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Anyone here go RV'ing?


tigerwoodKhorns

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At the insistence of a good friend, I just spent a weekend in one of these.  I do not like to use other people's toys but he insisted.  He is getting an Atlas and wanted us to try the Airstream. 

 

Nice experience although we didn't know what we were doing.  

 

Do you guys (and gals) RV?

 

Give me some tips. 

 

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I have litigated both sides.  They leak.  I prosecuted a leak case, and I have defended a good number of them.  I imagine there are plenty of them out there that do not leak.  I imagine there are plenty more that leaked and never made it to litigation.  From what little I know from the inside (in representing dealer and manufacturer, both), I would not own one.

 

Others who actually own them will have different opinions, I am sure.

 

I never had a case involving a "van," like the one you show.  They were motorhomes and travel trailers.

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Here are some tips from years of camping with my family:

 

Here is a big one:

Make sure to dump the black water before you dump the grey water so the grey water can flush out all the crap.

 

Also, do some extensive research on the RV Park campsite you are visiting, especially using Google maps and satellite view. There are usually spots tucked in corners that are far better than others. 

 

When helping someone back up an RV- remember if you cant see their face in the side mirror then they cant see you. 

 

Look for open camping spots such as BLM land, its more fun to just park the camper and do whatever you want than to deal with camp hosts and rules etc.

 

Get a folding bike or something so you can easily scoot over to the camp bathroom etc without having to walk or move the whole rig.

 

Always swing as wide as you can going around turns.

 

If all else fails and you need a place to crash while on the road, you can usually stay overnight in a Walmart parking lot.

 

 

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Good advice.  I did read the owner's manual.  The van has a bath, kitchen and shower, but I want a bike rack to go biking when staying.  My friend likes to stop and crash in hidden places.  He loves it.

 

The water thing is in the manual.  The grey water is really nasty too.  I had trouble emptying and then there was a line at the dump site so I finished in a bucket in my driveway.  If you ever do any plumbing you know what the grey water is like.  I put it down the toilet and it was gross.  Stunk to all hell. 
 

Jeff, the manual did say something about the seals begin checked regularly.  Hmmmm....

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2 minutes ago, tigerwoodKhorns said:

 

Jeff, the manual did say something about the seals begin checked regularly.  Hmmmm....

Yes, and to check all seams and apply silicone caulk on a routine basis.

 

Think about it...  You build a small house.  You put it on wheels.  You drive thousands of miles of roads and in and out of parking lots, hitting potholes, ruts, speed bumps, etc.  What's going to happen to the joints when you do that?

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   Also, be aware that the industry is quite competitive and that it can be difficult to get service after the sale.  Most complaints sued both manufacturer and dealer because dealer couldn't get repairs done quick enough.  Maybe for lack of manufacture authorizing service, parts, etc.  Maybe for dealer issues.  Whoever is to blame, these situations seemed to occur with some regularity.  This is not like bringing your car in for repairs.  The RV industry seems to be nowhere near as efficient.

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27 minutes ago, Jeff Matthews said:
30 minutes ago, tigerwoodKhorns said:

Jeff, the manual did say something about the seals begin checked regularly.  Hmmmm....

Yes, and to check all seams and apply silicone caulk on a routine basis.

It should be a tell-tale sign if you have to caulk any seams.  Caulk is good for your home on a fixed foundation.  It's not good enough for holding it all together on the open roads.  Once the plaintiffs find out, the damage is usually already done.  The walls and subfloors get mildew.  Carpet is ruined, etc.  

 

Also, beware of slide-outs.  Same issues.  You can maybe "inspect" the seals, but I don't know how easy that is to do.  The slide-outs go in and  out repeatedly.  If you get any crud in the path of movement, like an acorn, it can breach the seal.  And of course, misalignment can occur as discussed.  

 

Bottom line, it doesn't take much of an opening at all to devastate these things.  I've seen it too many times for my liking.

 

RV's might be suitable for people who are very keen on maintaining their stuff.  They are not suitable for people who just want to have fun.

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A car will hold together, even with a sunroof, trunk, doors, etc. but they are made by robots nowadays and QC is quite high on certain models (I have an old Lexus that is like new). 

 

RV's are still "hand made" so issues come up. The chassis on this is Mercedes and the insides are installed by Airstream.   The penetrations are going to be the issue (like on a house) for the AC, solar power, etc. on the roof.  I would expect the seams of the vehicle to hold together. 

 

I fixed about 5 or 6 interior items that were broken.  Very easy for me to do as it was just using better screws, fashioning spacers, things like that.  The owner should be happy.  There is one item left but it needs an inexpensive part ordered.  On the negative side, someone rear ended me in a roundabout so I will have to fix a small dent in the side of the bumper. 

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2 minutes ago, tigerwoodKhorns said:

A car will hold together, even with a sunroof, trunk, doors, etc. but they are made by robots nowadays and QC is quite high on certain models (I have an old Lexus that is like new). 

 

RV's are still "hand made" so issues come up.

It's not just about robotics.  It's the process.  Look at how a car's body panels are attached.  Go take another look at the roof of your car to see how it goes together.  Then, look at the video below.  Would you buy a Lexus with a sunroof that was built like that?  LOL!

 

At the end, notice that the technician says it should take a full day to properly condition your roof.  I don't know how often you are expected to do this, but once would be too much for me.  That's just too much money to spend on making a load of unnecessary work out of what should be vacation.

 

 

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20 minutes ago, tigerwoodKhorns said:

RV's are still "hand made" so issues come up.

Yep!  This is the Age of Information, so you can find pretty much anything you want on-line in terms of the cautions I am raising.  

 

I visited an RV factory and saw how they are assembled.  Lots of nail guns and screws.  Nobody should expect these things to hold tight after repeated jostling of the vehicle from road bumps, jumping curbs, etc.  

 

But enough of my negativity.  There must be some here who love their RV's.

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We did a 22 hr round trip from Indiana to New Jersey  (exit 4) this past weekend to attend our niece's HS graduation, and several times during the road trip I asked my wife about the many, many RVs we saw, and passed, along the way....99% of them didn't pass either her test or my test for looks, size, and perceived comfort.  And then, when you consider the price of gas these days, I have to wonder, is it really worth it?

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4 minutes ago, jimjimbo said:

We did a 22 hr round trip from Indiana to New Jersey  (exit 4) this past weekend to attend our niece's HS graduation, and several times during the road trip I asked my wife about the many, many RVs we saw, and passed, along the way....99% of them didn't pass either her test or my test for looks, size, and perceived comfort.  And then, when you consider the price of gas these days, I have to wonder, is it really worth it?

Elden and I have discussed this many times. The cost of fuel...and the outrageous camping fees convinced us that it was not a viable option for us. Even with the cost of hotel rooms averaging $100 and up,  RVing just didn’t seem feasible. 

 

However, a lot of folks really enjoy the whole “camping” thing, so for them it’s well worth it. 

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3 minutes ago, tigerwoodKhorns said:

The RV that I used gets 18 MPG and accelerates uphill.  Small turbo diesel.  That is a big selling point. 

Diesel prices that I saw across most of the eastern US were $3.30 per gallon and up.....

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No we don't anymore,  but a friend does, drive along bus type and it seems there is always something being repaired. The last thing is one of the AC units, before that the automatic levelers when parked, the retractable steps, refrigerator had to be replaced with a home unit instead of gas which never worked right, levelers are still not working right and leaking fluid. These are just the things I can think of right off the top, and nothing on his bus is even reasonable to repair much less cheap.  

 

Now I have to say it a very nice bus on the road or for sleeping and very pretty but, not for the faint of heart when you look at repairs. This is not even considering fuel, a few hundred to fill up, I have seen it. You do not get one of these to save money compared to hotels, there for convenience only.

 

This (pic) was once we were going from lafayette Louisiana to Hope to work on the museum.  Cruising down the highway and the overheat light and buzzer came on so we pulled over, looked in the back and couldn't see anything wrong but coolant coming out the back. Call around to find a tow truck to haul this beast, and we got lucky, 2 hours later he was hauling it off and we got into the pickup truck he was towing behind the bus and followed him to the Freightliner place. It was closed so we slept in the bus in there parking lot using the generator to run the AC. In the morning a mechanic looked at it and found the small radiator overflow hose had worked loose. The cost to remove enough parts to find this and fix it was a few hundred, the cot of the tow over $1600, because a 3/8" hose going to the radiator overflow came off at the radiator . 

 

It's a really nice bus but you better be prepared to let your wallet air out pretty regularly even with light use. Part of the problem with this type is there are so many mechanical systems on it something is always going to break. 

 

Now this is a tow truck.

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