Any regrets?

[Phoebe3]

I think the important thing is an honest self-appraisal. If you like building things and have experience with carrying projects through to completion, a self-build might be the best thing.

On the other hand, if you would rather be on the road than in the garage or if you feel like you are too far along in your life to waste time building when you would rather be traveling, getting something that will at least meet your bare minimum needs might be a better way to go.

I have learned over the years that DH and I like projects that can be completed in a couple of hours. A full van build was way too daunting and would have sat in pieces in the garage for years without being finished. But it works out well to make window covers or add coat hooks to an existing build. YMMV

[BBQ]

.

A caution about buying an old old RV:

Old things break.
And they will break one after another.
Chassis stuff breaks, it's an old van.
RV stuff are more durable, but they can break too.

If things don't break, it is a bonus.
If things break, it is expected.

If you are handy, you are ok. Not many things are unfixable.
If you are impatient, it will drive you crazy.

[SteveJ]

Originally Posted by BBQ

.

A caution about buying an old old RV:

Old things break.
And they will break one after another.
Chassis stuff breaks, it's an old van.
RV stuff are more durable, but they can break too.

If things don't break, it is a bonus.
If things break, it is expected.

If you are handy, you are ok. Not many things are unfixable.
If you are impatient, it will drive you crazy.

That right there covers a bunch of it. We have a 2000 RT 200v. This thing would be quite an expense if I had to go to a shop for every little repair.

Example: We had just ridden the choo choo train that runs from Chama NM, to Antonito, CO. The Cumbres, Toltec, IIRC. We were heading south to boon dock in NM and the serpentine belt idler pulley bearing seized up, shredding the belt. We were dead in the water on the side of the road, about twelve miles south of Antonito. I let things cool a bit and then started the engine and made a U turn to go to a info sign turn out. Spent the evening there, after diagnosing the issue. I had a motorcycle with so I simply unloaded it, went to a parts house about 25 miles away and bought a new Gates pulley and belt(I do carry a spare belt). I lucked out as the installation of the new pulley was a breeze, right out in the open.

The parts cost about $56. If I would not have been capable of effecting a repair the costs can get really ugly really fast.

$100-400(?) for a tow.
$100 parts(cost about double at the shop)
$50-150 for labor.

Looking at about $500 as a guess, not including a 1-3(?) nights stay at a motel if they can't get to it right away. Taxi fare if no other transportation can also add up. Along with more eating out.

So, $500 to $1000, plus a huge inconvenience. For me personally, I had jury duty scheduled two days after return, that had already been put off once. The extra time would have greatly complicated things.

So yeah, being handy does help.

This was just one minor part break down. Upon return I replaced the water pump, fan clutch, tensioner pulley, and thermostat, all as a preventative though the fan clutch was on it's way out or out. Parts came in under $200 including new coolant. These repairs would have been well north of $1000 at a shop.

The RT has about 173k miles on it and is 18 years old. Stuff does come up and stuff gets dealt with.

[Mat Mobile]

In the end, I realized it's always a compromise. And, like you said, there's so many choices that it does get confusing. You just have to pick route with the least compromises for you and your family.

[InterBlog]

Life is expensive either way, though. One of the inspirations for our Class B purchase was getting stranded by United Airlines in Newark. During our 3-hour flight from Houston to Newark, bad weather developed and our continuing flight into eastern Canada was cancelled. We were trapped in Newark Liberty for FOUR DAYS. United refused to refund us any expenses because they said it was "weather related". I said, "Sure it was weather related - for the FIRST three hours. And then there's the matter of the ensuing 3.5 days that were YOUR fault."

Four days of my life I'll never get back, and $700 I was out of pocket. I never got a dime from United. Of course we would have rented a car and driven an extra day to Canada, or returned to Houston if we knew it it would be four days, but they kept stringing us along saying, "We'll get you out on the next flight... we'll get you out on the next flight..."

[Phoebe3]

We bought our RV for the cat. Honest. The kids are gone and when we leave, she's all alone and suffers. She's not crazy about being in the van when it's moving, but she tolerates it and doesn't try to escape. Then in the evenings she has someone to curl up next to.

Talk about an expensive animal.

[Doneworking]

Phoebe3, the number of people like us are legion! Our precious girl dog is almost fourteen and still does well traveling with us. Leaving her at the pet "resort" for several days doing fly and drives is not that bad a deal with her, but it kills us! Four Bs and two Cs and three dogs later............the saga continues.

[Doneworking]

Oliver2017, SteveJ's post above is very informative. I do all rv repairs myself but rely on those more skilled to do the chassis stuff. If you look at more recent models of used Bs you can often find some with very low mileage and previous use. For example, I saw a 2015 Roadtrek 190 for sale online today with less than 11,000 miles on it. On a Chevy chassis, that is essentially brand new (assuming proper care and storage). Those that are like SteveJ and have great mechanical ability can be more comfortable with much older rigs.

Believe me, there ain't much 12 miles south of Antonito. That is a great reason for most of us to have a good road service agreement because a guy like me would have to be towed into either Taos or up to Alamosa. Fifty miles either way.

[SteveJ]

Originally Posted by Doneworking

Oliver2017, SteveJ's post above is very informative. I do all rv repairs myself but rely on those more skilled to do the chassis stuff. If you look at more recent models of used Bs you can often find some with very low mileage and previous use. For example, I saw a 2015 Roadtrek 190 for sale online today with less than 11,000 miles on it. On a Chevy chassis, that is essentially brand new (assuming proper care and storage). Those that are like SteveJ and have great mechanical ability can be more comfortable with much older rigs.

Believe me, there ain't much 12 miles south of Antonito. That is a great reason for most of us to have a good road service agreement because a guy like me would have to be towed into either Taos or up to Alamosa. Fifty miles either way.

I was able to get the repair parts up in La Jara. This very small town has a huge, well stocked auto parts store. I was afraid I would have to go all the way to Alamosa or down as far as Santa Fe.

[Rok]

We bought our first RV, a Great West Legend SE, new almost exactly 4 years ago. After experiencing a huge number of problems, being stiffed by the company for over $5K in warranty expenses, then having the company fold up, eliminating what little support they did offer to us, then finding a gazillion half-assed mistakes, corrections, and awful workmanship issues, you would think that we would be sorry that we had the experiences.

But, these have to be countered with all the traveling experiences and learning that we were able to get driving a Class B around for 4 years--stuff that you just can't see & learn from any other form of traveling. It's been a very confusing and exhausting four years of traveling (light traveling compared to some of the die-hards who post here, but we do use it for 1-2 "week long" or longer trips each year & numerous "mini-trips").

All that said, we have no regrets. Were not "result" merchants, and while hindsight is 20/20 and we could have done better, all things considered we did fine. I don't know if one could get a college education now for under $100K, about what we spent for our Great West Legend SE, and we've probably learned as much from traveling in our rig as a college education would provide--and 2 of us got it!

Bottom line, no regrets.

[InterBlog]

^^ sounds like a fairly standard Class B experience. Only the rig brand names change from user to user.

[sebtown]

Funny Interblog, i was thinking the samething!

[wincrasher]

Good thread. I like to think of it two ways - there is what makes financial sense, and what makes emotional sense.

I'm not one to get unduly attached to old hardware. When something new comes along, I'm happy to drop what I have and go with the new. It's what makes me happy. I don't spec things to be minimum but adequate either. I usually will go for the max that is available - I may be able to get by with 2 batteries, but if I can get 4, then why not? Later I may upgrade when new and better gadgets come along. I did quite an extensive "upgrade" to my Xplorer last year with bigger inverter, lithium batteries and solar. It was my unicorn for a while, but alas, I'm moving on with a new lithium Winnebago.

But the most financial sense is probably to buy something that is commercially available, with the most popular options. Never modify it, and keep it in pristine condition so you get maximum price for it when you eventually sell. This would not maximize my enjoyment of it, but it would make the most sense if you care about money that much.

The custom builds and the self builds may be very satisfying to construct and own, but they will have poor resale value for the most part (granted, there can be exceptions). Look at the ads for used Sportsmobiles - their generally spartan interiors and short options list (including no bathrooms in many cases), with high prices no less, and they languish for months. They are looking for a particular buyer of which there may be only a handful nationally.

[skagitstan]

IMO, we get these things to enjoy 'em, not to sell them. I don't really care how much I might recover for Annie years down the road.

Seems to me that you build/buy the best you can afford, for the uses you want.

Then cost becomes a question in which way gets you closer to that goal, and the tradeoffs you need to make getting there. Resale isn't a big consideration.

[MsNomer]

I've put 70,000 miles on my van in 3 years. Resale is not on my radar.

[Lennie]

I have 2 regrets. I regret I didn't buy one sooner. I regret I didn't spend more time searching for one in a little better shape and probably paid a little more.

I went for low mileage not realizing sometimes low mileage isn't necessarily a good thing. One that had been used more, more consistently may have been better maintained.

I feel like 3 or 4 things break every time I use it and I only fix 2 or 3 at a time. So my repair list seems to be growing longer and longer.

[Technomadness]

I’ve been facing this very question recently- whether to build or buy. I’m opting to build for a couple reasons-
- building the interior using my method will be something I have enjoyed in the past.
- I don’t like the layouts of %95 of the RV class-b, and when I find a layout I do like the build quality, system choices or dimensions are just not good for me. Yet they are super expensive, and not well insulated.
- most importantly, I don’t necessarily know what the perfect layout is now. And commercial RVs are even more expensive when you trade them in. I watched a bunch of videos of people talking about finding the right RV for them— many went thru an RV every year or two before they found the right one. Many had to buy 3-4 RVs before they were happy.

With DIY I can easily change things for a few hundred bucks. Most of what I build will be reusable/recyclable in a new configuration. This way I can adjust as my priorities adjust. The only thing permanent is any holes I put in the vehicle and so I will do that only very carefully.

I do very much want to get on the road. So my plan is, so the insulation and the bed, then take trips. After each trip work on what I didn’t like the most. Spend a month to get the next set of systems installed and take another trip.

[InterBlog]

I'd love to see the design that you come up with. The smaller the space, the more non-negotiable people tend to become about how they need it to work for them. I know what my preferred lay-out is, and I know I won't deviate from that.

[MsNomer]

Originally Posted by Technomadness

I do very much want to get on the road. So my plan is, so the insulation and the bed, then take trips. After each trip work on what I didn’t like the most. Spend a month to get the next set of systems installed and take another trip.

Smartest thing you've said yet.

[Technomadness]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

I'd love to see the design that you come up with. The smaller the space, the more non-negotiable people tend to become about how they need it to work for them. I know what my preferred lay-out is, and I know I won't deviate from that.

I have some opinions but will let experience guide me. The biggest thing is I have different priorities and allocation of space/resources than the production RVs are targeted for.


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