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Fancy a RV?

City problem

For me RVs have the knee jerk "Hit the road freedom" reaction but living in the city quickly puts a damper on things.

I was working in Hamilton and the guy with me for the day mentioned going away for the weekend in his RV, probably along Lake Erie.

In the city that would typically mean rushing home, loading food and other provisions into the car, driving through traffic to where the RV has been baking in the sun for a week at a storage unit, firing up the RV to get the air conditioning and fridge working, transfer the provisions, switch vehicles in the parking space, do the RV walk around and head out in city traffic in a lumbering beast. Having a better view of a traffic jam doesn't make it go away.

In comparison, the guy I was working with lived outside of Binbrook on an over-sized lot. He drove home where the RV was parked beside the house all week, plugged into the house power. The RV had been provisioned and checked over the night before. Park the car, step into the RV and drive away. What he saves by not having to pay storage probably covers his insurance.

According to my insurance advisor, insurance is relatively cheap on RVs because they don't expect them to be driven that much.
 
nobbie48 said:
insurance is relatively cheap on RVs because they don't expect them to be driven that much.
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Even cheaper on trailers - most travel under 1000km a year, many under 500. I'm paying something like $300 for a full year of insurance on a $30K trailer with full coverage with full replacement value coverage et al. And we travel probably somewhere between 5000-7500km a year, so we're getting our moneys worth lol.
 
nobbie48 said:
City problem

For me RVs have the knee jerk "Hit the road freedom" reaction but living in the city quickly puts a damper on things.

I was working in Hamilton and the guy with me for the day mentioned going away for the weekend in his RV, probably along Lake Erie.

In the city that would typically mean rushing home, loading food and other provisions into the car, driving through traffic to where the RV has been baking in the sun for a week at a storage unit, firing up the RV to get the air conditioning and fridge working, transfer the provisions, switch vehicles in the parking space, do the RV walk around and head out in city traffic in a lumbering beast. Having a better view of a traffic jam doesn't make it go away.

In comparison, the guy I was working with lived outside of Binbrook on an over-sized lot. He drove home where the RV was parked beside the house all week, plugged into the house power. The RV had been provisioned and checked over the night before. Park the car, step into the RV and drive away. What he saves by not having to pay storage probably covers his insurance.

According to my insurance advisor, insurance is relatively cheap on RVs because they don't expect them to be driven that much.
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There are countless benefits to not living in the city. IMHO.
 
Ours is parked about a 10 minute drive from home, but I know we're lucky to live in a borderline rural area where this is possible. It's also small enough that I can park it in our driveway for a few days at a time if we want for working on it or whatever. Typically when we're headed out for a trip I'll go over and start the fridge a day before and then I just go grab it after work or in the AM or whatever, throw our food and whatever else in it, and away we go. We travel pretty light and don't pack everything plus 3 kitchen sinks like some people do when they're camping, so it only takes us 15 minutes to load before we're ready to roll. Everything else like bedding, dishes, etc etc... lives in the trailer all year round anyways.

I can't imagine having to drive an hour to a remote storage yard, but being able to bring it home, etc etc.
 
They only had PleasureWay and Airstream B class models on display. None of them had the dedicated storage found in our older RT. We have a wardrobe with over a foot of cloths hanging rod. Was lucky to even a 6 inch rod in most. That said our truck is somewhat unique in that it was ordered from the factory with only 2 belted seats. No jump seats. Instead we have the large wardrobe and also a large pantry. If it's just you and the Squeeze consider that as an option.

What I did see at the show was a lot of poor fit and finish. Cabinet doors that didn't align, outside cladding crudely bent into place, and inside a new Airstream cabinet I found a strip of laminate edging that had already fallen off.
 
PrivatePilot said:
Even cheaper on trailers - most travel under 1000km a year, many under 500. I'm paying something like $300 for a full year of insurance on a $30K trailer with full coverage with full replacement value coverage et al. And we travel probably somewhere between 5000-7500km a year, so we're getting our moneys worth lol.
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Mileage is one thing. The fact they are not much good for drag racing and usually driven by an old guy in a hat helps too. Our campervan is only about $300 a year after a very healthy rebate for being in storage for 6 months.
 
PrivatePilot said:
Ours is parked about a 10 minute drive from home, but I know we're lucky to live in a borderline rural area where this is possible. It's also small enough that I can park it in our driveway for a few days at a time if we want for working on it or whatever. Typically when we're headed out for a trip I'll go over and start the fridge a day before and then I just go grab it after work or in the AM or whatever, throw our food and whatever else in it, and away we go. We travel pretty light and don't pack everything plus 3 kitchen sinks like some people do when they're camping, so it only takes us 15 minutes to load before we're ready to roll. Everything else like bedding, dishes, etc etc... lives in the trailer all year round anyways.

I can't imagine having to drive an hour to a remote storage yard, but being able to bring it home, etc etc.
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The B class RT is the same size as a pickup so it can live in the driveway all summer. Like you say plug the fridge in the night before, toss in food and drinks and we're off.
 
timtune said:
What I did see at the show was a lot of poor fit and finish. Cabinet doors that didn't align, outside cladding crudely bent into place, and inside a new Airstream cabinet I found a strip of laminate edging that had already fallen off.
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The RV industry of the 2020's in a nutshell.

Sad to see even Airstream falling prey to shoddy construction now. They were always one of the better manufacturers, but I suspect in the rush to meet the demands of lower pricing, or also quite likely just being unable to get quality help (what they're paying is probably partly at fault here), or more than likely, both, well, that's the result.
 
PrivatePilot said:
The RV industry of the 2020's in a nutshell.

Sad to see even Airstream falling prey to shoddy construction now. They were always one of the better manufacturers, but I suspect in the rush to meet the demands of lower pricing, or also quite likely just being unable to get quality help (what they're paying is probably partly at fault here), or more than likely, both, well, that's the result.
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Airstream is just another Thor brand and Thor is know as the poorest quality in the industry

Sent from the future
 
timtune said:
Mileage is one thing. The fact they are not much good for drag racing and usually driven by an old guy in a hat helps too. Our campervan is only about $300 a year after a very healthy rebate for being in storage for 6 months.
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The trailer is 100 a year our 23 Winnebago class b is 900 it stays insured year round as we use it in the winter as well. Both are stored at home. Also yes I bought the trailer new so I have been able to keep on top of the small issues.

Sent from the future
 
Scuba Steve said:
Airstream is just another Thor brand
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Yep, it was a dark day when Thor bought them. Regardless it seemed like they sitll maintained a shred of higher-quality through the 90's and early 2000's, but now Thor is doing Thor things and they're slowly slipping down.

For what they cost they should still be amongst the best built RV's out there, but...
 
PrivatePilot said:
Yep, it was a dark day when Thor bought them. Regardless it seemed like they sitll maintained a shred of higher-quality through the 90's and early 2000's, but now Thor is doing Thor things and they're slowly slipping down.

For what they cost they should still be amongst the best built RV's out there, but...
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If you are selling on looks and perceived wealth, why bother spending on production? The pretend rich will buy them anyway and most won't get used often.
 
GreyGhost said:
If you are selling on looks and perceived wealth, why bother spending on production? The pretend rich will buy them anyway and most won't get used often.
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Comes full circle to consumers demonstrating for the last 20 years that they're willing to buy trash, so agreed, if they can sell cheaply manufactured trash for premium prices, why manufacturer a quality product instead.
 
GreyGhost said:
If you are selling on looks and perceived wealth, why bother spending on production? The pretend rich will buy them anyway and most won't get used often.
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Just look at the kitchen appliance industry over the last 25 years. Brands all bought up and striped of quality by mostly one company. Whirlpool.
 
AllistonGT said:
Just look at the kitchen appliance industry over the last 25 years. Brands all bought up and striped of quality by mostly one company. Whirlpool.
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There's also LG and Samsung. Samsung appliances have some of the absolute worst reliability and longevity ratings in the appliance industry however, and I wasn't interested in getting sucked into the whirlpool thing, so I have been buying exclusively LG everything (washer and dryer, other electronics) for the last 10 years and the decision has served me very well, it has all proven to be reliable and well built.

The only exception was the dishwasher, I will never buy anything except Bosch.
 
nobbie48 said:
City problem
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And there's the other reason I haul my track bike in a van and sleep in the same van, and it isn't a long wheelbase extended high roof van: it's parked in the driveway, it fits in the driveway, it fits (kinda) in normal parking spots, it isn't a trailer so it's legal to park in the driveway. High roof would be possible with the same length but it doesn't add any floor area so I didn't bother.
 
Just out of curiosity what is the typical monthly fee to store a rv trailer outside and what is included?
 
Jampy00 said:
Just out of curiosity what is the typical monthly fee to store a rv trailer outside and what is included?
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I pay something like $300/year. I'll be reminded soon as my renewal is coming up and my annual text to send money will appear.

I know in some urban places with limited storage I've heard of people paying $100 a month, or more.

What's included? In my case it consists of a gravel patch to park upon, a gate, and that's about it.
 
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