All RVs are expensive. And travelling with them requires more work than one would think. The problem is there are too many of us wanting to camp and not enough places to stay. And campers are expensive, wear out faster than cars and in many cases require expensive stuff to fix. Renting one, even locally, just to try it out is the best idea. It isn't for everyone, even some who camped years ago may find it is not the same. And a thousand dollar week to rent is cheaper than 20K to buy one then have to sell it.
They are giving away the older motorhomes of every size and classification on Facebook Marketplace. At least they are in Texas. How much work do you want to do?
Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:
They are giving away the older motorhomes of every size and classification on Facebook Marketplace. At least they are in Texas. How much work do you want to do?
One of the problems with an older motorhome is many private campgrounds will not let the older ones in ,
californiamilleghia said:
Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:
They are giving away the older motorhomes of every size and classification on Facebook Marketplace. At least they are in Texas. How much work do you want to do?
One of the problems with an older motorhome is many private campgrounds will not let the older ones in ,
Which is a good thing if you have no intention to stay at one of those "parks". In the time we have been rv'ing with our vintage trailer, it has been one campground in Michigan and one in Mass that were private. The rest were state parks. Which tend to be a lot better in our view.
Kinda back to the towable vs drivable debate- I think it's good to think about what you need to do to the Explorer to pull 5k of trailer compared to any mechanical work a Class C might need. Both could be big money pits to be able to drive.
Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:
They are giving away the older motorhomes of every size and classification on Facebook Marketplace. At least they are in Texas. How much work do you want to do?
Whatever is needed if it's awesome enough.
I'm not necessarily worried about the work needed since it's almost all in my wheelhouse
californiamilleghia said:
Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:
They are giving away the older motorhomes of every size and classification on Facebook Marketplace. At least they are in Texas. How much work do you want to do?
One of the problems with an older motorhome is many private campgrounds will not let the older ones in ,
I'm more into boondocking and not necessarily in a campground but that's a good point
alfadriver said:
californiamilleghia said:
Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:
They are giving away the older motorhomes of every size and classification on Facebook Marketplace. At least they are in Texas. How much work do you want to do?
One of the problems with an older motorhome is many private campgrounds will not let the older ones in ,
Which is a good thing if you have no intention to stay at one of those "parks". In the time we have been rv'ing with our vintage trailer, it has been one campground in Michigan and one in Mass that were private. The rest were state parks. Which tend to be a lot better in our view.
Kinda back to the towable vs drivable debate- I think it's good to think about what you need to do to the Explorer to pull 5k of trailer compared to any mechanical work a Class C might need. Both could be big money pits to be able to drive.
The explorer is in pretty decent shape, it's just old ( 98)
It would need some suspension work, the rear end is sagging and some A/C work ( I'm not sure what it needs because it's been a winter car for my wife and up until last week id never even tried the AC). Otherwise it's a 5.0 with 130kish miles in it
In reply to Antihero :
So i would imagine some RV work will be harder thanks to the weight and size.
Either way, I hope you get what you dream of. We certainly enjoy our camping a lot.
I remember buying all these giant wrenches and truck sized huge jackstands at Harbor Freight. Then I hired a fabricator and paid him about $2,000 to extend the frame to the back bumper so I could attach a class 3 hitch to it. Yeah, there is no frame back there after a certain point.
I spent stupid money on that thing and it's still too old and ugly to get in to the fancy campgrounds. They just aren't going to let a 1978 Motorhome in.
In reply to Antihero :
The explorer would be a good candidate. Upgrade the brakes, suspension and trans and you are good to go. Our trailer weighs under 4K loaded, there are lots of smaller trailers now. A friend pulled a 20 foot winnie with his KIA SUV for 2 summers and the kia survived. So your ford would be fine.
Rodan
UberDork
5/17/25 9:47 a.m.
A lot of parks have a standard 10 year cutoff in their 'policies' these days, but we've never had a problem with our 20 year old rig. A few have asked for an e-mailed picture at booking. It's not really the age so much as having a clean, maintained rig in good condition. Most folks don't want to camp next to a Walter White methabilly outfit.
We've stayed in a lot of really great State parks, but most of them won't have full hookups. Plan accordingly.
In reply to Rodan :
Not sure about others, but we can stay at a spot for 6 nights with just electrical hook up. Out tanks are small, but big enough to deal with how we camp. And we have seen some bad dump stations at the two private parks we've stayed at (bad being very unlevel and a real pain to drain).
As for pull behind vs drivable- if you are in and out a lot, not sure I would want more than just plugging in when I drive back to the spot.
With how poorly RVs are put together and the money involved, I've really been wondering if building out your own is the better option. Start with a used church bus or something.
For me right now, I have a 6x14 cargo trailer for the racecar and have a bare minimal to make it camp 2 with the racecar in it or 4 with no racecar. Then again, I grew up in scouts so a mattress and a roof in a bug resistant package is luxury to me. I need to get better with built in storage though.
With that though, I do still keep thinking about a small RV.
In reply to Apexcarver :
I have thought about doing that a LOT. It takes a lot of thought to get the right balance of space, weight, and strength. Especially if you add full plumbing and electrical.
In reply to alfadriver :
Yeah, it's the full part that gets me. I just seem to go minimal.
I saw a lot of neat stuff when I was looking at converting cargo trailers for camping, but it's easy to over/under build. I added the fun of making mine work with or without a racecar in there.
In reply to Apexcarver :
To me, minimal = teardrop. Which is very doable. But we are old, and need a bathroom in the middle of the night.
In reply to alfadriver :
I hear you, I saw a neat setup where someone put a bathroom in the v-nose of a trailer. I keep coming back to that. Maybe down the road if I get a bigger truck and a bigger trailer. Not having to go out of it's raining at night would be terrific.
In reply to porschenut :
20k is definitely not the budget I'll get spending, think more like a quarter of that to even less. I have to get actual eyes on them but so far I've seen multiple candidates in that range that look like winners .
porschenut said:
In reply to Antihero :
The explorer would be a good candidate. Upgrade the brakes, suspension and trans and you are good to go. Our trailer weighs under 4K loaded, there are lots of smaller trailers now. A friend pulled a 20 foot winnie with his KIA SUV for 2 summers and the kia survived. So your ford would be fine.
I think it's good to 5k and it has a towing package as I remember. There are some 17 footers that I've been in that seem like a good size to me too.
alfadriver said:
In reply to Apexcarver :
To me, minimal = teardrop. Which is very doable. But we are old, and need a bathroom in the middle of the night.
Funnily enough my first idea when I was gonna do the challenge years ago was to build a teardrop and drag it behind the Caprice.
But in our case, bathroom would be nice too
We did a lot of research on smaller trailers, there are compromises. Wet bath vs separate shower and shower stall space for taller/wider folk. "Elbow room" when sitting on the potty, nuff said? Beds requiring climbing over your partner in the middle of the night. Whether it is a class B towable or building your own, these are the decisions we found were critical. Each one can make the rig larger or smaller and comfortable or not so much.
On tow vehicles, the best modification made was big rear leaf springs. What I did was basically 3/4 ton rear on a 1/2 ton truck. It eliminated sway and sag. No need for load levelers and a more comfortable ride. Mods do not include making sure shocks, cooling and brakes are in excellent shape. But the rear spring upgrade is fantastic. Sucks when the truck is empty around town, but it is a truck.
porschenut said:
We did a lot of research on smaller trailers, there are compromises. Wet bath vs separate shower and shower stall space for taller/wider folk. "Elbow room" when sitting on the potty, nuff said? Beds requiring climbing over your partner in the middle of the night. Whether it is a class B towable or building your own, these are the decisions we found were critical. Each one can make the rig larger or smaller and comfortable or not so much.
This is how I ended up where I did. We had owned several campers over the years. They all had compromises. The wife and I made a list of requirements, and we started shopping. The wife wanted a king-size bed and comfortable seating. Climbing over people to get in or out of bed gets pretty old. I wanted a shower I could turn around in without my ass hanging out in the hall. I did not want to get stuck driving an F350 when we reached our destinations, which eliminated trailers. I wanted the ability to tow a double-decker trailer with a vehicle and a boat, which required decent towing capacity. I did not want to deal with the mess that is diesel emissions. After a 2-year, almost nationwide search, we bought a 2007 Holiday Rambler Endeavor with a Cummins ISL400. It ticked all the boxes, had a box of service receipts, and was well taken care of. We found it at a dealer 2 miles from home. It is our do-all machine. Trips to the track, camping in the woods, visiting family. It gets used monthly as well as for extended stays in the mountains and on the coast every year. I'd sell the house and live in it full time if I could talk my wife into it.
In reply to Toyman! :
Admittedly that's part of my consternation with a trailer. Big trucks suck in some situations, and I'm wondering if a small toad would be a better option behind an RV
In reply to Toyman! :
IMHO, all of thats is why it's so very important to rent one or two to know what each really needs. Getting an RV is a massive exercise in compromise of something- gotta know what you can deal with, what you would rather not deal with, and what are the must have it at all costs.
