Cost of owning a 1994 Winnebago Brave over the last 8 years

[micd]

ArgoPilot,

Were a gasser, Chevy 454 engine. I liked that it was an engine any mechanic could work on. Living in CO we are often out in the wilds. Also just read your post regarding your breakdown. We're having ours inspected this week for possible maintenance needed. Hope they catch stuff like that.

BraveWrigley,
Lots of good stuff you are saying. Also we considered how going out into the national forest for boondocking and national forest service campgrounds required higher ground clearance with the uneven dirt roads. Some new ones have decent ground clearance and some don't. But when your driving a '94 and you get kissed by a tree you don't worry about it. Slap some Eternabond on and keep going.

I do wish we had 4 season capability. But that is more of a wish going forward because my husband is now retired and not something that has hindered us in the past. Also, as I said before, I really like the short coaches. But as my husband says, where has the 30 ft length of this prevented us from going. And I have to admit, here in the West, the answer is no where. We've gone everywhere we've wanted to go.

[ArgoPilot]

The sad thing was, I paid someone else to do a straight alternator and belt swap. What a wuss...well, since I don't walk so well anymore, I guess it was that or have the missus and kids with me trying to find the local parts store (closest one was a 30 minute DRIVE).

Good news, though? The parts price for the two components was less than $190 through NAPA auto parts. Dodged a bullet there, I guess.

[BraveWrigley]

Originally Posted by micd

ArgoPilot,

Were a gasser, Chevy 454 engine. I liked that it was an engine any mechanic could work on. Living in CO we are often out in the wilds. Also just read your post regarding your breakdown. We're having ours inspected this week for possible maintenance needed. Hope they catch stuff like that.

BraveWrigley,
Lots of good stuff you are saying. Also we considered how going out into the national forest for boondocking and national forest service campgrounds required higher ground clearance with the uneven dirt roads. Some new ones have decent ground clearance and some don't. But when your driving a '94 and you get kissed by a tree you don't worry about it. Slap some Eternabond on and keep going.

I do wish we had 4 season capability. But that is more of a wish going forward because my husband is now retired and not something that has hindered us in the past. Also, as I said before, I really like the short coaches. But as my husband says, where has the 30 ft length of this prevented us from going. And I have to admit, here in the West, the answer is no where. We've gone everywhere we've wanted to go.

Due to my eye depth perception issue I was going for 19-22 foot unit but when we saw this 23’ Brave we feel in love with it ..... I recently retired and sold my 36 year biz so we had the money to get something really nice and even shorter with slide outs and all that junk but being a Levi type guy those fancy units just did not feel right so we got this 94 Brave and are so happy and I can drive it just fine, almost easier than my f150 or wife’s outback .....

Right now the front end and rear bumpers are being painted and we have new strips on all the sides but the front ...... After that work is complete and a quick stop at mechanic and we should be good to go for the summer ..... freedom and the great outdoors, here we come baby .....

PS .... Don’t forget to scratch or rough up that area that needs Eternabond and be sure to roll the tape in after applied ..... Sorry had to throw that in, I’m a 42 year retired flat roofer and have seen many Eternabond Patches FAIL due to poor preparation..... Also Side Note: Gorilla Tape can be used in lieu of Eternabond for those “ easy to moderate” repairs and will last in the UV for several years, we often used gorilla tape for temporary repairs before securing with Eternabond permanently ..... I carry white and black rolls as stock along with WD 40 ..... If it moves and ain’t suppose ta, we tape ........... if it doesn’t move and needs to, we WD40 it!

[BraveWrigley]

Originally Posted by ArgoPilot

The sad thing was, I paid someone else to do a straight alternator and belt swap. What a wuss...well, since I don't walk so well anymore, I guess it was that or have the missus and kids with me trying to find the local parts store (closest one was a 30 minute DRIVE).

Good news, though? The parts price for the two components was less than $190 through NAPA auto parts. Dodged a bullet there, I guess.

We all do goofy things but what’s important is your on the road and you’ve gained knowledge.

[F4Gary]

Take that 33,500 and subtract what you think you could sell it for plus one of those two mastercylinders () and divide that by 8. That is what is has cost you.

Have fun looking for a newer one.

[dix39]

Our 26' Flair (not much different than the Brave) was a '94 when we bought it in CA, but after registering it in OR it became a '93. Chassis vs body mfg dates. IMHO, the beauty in an older MH is that there is little, if any, depreciation and they still do everything a newer more expensive one will. Maintenance cost may be a little higher, but still nowhere near the depreciation cost of a new one. I do everything maintenance wise except alignments, so our operational cost is a little less.

I replaced the alternator in AL two years ago and distributor in MO last year. At only 50+k miles I would have thought they were OK. Last year I had the starter rebuilt here at home, just in case. I replaced the radiator right after we got the thing, along with everything behind it, belts, hoses, water pump, fan clutch, etc. I never want to go back in there again. Also brakes including MC, two calipers, and hydro boost. With the 454 at 7.5 mpg while towing the cost of fuel is significant.

We had diesel powered 4wd 11.5' TC's for 38 years before getting the Flair 3 years ago. Cost of operation for them was significantly less than the MH, especially when the price of diesel was $0.70 per gal. Both of of ours got 15-16 mpg alone and 1-2 mpg less while towing. We went all over the US and AK with them. We go coast to coast with the Flair annually as well as local use in OR.

As with the OP our RV's were/are often used in places where "shorter is better". 4wd and ground clearance were/are important too, but the most limiting factor for us was generally the height. Early on with our first camper I hit a Juniper limb head on, but at very low speed as we were parking. Lesson learned, I was very cautious after that.

I have no idea what the cost of owning our RV's has been over the years, but I believe wholeheartedly that the convenience and versatility of owning them has been well worth it.

Steve

[okcnewbie]

Originally Posted by micd

To summarize:
$10,000 (cost) + $2500 (work by us) + $13,011 (work done by other) = $25,511
Yearly carrying cost = $1K* 8 years = $8,000
Total = $33,511 cost of ownership for 8 years

So costs to own RV over 8 years is about $4.5K per year. (I rounded up because I am surely forgetting some things)

So RV ownership costs in the $500 dollar a month range seems to be your ball park. I would just add that if this value is very significant to anyone thinking about getting into a MH that they should think twice.

[micd]

Originally Posted by BraveWrigley

PS .... Don’t forget to scratch or rough up that area that needs Eternabond and be sure to roll the tape in after applied ..... Sorry had to throw that in, I’m a 42 year retired flat roofer and have seen many Eternabond Patches FAIL due to poor preparation.....

Excellent advice. My husband did not prep properly (no proper cleaning), no roughing up and no rolling for his initial installation. So failure! He now has a roller and at least cleans. I will tell him about the roughing up.

[micd]

Originally Posted by F4Gary

Take that 33,500 and subtract what you think you could sell it for plus one of those two mastercylinders () and divide that by 8. That is what is has cost you.

Have fun looking for a newer one.

Yes, that is a good methodology. But I can't subtract until I sell and right now we are prepping it for a trip.

Just bought 6 brand new AH35 tires ($1669 out the door) and since it drove terrible after the new tires were put on it is out to the shop for an alignment and pre-trip engine check out (?$s).

The tires were 8 years old so we could have pushed them another couple of years and they probably would have been fine. But I really like traveling trouble free and I didn't want to chance it.

I really wanted to go new(er) but I just can't find something I like enough to buy. Also I didn't want to give up a whole year to getting it fixed up when ours is pretty much the way we want it.

It was handy to test drive a new one and then go to the storage lot and test drive ours. Ours drove better than the new class As, had a better layout and in most cases was more comfortable than the new ones with flex steel front seat in vinyl.

So the $s just keep rolling on...

In terms of the two master cylinders. There actually was 3. The first replacement was bad so they put in another one that seemed to work for a few years and then went bad. Instead of dealing with them again we went to a different place and finally got a new one that seems good. It is the brakes after all and we did not want to mess around. Thankfully we never had a failure. Our dash warning light let us know something was up.

I will say that I loved the way the Ram Promaster drove and to a certain extent the Ford Transit (more foot impingement and less comfortable driving position). But my husband really likes the comfort of driving the class A.

[micd]

Originally Posted by okcnewbie

So RV ownership costs in the $500 dollar a month range seems to be your ball park. I would just add that if this value is very significant to anyone thinking about getting into a MH that they should think twice.

Close.
For a vintage RV like ours with very low entry point, fixed up with modern stuff like 2 back-up cameras, upgraded mirrors, fantastic fans etc it is about $375/mth when you pay outrageous amounts to companies to do most of the work for you.

The carrying cost of $1K per year was illuminating to me as I had never worked it out.

[micd]

Originally Posted by dix39

I do everything maintenance wise except alignments, so our operational cost is a little less.
...

We went all over the US and AK with them. We go coast to coast with the Flair annually as well as local use in OR....

As with the OP our RV's were/are often used in places where "shorter is better".
Steve

Steve,
Love that you can do all the work! Wish we could. You never know what is going on at the shop. Ours is out right now at a shop and we are at the mercy of what they say needs done.

For us shorter, ground clearance, and frankly older has been a benefit. No worries in the trees or on forest service roads. We likely would be looked askance at, and may have been, the few times we've stayed in commercial campgrounds. But in national forest service campgrounds and boondocking locations it is nice to not call attention to yourself with a fancy RV. Same with our storage lot. I figure if someone is going to break into one they won't choose ours.

Glad to hear you have been all over and coast to coast. We've been pretty regional but would like to do more long range travel.

[airshot]

Originally Posted by micd

Superslif,

I agree. I primarily posted this to allow people just getting in to understand the expenses and types of work that needs done on an older RV.

I enjoyed this article very much and thanks for all your efforts, however I feel you overlooked some very important issues. After a recent gov't study they found 60% plus of all motels/hotels in the US have bed bugs, so if you stay in motels what is the cost of extermination of your home when you bring them in? Wife and I did the motel travel for a number of years and let me say the reservations were screwed up 33% of the time, rooms were not acceptable 20% of the time, and actual cost of the room went up by 30% on checkout 50% of the time. On many occasions reservations were lost and we had NO place to stay and sometimes due to weather or traffic accidents we were late and lost our reservations. Now the food costs...restaurants are very expensive and food quality is poor, over the 3-4 yrs we hotel traveled, poor food quality 33% of the time, food sickness 20% of the time and restaurants were closed when we wanted to eat 15% of the time. Now the biggest problem of all is "convenience"!!! We had much difficulty in getting things arraigned to suit our fancy, we hated being on a strict time table so we finally decided to go with a MH...Just like you we bought a 1994 Allegro and absolutely love it! Yes we added some things to make it our own and yes we made some repairs and still have some minor things yet to deal with. We have spent far less than you folks but then we don't care if the paint is faded and the decals are peeling. The inside looks almost new, a little sun fading but so what if we spill something, not a big deal. Looking back I will never hotel travel again..to much uncleanliness. Restaurant food sucks, mush easier and healthier to cook our own. Best part is we can shower and cook while going down the road if needed and No set schedule. This convenience is priceless !! So to us the MH is far cheaper than any motel/hotel you can find!

[micd]

Airshot,
Very good points. We have not done alot of car travel so we're not aware of the hassles. But the food issue is huge for us. We eat very heathy and very luxuriously in the RV. And as we age having our own bathroom whenever we want it is more and more important.

[F4Gary]

"food sickness 20% of the time"

Exaggerate much?