msturtz

I fill up at Costco so I just wait in line with everyone else. I used to tow a 36' TT with a 1 ton truck. I had a 100 gallon fuel tank in the bed of the truck. It took forever to fill both my main tank and the auxiliary fuel tank. All the while I'm taking the entire lane. With my first MH I had two tanks one 55 gallon and one 45 gallon. It also took forever to fill. Frequently I had to run my credit card 2 - 4 times to fill up when gas prices were very high. Its a quick way to burn through $500! I salute your willingness to not block the drive. I don't have the patience.

I work in IT and in fact have several domains from a large well connected web hosting company. Hosting archived webcasts isn't that difficult if you want to have library of MP4 video files. The real trick is to do what YouTube does in that they automatically detect the client connection speed and adjust the quality to allow it to continue playing without dropping too many frames. I understand that FMCA would want to make the videos private so there are other video streaming sites that allow you to make the library private. I think it would be a really good idea to record these videos and make them available to the membership to download and view when convenient.

Oh so you aren't paying the $500 per night for a hotel and $200 per day for food..... I have a family of 6 two sons two daughters although one son is on his own. Bottom line RVing is much less expensive than the SUV + hotels and restaurants. HI diesel prices are insane but not too long ago I was paying nearly that in Washington State!

We purchased a new 2014 Thor Palazzo 33.3. I was surprised to be able to get a DP for basically the cost of a gasser. It has fewer frills than a typical DP, i.e. it has vinyl flooring, a basic steering wheel (no smart wheel), basic radio and gauge pack, no navigation. However, it meets our needs in the critical areas, payload, tank capacities, (water, fuel, waste, DEF) and has bunks for the kids. The cabinets aren't as well made as your typical DP either. Again I don't care. I do like the fact that most outlets in the unit are powered by the inverter. It has a ISB 300 6.7L. Seems like a small engine for a 26,000# GVWR / 30,000# GCWR unit and an Allison MH2100 transmission. An interesting factoid is Thor put it onto a Freightliner XCS 28,000# GVWR / 30,000# GCWR chassis but de-rated it to 26,000# / 30,000# because of the Allison MH2100 transmission limitations. I have found that it is OK for what we are doing and gets excellent fuel mileage. Like I get better fuel economy than in my Tahoe! You can get the new Palazzos for between $130K to 150K and used ones are typically in the low 100K range. I strongly recommend that you avoid any Palazzo that has not had the large slide rail system upgraded or repaired. Most of the Palazzos had major issues with the large slide. Thor used undersized motors and insufficient rails. If you can get a good deal on one just put it into the contract that they have to fix the slide system and or upgrade it to the 3 rail system. Our unit is the shorter of the bunch they do have units that are 36' long with an Allison MH2500 Cummins ISB 340 and 28,000# GVWR 33,000# GCWR. Have fun in your search!

We had this very problem. I ended up removing the cushions at the dinette and put the twins car seats on a small rubber mat. The car seats used the existing seat belts that were bolted to a metal frame below the dinette. It isn't the best but it works. I strongly disagree with the posters that claim that motorhomes are "rolling death traps". I have towed a TT for years and then we upgraded to a MH in 2013. I have seen many rollover crashes in all kinds of vehicles. I believe the argument that a person is safer in a light truck pulling a 45' 5er weighing 17,000 or more pounds than in a 26,000# motorhome is deluding themselves. The same basic physics apply. If I am pulling a large trailer or 5er behind me all that weight will be part of the crash physics. The truck manufacturer may have done a fantastic job of handling the offset frontal crash test or the roll over test. However they don't test these things when loaded to their max weight. A truck can quickly be crushed by a large 5er. Any fast stop regardless of vehicle can cause injury or death. However, the larger and heavier the vehicle and the more space between you and what you hit the better you are going to do. If I hit a Prius or Smart for two with my 26,000# motorhome I am going to come out much better than the driver of the Smart for two. It is simply physics. Now, if I crash my 26,000# motorhome into a bridge abutment at 70 I'm not going to fare any better than if I hit the same bridge abutment in my wife's Honda Accord. It really depends on what you hit or hits you. The larger you are the less likely you are going to hit or be hit by something bigger. A final note, the match sticks argument was true many years ago. Now, all motorhomes are made much sturdier, aluminum or steel superstructure etc. Even TTs are made better. I have seen TTs that were rolled over and they were able to flip them back on there wheels and tow them away. The unit was totaled from the damage but the tow company was able to haul it away in one piece.

We just got a Thor Palazzo 33.3 Allison MH2100 Cummins ISB 300. For kicks and giggles I wanted to see the best mileage I could get out of it. No toad but the family was along. I was able to get 15 MPG with the mode button on flat ground (other than overpasses) no wind and traveling at about 63. I was really feathering the throttle and there was no traffic. On a longer trip over a few passes with the mode button "off" I got about 11 but I wasn't trying to save fuel. Our fuel economy really goes to heck driving around the city up and down hills. We flat tow a 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe LTZ. Our old MH with the Ford V10 really didn't like to tow the Tahoe! The Cummins ISB on the other hand doesn't really care much.