ispjs

We are at about the same point as you folks in our search for a DP. We did about 3 years full time in a larger fiver and F350 diesel but then went back to having a home and part time travel in a gas coach (38' Thor Challenger). IMHO if you are full time traveling you want a diesel. We researched and looked at several brands but have pretty much narrowed our search down to a used Newmar or Tiffin also. I changed fuel filters in my F350 and I currently do oil changes on my V-10. I'm not a mechanic but I can do a little general maintenance and am not worried about excessive maintenance costs. We are extremely excited to be returning to full time RV traveling. Keep us posted on how your search progresses!

I was simply pointing out that most of us suffer a lot more than $360 to $600 a year in depreciation on our coaches. In addition we are running all over the country in buses that get anywhere from 5mpg to 8mpg. After considering all of that trying to find the absolute cheapest diesel prices within 50 miles of your location is a priority? I guess what is most important to me is looking for a fuel stop I can easily get in and out of and a station that pumps a ton of fuel. If I happen to find one that is cheaper then I can buy premium beer that month I guess.

I wasn't going to post on this statement and another one reference length restrictions. I know many RVers read what some site posts online on which State allows what length and take it as gospel. It does get rather confusing traveling from State to State trying to decide what applies and what doesn't. Generally speaking, any of a State's laws that are regulatory in nature, like speed limits, safety belt use, all that is enforceable of course no matter where your vehicle is registered. Then there are some of the equipment laws such as tinted windows and a few others that a State you are visiting can not enforce on you if you are registered in another State. Also, there are Federal laws/guidelines that regulate commercial trucks which in no way apply to the RV world, like pulling into that weigh station. This brings me to the point of what is the legal length limit for a motorhome pulling a trailer. If you do a search online you will not find a correct answer IMHO. Most of the RV "experts" that have put those state-by-state lists on line never mention anything about what class highway they are talking about. If they would divide it out into Class I designated routes and compare that to Class III routes you would see a huge difference in requirements. So in other words, if you have a 45' motorhome and you are towing a 28' trailer (76'-77' total length), and you are willing to stick to all designated Class I routes (Interstates and most National Highways), and never venture more than 5 miles off, then you will never get pulled over and seldom be in actual violation anyway. I am basing this on my experience/training in my career as an Illinois State Trooper. You may or may not agree with my opinion on this RV length subject. Everyone should decide for themselves what length they think is legal and are comfortable with.

That would probably normally be sound advise to someone who travels part time in their RV. We are in a transition period going from marketing our home into full time traveling in our coach. Since we will always spend the winter months in this general area of SW Florida we will need a long pull thru site, 90% of which are already booked for the 2017/18 winter in our area. With many friends in this area plus all of our Doctors already set up here we plan to spend November to March here. There are a couple CG's that if we rent a super pull thru site now when they are almost empty they will give us their first winter snowbird cancellation. Spending six figures on a used DP will have to wait until the house sells, but if I come across a good buy on the right trailer there would be no reason not to purchase it now.

I taped off two different areas in my garage yesterday, one was 8' wide and 20' long, the other 8' wide and 22' long. I wanted to simulate the inside of a 20' enclosed and a 22' enclosed. I positioned the Mini and Trike every which way and there was no way a 20' would work. A 22' will barely work. I will keep checking for a used Stacker. We need to put our 38' gasser on a super pull through site within the next month down here so that we will be in line for their first seasonal cancellation. I can always pull an empty one if I have to with my gas MH just to get it to the site for now until we find our DP.

Actually, some states have a limit of 60' for an RV combination. Still have to try to position my Harley Trike and Mini end to end and see exactly how long of an enclosed I would have to have. Maybe with the Trike turned at an angle I could get by with a 18' or 20' trailer, but it would certainly be close. Even then with a 43' coach I would be over 65'. As much as it would pain me I may be looking at a stacker type trailer.

No matter is any of us want to believe his statement or not, it is true. Depending on how much you spent or if you bought your DP new or used, you could be bleeding anywhere from $500 a month to $5,000 or more a month in depreciation. So in the whole scheme of things if you go through a bunch of diesel in a month and spend an extra $30 to $50 does it really matter?

I had to double check, but I think this was the original ops question. I have had the Rand RV GPS for about 5 or 6 years. My buddy bought his first one about the same time since we were both traveling in large fivers. He went through three of them and I am still on my first one. I don't let mine sit on the dash while parked for extended periods in the Florida sun, he does. When we are traveling the Rand is positioned so I can see it and a regular Garmin is positioned so my DW can see it from her side. But I don't really go by what either of them tell me. I use them more for ETA and digital speed readouts, etc. I keep an up to date Trucker's Atlas and consult my route on it the night before if it is an area I haven't been through before. My RV's have all been any where from 11'3" to well over 12' tall and I'm not about to use some non-truckers based mapping program. I use Google maps or Waze but only when I'm traveling in my Mini or Harley.

I hear you Wayne. After my BIL and cousin passed I really didn't dig into any information on Agent Orange or the VA for that matter. They were both a few years older than me and were in different locations at different times in country. But now with two of my closest friends that I was housed with while in VN contacting AO cancers I have taken notice obviously. I know there are more and more cancers and health problems being listed by the VA as caused by AO exposure. I am discussing some of these things with my civilian Doctor next month and may take advantage of some free screening offered by the VA here in Florida.

I've looked at the Stacker trailers and they are pretty sweet. I'm probably not going to spend over $20,000 for a trailer. Harley has been building their own Trikes for awhile now. Have owned both metrics and Harleys for over 40 years. The last 10 or 12 years only Harleys, this 2016 being my first Trike. Ridden all over, much of it 2-up and loaded with extras and never had any type of overheating issue.

There were three of us that were lucky. We made grand plans for getting Harleys and traveling the U.S. when we got back. We were 18 and 19 year old kids. Plans changed, we all got older, raised families. Mark Aberle was the first to die of AO related cancer this year. My other buddy Vernon was diagnosed with the same types of cancers a couple months ago. In the last 8 years I have watched my brother-in-law and my first cousin die of AO cancers (both VN Army combat vets). Yes, it was a blank check with no date filled in.

Manholt, I checked Motorhomes Of Texas site. They have a pretty good selection and actually if they were closer and we had a contract on the house there is a 2011 43' Tiffin I would probably at least call them about. We have looked at a couple 43' to 45' used coaches at North Trail (Ft. Myers) plus we keep checking Lazy Days site (Tampa). Both of those dealers are close to us and have a slightly larger selection than Motorhomes Of Texas. I'm not totally hung up on getting either a used Newmar or Tiffin, but the ones we have actually looked at so far I have been extremely impressed with. Wayne77590, I'm sure you will know when I find one. I'll probably have a million questions when it is time to do a PDI on it. When we got back from our Irma escape and was parking our MH back in storage the manager came by. He said there was a fiver that got blown around sideways but didn't hurt the landing legs. The only real damage was a large Class C. Somehow the rear of the roof raised up when our winds were 80 to 90mph, but then went back down a few hours later when the winds did. The owner came to check on it the next day and didn't see any evidence of damage. He opened the door and water came blasting out from inside. Totaled.

Reading all the comments about fueling, discounts, and method of payment is interesting. When we used to be full time in the fiver I always used Flying J and Pilot with the Good Sams card. Now with the prospect of having a DP and pulling a long trailer it looks like I will be re-thinking how and where I fuel. Currently we use a CC for all of our other gas needs and once a year take rewards in the form of $100 to $150 in gas cards. I can see where the Gas Buddy rewards card would be handy if someone just didn't use CC or DC all the time. Many of my buddies that are contractors seem to use cash for about everything.

As we transition from part time to full time not only will we be going from a gas MH to a DP, but we will also be looking for a long enclosed trailer. We plan on always traveling with our Mini Cooper and Harley Trike, which is about 22 feet of vehicles and just over 4,000 pounds. My question is for folks who have MH's with tag axles and pull long enclosed trailers. I have a decent understanding of tongue weight and some other issues involving trailers, but being close to 70' long what other issues is there to contend with? How does a 20mph cross wind effect you? I have been in some rest areas where 70' feet of RV or a big truck that long would almost spill over the spaces, is that ever an issue? I realize there will be many CG's that won't have sites big enough. I also understand that I'm not going to be whipping around residential neighborhoods easily or pulling into any discount gas stations for fuel. I'm just trying to get a feel for things I'm probably not expecting by pulling a trailer this long.

I am only 6'1" and agree with manholt reference his comment about not feeling cramped in a Mini. We have only had our 2016 rag top for a month and it is easier for me to get in and out of than our SUV. Not sure about 4-door Mini models but our 2 door is a breeze to jump in and out of, or at least for a 65 year old. While traveling this summer we talked to two campers who had them as toads. I didn't really get much information from them but both were using dolly's. As far as the steering goes, it is designed to get tighter the faster you go much like a high end sports car does. After a month of ownership and 1,800 miles there is nothing I don't like about the vehicle. We have decided to use an enclosed trailer for it and the Harley.

1. Joe Spidle Sr. 2. Army 3. March 70 to November 73 4. E-5 5. 64C20 MOS 6. Germany - Viet Nam - WSMR (New Mexico)

Interesting information on the tires. I had a TPMS on my first fiver and moved it over to the gas MH. I like being able to constantly monitor my PSI and tire temperatures while stationary or under way. On "G" rated tires on the fiver many go by a rule of thumb of 5 years max before replacement. It was always more about the elements getting to them than the tread wear. I was just guessing that tires on a 40,000 pound plus DP would need replacing at around 40,000 miles or so, which for me as a full timer would be 3 or 4 years worth of travel. I would love to think I could get six years or more out of them! I wonder if it makes a difference if you are in hot climates 12 months out of the year.

Glad it kept moving, we certainly did not need the extra rain! Right this second we have not located a used DP we are seriously looking at, so I am just reading through some old posts and trying to get a feel for how steep the learning curve will be going from a gasser to a DP.

We did better than most in SW Florida that's for sure. A little damage to a storm door was about all. Even though our home was almost hurricane proof I still expected some damage.

In our initial search for a used coach we have discovered that some have the aqua hot water system that I see mentioned in the above posts. Having been full time in a fiver I have a little experience with a diesel. My 2012 F350 was pretty cheap to maintain. I paid for oil changes but did the fuel filters myself. I am sure there will be a learning curve if we end up with a larger DP with a tag axle. So besides a different hot water system, regular oil changes, and fuel filter changes, what other maintenance am I looking at? I realize there will be 8 tires to replace every 3 or 4 years, but other than that?

We have been SW Florida residents for almost 3 years. Retired for the second time in 2012, sold the house and everything else, and traveled full time in our fiver. Loved the full time life style but after watching the home prices in Florida start to rise we decided to purchase another home. Have been traveling during the summer in a Thor Challenger Class A gas MH. Just before Irma we decided to sell out and go back to full timing. We had just talked to a realtor and began our search for a used 42 to 45 foot DP. Now we are back home and ready to continue our plans and this certainly looks like a good place to get valuable information.