Good job! That covered a lot but, here are my additions. I was going to just comment, but the list grew and grew. I know I still haven’t hit everything, but just ask.
Positives:
Fishing - Katie mentioned it, but it's absolutely great. When I would be mowing the yard, I'm out in a kayak fishing. When I would be painting walls, I'm out in a kayak fishing. When I would be stuck at the house trying not to spend money, I'm in a kayak fishing not spending money. Actually, I'm saving money because I usually catch dinner! I have the freedom to go fishing whenever I want (and Katie wants). I also get to take the kids! It's great. I can't believe that Katie said it was good, since sometimes I feel that I go too often, but she seems to enjoy fresh fish! Did I mention that I launch kayaks 1.25 miles from where we stay?
Money - It may not be less expensive than owning or renting a house, depending on what rig you purchase. I lump the truck and trailer and consider it a 'mortgage' but, all of that is going to something I want and I don't have to sell it after a couple years and hope to break even. When you factor in truck, trailer, and site rental; it does come out less than rental/mortgage plus utilities. But, it’s definitely more expensive per square foot than a house. If you’re doing it to save money, you will probably find yourself in a RV that you do not like because you were too cheap and hate full timing.
Location - Even if you're in an area and hate the location you're at, you just move to a different park. There are usually multiple parks at any given location.
Military - If you're a member of the military, almost every base has an RV park on it. The rates are very reasonable (or unreasonably cheap - meaning that I feel like I'm getting too good of a deal). They usually have great amenities like wifi, 50A full hookups, nice clubhouse/restrooms, cheap/free laundry, and incredibly convenient location to work). Keep in mind that you will get ridiculous looks, questions like 'are you f*#%%# kidding me?!?!', and anger from jealous people who wish they weren't spending twice their BAH on their mansion. Not sure why you get angry at people for living how they want to, but I’ve seen it.
Camping – Believe it or not, we still tent camp. It’s fun to take a tent and just hang out at a good lake, forest or beach. We also take the RV camping. We can just pack up, get on the road and go somewhere. We keep our tent camping gear in boxes ready to go and our RV is always stocked with food since we live in it.
Downsides:
Home brewing - This is truly disappointing. Home brewing is great, until you move into an RV. There is just no place to put 5 gallons of wort while it ferments. There's no place to put a bunch of 5 gallon kegs. There's no room for lots of that stuff. My short term solution, not homebrew :( My long term solution is to get a smaller cargo trailer when we upgrade RVs and put a heat pump on it...Whamo, instant temperature regulated fermentation room.
Gardening - We are working on getting around that and we should be back to SC near a giant pecan grove before the pecans ripen. We are also working on getting better at gardening in pots and would have had some herbs growing in the ground if it weren't for the pesky birds eating all the seeds.
RV Size – I have seen people living in tiny RVs. It seems like it would work for a short while, but would get incredibly crowded and miserable. However, the downside to large RVs is you become limited to the parks that you can stay at, especially state and national parks. Once you break the 30-35 foot range your options become quite limited. National parks and a lot of state parks in California can limit you to less than 20 feet. One of the reasons that we would like to upgrade is to get a diesel pusher in order to be a little more maneuverable. As it is, we have 42 feet of trailer connected to a 22 foot truck. When you take the kingpin connection point into consideration that means we sit at about 61 feet in length connected. We can remove about 20 feet of that by going to a diesel pusher. That will not open up any more parks, but will make getting into the 40 foot sites a little easier.
Good or bad? Not sure:
Diving - I couldn't decide if this was a positive or a negative. I think I have actually been in the water more since I got in the trailer and I definitely plan on increasing the time I go on dive trips. However, dive gear does take up a lot of space and I have had to leave behind the idea of getting back to instructing. Again, I think that is driven more by my job and less by the RV life, but it would be nice to teach again. It's also tough to find dive buddies at every location, but again, that's military driven not RV driven. I'll just have to keep hoping for that job in the Keys! The good thing is that I do have plenty of room to store enough gear to do any diving that I would like. And, I can take it with me anywhere we stay.
Guests - Another one that is tough to settle on positive or negative. For the most part, we have guests over just like we did before. I finally found a point where it actually felt crowded when we had about 12 guests over while in California. That's about 14 adults, 2 kids, 2 dogs and we were in a park where we couldn't be too loud outdoors because some of the 'typical fulltimers' would complain. That felt a little crowded, but would have been fine if we could be outside more. The other drawback to our current RV is the layout of the kitchen. This is a product of toy haulers since they are designed around a large garage in the back. The next model will have a more open layout and will not feel as crowded. We do have people over often and for the most part they seem to enjoy it. Yes, it can get cramped, but it's nothing terrible and we are usually only hanging around inside in the evening and morning. The rest of the day is for fishing and whatever girls do while we're out fishing :). I think the only people that would not want to hang out with us are people that I wouldn't want to come hang out anyways. So, overall, it's probably a positive.
Tips:
- The best advice we ever received when starting our search for a RV was find what we want and get at least one size bigger. We went as big as we could and sure enough, we still want to upgrade. Now, we would not have been able to
- Get an RV with enough counter space to have an electric toaster. We have a model that has double racks and a rotisserie. The oven that comes on the RV is small but wide and uses gas. We use the electric one and the grill outside. If we need extra oven space due to guests we'll fire up the gas oven and it's almost like having a regular oven. The only thing that we can't bake is turkey, but turkey was made for frying!
Grill – If you get one, get something sturdy. It doesn’t matter how shiny and stainless it is, travel destroys grills. If it screws together, the screws will fall out. It needs to be bolted with lock washers or welded. We are looking for the perfect grill for RV life and haven’t found it yet. There are a couple options that I’ll have to look at closer that run around $300 or more that you can set on a table. They are made for RVing/tailgating, so we’ll have to check them out.
- Get an induction cook top. They sell single cook tops that are induction and they work well. Keep in mind that you have to use the correct cookware for induction to work. This is another why use gas when you can use electric thing, plus it gives you more cook space, though less counter space. Induction is much better than resistance (standard electric cook tops) because the temperature response is more like cooking with gas.
- Get heavy duty storage boxes if you will be storing stuff outside. Tuffboxes from Lowes or Home Depot work well. I've used these for dive gear for the past 10 years and they are well worth the investment. Cheaper ones will break when you try to stand on them or stack them. Even if you're not storing outdoors, you can still use them for pass through and they make great tent camping boxes for dishes, sleeping bags, tents, party lights, etc.
- Get a cargo trailer. If you're in the military, you will move a lot. Any size moving trailer will usually pay for itself in one move. If you get a self-propelled RV, then you can tow it with your RV, if you have a trailer, then you can tow it with your truck. It will come in handy when you're trying to figure out what to do with your stuff that you want to have with you but will not use daily. Most bases have storage on base and you just park it. You can do what we do and leave it somewhere safe like back at your HOR. It's essentially a storage shed on wheels. When we upgrade, we will likely get a smaller trailer to carry around with us for storing/moving the things that we take in the garage of the toy hauler.
- Options. Yes, there are a lot of options on RVs. For full timing, you really need to know what you’re buying. Here are a few things to think about.
A/C: get heat pumps. If you don’t, at least get heat strips. You will want it. Heat in an RV is from the furnace. That means propane. Lots of propane. Heat pumps are the way to go. Biggest regret we had was not getting heat pumps. Also, get as many heat pumps as they offer on that model. You never know where you’ll stay and the more the better. In the southeast, our 2 A/C’s will run full time and keep it about 15-20 degrees cooler than outdoors. That means it’s about 80F inside when it’s 100F outside. It’s not unbearable and they do a great job removing the humidity, but more would be better. Our model only came with the option for two.
Windows: Dual pane – another expense, but well worth it. If you go single paned, you’ll have sweaty windows in the winter which equals mold. It also adds more insulation which means your heat pumps that you purchased will be more effective.
Materials. Get the upgrade on fabric. It will last longer. It also helps if you can match the fabric to the color of your dogs :)
Stabalizers/jacks: go electric/hydraulic. After manually jacking your stabilizers a few times you’ll understand why you should have gone for electric. There are many different types of stabilizers, get them all. Everything helps. Diesel pushers come with leveling jacks, again, I’d go automatic. If you get the 5th wheel, get a king pin stabilizer and scissor chocks, they cut down on the rockin’ which is good when you’re doing laundry.
Laundry: go ahead and get washer/dryer when you start, you’ll want it.
Fantastic vents. They’re great, get them if you can. Remember, you may have to shut off the rain feature if you have one in the bathroom. A steamy shower will close the vent.
Tire covers. Your RV is going to be outside all the time because you live in it. Spend the small amount of money for tire covers and protect your tires from the sun. While you’re at it, get some for your cargo trailer too.
A/C: get heat pumps. If you don’t, at least get heat strips. You will want it. Heat in an RV is from the furnace. That means propane. Lots of propane. Heat pumps are the way to go. Biggest regret we had was not getting heat pumps. Also, get as many heat pumps as they offer on that model. You never know where you’ll stay and the more the better. In the southeast, our 2 A/C’s will run full time and keep it about 15-20 degrees cooler than outdoors. That means it’s about 80F inside when it’s 100F outside. It’s not unbearable and they do a great job removing the humidity, but more would be better. Our model only came with the option for two.
Windows: Dual pane – another expense, but well worth it. If you go single paned, you’ll have sweaty windows in the winter which equals mold. It also adds more insulation which means your heat pumps that you purchased will be more effective.
Materials. Get the upgrade on fabric. It will last longer. It also helps if you can match the fabric to the color of your dogs :)
Stabalizers/jacks: go electric/hydraulic. After manually jacking your stabilizers a few times you’ll understand why you should have gone for electric. There are many different types of stabilizers, get them all. Everything helps. Diesel pushers come with leveling jacks, again, I’d go automatic. If you get the 5th wheel, get a king pin stabilizer and scissor chocks, they cut down on the rockin’ which is good when you’re doing laundry.
Laundry: go ahead and get washer/dryer when you start, you’ll want it.
Fantastic vents. They’re great, get them if you can. Remember, you may have to shut off the rain feature if you have one in the bathroom. A steamy shower will close the vent.
Tire covers. Your RV is going to be outside all the time because you live in it. Spend the small amount of money for tire covers and protect your tires from the sun. While you’re at it, get some for your cargo trailer too.
- Trailer/5th wheel vs. self-propelled. There are advantages to both categories. If you’re going to live in it, I’d ditch the trailer and go for 5th wheel or self-propelled. 5th wheels handle better than trailers (sway and turning radius) and you get more living space for the length. They do however, require a larger tow vehicle. I would not full time with anything less than a Ford F250 diesel or larger (or equivalent government motors) and a 35’ 5th wheel or larger. Make sure you get a truck that will meet the requirements for your NEXT trailer. You will want to upgrade, so go big on the tow vehicle. Diesel engines are MUCH better than gasoline for towing. Mileage, power, acceleration, handling; it’s all better with a diesel. Yes, diesel engines are expensive and diesel costs more. But, you will regret it if you go gasoline. You can get a truck and trailer that are much nicer than the equivalent purchase price for self-propelled. That brings me to purchasing. Consider down payments on type too. Over $100k and you’ll need at least 20% down with good credit to go self-propelled. Our trailer MSRP was $87k and we purchased for $55k. Don’t believe MSRP on RVs, they’re way too high. Add another $65k for a truck and now you see why I considered it a mortgage. For the same luxuries in a 40’ diesel pusher you’re looking at STARTING around $150k (purchase, not MSRP).
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