Now that you have had time to settle in, make some changes and spend time in your new to you home just wondering if you are planning an in depth review of your rig and the transition process? Do you like it now that you have spent some time in it? Was it a good decision? Do you find its size adequate for full timing? Knowing what you know now would you have still made the change?
Mike
Howard said
11:37 AM Nov 27, 2018
For those that don't know, we have a page that provides a link to the reason we transitioned from our fifth wheel to our Class C Winnebago Aspect 27K along with a detailed photo tour, spec information, and the modifications we've made: Our Home On Wheels - Chapter 2.
That should answer many questions.
We both are enjoying the rig and yes, we do find it adequate for full-timing. However, I'm not sure we would have if we didn't have a lot of experience behind us. We knew what we needed and what we knew we wanted to and could change, and Linda knew quite a few space-saving tricks and organizational steps to take.
Taking out the dinette and putting in the Lambright theater seating made a huge difference as did our little modification with the shower. The bathroom is tiny, but we've adjusted.
Linda was concerned about kitchen space and the size of the refrigerator, but that was a fairly easy adaptation and she's finding no problem with that. Her Instant Pot allowed her to get rid of many of the pots and pans that we wouldn't have had room for.
The other thing we've had to adapt to is that we just don't have as much storage space. We have enough, but we often have to take things out of cabinets and compartments to access other items, so there is less convenience in getting to what we need than before, but we've adjusted to that also.
Our biggest complaint about this rig is the small size of the holding tanks. The fresh water, gray water, and black water are all about 33 gallons. In the fifth wheel, we had a 100 gallon fresh water, two 45-gallon gray tanks and a 45-gallon black tank. So, when boondocking, we are having to conserve more to stay out longer. But we are adjusting to that as well; plus, this rig is so much easier to just pack up and go, it's really no big deal to make a quick run to a dump station, and we can get into more campgrounds and more boondocking spots.
Another thing I don't like about this rig is the low ground clearance. We still drag the back end on occasion and we have to be very careful with the area just behind the cab where the door is. We probably could have eliminated that concern with a small Class A, but Linda wanted the Class C so she was lower to the ground and would feel more comfortable driving. Since she is doing all the driving, that works for me.
As we say in our "Buying An RV" seminars, every decision has some trade-off, so we are experiencing that first hand and it just depends on what is most important to each individual.
Our generator is annoyingly loud, but with our solar system and batteries, we don't have to run it much. Of course, that doesn't have anything to do with the size or the fact it's a Class C.
The way the gray water is handled is strange. The sewer outlet on the rig is next to the black tank which sits in front of the rear axle. However, the gray tank is behind the rear axle, so they use a pump to pump the gray water up and over the axle to the outlet. Therefore, we can't leave the gray tank open to gravity drain when on full hook-ups and if the pump goes out, we're stuck not being able to drain the gray tank. However, we're going to modify that situation this winter and plumb in a gray tank drain. Again, that is more of a model issue.
With all that said, however, we chose this model mainly because of the large rear storage space or "trunk". We actually wanted something a little smaller, but in looking at a lot of Class Cs, we couldn't find anything smaller that had adequate outside storage space for our full-timing life.
One question we get is regarding the gas vs diesel engine. Certainly, if the stars lined up, we would prefer the diesel power and the advantage of an exhaut brake. But, as you know, we're "debt free" people, and this unit was in our price range without needing a loan. We just needed to put a little more into it than what we got on the sale of our fifth wheel and truck, and the model fit the bill for most of what we wanted in a Class C. Note however, that we've done several passes with the rig, and although the ascents are slow and the descents require a bit more skill without the exhaust brake, Linda is handling them beautifully.
In answer to the questions "Was it a good decision?" and "Knowing what you know now would you have still made the change?", we can say "Absolutely!!" to both.
I would've had started out smaller in the beginning, and I knew I could adjust easily. So, I was happy to go smaller. The surprising thing is how much Linda loves this unit. She loves driving it, she loves the easy of setting up and taking down, and she no longer has the travel anxiety that she had with the fifth wheel (even though she didn't tow it). This change has likely extended our full-timing by a few more years.
However, as I said before, if we had just gone and picked this unit up off a sales lot having no experience in the beginning and not knowing what modifications we could make, and not knowing some mountain driving skills, I'm not sure we would have been happy in it. We're very happy with it largely because of the route it took to get here.
Hope that helps and we're happy to answer any other questions you may have.
arcaguy said
12:44 PM Nov 27, 2018
Howard,
Do you think the ease of breaking camp have to do with style of the RV (class c) or the size? I'm wondering because it's one of my decision factors in a couple of years.
Howard said
01:14 PM Nov 27, 2018
It's both actually. The style because we don't have to move furniture (turn recliners, move tables, etc.) to put the slides in and the size because 1) there are only two small slides as opposed to the four we had before, and 2) because we are smaller and there is less room we have less stuff that we can get out otherwise it would be in the way (less stuff out, less time to put it away).
I don't want to overstate this too much though. We're talking 10 - 15 minutes less time for Linda to get the inside ready, not a big deal on a travel day. But it is a bigger deal if we're just packing up to go to a dump station and then re-park. Of course, in the bigger rig with the bigger tanks, we wouldn't have to pack up because we could stay longer without dumping. Again, trade-offs.
arcaguy wrote:
Howard,
Do you think the ease of breaking camp have to do with style of the RV (class c) or the size? I'm wondering because it's one of my decision factors in a couple of years.
Hello Howard + Linda
Now that you have had time to settle in, make some changes and spend time in your new to you home just wondering if you are planning an in depth review of your rig and the transition process? Do you like it now that you have spent some time in it? Was it a good decision? Do you find its size adequate for full timing? Knowing what you know now would you have still made the change?
Mike
For those that don't know, we have a page that provides a link to the reason we transitioned from our fifth wheel to our Class C Winnebago Aspect 27K along with a detailed photo tour, spec information, and the modifications we've made: Our Home On Wheels - Chapter 2.
That should answer many questions.
We both are enjoying the rig and yes, we do find it adequate for full-timing. However, I'm not sure we would have if we didn't have a lot of experience behind us. We knew what we needed and what we knew we wanted to and could change, and Linda knew quite a few space-saving tricks and organizational steps to take.
Taking out the dinette and putting in the Lambright theater seating made a huge difference as did our little modification with the shower. The bathroom is tiny, but we've adjusted.
Linda was concerned about kitchen space and the size of the refrigerator, but that was a fairly easy adaptation and she's finding no problem with that. Her Instant Pot allowed her to get rid of many of the pots and pans that we wouldn't have had room for.
The other thing we've had to adapt to is that we just don't have as much storage space. We have enough, but we often have to take things out of cabinets and compartments to access other items, so there is less convenience in getting to what we need than before, but we've adjusted to that also.
Our biggest complaint about this rig is the small size of the holding tanks. The fresh water, gray water, and black water are all about 33 gallons. In the fifth wheel, we had a 100 gallon fresh water, two 45-gallon gray tanks and a 45-gallon black tank. So, when boondocking, we are having to conserve more to stay out longer. But we are adjusting to that as well; plus, this rig is so much easier to just pack up and go, it's really no big deal to make a quick run to a dump station, and we can get into more campgrounds and more boondocking spots.
Another thing I don't like about this rig is the low ground clearance. We still drag the back end on occasion and we have to be very careful with the area just behind the cab where the door is. We probably could have eliminated that concern with a small Class A, but Linda wanted the Class C so she was lower to the ground and would feel more comfortable driving. Since she is doing all the driving, that works for me.
As we say in our "Buying An RV" seminars, every decision has some trade-off, so we are experiencing that first hand and it just depends on what is most important to each individual.
Our generator is annoyingly loud, but with our solar system and batteries, we don't have to run it much. Of course, that doesn't have anything to do with the size or the fact it's a Class C.
The way the gray water is handled is strange. The sewer outlet on the rig is next to the black tank which sits in front of the rear axle. However, the gray tank is behind the rear axle, so they use a pump to pump the gray water up and over the axle to the outlet. Therefore, we can't leave the gray tank open to gravity drain when on full hook-ups and if the pump goes out, we're stuck not being able to drain the gray tank. However, we're going to modify that situation this winter and plumb in a gray tank drain. Again, that is more of a model issue.
With all that said, however, we chose this model mainly because of the large rear storage space or "trunk". We actually wanted something a little smaller, but in looking at a lot of Class Cs, we couldn't find anything smaller that had adequate outside storage space for our full-timing life.
One question we get is regarding the gas vs diesel engine. Certainly, if the stars lined up, we would prefer the diesel power and the advantage of an exhaut brake. But, as you know, we're "debt free" people, and this unit was in our price range without needing a loan. We just needed to put a little more into it than what we got on the sale of our fifth wheel and truck, and the model fit the bill for most of what we wanted in a Class C. Note however, that we've done several passes with the rig, and although the ascents are slow and the descents require a bit more skill without the exhaust brake, Linda is handling them beautifully.
In answer to the questions "Was it a good decision?" and "Knowing what you know now would you have still made the change?", we can say "Absolutely!!" to both.
I would've had started out smaller in the beginning, and I knew I could adjust easily. So, I was happy to go smaller. The surprising thing is how much Linda loves this unit. She loves driving it, she loves the easy of setting up and taking down, and she no longer has the travel anxiety that she had with the fifth wheel (even though she didn't tow it). This change has likely extended our full-timing by a few more years.
However, as I said before, if we had just gone and picked this unit up off a sales lot having no experience in the beginning and not knowing what modifications we could make, and not knowing some mountain driving skills, I'm not sure we would have been happy in it. We're very happy with it largely because of the route it took to get here.
Hope that helps and we're happy to answer any other questions you may have.
Do you think the ease of breaking camp have to do with style of the RV (class c) or the size? I'm wondering because it's one of my decision factors in a couple of years.