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There is more repairs and maint. Than they tell you. So far, on a two year old 5th wheel, new, I had to replace tires, a wheel brake hub, AC, toilet, tv, black tank valve, and I should replace the mattress too. Your home breaks a lot more when you bounce it down the road.
Wow, that's bad luck. I haven't had any repairs on my travel trailer, except I drove under a low hanging branch and cracked a skylight. Hardly a flaw with the trailer.
Oh yeah, didn't drain the outside faucet when winterizing and that froze and split. Easy repair and again, not a flaw with the trailer.
The mattress is awful and maybe someday I will replace it, but I put a memory foam mattress topper on it and that solved the problem.
My trailer gets a lot of use and sometimes is in use for two or three months at a time. I take it off road, so it gets bounced around. Everything still works.
Thinking about it, maybe it is time to get the wheel bearings repacked. That's routine maintenance for trailers.
If you get an RV to save lodging costs or to allow bringing the dogs with you, please keep in mind that a relative or friend won’t necessarily consider it “no trouble at all” for you to “just” stay in the RV on their land.
Acreage does not equal RV campsite, and any pets brought to visit should be invited there by the host, not sprung by surprise on him or her.
Hinting at needing a place to “park the camper” in lieu of a frank self-invitation for a free B&B, and other beating-around-the-bush tactics, give a really bad impression, too. Frankly, the fact that someone bought an expensive machine, travels frequently, yet won’t pay a measly commercial campsite fee smacks of cheapskatism.
There is more repairs and maint. Than they tell you. So far, on a two year old 5th wheel, new, I had to replace tires, a wheel brake hub, AC, toilet, tv, black tank valve, and I should replace the mattress too. Your home breaks a lot more when you bounce it down the road.
I had to replace all four tires on my van at 35,000 miles. They were made for passenger cars, so I replaced them with truck tires.
The van blower went out at 15,000 miles but that was under warranty and replaced free.
Other than that, I can't think of anything else that's been replaced other than during routine maintenance and recalls (both airbags recalled).
If you get an RV to save lodging costs or to allow bringing the dogs with you, please keep in mind that a relative or friend won’t necessarily consider it “no trouble at all” for you to “just” stay in the RV on their land.
Acreage does not equal RV campsite, and any pets brought to visit should be invited there by the host, not sprung by surprise on him or her.
Hinting at needing a place to “park the camper” in lieu of a frank self-invitation for a free B&B, and other beating-around-the-bush tactics, give a really bad impression, too. Frankly, the fact that someone bought an expensive machine, travels frequently, yet won’t pay a measly commercial campsite fee smacks of cheapskatism.
That's funny you posted this because those are two of the reasons we got an RV. So far it's been great. I think your concern is overblown but it certainly depends on the friends / family that one has. In the past we would have stayed in their house when visiting, with our dogs, but now when we visit we stay in our RV in their driveway. Most of our family would consider it rude if we didn't stay with them and instead went to a commercial campground across town.
Of course that's only part of our trips. Many hotels that allow dogs are dumps (or, at least the designated "dog rooms" within those hotels) and we often found ourselves in more expensive places ($200+ per night including pet fee) just to have something that was cleaned adequately. In more than one instance we paid that much after walking away from another hotel we'd already paid for that turned out to be gross.
Over the past year we've spent an average of $650 per month on RV payments, insurance, storage, maintenance, fuel, and camping fees. That's about $1500/year higher than we'd pay for vacations prior to owning an RV but we have gone on more weekend trips and we are much more comfortable when we travel now as a result.
I've been re-reading this and am amazed at all the new information.
I've put off any purchases for another year as it will allow me to save a lot more to make sure I can get the best vehicle. Also, I have a lot more research to do. What I have done is move into a much cheaper and smaller apartment.
Op, it is going to be harder for you as I don't see a lot on the east coast. In the West there is blm land, which you wouldn't care to stay anyway as it's boondocking. I have viewed one utube where there were hook-ups in a state park in, I believe, Texas but that's all. There are rv. Parks of course.
Well, where there's a will, there's usually a way.
That issue is with the tires, not RVing? I would be very disappointed in a 10,000 mile life. I do a lot of 5,000 mile trips.
I see many RVs on the road in the west that I would hope that someone could make appliances for RVs. Households appliances obviously are not made for vibration and electronics do not handle rapid temperature changes well.
RVs have traditionally had a 1 year warranty. Just watched a show that claimed that 2 year warranty's are becoming more available.
Breakage will be a big problem until they develop a line that handles vibration and temperature changes.
IF the RV is a few years old, the bugs will have been worked out and bad choices by the MFG replaced.
Tires last 7 years if they do not wear out first. After 7 years they are aged out and need replacement. Factor the age of tires into the price of the used RV.
I will replace mattress, toilets, probably drivers/passenger seats, possibly couch and remove any carpeting and replace with hard surface flooring immediately upon buying a used RV anyway. in part because I do not want to live in/on other people's slimy effluvia. Probably anticipate replacing TVs batteries, solar panels and inverters as well because they will be outdated or worn out. Lastly I would likely replace the sewage pump if it is old because you do not want that to break and pumps have a limited lifespan. All of those things factor into the price. If they do not have receipts or other proof of recent replacement, assume you will be replacing them and offer accordingly. Everything else will need to be cleaned.
Oh and the stove. I will replace the stove because I want a removable induction stove.
I'm currently at an RV camp surrounded by huge RVs (mostly diesel pushers). The owners appear to be over 80 yrs, maybe mid 70 yrs of age. Some have spouses who barely can get up the stairs to get into their rigs. I'm amazed that these old folks can manage these huge, expensive rigs. There's a lot involved - takes energy, and money to do ---and these houses/condos on wheels can be tough to maneuver in traffic. If they can do it, surely OP you can do it.
....the real darkside of RVing is the industry is putting out poor quality, over-priced vehicles that aren't safe and needs to be better regulated, imo......it seems like every rig coming off the assembly line has an issue that needs to be repaired (from what I can see mostly from Youtubers).....if you're buying new (or even used), expect to return your rig to the shop for warranty work, and if the warranty period is over, these RV techs are make a ton in wages/labor.
I'm currently at an RV camp surrounded by huge RVs (mostly diesel pushers). The owners appear to be over 80 yrs, maybe mid 70 yrs of age. Some have spouses who barely can get up the stairs to get into their rigs. I'm amazed that these old folks can manage these huge, expensive rigs. There's a lot involved - takes energy, and money to do ---and these houses/condos on wheels can be tough to maneuver in traffic. If they can do it, surely OP you can do it.
Yep, we're in our low 70's and are definitely in the lower age group in our park, where we spend our summers. In fact, someone called me a "young whippersnapper" the other day....LOL.
A lot of these people are full-timers who move between Florida and the mountains every year. Some are full-timers who travel all year.
Ten summers ago on our first trip, we met an 88-year-old man in Colorado who had been traveling full time by himself in his big Class A for eight years since his wife had died. He had to use a walker and it was pretty painful to watch him haul himself into and out of his rig. Amazing. I was really inspired. He said when he stopped traveling, he'd probably die. I hope he had a few good years after that. I can just see his headstone: "Parked for Good".
A lot of these people are full-timers who move between Florida and the mountains every year. Some are full-timers who travel all year.
that's exactly what I did this summer ----hot FL to the NC mountains where the temps were very comfortable....I can see myself doing this trip every summer for the next decade to get away from FL during the hottest part of the year.
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