mweiner

Bill, I was just in the Grand Canyon area didn't see any challenges with parking... NOW , Yosemite National Park.. have you been following what's going on there?? As we just returned from a trip... we're relaxing at home now... very nice... My plan is go during the off season... We avoid crowds..if we want to experience crowds, I only need to get on the LA freeway... Speaking of crowds.... You ain't seen nothing yet.. until you get to the "eclipse"... Whoa, that will be a crowd infested event... guaranteed... We're taking our rig across country for two months in late September...no set route to the Midwest.... down the Eastern shore to Florida and across the country back to California... We have some key highlights we want to see and visit friends and family... For me... fuel economy is important... By the way... I don't pay for storage costs for the Class B...it is parked in front of the house....the advantage of the single vehicle is I don't have to worry about towing, reduced speeds in California , and the maintenance and repair on another tow car... Enjoy your trips...

Tom...- thank you... your posts continue to be very adult like and well reasoned replies. I think it's great that you are living 6 months out of the year...and enjoying visits with your family... We just got back from the Grand Canyon.. visiting our granddaughter... We're also on Medicare., Social Security... and I'm retired.. We are going on a two month journey with no set scheduled stops across the United States... Have a few key locations but the rest are up in the air...Plan on taking 10 days to the Midwest , see friends, out east down to Florida and finally back to California....a 7,500 miles journey over two months... AND, we can easily do that in our Class B because we have places and family to visit... The journey is the destination... And, maybe if the weather is too much.. hurricanes, tornadoes, or something, we'll just find a hotel for a few days... No problems. I'd rather be safe staying somewhere than be at risk on the road.... As far as medical stuff.... we're Kaiser Permanente members...we can get out of area coverage, and get reimbursed later if we need to.. Your story about the rig getting fixed right away is very lucky.... We have a couple of small issues to work out before our long trip this fall and I recently called a local RV shop that came highly recommended.... turns out the first appointment is about one month from now just to bring the rig in.... glad I don't live in it..... Keep moving as long as you can...time and age is like a cruel trick...it creeps up on people and many people overestimate how much time they actually have left.... that's WHY I retired early.....

Bill, Not once have I ever said that people, including you, should NOT be entitled to choose a Class A... heck, the Prevost is an extremely large and luxurious vehicle...we saw a brand new one recently at the Grand Canyon.... must have been a million dollars plus rig.... Really spectacular... I'm just saying that I don't need to have something this exotic... Is it cool, YES... I wouldn't have any place to store this and I'm sure that lot of other people don't either. Seems to me that by listening to what you are saying....if you don't go full time , you cannot appreciate traveling and experiencing this great country of ours, that's not TRUE..... Please layoff making perjorative remarks about us part timers.... even insinuating remarks like "When you die that's all you will have left and only your beneficiaries will get any pleasure from it." Don't you realize that a comment like this is really in poor taste? Not necessary. Again, keep it up... your killing off new members like me, really obnoxious.

Again...I have appreciation for traveling and enjoy doing it... I'm just making decisions that suits my lifestyle... your free to make yours. Who said anything about not enjoying my travels... you're making some sweeping generalizations here predicting what other people might do...

Wayne, when you said that the warranty from Good Sam ran out.. you mean that you went 150,000 miles?

Wayne, thanks... How much did you spend in premiums vs, your return from Good Sam?

We're in California... and an insurance agent told me that the industry here is a mess...

One more thing... about full time.... while your rig is in the shop for repairs.. you essentially are locked out of your home and have to stay in a hotel... A little more than inconvenient.... I don't collect vehicles... I collect houses....and the investment properties help me finance what I want to do.... You can't refinance an RV... based on appreciation... they don't appreciate... I'm not saying that it's not worth doing...this is a business decision... You just have to be very careful with how you handle money and investments... Long term planning is key... I definitely want to travel first... And when this becomes too difficult have my own home to come back to... A large Class A that you live in is like a mobile home on wheels... You still have to pay for fuel, maintenance, long term storage, repairs, insurance, any other costs.. traveling and admission to recreational areas... All of this we can do and enjoy in our lighter foot print Class B.... Again, I'm not saying anything negative or that the Class A's aren't nice.. they're wonderful... I just don't want to spend the extra money for fuel, maintenance and everything else that goes with a more complicated machine like the Class A's... That's all...Choices ......

OK, sorry Michelle... So, you have a Class B plus... really a Class C.. Didn't mean to misquote your words... As far as I know ... there's almost "no activity" on the FMCA for Class B owners... I'm talking van motor homes like mine.. By the way, the Leisure Travel Unity is an absolutely wonderful vehicle... Do you have the Murphy Bed... I loved the videos and features of these... Really great product.. has the same drive train as mine, 3 litre Mercedes Benz Sprinter V6... We also looked at the Navion... Leisure Travel Unity is kinda hard to find in Southern California...and I didn't want to purchase a brand new one... I'm sure you are going to love it... I did consider the Navion.. but, I absolutely loved the way the Roadtrek drove....it's less complicated, less concerns about roof seals and better road dynamics... At least it's my opinion behind the wheel.... Good luck....

Hi Ross, Glad to hear that you have helped people "right size" to the rig they wanted... I started thinking...how many places I wouldn't be able to go based upon size of rigs, restrictions at National Parks, fuel costs, ease of parking, maintenance and repair etc and I kept coming back to the Class B.... Plus, it's hard not to find a well built Class B....and out Roadtrek RS Adventurous is close to the top of the line Roadtrek model. There's a lot of cheaply made Class A's in the price range I paid it the 5 years old Roadtrek.. Question.... aside from my posts... how many and how long ago did you see any posts see from other Class B owners recently?? Actually, we love to take long road trips... planning one across the United States this fall.. about 7,500 miles ... I'd rather do that at 18 MPG rather than 5 MPG.. We could even stop at a hotel a couple of times and still save money.. considering the fuel economy difference... AND, we go everywhere with the Class B..no tow car necessary.. I hope you enjoy your rig as much as we do.... we're not letting it sit around in the driveway ...the more we use it and go out, the lower the costs per trips overall...

Well, thanks for clarifying that.... I certainly appreciate your liking the Class A ... they're beautiful...we looked at all of them when we went shopping...I can see advantages to every class... It's just that we wanted to have a greater deal of mobility at a lower fuel consumption, smaller rig also means less expensive tires, brakes, suspension parts, the list goes on..... Yes, cruising range... I get that... Some of the Class A's have 100 gallons of fuel... I only have 25 gallons of fuel... I can get around 400 miles per tank comfortably before worrying about running too low... But, to be really safe 350 to 375 depending on how much hill climbing etc. When someone says...I shouldn't be doing this..and in the wrong hobby... yes, that's a little offensive.. I don't tell Class A owners they shouldn't be driving their rigs, although I have said that they pay a lot more for fuel, which is true... Just the facts. It's all business.... No personal agendas here, your choice. In Europe, people rarely drive Class A motor homes because the roads are narrower and the price of fuel is so much higher there. We can and do get out to all the places a Class A can go... maybe places that are too large for a Class A.. Is it a little more camped, sure it is... Does it work? YES, everyone's different , we do spend time outside and inside... Time to fold things up.... I suppose you are right... but, how much time does it take to put two chairs, a mat and maybe a small table in the back. And put the awning up.... Not a lot of time.... especially compared to my teardrop trailer which is very labor intensive and takes an hour or more... Listen, the teardrop is very cute and we took it out on more than a dozen trips, but, there's a lot more work...see picture... We still have the teardrop... But, the Class B is so much easier ... And, yes, I have posted on the Class A forum.... too bad I'm apparently the only active Class B owner out there reading and responding to questions on the FMCA.

Jim, be very careful with The Hartford...we had them as our insurance company on our cars... had one very minor incident... they were great fixing everything....then, later trippled our rates.... repairs were only about $1,200 ....we would have been better paying for the repairs ourselves....we dumped them... business decision.

Brocki wrote below... "We joined FMCA over 17 years ago specifically because it was motorhome-focused. (still very much is on the larger Class A's) Wewere (are) also members of Good Sam. If FMCA changes to allow towables, I see no advantage to remaining in the club as the content would be diluted/become more generic "RV", and Good Sam gets us better and more varied discounts for lower cost" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+---- This is no question the most hot button issue in the FMCA..... but, aside from any particular outcome.....the FMCA might as well just be called the Class A Motor Home Club of America... I won't probably renew my membership next year...Class B owners are non existent on this forum at least active participants... Old threads are dormant and no one responds to new questions. Very sad. And the Class A folks just love to tell me that if I'm concerned about fuel efficiency, I'm in the "wrong hobby"????? What's with that?? AND, the moderator defends it ? What's really going on here...? If the towables are green lighted, which I highly doubt...it will be ALL about the money.... Either they will take over the discussion on the forum with their issues or be frozen out and alienated by the predominantly discussed Class As. I wonder how many people are dropping their membership each year ??

It's not that we don't love traveling...and we definitely do plenty ..it's just that the depreciation factor on a vehicle as expensive as this is daunting... Again, my house is an appreciating asset.. I can rely on that as a financial backup.. the vehicles not so much... So, we'll continue to be part time...we get plenty of memories out of our travels.. unfortunately, not one of these answers came close to justifying the "financial benefit" of going full time... BUT, some of your stories were very good... I'm sure that you didn't regret doing what you did... Just makes me pause.. here's why.. Over the course of time... our home has gone up in value over 500 percent... I don't think there's anything that anyone can say to justify how an RV can do this...new or used.. And, the expenses of the RV for fuel, repairs, maintenance, parking, rent or whatever you take it have to considered vs. the mortgage and taxes.. In my particular case, this just doesn't work for me...

Brett, you wrote... "You ask where they are. The FMCA Road Trek Chapter has 2500 members, so clearly there are a number of Class B owners active in FMCA:" interesting... 2,500 members, that's a lot of people.... Aside from my posts, and someone from January who had a fire breakout in his Roadtrek 210 resulting in a total loss... I have not seen or heard from anyone... they're just not contributing to any of these recent discussions.... even when I asked Class B's specifically for their input.. This post tried to get input from Class B owners. I sure got a lot of remarks from Class A folks... I have to scroll back several years to find any active threads... nothing real recent..

Wayne, as a follow-up...are you saying that all of these items were covered under the Winnebago warranty...and as soon as the warranty ended... ??? Did you have an extended warranty or was that just the regular manufacturers warranty?

Wayne,. It's true I suppose that all manufacturers have problems and each person is different about how their cars and RVs are maintained. I decided to drop my extended warranty yesterday... and when I called the folks at Good Sam.. they spent at least 10 minutes on the phone trying to talk me out of dropping it... I'm not saying that no one ever gets a benefit from this, but, after reading a number of things online and thinking about how much it would cost over a long period of time... I decided I'd rather just set aside a fund and cover this myself..my plan was a $500 deductible..so, I would be out $1,500 per year based on just one repair... This adds up quickly... And, the exclusions... Sorry about Winnie.... They're big... So, what are you looking at now for an alternative?

Great answer.... thanks for sharing...

What you're saying is.... you're a Class B...how can you appreciate RVing....how can you justify that? We love Yellowstone just as much as the rest of you....we can enjoy this just as much in our Class B...

I see.. it's all about the life style... Yes, depreciation on any of these is a huge factor.. which is why I think I'll use my RV for traveling.. at least I can always refinance my house to pay for repairs or acquire a new RV ...

Yes, Roadtrek is part of the Hymer group.. I didn't know that Hymer was started in 1956.. good to know.... Roadtrek was started in 1974 and they're one of the leading makers of Class Bs since 1990... I was aware that they merged.... Good call. As far as engines go, I'd rather have the diesel... reason being, it's quieter.. gets better fuel economy and it doesn't work as hard going up hills.. just me. Never been a big Dodge fan.. they've got a terrible reputation with their cars...

Just as an added piece of information... Mike and Jennifer Wendlend travel all across the USA and he writes blogs on living in his Class B Roadtrek.. Where's the people in the FMCA who do this...? And, why aren't they contributing to the forum?? I think I know why.. but would rather not say it....

Jim, that would be very nice....so far, I'm getting a lot of people making comments about their Class A's.... I definitely know they are bigger than my rig... I'm just saying that I can go anywhere you guys go in the Class A group and be totally comfortable..

I hope you realize that I posted this question under the Class B forum? For your information, we are planning on traveling through the entire USA and Alaska with our Class B.. we don't have any problem leaving a complete set of clothes that we leave in our rig 24/7... And, we go everywhere a Class A or C goes, maybe more places a really big rig can't even get into! And, because we're getting the higher MPG, it's LESS of an issue to make a long distance trip or go virtually anywhere. It's much more liberating, no excuses not to go. Boondocking is easier, we blend into parking lots and look more stealth than either a Class A or C... We have a small teardrop trailer....now, that's a little more challenging to travel during inclement weather and packing that up is a PITA.. the conversion van is very easy...

Never said anything about sleeping 6 people... only that we could carry 7 passengers.. like on a day trip.. It only sleeps 2 people...king size bed in the back... There's an option..I wouldn't do this, but, you can get the front seats to fold down into two single beds... SO, if you had small kids, I suppose you could do that and they would sleep up front... pretty small quarters though...