Search the Community

Greetings All, We are going to get back to Full Timing for a couple of years, probably 3-5 years. Back in 1994 we "dropped out" for nearly 3 years and had the best time! Traveled in a new American Coach Eagle, 40' rig towing a Jeep and traversed mainly the midwest to the southeast. This time, we want to see far more of the SW, PNW and Canada - possibly Alaska. Plan is to be out for 3 to 5 years. Mission is to just enjoy ourselves pursuing my obsession with landscape photography and my wife with painting and reading. We will be initially focused on the Southwest, then up through California into the Pacific Northwest. Then cross over southern Canada to New England. Now, we are trying to resolve the coach's LOA decision. We are open to purchase of a new rig or one less than 5 years old with very low miles. Ideally with a King bed as I'm over 6'4" LOA. Next we want a washer/dryer. Diesel of course as we will be towing a car. Fuel Efficient - Yeah, right, I know. This is not the best time to take off full timing as I expect to see diesel easily break above $5.50/gal in the immediate future, but now is when we are free to do it. (I'm 65 and my wife is 57 - want to do this before we are too old to hike and carry a heavy camera/gear and it is foolish to believe fuel prices will return to what we experienced in the 90's.) I would like to stay at or under 35' ACTUAL LOA so we would stand a better chance of getting into National Parks and many State Campgrounds. Being closer to the Parks scenes for photography as well as their dramatically lower cost for campsites are attractive reasons to use them. But I'm not finding anything in that range that is of the quality, fit and finish we are wanting. We did look at a 2012 Monaco Vesta 32 PBS this weekend but did not feel it was reflective of the finish we want. (Please remember American Eagle is what we chose last time). A candidate we looked at and liked, but it exceeded the actual LOA of 35', is the Monico Night 36PFT BUT it's actual lenght is 37'4" and I'm afraid the National Parks with their 35' limit would be eliminiated from staying at. So, three questions: 1. Is there a model I'm missing that is of higher quality diesel rig that has an actual LOA of 35' or slightly less? 2. Any have the Monaco Knight 36 that can share it's fuel efficiency with me? Seems that with the 350 Max engine it would do better than 7-8mpg I expect from a 40 footer. Also, what do you think of it's build quality? 3. If there is nothing in the 35' and under range, my wife feels that since we ruled out the National Parks and many State Park, then go for a 40 or even 42' rig. Forget the Monaco Knight and just go BIG. (I do all the driving so it's easy for her to say. But I'll admit, I never feltchallenged with the 40' Eagle we had.) Thus, are we putting too much emphasis on trying to stay at or under 35', and if so, what's ideal - 40; 42; 45???? Your guidance?