Thinking of buying a TT

All the numbers being thrown around aroused my curiosity and I looked back at some of my camping trip costs. Costs are close but not precise. My costs per day averaged $53.00 unless we took the two granddaughters, then they were just shy of double that. Mostly attributable to gifts, souvenirs and such we bought them in the parks and traveling.

I didn’t include costs I’d have had anyway, i.e., if I spent $100.00 for groceries and I would have spent that at home it wasn’t charged to the trip. Add to that about $6000.00 in depreciation and $2900.00 in TT tires and repairs spread out over 25 years and you have a pretty good idea of total costs. It doesn’t include countless weekend camp trips I took when I was working. I was gone at least two weekends and sometimes three every month, at least until the boys got into school sports and that dented my camping trips some.

I also looked at two long destination drives to FL I made, one with my F150 and one with my car. The former ran $204.00/day and the latter $153.00/day including motels and restaurants. Take it FWIT worth, but no way could motels and restaurants compete with my camping costs.

rubsal70 wrote:
Hello
I was wondering how expensive it is to own a TT. I'm wondering how much is spent on gas and is it worth it? Do y'all use the TT because yall dont want to use a hotel. Is it more expensive than just getting a hotel. Obviously everyone is different but I'm looking for ballpark number
Thanks

I have never added up the cost of having a TT. While my mpg's decrease when towing I still feel the added fuel cost is well worth the memories of camping as a family. It is more convient than booking a hotel room, having a kitchen to use, sleeping in your own beds and bringing the dogs along.

reminds me of a tv spot years back by the RVIA? or somebody, the punch line was "how many life long friends have you made in a hotel"
bumpy

Reminds me of the bumper sticker;
"If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand!"

Seriously, RVing will cost you money, lots of money. I wouldn't live any other way and we are supporting two rigs.

I am basically a very frugal person. If I calculated the cost of RVing, it would kill me, so I don't count the cost.

For my family there is no better way to travel. If we are going on vacation the trailer is too. We own our trailer and truck so for the time being it is definitely cheaper. We camp just over 40 nights a year with 2 weeks of that split between the beach and for the last 5 years Disney Fort Wilderness. Both of these places would be thousands and cost prohibitive for the amount of time we spend there. Any condo or rental right on the beach for a family of 4 would be a couple thousand at a min. We do it for 500 and IMO way more comfortable. We can walk out of our tt and be on the beach in a minute. Staying at one of the Disney resorts other than the Fort would make a 7 night trip prohibitive. We would not have gone back each year and certainly not for 7 nights. Trips to the mountains we take are less then renting a cabin but a hotel would be less on these trips. Who would want to stay in a hotel in the mountains? Like others have posted we can do all this in the comfort of our trailer with all the comforts of home. For the places we travel in this part of our lives it is certainly much cheaper. The best part for us is the family time we have and the memories this lifestyle affords us. We did not get into the lifestyle to save money and would do it even it was much much more. This is how my wife and I always traveled from tents to pop ups to a hybrid and now a tt. I’m fortunate my wife has loved it as much as I do and our kids love it too

article from link wrote:
RV vacation costs vary from person to person but according to the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association of America one thing is clear; even when fuel prices go up, RVing vacations are still more affordable than any other type of getaway.

LOL! I wonder what the American Hotel & Lodging Association's position would be on this...

If you want a good laugh, read this:

RIVA Study

for those with limited vacation time wanting to go to some destination, you should also figure that you can take one night or more less if you rely on motels vs. getting to a campground by 3:00 pm giving you time to set up, etc. whereas if crashing at a motel 5-6 or later is doable.

Since we got the Rain Maker we have never been back to a motel. Oh yeah my daughter says don't forget the bed bugs.

Hey Go ducks. You forgot to calculate what it cost to own and operate that 2500 diesel instead of a minivan, which makes your calculations pretty skewed.