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Full Time RVing, what do you think?
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Check out the "Escapees" RV club... I owned a shop in the 90's and worked primarily on RV chassis. Half my customers were full timers... Lots of clubs and rallies all over the country for them to keep busy visiting.
I have a motor home that the wife and I travel in for 3-4 months out of the year and during deer season. Got too many possessions to go full time and sell the house. I would suggest trying for 6 months or maybe even a year before letting the house go. IMO
Ok. I drive a tour bus for a music group 3-5 days per week. It's really a class A private coach. It's got all the things needed to make it livable and is very nice.
What I can tell you is to be prepared to have your claustrophobia checked! Even that big, 45' coach gets real small, real quick! Even more so when you have more than 2 souls aboard. That's the biggest problem with living in one.
The other problem would be breakdowns for a RV. You'd better know all the basics of mechanics before hand. There will be a time you breakdown and there will be nothing or no one to help. See most say of this situation "so what? I've got my place to sleep right there!" Wrong. Say it's the dead of winter and you're somewhere that actually has winter( as in , not ga!) and you lost all power? This means no heat. And I can promise them aluminum walls are not going to keep you warm. You have to know what to do.
The other part of that is, unless you've got tons of cash to spend at RV shops, you'd better be pretty handy with all types of things. Plumbing, electrical, carpentry. The works.
And you'll always need that emergency repair cash stashed away. As well as emergency towing cash if you're in a powered coach. The time will come for both an they're not cheap!
If you can handle all this, it really is an awesome way to live and see our great country!
What I can tell you is to be prepared to have your claustrophobia checked! Even that big, 45' coach gets real small, real quick! Even more so when you have more than 2 souls aboard. That's the biggest problem with living in one.
The other problem would be breakdowns for a RV. You'd better know all the basics of mechanics before hand. There will be a time you breakdown and there will be nothing or no one to help. See most say of this situation "so what? I've got my place to sleep right there!" Wrong. Say it's the dead of winter and you're somewhere that actually has winter( as in , not ga!) and you lost all power? This means no heat. And I can promise them aluminum walls are not going to keep you warm. You have to know what to do.
The other part of that is, unless you've got tons of cash to spend at RV shops, you'd better be pretty handy with all types of things. Plumbing, electrical, carpentry. The works.
And you'll always need that emergency repair cash stashed away. As well as emergency towing cash if you're in a powered coach. The time will come for both an they're not cheap!
If you can handle all this, it really is an awesome way to live and see our great country!
In our plans as well but as someone said, I have too much stuff to go full time. We are thinking of 4-6 weeks on 2 months off type of thing. I have a good buddy that does summer 3 months in Michigan / Ontario, 3 months at the deer camp in GA, and right after deer season 2-3 months in south FL. Then home the rest of the time and maybe a week in between.
Use the forums on irv2.com. There a lot of very helpful people on the site with a ton of knowledge. Learn everything you can about every system add things will break. My dad bought a brand new fleetwood expedition in 2011 and it took a couple of years to get all of the bugs worked out. I bought a 2007 Gulfstream diesel pusher at around the same time and had about the same number issues. If someone tells you they have never had a problem with their rv they are either not being honest or have never used if.
Prior to having motorhomes I had a 34 ft trailer and my dad had a 38 ft fifth wheel. Both had multiple issues but nothing out of the ordinary.
If you have to call an rv tech every time you have a problem it will get expensive and your rv will be in the shop more than it's out.
Another thing to consider is the temperatures got expect to experience. Anything below 20 degrees and I have to hang a 100 watt bulb in my water bay or I will have frozen pipes. Some are better suited for cold weather than others so keep that in mind.
Also, don't buy a 30 amp rv. You will quickly run out of amps. 30 amp service is one 110. 50 amp service is two 110 legs both at 50 amps. Only the super high end units have anything wired for 220v service so you can still use a 30 amp site, you just have to limit how many things you can turn on at once.
Prior to having motorhomes I had a 34 ft trailer and my dad had a 38 ft fifth wheel. Both had multiple issues but nothing out of the ordinary.
If you have to call an rv tech every time you have a problem it will get expensive and your rv will be in the shop more than it's out.
Another thing to consider is the temperatures got expect to experience. Anything below 20 degrees and I have to hang a 100 watt bulb in my water bay or I will have frozen pipes. Some are better suited for cold weather than others so keep that in mind.
Also, don't buy a 30 amp rv. You will quickly run out of amps. 30 amp service is one 110. 50 amp service is two 110 legs both at 50 amps. Only the super high end units have anything wired for 220v service so you can still use a 30 amp site, you just have to limit how many things you can turn on at once.
I've always wanted to do half in an rv and the other half on a sailboat. One floats one rolls the living quarters is about the same cramped. I did some trading to get a classic airstream now just need the truck to pull it. Sailboat is a little further out. I'm in the restaurant industry so I can work anywhere. I want to travel around doing bartending at festivals and bike weeks.
Ill second that! We had to replace every single inch of pipe on our bus this year. Was not fun. After a 12 1/2 hour ride home from Maryland, we were exhausted and forgot to drain the tank and pipes. We won't make that mistake again!
I'll add, pipe heater wires are a very smart investment! Now if we ha of just been smart enough to plug them in when we parked her that night!
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