RV Choice advice please Forums

Nightman50

Hi All
My wife & I are both in our 50's & now the kids are out of our hair & before they come back, as they do, we are selling up this year & going full timing in an american RV.

We have looked at many over the last few months & it looks like being something around 32 to 36ft in length with one or two slide outs, certainly a sofa/dinette slide out.

We would welcome any advice regarding engine choice, i.e. puller or pusher, petrol/lpg or diesel, as a trucker my thoughts tend to be towards a diesel pusher, however there appear to be some real nice RV's around in as new condition with little mileage on them, but mostly seem to be V10 vortex petrol/lpg pullers.

Could anyone give us some real idea of the fuel consumptions of the various options, I tend to take what the dealers tell us with a very big bag of salt. What could we expect to get out of a V10 vortex petrol/lpg puller as apposed to a cummins diesel pusher ?

Thank you for any help & advice.

ScotJimland

Hi
Welcome to MHFs, there is a wealth of knowledge on this site regarding RVs, your question has been asked frequently, look in the American RV forum and try searching American, RV etc ..
I have a 36ft cummins pusher which does about 14 mpg, others will lie about there's too.. Laughing

Joking of course .. Petrol engines are usually hard pushed to get more than 10 mpg
Best of luck with your search and take your time deciding ..

zaskar

Hi 'Nightman'.
You're right to take what the dealers say with pinch of salt. They'll tell you anything for a sale! Places like this, and just being a bit forward and doing some door knocking on the campsites are the best places to find
info, tho' to be honest, you still have to be carefull cos some RV owners definately have rose tinted specs, especially when it comes to fuel consumption! Smile

Wifey and I have been full timers for 7 years now and we're both in our early 40's with no kids (thank God! Smile

) and both still working.
Firstly, for full timing - at least based in the UK, I personally wouldn't have anything but a Yank A Class. That huge front windscreen lets a hell of a lot of light in on those dark winter days when you're stuck indoors and the underfloor storage and tank capacities is unsurpassed.
We've had 2 RV's.
First was a '95 Gulfstream Sunsport. 32ft non slide Chevy 6.5 V8 T.D which did up to 17MPG twice on the Autoroute in France. (You always get better MPG over there on the long straight roads). Generally it did about 15. It cost us 46K from Travelworld and was a good starter bus for us. We had it 4 years and it broke down only once with an intermitant electrical fault to the black box. We had to be 18 wheelered from Buxton (Derbyshire) down to West Midland American Vehicles - What a joy that was to see your only home disappearing off down the road. (Something worth bearing in mind for fulltimers!) Luckily releatives came to the rescue with a bed for a week! That was our only big deal with the bus and generally it performed well. Fixtures & fittings tend to be stronger than on European models and so they tend to cope with the rigours of full timing better - tho' to be honest, most of us look after our rigs anyway.
We had to rip the fridge /freezer out for a new cooling system - nice at £400!!!!!!
New water heater at £400+, tho' I saved over £250 by importing directly from Suburban in the States.
All rear brakes had to be virtually burned off the axle and replaced due to excessive wear and corrosion (this was after a certain young salesman at Travelworld told me they'd all be checked!).
On top of this, you're always pottering about with bits of hinges/catches etc - that's just part and parcell of running a motorhome in my book. If you can't handle it, use hotels!!! Smile

Sounds quite a bit, but bearing in mind the size and complexity of ANY motorhome, if you spread it over 4 years its not too bad

2nd (and current) RV.
Georgieboy Landau 3301. 34ft Single Slide Chevy 6.5 V8 T.D.
This bus isn't as 'economical' as the first because of the slide, the mechanism and structure for which adds a hell of a lot of weight to the chassis. It does MAX 14MPG and in my opinion is just about the heaviest and biggest coach thaqt the chassis/engine can cope with. Wifey would like a bedroom slide next but based on the performance (especially on hills) of this coach, I'm seriously toying with going down the Pusher route which will open the market up a lot more to us. The down side is that no matter what dealers and owners tell you, generally speaking, if it's a pusher, its over the license weight and you need an L.G.V. There are a couple of pushers under the limit, but not many.
Again, the engine/chassis side is vitually bomb proof as witnnessed at last years MOT when a voice came up from the pit underneath saying
"bloody 'ell, it's built like a tank this thing!"
Always fills you with confidence! Smile

It DOES help if you're DIY/mechanically inclined, not only to keep cost down but to get to know your coach so that if things do go belly up when you're milesw from anywhere, you've got at least a fighting chance of sorting it or at least ordering parts.
Fixtures and fittings good, tho not as good as the Gulfstream (IMHO).
The layout (for us) is perfect with coach/diner slide, double doors between front/bathroom/bedroom so you can create a large bathroom area/changing room midships.
In another year or so, I'll start looking for my 3rd and possibly last RV and I would like to add a bedroom slide. Having had one slide out, I really wouldn't like to go back to a straight sided coach for UK based full timing.
If, hopefully, we get to the stage in life where we can afford to over-winter in Spain ( as my folks do now) I'd have no hesitation in going back to a euopean model such as a Kontiki etc. The main reason we have yanks is for the space/storge/tank capacities for full timing through British winters. The idea in Spain is that most of your time should be spent in a deckchair so what's the point in a 34+ footer?
Hope all this nonsence helps, and if you've any specific questions, please ASK, ASK & ask again, before you spend thousands of hard earned bucks!

Zaskar.

DABurleigh

Zaskar,

Great post, thanks.

Fascinated by your last point about overwintering in continental Europe in a European MH. I must confess my plans had been to stick happily with the current panel van predominantly for UK use while working full time, then swap to a ~30 foot RV (though I do like a sofa/dinette single slide which kicks in at 32 ft) for the southern Europe overwintering when retired.

But your post will make me query the wisdom of the last. What do others think?

Dave

zaskar

[quote="DABurleigh"]Zaskar,

Great post, thanks.

You're very welcome. Smile

I must admit, I would like to take an RV down to Spain for a year - just once - just to say I'd done it. Daft I know but there we are. Smile

Generally, I would stick with my point that the idea of Spain for the winter is to get OUTDOORS and not be trapped inside. One thing I would say is that if you do go down the Kontiki route, make sure you have a couch each. Lovely as the days are, the Spanish winter nights are cold and dark and it's nice to have some slob out space. A mate of my dads has gone down there with a CI Meridian (Garage model) and although it's got lots of storage space and a fixed bed, apart from a diner ( which is a comfy 2 seater of VERY tight 4 seater, there's virtually no slobbing out space and they have deckchairs set up in the driveaway awning witha fan heater on full blast! Not my idea of comfort!
Personally I like the idea of the Rapido's/Hymers/Randoneurs 'A' class with the drop down roof bed. You get the comfort of a decent bed wihout the hassle of having to make it up EVERY day, all you do is push it back up into the roof and you instantly get your lounge back.
Dads used caravans for the past 3 years down there and because of the hassle of constant bed making, he's gone down the fixed end bed route.
The thing he needs to sort out now is a macerater pump and to get close enough to a drain to ease the hassle of constant Aquarolls/tank filling/emptying.
I know it seems funny a 'vanner considering tanks to be a hassle cos its part and parcell of the lifestyle, but when you HAVE to do it nearly EVERY day, it can get a bit much, especially in the (how shall I put it) latter years! Smile

These are hassles which you don't tend to get as much with RV's, the down side is the shear size and expense of something THAT big siting there no moving for 6 months.
I suppose you pays yer money and you takes your choice ! Smile

Nightman50

Thanks for such an informative & honest post Zaskar.

I'm not to worryed about the weight side of things as luckly I have a LGV 1 licence, so no problem there.

I have always thought an american RV is the way to go for full timing, having had 3 MH's before, last was a Autotrail Mohican on a Merc sprinter 316cdi, great van, but no payload, autotrail had to uprate the chassis to take the conversion. For full timing no payload & limited space is no use at all so it has to be an american RV.

I have always thought the diesel pusher is the way to go, better access for maintance, less noise & a stronger more reliable bomb proof bit of kit.

However when we visted Travelworlds show a few weeks ago, I was tempted by a 2nd hand Coachman they had, 34ft, twin slide outs, as new with only 6286 miles on it for only £55,000 the only thing that made me stand back was it had a lpg converted V10 vortex in it.

I will be towing a trailer with a small car on it, I orginally fancied a 5th wheeler & found a great full time trailer that would do the job a treat, however the legal & wieght hassels of what to put on the front of it was just to much of a pain, again take what the dealers tell you with a large pitch of salt, nearly made a very expensive mistake. The dealers will tell you that you can pull a 5th wheeler with an american pick up, i.e. Dodge Ram or Ford, wrong, to pull it legally they have to have a gross wieght in excess of 3500kg, some have like the Dodge Ram 3500 dually, however, when they come into this country they have to go through SVA, which has a 3500kg limit & therefore have to be downrated to pass, now your illegal.

Enough of the waffel, thanks for your help, I will continue the search, just looking forward to the house getting sold soon & getting off on our way.

johnsandywhite

Hi Nightman50. Don't be afraid to consider an LPG converted Petrol engine. They are much cleaner and quiter than Diesel. IMHO, I have owned 4 RV's all Petrol. One (and my Newmar that is arriving 28th) I had converted to LPG. Economically (at the moment) LPG converted Petrol averages the same price wise as diesel. With regards the V10. It was prone in the early days to blowing plugs out due to there only being 4 threads holding them in. They have since changed them to a normal plug. Petrol engined RV's are cheaper to service and maintain than Diesel IMO. My RV's were 2 x Chevrolet and 3 x Ford all V8. At the price you are looking at? You could import a 2001 Diesel from the USA one for around £45,000. Just something to think about. That extra £10,000 would go a long way to making the RV exactly what you want. JAP. Happy RV'ing Wink

Nightman50