New from British Columbia, Canada

[Ron_H]

Welcome from another BC'r who just went through the retirement and new MH purchase process last summer. If you want to, feel free to PM me with questions.

I did a great deal of research and made our purchase last June after I had retired but 2 months before my DW's retirement. We left on our first trip in mid August and we've logged over 10,000 miles since. In three weeks we head north toward Alaska.

Enjoy!

[Powerstroke2000]

Originally Posted by Ron_H

Welcome from another BC'r who just went through the retirement and new MH purchase process last summer. If you want to, feel free to PM me with questions.

I did a great deal of research and made our purchase last June after I had retired but 2 months before my DW's retirement. We left on our first trip in mid August and we've logged over 10,000 miles since. In three weeks we head north toward Alaska.

Enjoy!

Good to know there are other BCer's here, as I'm sure you've gone through what I am now....doing research! How long are you going for Ron? We're heading for Alaska for 7 weeks, but not heading out until mid July! I may take you up on that research help, albeit I'm finding the forums quite helpful. I'm in Surrey....so not far from you at all, as I had one of my daughters that was living in White Rock for the last few years! Lots to think of before heading out...with how to set up the house and utility bills etc. as well as insurance possibilities.
Would be nice to hear of where those 10K miles where spent!

Thanks for the post!

[Skip426]

Welcome to iRV2, from the Upper Sunshine Coast.
I'm 8 years retired, and 4 1/2 years of coach ownership after 4 fifth wheel trailers.
I'll also say , any questions , feel free to send me a PM and I'll get back ASAP.
If you're not aware of sending a PM here in the forums, just click on the poster's name in the top left of the post for the Personal Message option.
Note , text only , pictures and files won't go through.

[Ron_H]

Originally Posted by Powerstroke2000

Good to know there are other BCer's here, as I'm sure you've gone through what I am now....doing research! How long are you going for Ron? We're heading for Alaska for 7 weeks, but not heading out until mid July! I may take you up on that research help, albeit I'm finding the forums quite helpful.

Being self-employed and working from a home office allowed me to do a lot of planning and research well before my actual retirement date. Much of my time was spent trying to find the right RV. My plan was to try and land of good deal before my actual retirement date and if I was unable to do that, I had planned to travel south to Texas and beyond where there was a broader selection. As it turned out I found a good coach at the right price in Penticton a week before my last day and we took delivery on my first day as a retiree.

This forum was a great source of information during that process and I feel it enabled me to buy the right coach for our planned use. Now, 11 months later, I am convinced we made the right choices.

May 4th we start on our trip up to Alaska. I travelled up to Alaska on a solo motorcycle trip in 2008 so I have a good idea of the lay of the land and what to expect. We plan to take our time with the only time commitment being a family function in the Calgary area the long weekend in September. If we find we don't have enough time to see al we want to see, we can head north again in the summer of 2017. Next summer we're doing the Canadian maritime provinces.

Originally Posted by Powerstroke2000

I may take you up on that research help, albeit I'm finding the forums quite helpful. I'm in Surrey....so not far from you at all, as I had one of my daughters that was living in White Rock for the last few years! Lots to think of before heading out...with how to set up the house and utility bills etc. as well as insurance possibilities.
Would be nice to hear of where those 10K miles where spent!

If you want a more direct line of communication PM me and I'll provide my contact information. You (and your wife?) are welcome to drop by for a coffee and ask all the questions you want. We are actually in Surrey ourselves, near King George and 152 St.

Last fall we went across Canada to Winnipeg and then down across the border to Michigan and Indiana before hooking up to the start of Route 66 in Chicago and following its historic route back to the west coast. After Christmas at home we then spent the winter wandering around Arizona and parts of California, just getting back home a few days ago.

[luckyd]

During July and August we went across Canada to the Maritimes.
Down the eastern seaboard to Massachusettes and then back across
Hwy 90 to Spokane and then up through Osoyoos back to Kamloops.

In October we did a diagonal run to Florida Keyes, up through the Carolinas,
and worked our way over to California. Took in the GS Rally in Phoenix,
then back to Desert Hot Springs. Came home up the 101 from San Jose.

Have put 40,000 miles on in the last two years.

Have fun with your travels.
I am pleased to hear this forum is helping.

[Skip426]

Hello again, something I should have mentioned in my first post .
I hope you are aware that ; if you chose a coach with air brakes , you are required to get an " air brake endorsement " on your drivers licence, to keep your insurance valid. When I was looking at coaches only one of the many sales people I dealt with mentioned this, and even when I registered the coach the I.C.B.C. generated paperwork didn't mention this. I sent I.C.B.C. , B.C.A.A. and the Automotive Retailers Association, a nasty gram about this so things may have changed.
The training for the endorsement , is available at professional driving schools and some college night classes. You don't have to drive a semi, but some of the training is given on a parked rig.
The test is taken at ICBC offices, and it's a computer generated test with no time limit. A note about taking the test. The computer is set to randomly select 25 questions from 200 on file, a score of 80% is required to pass. Do not guess at the multiple choice answer , and risk a wrong answer, you can by-pass any question; the computer will re-ask it later and you can by-pass the same question 3 times before you're scored as wrong.
When you get 20 correct answers ( out of the 25 ) you pass.
An endorsement is required for trailers over 10,000 lbs. GVWR and salesmen won't mention that either.

[Ron_H]

Originally Posted by Skip426

I hope you are aware that ; if you chose a coach with air brakes , you are required to get an " air brake endorsement " on your drivers licence, to keep your insurance valid.

You are correct about a required Airbrake Endorsement but in reality it is largely irrelevant to today's motorcoaches. I drove semi in Alberta back in the '70s when an air ticket was not required. After looking at the air course I figured I was familiar enough with the subject to challenge the test but ICBC says "No, you have to spend the $200 to $250 dollars and waste 2 1/2 days taking the course." Very little of the material is relevant to the braking system on today's motorhomes as it has remained unchanged from what was in use 45 years ago when I drove. What today's motorhome driver requires could be covered in a couple of hours at most.

The aspect of MH licensing that really surprises me however is that a standard class 5 license, "To drive cars, vans, trucks, motorhomes, construction & utility vehicles (2 axles maximum) and motorhomes (may exceed 2 axles)" is all that's required, plus an Air Endorsement if your rig is equipped with air brakes.

[2016RoadglideCVO]

Hi guys,
I have been reading your posts today and see that a few of us are neighbours. My wife, Cheryl, and I (Ron) live at 152 St., and 36th avenue in sunny South Surrey. We purchased our 2008 Beaver in October and have been busy getting everything all set up since then. I just got the Hydralift installed for my motorcycle and got the tow set up done for our CR-V. Next is the propane set up for the new Weber q2200 BBQ. Our living room is full of new stuff to outfit the MH but we have yet to do our inaugural camping trip.

We would love to meet up with you and your wives for a coffee and get to meet everybody. Sounds like we all have a lot of questions about this MH stuff. I love driving our rig. Some days I just want to get in it and just go for a drive.

Hope to meet you all,
Ron and Cheryl
604-560-1956

[r___r]

Looks like you joined a while ago....so Hello!

[luckyd]

Where did you get the Hydalift.
I am looking for one to mount the Goldwing.

[Ron_H]

Originally Posted by Newintown

Hi guys,
I have been reading your posts today and see that a few of us are neighbours. My wife, Cheryl, and I (Ron) live at 152 St., and 36th avenue in sunny South Surrey. We purchased our 2008 Beaver in October and have been busy getting everything all set up since then. I just got the Hydralift installed for my motorcycle and got the tow set up done for our CR-V. Next is the propane set up for the new Weber q2200 BBQ. Our living room is full of new stuff to outfit the MH but we have yet to do our inaugural camping trip.

We would love to meet up with you and your wives for a coffee and get to meet everybody. Sounds like we all have a lot of questions about this MH stuff. I love driving our rig. Some days I just want to get in it and just go for a drive.

Hope to meet you all,
Ron and Cheryl
604-560-1956

Hi Ron & Cheryl,

Wow, a lot in common…
My wife, Cheryl, and I (Ron) live at 152 St., and 36th avenue in sunny South Surrey.
We live just off of 152 St on 28th Avenue.

I just got the Hydralift installed for my motorcycle
I don’t have a Hydralift on our coach but I have been an avid motorcycle rider for many years which my wife and I have used to bike through most of western Canada and the Western US as well as from Alaska down into Mexico.

…got the tow set up done for our CR-V.
We tow a 2008 Honda CR-V.

Next is the propane set up for the new Weber q2200 BBQ.
I have our coach setup to power our Weber q2000 off our onboard propane tank, through I have not used it yet. A test firing is on me pre-Alaska Trip (May 4th departure) to-do list.

Our living room is full of new stuff to outfit the MH but we have yet to do our inaugural camping trip.
We just went through that last summer now we’re removing the things we’ve not used and adding just a few more things that would be nice to have along like an air compressor and my power washer.

We would love to meet up with you and your wives for a coffee and get to meet everybody. Sounds like we all have a lot of questions about this MH stuff.
I’ll PM you my contact info.

[2016RoadglideCVO]

My wife and I met Ron and his wife at Starbuck's for a coffee at 09:30 am yesterday and had a great time. Before we realized it, it was almost 1:30 pm. We had been sitting that whole time swapping stories, asking questions of eachother and learning a whole lot.

Thanks Ron and Linda, we learned so much about the systems in our MH. I started doing more research as soon as I got home. My confidence is growing day by day towards that inaugural camping trip. I will feel better when it is behind me.

Looking forward to seeing you both again.

Ron and Cheryl

[Ron_H]

Originally Posted by luckyd

Where did you get the Hydalift.
I am looking for one to mount the Goldwing.

Keep an eye on the GL1800 forums such as gl1800riders.com. You'll see used units come up for sale once in awhile and sometime at a great price.

[Ron_H]

Originally Posted by Newintown

My wife and I met Ron and his wife at Starbuck's for a coffee at 09:30 am yesterday and had a great time. Before we realized it, it was almost 1:30 pm. We had been sitting that whole time swapping stories, asking questions of eachother and learning a whole lot.

Thanks Ron and Linda, we learned so much about the systems in our MH. I started doing more research as soon as I got home. My confidence is growing day by day towards that inaugural camping trip. I will feel better when it is behind me.

Looking forward to seeing you both again.

Ron and Cheryl

Though this forum is a great place to exchange information and ideas, a direct face to face is even better.