Again I'm in no position to buy but with the truck I have it's so hard not to look at the bigger trailers just because of the capacity of the truck.

 

When we bought our current 5th wheel I thought we weren't in a position to buy either..................guess I was wrong. The last two we bought with another still sitting in the back yard.



We are camping...............see the fire.

The spot we normally camp at is 27 min. from drive way to drive way. It's a campground type of campground. Lots of trees next to the river. We do take a couple longer trips as well.

 

My kids are 12 and 7 right now and we have had a travel trailer or fifth wheel since 2003. Each one gets a little bigger and nicer. Right now we have one with a bunk house and 1/2 bath up front, master bed in rear, and we love it.

I know camping and it's fun, but we mainly use it for travel. 1 or 2 weeks in port orange, fl and a trip to a race, football game, visiting family in various states. Nothing like going to my sisters house and not having to sleep on the floor in the basement! We do get up in the smoky mountain park every 12-18 months and enjoy the outdoors, so it's a versatile tool for family travel. We learn to just enjoy being together, but the teen years are here lord help me....

Wifey wants a newer unit but same design and I'm down with it. Starting to see some fatigue on my current 2009 model. I've just started searching and of the four different campers we have owned, only one was bought new. I don't plan to ever buy a new one again.

 

ruschejj, I can understand the thought in that. My parents had a 25 foot class C for 23.5 years before it died on them. There was 23 years of memories in that rig. My father pretty much rebuilt something or another over that time frame. In the 2013, several months after the motorhome crapped out on them, they bought a 2001 Jayco hybrid trailer. My father instantly saw potential in fixing it up. He went about making the new trailer their home away from home. Turned out it didn't require as much repair as he thought it was going to take.

As for my trailer, I just want to get my note paid off. At that point it doesn't owe me as much. It makes any upgrades or repairs a bit easier to manage. Plus we are still making great memories in the rig with many more miles of travel to come.

 

ex & I used to go camping in the back of my vagina truck all the time: never really thought about an rv. daughter comes along & divorce happens..

start with a tent for about a year, then move to the back of a '10 F150 with the 5.4.

eventually bought my first trailer for about 3K, got screweed in the deal & dumped it before even using it (it really does pay to do research BEFORE )

ended up with a 25' with a small slide out, but when the kiddo & I go camping & shooting, we just have too much crap...

traded the '10 in for a '13 with the ecoboost...

listened to a salesman & got my Hornet 28 1/2 5er....****! truck pulls it just dandy, but the weight on the suspension of a 1/2 ton had me a little worried, so I broke the bank & ended up with my '14 F350 SD PSD

for thosw wondering about how to afford a nice rv (due to the locations we go, I didn't want one of the "luxury" models..and you'd never know it from looking, but the Hornet is Keystone's "bottom of the line"), you really should look into it before saying you can't. Mine was around 50K, but financed for something like 15 years, it's only $400/month

heading out in about 14 hours, I'll make sure I get some pictures, inside & out for y'all...and here's a little teaser:

 

I don't want another mortgage term loan. Affording and paying for are two different things in my mind. Also I'm not sure of your interest rate but at a modest 2.9% for 15 years you're paying $11,000 in interest over the life of that loan! Even at 1.9% that's still $7500 in interest.

Again, to each their own but getting into a term like that with such a quickly depreciating item puts you completely upside down immediately. Unlike a mortgage where after a few years I could at least get what I paid for and more likely more than I paid for. If after a few years you want a new RV you're gonna be rolling over a huge chunk of money.

After calculating based on your 50k price tag and $400/month payment you'd be at a rate of 5% resulting is $21,700 in interest. No thanks.

 

I'm not sure what a vagina truck is, but it sounds like something most of us would be interested in

 

 

 

 

Nice rig Jeffro!

 

Don't let a salesman or camper envy draw you into something you can't afford. I bought a 2006 30 footer a couple years ago for $9K. It needed a little work, but it only took $1k to completely get it back to 100% (new brake assemblies, etc.). It was the camper we wanted at the price we decided we could pay. We have friends who have went out and bought brand new units for $55k and $70k. We get just as much enjoyment out of ours if not more than what they do, and ours will be paid for soon (we borrowed from ourselves).


And the brand new $70k 5th wheel and the 9 year old $10k 5th wheel both require the same maintenance and upkeep.


Think of it this way. Where you are taking this camper, how much time do you plan on spending INSIDE THE CAMPER? Seriously. You need a warm dry bed, a place to keep the beer cold, etc.

 

I think a lot more people need to think like this. I admit my wife and I took it to the extreme. We love camping but it is very hard with an infant and 4 year old to sleep in a tent like we used to. We wanted something dry and warm to sleep in. We found our TT for $1500 in October and paid cash for it. The biggest purchase for it so far was a new battery after the battery died on it during our last trip. (Kind of a necessity when all you do is dry camping). It still needs some work, such as making it a little drier in the rain. It tows great, I'm not worried about taking it on dirt roads (though I do need to flip the axles for clearance), and my wife doesn't mind towing it even though she had never towed anything in her life. On the past trip she even towed it on a dirt road from 3,500ft to 7,000ft and then back down a windy 10% grade on pavement back to 3,500ft. We may have been slightly lost.

I would love something slightly bigger with a bunks for the girls, and will most likely get one eventually, but I plan on finding a good used one and paying cash for it. I will then remove the improvements from this one (Solar Panels, Inverter, Converter, Radio, etc...) and move them to the new one. I'll still be able to sell it for as much or more than I paid for it originally.

 

My first camper turned into a bigger camper, which has now turned into a cabin on a beautiful river in northern Michigan. I still own the camper, and will for about another year... the cabin we bought needs complete restoration, and we need a place to sleep while we do the work. After that, no more RV'ing for me for a while.

We originally thought we'd tour the country... but we're a young 46 years old. And we bought a seasonal site in an awesome campground. Trailer never moves. So we bought property instead. Sell the camper. Then, in 20 years when we retire, get a diesel pusher to go see the USA.

 

I agree although I spent enough years as a kid in tents and popups. Don't want that for my camping. I'd buy new or used but it would need to be with cash and not bank money, if possible. And definitely not financed over 15 years not matter how low the payment. With the example I described above, the interest alone could pay for a very nice used unit. And it's not like you can just upgrade in 5 years, or get out of it, without paying some serious money down on it.








My thoughts too although if a nice new unit came along for a cash price I would look too.







My parents have set out across the country with their nice travel trailer and have no complaints. But I have a young family so that is not happening any time soon. I mean they were nuts taking a 9 year old, 13 year old, and 15 year old across the country on a 3 week tour of the Rocky Mountains, Grand Canyon, and Mesa Verde. Great memories but that was in an overstuffed Econoline 150 with a 4.9L six and a popup. They were brave to say the least. The have a nice seasonal site at a small campground which we all love and serves as storage too. But with 2 growing boys space is limited in the trailer when we visit. I would love property and so would my father and brother. Mainly to hunt on but also for any recreation we want to do.