choosing and good luck in your new lifestyle. It's an awesome way to go!!
