Community Forums

TandCplusRV · 02-01-2014, 02:44 PM

So, call me crazy, but my wife and I bought our first motorhome, a 2006 National Seabreeze class A, last summer. We got a really good deal and picked a really good, well maintained coach and have no complaints. HOWEVER, we are already talking about rig #2. We've been camping 1-2 a month for as little as 1 night and as many as 7 nights since we bought the rig last August. One thing we've learned already is that this is WAY TOO MUCH coach for us. We are a younger couple, both working full time, no kids (and zero plans for them), no pets that travel with us, etc. We are looking at small 21-25 foot Class C's of a more recent vintage than our current coach. And by we, sometimes I suspect it might be just me?

So that long winded intro leads me to this: How long did you wait before trading in your first coach? Secondarily, WHY did you trade? Just for preference or did you have a "good reason" for the trade. I'm super curious.

al2ride · 02-01-2014, 03:34 PM

I have to admit that this is the first time I've heard someone say that their coach is too much coach for them. It is usually the other way around. Is it because of financial reasons, maintenance reasons, or too big for you guys to drive? That's a nice coach.

Bfmorgan · 02-01-2014, 03:39 PM

We purchased an older motor home to try RV'ing. After the first year we traded in the original MH for a newer model with more features. After four years with MH number 2 we are starting to look for our next MH. This will most likely be our last and final MH as I am approaching retirement age in another couple of years. We are getting ready to do a lot of traveling in retirement.

vsheetz · 02-01-2014, 03:48 PM

We bought a 28' 1995 Safari Trek class A in 2005. 7 years later in 2012 bought our current coach, a 37' 2002 PA. The Trek served us well. Prime reason for the change to a larger coach. Next coach will likely be a 38-40' in a few years when the DW and I are retired.

TandCplusRV · 02-01-2014, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by al2ride

I have to admit that this is the first time I've heard someone say that their coach is too much coach for them. It is usually the other way around. Is it because of financial reasons, maintenance reasons, or too big for you guys to drive? That's a nice coach.

Maintenance and too much to drive for as infrequently as we do it. Next year we will be in the market for a new car and want to get something we can start towing behind our rig. Though I know a lot of you guys do it with no problem, the thought of towing 14 feet of Jeep behind 35 feet (and change with the towbar) makes me tremble a bit. We thought that our friends and family would be more interested in making trips of varying lengths with us but as it turns out (1) The folks we'd like to have along aren't that interested (2) The folks that are interested we don't like having along. So all that extra space seems needless.

jdwky · 02-01-2014, 04:19 PM

We bought our first MH, a 2004 class C, and 9 months later upgraded to a 2014 class A. Also sold the class C for a profit. Never too soon to upgrade. Don't downsize if you can help it, you will get more comfortable with it and want more size before too long! We traded because some kids in the neighborhood called my class C "old". Just kidding, that was only partially why....

al2ride · 02-01-2014, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TandCplusRV

Maintenance and too much to drive for as infrequently as we do it. Next year we will be in the market for a new car and want to get something we can start towing behind our rig. Though I know a lot of you guys do it with no problem, the thought of towing 14 feet of Jeep behind 35 feet (and change with the towbar) makes me tremble a bit. We thought that our friends and family would be more interested in making trips of varying lengths with us but as it turns out (1) The folks we'd like to have along aren't that interested (2) The folks that are interested we don't like having along. So all that extra space seems needless.

Just a thought, but since you will be in the market for a new vehicle why not a 1/2 ton truck and a travel trailer. That way you just have to maintain one motor vehicle instead of two. We had a Coachman Freedom Express 242RBS that was a perfect match for our 1/2 ton truck. Very easy to drive and maintain. The TT was all electric and a breeze to setup. You then have the truck to put around in.

I think it's great that at a younger age you were able to get a Class A. However, you have to be comfortable driving it. I think if you give it time you will get there.

Dr4Film · 02-01-2014, 04:34 PM

My first used coach was a 36 foot 1992 Airstream Landyacht that came with a 1997 Saturn SW-2 toad. I purchased that in November of 2002.

I drove it home from Kirksville MO to Los Angeles. I used it for a number of camping trips around California but realized about 9 months later when I retired for the second time that it wasn't going to be comfortable for my dog and I since every time I needed to get from the front to the rear he and I would do the doe-si-doe in the aisle. I also realized that I needed slides at least three and a TON more storage both inside and outside.

I spent the next four months researching various coaches, diesel and gas, various brands and various floor-plans. I finally settled on looking for a fairly new 2002 Monaco Windsor Diesel Cummins ISC 350. Found one in Tampa Florida, made the deal, and two days later the guy sheepishly sent me an email saying he sold it locally. It was obvious to me he got offered a better deal with more money in his pocket.

Got back on the Internet and found one within a day of browsing that was in California and only a 3.5 hour drive north from Los Angeles. It was perfect. Truthfully, it had a better floor-plan and came with Pergo flooring. Made the deal a few days later in December of 2003 and the rest is history. I've been living in it full-time ever since driving it back home.

I've owned it for just over 10 years now and have never had any STRONG desire to trade it for anything else.

Over the years, I have made so many custom modifications and improvements to this coach that to get something similar, it would probably cost me over $500,000 to replace it.

NOT going to happen!

Dr4Film ----- Richard

StevenNSteph · 02-01-2014, 07:00 PM

3 years - we were expecting child #3 and decided we wanted a bigger Class C.

We are now on Coach #6, each and every coach was traded in for a specific reason. Usually we traded up in size but Coach #5 we traded down in size because we didn't need that large of a coach. So go with what YOU need, because only you know what you truly need.

Good Luck

PS All of my coaches were bought used, I personally think it's the only way to go.

3catstravel · 02-01-2014, 07:04 PM

We started out in Oct 2009 with a small 26' Winnie Brave - no slides. Wanted to see if we would like RVing. And we did. Then we were offered jobs for the summer of 2010 in Alaska. Decided to upgrade to a larger rig. Went up to 31' HR Admiral with 2 slides. We tow on a dolly my '06 Jetta and all is fine.
This past summer we decided we wanted more room & went up to 37' Georgetown 378TS. Yes, we wanted more room and we also wanted a different floor plan.
We have no kids traveling with us. We do have 3 cats but they don't take up a lot of room.
I think with more driving you'll adjust to the rig and having a vehicle behind you. Just take your time.

Sky_Boss · 02-01-2014, 07:38 PM

Bought our first MH, a 2006 Winnebago Adventurer 38J (39') in April of 2012. We traded it in January 2013 for our 2006 Newmar Dutchstar 4320.

Our thoughts were that we thought the Winnebago could be a full time platform. Problem was we didn't know what we didn't know.

We learned a lot of great stuff from the Adventurer but by the end of summer we knew it wouldn't meet our full time needs for how we wanted to live and travel. Don't get me wrong, for some, it might be quite adequate but it just wasn't for us. Some of the issues were the short queen bed (didn't even see that one coming when we bought it.

), handling in crosswinds, basement air never seemed adequate, and most important, storage/weight carrying capacity.

In a perfect world, we would hope to have gotten lucky and bought a MH that would be a long term proposition. We didn't get that lucky but it was a great learning platform. It helped us decide what we "required" in our next MH, what we "wanted" and what we would "like". It also helped us decide what we didn't want.

During the fall of 2012 I did a lot of research comparing various MHs and developed a scoring system to rank them. I built a spreadsheet with one set of columns to mark if the coach had "MUST HAVE" features. Another set of columns to mark "REALLY WANT" items, another set of columns for "WOULD LIKE" and finally a set of columns for identifying things I really didn't want. I also had columns for some things like CCC/NCC (if it was published" and other data. This was to just to keep key information together as I gathered it from dozens of brochures.

We feel very fortunate that in December 2012 the dealer we bought our Adventurer from took our DSDP in trade. Even better, this 2006 DSDP 4320 was my #1 choice of MHs that met the most of our desires. On top of that we really got a pretty darn good deal in the process. Don't get me wrong, if our budget was bigger, we would have added some more wants and maybe moved up a couple more years but we are still pleased with our purchase.

So...keep in mind that unless you have an unlimited budget (and still a bit of luck) it isn't likely you will find a MH that meet every single item on your dream list. In the end, it is thoroughly thinking out what is important, prioritizing need for desired features and finding a MH with most of what you want/need and least amount of less desirable traits.

Good Luck!

jdwky · 02-02-2014, 07:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sky_Boss

Bought our first MH, a 2006 Winnebago Adventurer 38J (39') in April of 2012. We traded it in January 2013 for our 2006 Newmar Dutchstar 4320.

Our thoughts were that we thought the Winnebago could be a full time platform. Problem was we didn't know what we didn't know.

We learned a lot of great stuff from the Adventurer but by the end of summer we knew it wouldn't meet our full time needs for how we wanted to live and travel. Don't get me wrong, for some, it might be quite adequate but it just wasn't for us. Some of the issues were the short queen bed (didn't even see that one coming when we bought it.

), handling in crosswinds, basement air never seemed adequate, and most important, storage/weight carrying capacity.

In a perfect world, we would hope to have gotten lucky and bought a MH that would be a long term proposition. We didn't get that lucky but it was a great learning platform. It helped us decide what we "required" in our next MH, what we "wanted" and what we would "like". It also helped us decide what we didn't want.

During the fall of 2012 I did a lot of research comparing various MHs and developed a scoring system to rank them. I built a spreadsheet with one set of columns to mark if the coach had "MUST HAVE" features. Another set of columns to mark "REALLY WANT" items, another set of columns for "WOULD LIKE" and finally a set of columns for identifying things I really didn't want. I also had columns for some things like CCC/NCC (if it was published" and other data. This was to just to keep key information together as I gathered it from dozens of brochures.

We feel very fortunate that in December 2012 the dealer we bought our Adventurer from took our DSDP in trade. Even better, this 2006 DSDP 4320 was my #1 choice of MHs that met the most of our desires. On top of that we really got a pretty darn good deal in the process. Don't get me wrong, if our budget was bigger, we would have added some more wants and maybe moved up a couple more years but we are still pleased with our purchase.

So...keep in mind that unless you have an unlimited budget (and still a bit of luck) it isn't likely you will find a MH that meet every single item on your dream list. In the end, it is thoroughly thinking out what is important, prioritizing need for desired features and finding a MH with most of what you want/need and least amount of less desirable traits.

Good Luck!

Well said Sky Boss!

AFChap · 02-02-2014, 08:52 AM

No idea yet ...we did literally years of research before we bought our coach, our first RV, in July 2003. We lived in it from mid 2005-early 2012, and have put apx 15k on it since then for a total of apx 80k. We still love it, have not seen anything we like better, and can't see trading unless someday we decide we want to downsize.

George Schweikle · 02-02-2014, 03:18 PM

Well... I probably sound like a voice in the wilderness, but there is certainly a percentage of people who do like smaller RV's. We started with a new 23 ft Class C. In response to the original posters question, we were happy with what we bought and used it for 7 years before buying a 26 ft. Class A. Not for the additional 3 ft of length, but because it was a higher quality unit. We used this for 11 years before buying another 26 ft. Class A; again for an upgrade in quality. After 14 years, another one of the same brand came available. We snatched this up, not because it was 2 ft. longer, but because the old GM 6.5 Diesel coach was pretty worn out and the deal was too good to pass up.

We have driven our RV's over 375,000 miles, they were all under 30 ft., and we were happy with every one for two people and a succession of German Shepherd Dogs. Even this this sometimes sounds like the "Most have 45 ft. tag axle DP forum", there is not one answer that satisfies everyone, so good luck to people; whatever you have.

PS, there is another thread about size of RV's in state park campgrounds, and a poster with a 40 ft DP actually states it is (gasp!

) too long for their boondocking lifestyle and wishes for something shorter. Geez. Two people who say bigger is not better. Is the earth coming to an end?

(all in fun...)

Quote:

Originally Posted by al2ride

I have to admit that this is the first time I've heard someone say that their coach is too much coach for them. It is usually the other way around....