Motorhomes what do you have and what do you tow?

We have had various questions about RVs over the years but I am specifically curious to know what people are using to tow their race cars/rallycross cars and also stay in.

What do you have?

What do you tow?

How many events per year?

Any reliability issues?

What would you do differently?

Without taking race car into account I prefer truck+trailer but all the living quarters trailers I have seen are ginormous and would not pass the wife and kids test. I know both C class and A class can tow car trailers of various sizes

I want to be able to take a family of 4 with a little more space than my current 24' hybrid trailer + 1 dog and go up to 5-6 hours away for events at least 6 times a year while trailering a miata

 I don't have a RV, but I tow a lot with a 2007 E450 shuttle bus. With my 14' open trailer loaded with a Spitfire, I can't really notice it's back there. The 6.0L diesel has more than enough power to run down the interstate at 70 and still get 12 mpg. 

All of my reliability issues are due to it being a shuttle bus with 315K miles on it. Belts, a/c compressor, brakes, etc. 

I would think a RV on the same chassis would be similar as a tow beast. 

Which all the ford van based RVs seem to be the V10's :( (I love diesels)

The first question is what are you looking to budget?

I've got a 32ft 1993 class A gasser that I've done one rallycross two day event with and it was wonderful.  I've also pulled the trailer when going on trips with the family.  Low and slow is the name of the game.

The biggest problem that you need to address, especially with older rigs, is the frame extensions.  They basically just butt-weld the extensions to the factory chassis and when you put a trailer on there it works like a giant lever to pull the back end off.  That's bad news.  I reinforced mine with some c channel.

I'm towing the rallycross neon on an open deck trailer, so probably about 4000-4500 lbs.

It is another two engines to maintain which can be a good amount of effort, but I think it's worth it.

It's really nice to have a/c, a fridge, hot water, a shower, running water, a toilet, and my own bed.

Knowing what I know now, my next rig will be a little newer with the V10.  A diesel pusher would be even better, but more than I want to spend right now.

Budget is pretty open however I think we will end up with something less than say 30-40k max. If you finance at all I think it has to be 10 years old or newer but at the same time I have looked at some older A class models based on chassis I have seen recommended here before like Foretravel/Beaver/Bluebird. Tow rating on a A class and C class both around the same length and same engine (Ford V10) seem to be pretty similar also I would have thought (8k vs 7500)

More than exploring my own options I am really curious to know what is working(or hasn't worked) for the GRM community.

I rented a paddock room at VIR for my 40th bday trip recently and it made a big difference when my wife and kids came to visit that they had a place to hang out/watch some TV be entertained, and it was really nice for me to have all the things you mentioned as well. The biggest issue for me with little kids is I really want a bunk house which tends to limit the options

I wonder about those "trailer toad" things in terms of reinforcing an A class for trailer duty

I don't know squat about motorhomes, but you should buy this.

 Mopar Madness

We bought a 1989 Foretravel u280 for 13k and in the last 5 years spent about 5k plus tires fixing it up. 3208 turbo cat, tows a 2 axle trailer with rallykar and doesn't really notice it. It's a *very* nice rig, almost 300k new and has aged better than I have.

A Beaver, Foretravel, or Blue bird wanderlodge in the late 80's to mid 90's can be had for very reasonable if you shop around, and I bet will provide less trouble than a newer cheaper setup.

Take a good hard look at the radiator though. Those big semitruck rads are... eye-wateringly expensive to replace. Had ours re-cored for the bargain basement price of two grand but that was having me do the r n r. Which I don't plan on having to do ever again....

Those 90's bus based ones look like they are built like tanks

Our solution is truck + camper + trailer...

V1:

V2:

Probably not sufficient space with two kids, but I thought I'd chime in for posterity.

I looked at several options, and this was the most versatile for us.  Works for camping as well as racing, and we can haul a street car and motorcycle to a destination area, setup in an RV park and explore for a while.  Truck is a useful thing on it's own, and can haul the trailer for local events.  Camper can be a spare bedroom while stored in the yard.

Living quarters trailers are spendy and long.  Motorhomes are only good at being motorhomes, and often have underwhelming towing capacity unless they're one of the semi-chassis toters ($$$).

We have a 32'1987 Pace Arrow, going on 12 years and use it as a truck with a water closet and a kitchen.  It has a 454, 4 barrel with a Th 400 3 speed.  Towing has been done with a car dolly, upgraded 18' Carson wood deck duel axle utility trailer and now a 20' Aluma duel axle car trailer.  The current cars towed include a Miata or a BMW E30.

The events we drive to are about 100 miles one way, or less and it gets used monthly.  In the past we did use it on trips to Flagstaff AZ from Redlands CA and as a support rig for a number of Hobie Cat Regattas.  This vintage of rigs was built to spend it's working life at 55 mph.  It will go 60, but the gas gage just moves faster.  In a negative, money evaporating way.  For events today I drop in $100 when I pick it up from storage and use the generator to run the AC as needed.  Which is all day, most events here in Southern California.  If I want the family to stick around it's a small price to pay.

To that end you have to factor in how much water you are going to bring with you and then take back to the barn.  When we run in San Diego I dump the tanks before we start the run home.  Buttonwillow has hook ups for water and power on site but no facilities to off load, that you end up doing at a gas station at the junction of the 5 and 58.  In other words you plan ahead.  You have to have gas for your run up the grape vine, lot's of it.  Both ways. 

Rodan said:

Our solution is truck + camper + trailer...

V1:

V2:

 

Probably not sufficient space with two kids, but I thought I'd chime in for posterity.

I looked at several options, and this was the most versatile for us.  Works for camping as well as racing, and we can haul a street car and motorcycle to a destination area, setup in an RV park and explore for a while.  Truck is a useful thing on it's own, and can haul the trailer for local events.  Camper can be a spare bedroom while stored in the yard.

Living quarters trailers are spendy and long.  Motorhomes are only good at being motorhomes, and often have underwhelming towing capacity unless they're one of the semi-chassis toters ($$$).

I am actually really interested in that setup. Because like I said for normal camping non racing activities I would much prefer a truck+trailer combo for the family because you can setup camp and use your truck to go places. The truck bed camper is something I don't know much about but it would be more for myself and a buddy who go to actual events (we both have miatas so a truck bed camper+ a 28ft enclosed would handle both of us)

Have you considered the Stablelift systems or looked into it? To be able to easily take the camper off the truck? Also the "racing" camper can probably be a lot less nice for just a couple of guys does an 8 ft bed make a big difference on those or is it overhanging anyway? How does the hitch get around the overhang?

jr02518 said:

We have a 32'1987 Pace Arrow, going on 12 years and use it as a truck with a water closet and a kitchen.  It has a 454, 4 barrel with a Th 400 3 speed.  Towing has been done with a car dolly, upgraded 18' Carson wood deck duel axle utility trailer and now a 20' Aluma duel axle car trailer.  The current cars towed include a Miata or a BMW E30.

The events we drive to are about 100 miles one way, or less and it gets used monthly.  In the past we did use it on trips to Flagstaff AZ from Redlands CA and as a support rig for a number of Hobie Cat Regattas.  This vintage of rigs was built to spend it's working life at 55 mph.  It will go 60, but the gas gage just moves faster.  In a negative, money evaporating way.  For events today I drop in $100 when I pick it up from storage and use the generator to run the AC as needed.  Which is all day, most events here in Southern California.  If I want the family to stick around it's a small price to pay.

To that end you have to factor in how much water you are going to bring with you and then take back to the barn.  When we run in San Diego I dump the tanks before we start the run home.  Buttonwillow has hook ups for water and power on site but no facilities to off load, that you end up doing at a gas station at the junction of the 5 and 58.  In other words you plan ahead.  You have to have gas for your run up the grape vine, lot's of it.  Both ways. 

 

  

 

We were in Socal until about a year ago and now live in NC, AC is a must as it is humid and hot

Jaynen said:

Have you considered the Stablelift systems or looked into it? To be able to easily take the camper off the truck? Also the "racing" camper can probably be a lot less nice for just a couple of guys does an 8 ft bed make a big difference on those or is it overhanging anyway? How does the hitch get around the overhang?

Truck campers are kind of a thing unto themselves.  Rule #1 is have enough truck...  campers are heavy.   Ours is a Lance 981 and weighs 4500lbs wet, but it's a fairly large camper and has a slide out dinette, and a generator.  The slide out is what really makes it liveable, even for two people, but if you're just wanting a crash pad for the track, you could probably live without, which will save a lot of cost and weight.  The eight foot bed will make a difference in floor space behind the sleeping area.

We have Torklift Stableloads that, when in place, engage the override springs at normal ride height and eliminate sag.  I also have a Torklift Superhitch and Supertruss 28" extension to deal with the overhang.  It's the only way to carry any significant tongue weight with an extension.

Ours has electric jacks, though a different brand.  Loading/unloading is straightforward, it takes me a couple of hours (taking my time) to air up the tires, engage the stableloads, install the hitch extension and load the camper.

"Less nice" is a relative term, but there's a wide variety of campers out there from spartan pop-up overlanding type rigs to three slide monsters that you need a 4500 truck to carry.  Fortunately there's lots in between.  We bought ours 9 years old at about 50% of new price, and it looked it had never been slept in... generator had 7 hours on it.  There's lots of deals out there, but do your research.   A dealer will just try to sell you what's on their lot, regardless of whether your truck can carry it safely.  Brochure weights are almost always dry, and with no options.  The weights add up fast.

It was the perfect solution for us, and we love it.  Our only real problem has been that our dog is too old to get in by herself, because of the high steps, so we have to carry her in/out.  

In that price range, you're probably looking at something nice for the family in gas or something that's a little less nice in diesel.  The DPs really hold their value as long as they're still "nice".  If you are primarily looking at a race car hauler with a bathroom, then I'd go for the nicest DP you can find.  If you want to go gas, then something like this would be a good bet: https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/used-rvs-for-sale/class-a/2007-national-rv-dolphin_rv-38125

Plenty of room for the family and a 5000 pound hitch on the other end of the Chebby 8.1.  It'll eat gas, but be a nice place to spend some time.

On the diesel side, something like https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/used-rvs-for-sale/class-a/2007-national-rv-dolphin_rv-38125 or https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/used-rvs-for-sale/diesel-motorhomes/1998-holiday-rambler-navigator_rv-36571 would probably need a little work but would be great rigs.

I went back and forth on this when I bought my coach.  My budget was a lot lower and I could have gotten a much nicer travel trailer than motor home for the same money, but having a truck bed camper for me to go racing in addition to a travel trailer to take the family camping was nuts, and those truck bed campers are way too small for me to spend any significant time in anyway.  My racing plans for the RV are really only the annual two-day rallycross event, if I ever go to rallycross nationals again, and when I get around to doing a track day weekend.  And when I do those things, I want more comforts of home than putting a cot in an enclosed trailer will get me.  It is a PITA to put the family car on the trailer when we take a family trip so I am considering either a Blue Ox system for the car or a tow dolly in addition to the open trailer - just something to think about.

Oh, and as far a class A versus C, from what I've noticed, the Cs all seem like they have way more rear overhang built in to them with longer frame extensions.  Not sure if that's the case, but I'd check it out if you started to go down that path.

If I go A I pretty much have to get a bunk house I have 2 daughters 4 and 7 and the thing I hate the most about our current setup is having to setup/tear down beds all the time. I have seen some essentially make the big closet back by the bedroom opposite the bathroom into beds or that is where they are put in a bunkhouse layout. The one advantage to the C class is you usually get the cabover bunk queen which means technically most C class could have 2 dedicated beds without messing with dinettes and sofas.

I think the camper is a nice ultimate solution but as long as the kids may want to go to the track with me too then it makes it less of an option. Plus I think once I get a heavy duty enough truck+camper its not really going to be cheaper as much as more versatile.

This one seems really awesome, and the golfcart underneath is actually really cool. but its the layout of what I mean I think would be best for us

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racingjunk.com%2FRVs-and-Motorhomes%2F182967088%2F1990-American-Eagle-Silver-Eagle-Bunk-Bunkhouse-Deisel-Prevo.html%3Fcategory_id%3D110%26search%3Deagle%26np_offset%3D0%26from%3Dsearch&h=ATOBWqEq09I6DBy13xOHnCRBSfReH9C5bHotAPHD9Nv5NW8Fzwb3aeaYpQUcZcmAsyPdmsbRODW2W1TzwVSD3JEHuatmIguDq0I9a0FHdhhMJFUUc8NwKA5Yc7sbtr-NCiM

If you can get the kids to share a bed, the foldout sofas can be converted in very little time - like 3 minutes, if that.  That's where the slide comes in super handy, too: we don't have slides and when the couch is a bed, you can't walk around it at all.

Class As used to have a pull-down bunk over the cockpit area back in the 80s, but that went out of fashion for some reason.

You can change a lot about a coach, but the floor plan isn't one of them (unless you want to gut and rebuild...)  Look for a layout that the family is going to be able to live with and then go from there.

I actually saw some newer A's with the bunk over the cab on like a motorized dropdown but those were so new it would be way out of our intended budgets

In reply to Jaynen :

Yeah, everything old is new again, right?

One of the major reasons I replaced our first rv with Moby the Road Condo was cargo capacity. Most of the class C and a large percentage of lower end class a weigh in at nearly the chassis max gross weight before you add fuel. Climb aboard and the thing is over max weight. Our first rig had blowouts nearly every year and golly how come the stopping distances are so.. geographical? Chevy p30 chassis, max gross 14500, scale weight with no water and no personal effects and just me in it, 13900. Moby otoh is 22k empty and has a max weight rating of 30k and towing of 10k so I can put half a ton of water, 80 gal propane, 150 gal diesel, family, racecar, trailer, spares and tools and everything else needed and still run down the road well and truly within the ability of the chassis. I've sorta come to the conclusion that this one attribute is the first thing an rv buyer should look at. Cuz I find tire blowouts on big rigs to be tedious. 

Jay_W said:

One of the major reasons I replaced our first rv with Moby the Road Condo was cargo capacity. Most of the class C and a large percentage of lower end class a weigh in at nearly the chassis max gross weight before you add fuel. Climb aboard and the thing is over max weight. Our first rig had blowouts nearly every year and golly how come the stopping distances are so.. geographical? Chevy p30 chassis, max gross 14500, scale weight with no water and no personal effects and just me in it, 13900. Moby otoh is 22k empty and has a max weight rating of 30k and towing of 10k so I can put half a ton of water, 80 gal propane, 150 gal diesel, family, racecar, trailer, spares and tools and everything else needed and still run down the road well and truly within the ability of the chassis. I've sorta come to the conclusion that this one attribute is the first thing an rv buyer should look at. Cuz I find tire blowouts on big rigs to be tedious. 

 

So what is Moby the Road Condo and what do you tow?

I put some detais in an earlier post in this thread. She tows a '90 awd Mazda protege rallycar on a flatbed without any trouble. Well, some trouble. Trouble is, nowhere near often enough! Gonna hafta do something about that.

Looks really clean, I did a bunch of Foretravel googling after you mentioned it

Great, I didn't really need to see this thread when I have a bit of cash burning in my pocket and no decent Miatas to buy...

My wife and I have been talking about getting a motorhome for a while now so this thread showed up at the exactly wrong time. But while I have your attention, would some of the more experienced RVers comment on the following selections?

Cheap Beaver - Diesel Pusher, no less. With the alleged low mileage I'm surprised the motor hasn't died of boredom yet.

Rather nice Wanderlodge - pity they didn't include the mileage but it looks clean.

Cheap Vixen - not quite what I had in mind and while it's the right size so my wife could theoretically drive it, it's a manual. Plus I don't think it has any towing capacity.

Even cheaper Beaver - make me wonder what's wrong with it other than age. Seems awfully cheap for a diesel pusher.

Anyway, I'm a little torn between looking at slightly smaller class As with gas engines that are potentially cheaper as the entry level drug to see if we make as much use of one as we're thinking, or if I throw caution into the wind and get one that will last a while.

It would depend on how big your car is, but I wonder if a toy hauler like this one would work?

I've also gone back and forth on RV ideas.  My needs are somewhat different, but every option has its pros and cons.

In reply to BoxheadCougarTim :

Those look like some cool RV's.  The one downside of them for the OP is that style of live-in RV tends to be geared towards a couple without kids.

I'm torn on the diesel thing... while the power and MPG are great, when - and it WILL be a "when" - they need some sort of significant service, the repair costs can be eye-watering.  And given how these RV's tend to be used, that service can happen thousands of miles from home. There's something to be said for an old American big-block V8. Yeah, it'll get 6 MPG, but you can fix it with a hammer.

Ian F said:

It would depend on how big your car is, but I wonder if a toy hauler like this one would work?

I’m hoping to find out this summer if it’ll work. I have a 2000 (?) Forest River Work’n’Play, one of the first years they made them I think.  I tow it with a 2011 GMC Yukon XL 2500.  It’s VERY basic but can sleep 5 adults + 2 children and, like the one in the ad above, has a 13’7” garage.  I’ve been using it for motorcycle (dualsport) rides and it has worked great but now I want to start using it for autocross events.  The one I have rides very low, is VERY stable towing, and just fits through the 10’ door on my garage.  BUT, because the garage on the camper is so short, I’m now on the hunt for a toy that will fit in it (my M3 and Type 65 Coupe are too long).  I’ve narrowed the choices down to a Miata, a Z3 M roadster, or a used FFR Challenge car.  There are some coupes that would fit but they’d be MUCH more challenging to climb out of and into when loaded.  

Good luck with your decision!!