Episode-498- Five Questions to ask Yourself Before Buying an RV
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Today we have a guest host to discuss with us five questions to ask before buying an RV and using it as a survival resource. Our guest began working on the trailer production line for the Skyline Corporation in Mansfield, Texas in 1972, he began the journey that would take him to where he is today.
He is the recipient of the National Scholastic Achievement Award from the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA), a Master Certified RV Technician, a Licensed Insurance Claims Adjuster and is a College Instructor at Texas State Technical College in Waco, Texas where for 6 years trained RV Maintenance Technicians and now teaches Solar Technology.
The Professor and his sidekick, Roady the RV Dog have developed a training program called The Take Home Technician Series that they use to teach the RV Consumer do-it-yourself skills to enhance their RV lifestyle.
Join Terry and I as we discuss the following five questions and many other components of RV Ownership
- What do you and your family enjoy doing
- What features and options do you want your RV to have
- What types and classifications of RV are available to me
- What is your budget
- How do all these “things” work in my new RV
Resources for Today’s Show
- Members Support Brigade
- TSP Gear Shop
- Join Our Forum
- The Berkey Guy – (sponsor of the day)
- MURS Radio – (sponsor of the day)
- The Mobile RV Academy
- Terry’s 4 DVD Set on RV and RV Appliance Maintenance (get 10% off with code SPC2010)
- Members Support Brigade
- Ron Hood’s Survival.com Magazine
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.
Excellent show! Thanks for sharing the information with us. There were some great tips there.
Thanks for another great show. When we bought the trailer we had the guys show us how to do the things that we were suppose to do. We got home and couldn’t remember a thing. except the frig and the pop outs. On the buy list is those dvds.
Just a suggestion for another show, how to outfit an rv/trailer for a bug out. You have got my motor running.
Thanks
I’ve been living in a Hi-lo (basically a popup trailer with hard walls) for a while while working out of town instead of living in a hotel. It’s old, but the price was right (free from my parents). Rent is under $1000 for the season up by Lake Erie, plus electricity. I haven’t hooked up water yet, but there is water available locally at the campground or near by (“unofficial county water supply” that people fill up at all the time).
There are some workers here who live here during the season and either pick up jobs as they find them or work regular jobs like myself, and there are a lot of fishermen too.
If you don’t think State Parks are a good option for bugging out, but you don’t have money to buy a dedicated bug out location, consider purchasing a camper or trailer. You can find great deals by talking to people in campgrounds, at least up here. (I’m thinking of upgrading or moving this trailer and buying another to keep up here, just because.)
And, if you make friends, as I have done, it is not that bad for a BOL. I’d feel safer in this campground if the SHTF than I would parking in a walmart parking lot, a rest area, or a State park. People in these private campgrounds do pay attention, they do know who belongs and who doesn’t, and they look out for each other; at least from my experience! It’s amazing how far a case or two of beer goes…we don’t barter for cash up here; my neighbor keeps my yard cut for a few cases of beer.
Definitely a show done by a couple of guys down south – truck campers were barely mentioned! Up north they are all over the place. Terry hit it right on though – I guarantee I will get places with my truck camper that you will never see a towed, class A, or class C.
We frequently go camping out in the ‘pucker berries’ up old logging and forest service roads. From a BOL aspect, these are great areas which will be inaccessible to most of civilization. We are fully self contained with solar, generator, shower, A/C, and microwave (so she-who-will-not-be-denied is happy). I admit though, taking a shower after a day of back country fun is a heck of a lot better than hitting a tent & smelly sleeping bag!
I will challenge Terry on one small point… I am not sure how a truck camper can be considered a ‘towed’ when it doesn’t have any wheels. It is cargo, carried in the bed of my pickup truck. Many HOAs have found that out the hard way when they demanded an “RV” be moved and taken a homeowner to court.
Finally, check out http://www.rv.net/forum if you would like to see a strong on-line RV related community. Much like the TSP forum, there is a wealth of information available.
If anyone is considering getting a large RV, please remember what you are driving, its not a little car. I’ve twice had the front of my semi truck clipped from RV drivers coming back over after passing and not clearing the front end. In talking with both drivers after the accident one had had his RV only 2 months the other 8.
Its also higher then a car, know your height and pay attention to low clearance signs. Get a motor carriers atlas (the one we truck drivers use), it will show you the locations of most low clearences on state and us highways. Interstate road standards require overpasses to be at least 13’6, the height of semi trailer, so you dont have to worry on interstates. These atlases will also highlight recommended truck routes on the map pages which will be good for RV’s too. If a road can handle an 40ton semi with a 53ft trailer, you should be good too.
Take your turns wide. I’ve seen RV drivers take out stop signs from taking turns too shallow. Use all the road you need to. When I have to turn from one two lane road on to another, I regularly have to pull all the way out to the shoulder of the oncoming lane to clear a turn.
Good show, but I must confess to being seriously disappointed that teardrop campers were not mentioned. Yes, they are not all that widespread yet, and yes, it is my ‘bag’, yet the show DID cover new idea and saving money ideas, which TD’s definitely fit in. Going along with that, ‘Boondocking’ was not mentioned, which is a GREAT way to save money.
One of my favorite websites to recommend –
http://www.cheaprvliving.com
The popularity of camping seems to call into question the value of living in a big house in the suburbs. If it was all it was cracked up to be, then why do so many people feel a need to escape their house to stay in a tent or camper out in the woods ? Some of these campgrounds look like refuge camps.
Anyway, I would be concerned about gas prices for the big class A campers and really almost any camper, though especially anything other than a tow behind. A tow behind can be left someplace, but the class A needs to be driven or the motor will suffer due to misuse.
Towing a camper can put alot of strain on a tow vehicle and car manufactures don’t always seem to provide the best info on tow capacity and so on and people can be misled on that I think.
I have a small truck camper popup that I have used alot. It’s hard to organize everything since the space is small and the canvass has gotten pretty old and beat. I do alot of camping, but I am certainly well aware of the gas prices for my 6 cylinder truck have gone way up since I first bought it.
The thing that is a pain is there are these little roll pins that loosen up after a few years that are part of the lift system that pops up the roof. I have them micky moused in there with small bungy chords to make sure they don’t fall out. I always have to have a headlamp and be carefull when I pop the roof up and keep an eye on those. Darned sky light leaks sometimes even though I have put sealant on it. All kinds of things break down after a while, but the stove works and last I checked the furnace worked too ..