Joining the ranks... - RV-Dreams Community Forum

TheParkers · RV-Dreams Community Member

Joining the ranks...

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well, welcome to the ranks of those living the life and those dreaming of the life on the road. I glanced at your blog, but at the moment, time isn't on my side to read much of it yet. Will have to wait until this evening.

However, I did see enough of your artistic endeavors to pique my interest.

Feel free to ask any questions or post comments. We welcome both as we tend to learn from each other.

Terry

TheParkers · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks, Terry! At the moment, I'm reading everything I can so we can get through the winter in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.

melandu · RV-Dreams Community Member

Texas Is a good place to winter, I know we are in the Mansfield area now and plan to stay until we go to Colorado for the summer. We go up there every summer and volunteer. We get our full hookup site and 3 meals a day 7 days a week for just 28 hours volunteering. We love it, if interested its Snow Mountain Ranch, which is YMCA of the Rockies.

TheParkers · RV-Dreams Community Member

Mel, we've lived in the Dallas area for years, but never in a MH. We're going to be in Roanoke, between Denton and Ft.Worth, a little further north than you. What special precautions do we need to take for those short blasts of winter we expect?

Waggin Tails · RV-Dreams Family Member

Good catch on the contract in Dallas. Now if we can get our house under contract in Corpus Christi. I know, it will happen when it happens. I understand about people getting their stuff. Our kids got what they wanted. Estate sale this past weekend cleared about 95% of the house. Salvation Army is coming on Thursday to get the rest. All of this makes for exciting times.
Best wishes on 2012. Hope to meet up on the road some day.

TheParkers · RV-Dreams Community Member

Jerry & Carol, best of luck to you. We close tomorrow. Moved the MH and moved in the day before Thanksgiving. Finished cleaning the "old" house today. Tonight we're buttoned up inside, surrounded by stuff that still needs to be put away, but it is now Home.

FritzandCheryl · RV-Dreams Community Member

Welcome to the good life. We are just west of Fort Worth near Weatherford. There isn't much to get read for the brief winter breezes. Just make sure your water line is insulated with either a insulation of some sort, a heated waterline, or build a cover for your waterline. The weather here has been great so far, only a few days in the 50's and lows in the upper 30's. The rest in the 60's and 70's and lows in the 50's and upper 40's.

Fritz

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

FritzandCheryl wrote:
Welcome to the good life. We are just west of Fort Worth near Weatherford. There isn't much to get read for the brief winter breezes. Just make sure your water line is insulated with either a insulation of some sort, a heated waterline, or build a cover for your waterline. The weather here has been great so far, only a few days in the 50's and lows in the upper 30's. The rest in the 60's and 70's and lows in the 50's and upper 40's.

Fritz

Hey Fritz,

Welcome to the RV Dreams forums. I noticed that this is your first post here, so I just have to say welcome. Now, you are on all three of the major forums that I follow.

Safe travels, my friend. Oh, and a month or two from now, would you bring us some of that "warm" weather?

Terry

heyduke · RV-Dreams Family Member

Welcome Ralph and Nell from a fellow Texan...

TheParkers · RV-Dreams Community Member

HeyDuke, thanks!

TheParkers · RV-Dreams Community Member

Fritz, I appreciate the advice. You're in the same general geographic area, and that helps. I bought the wrong thing at Home Depot... a pipe heater cable, instead of hose heater. So far, we've just had those dips down just below freezing overnight, then back up to 50s and 60s during the day. I'm going to return the cable and get something else. Thanks!

TheParkers · RV-Dreams Community Member

The thing we're trying to learn right now is how far does a 27 gallon onboard tank of propane last? We're on full hookups here: electric, water & sewer. We're paying for electric, and the manager said one can really run up an electric bill with a little electric space heater. So we're heating with the furnace at night. I don't know how much of the underfloor heat gets to the tanks, but I figure it must be at least some, and I've read that that helps. We've had nights down to 4 to 5 degrees below freezing, and we're running the furnace at 65 degrees or so at night and sleeping under a couple of blankets. It still gets up to the upper 50s to 60s during the day, so we turn it down to 55 during the day, and let the sun heat the place up through the windows. After five days, the LPG monitor is showing we've only gone down to 3/4 of a tank. I don't know if we're doing good or not, but we're trying to conserve until we see what it's going to cost after the first month. We don't want to freeze, but we don't want to run up high bills right off the bat, either.

Are we doing this right?

Alie and Jims Carrilite · RV-Dreams Family Member

Have you thought about adding an extended stay hose and a bigger tank?
If you are comfortable with what your doing (temp wise) then it sounds like you have a great plan going.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Ralph and Nell,

I can't help you with the usage on a 27 gallon tank. We are in a fifth wheel with two 40 lb (roughly 19 gallons of LPG) in Oklahoma City. Thus, we are cooler and with less volume.

However, you mentioned belly temperatures. I use a Radio Shack wireless indoor/outdoor thermometer with one extra remote sensor to monitor inside temperatures, outside temperatures, and belly temperature. It all shows up at one base unit. You can see what I wrote about it at my blog at this link:

Technology Can Be Helpful

At present, when the outside temperature here is 48.6 degrees, the belly is 60.6 degrees. But then, Mobile Suites units are well insulated. Last summer with our record heat here in Oklahoma City, our two 15K air conditioners were running pretty much full time and we had two Hunter oscillating fans running as well. Our worst electric bill was around $200 per month.

Good luck with staying warm.

Terry

LifeBeganInaWinnebago · RV-Dreams Family Member

Mel,

My ears perked up when you mentioned YMCA of the Rockies. We love Colorado in the summer and spend much time in the Estes area. There is a YMCA there that we have stayed at several times when taking the girl scout troops. It's a great place to take the kids they have many activities and a great cafeteria. I often wondered what kind of work camping they might offer. We generally stay up the road from the Y at the Estes Park Camp ground. We are no where near retirement but I could see us being interested in work camping when the time comes. Is that 28 hours total or 28 hours for each of you? Thanks for the information.

Mark & Becky

melandu · RV-Dreams Community Member

Mark & Becky,

Thats 28 hours each but believe me its well worth it. We are over the mountain at Snow Mountain Ranch. You need to come over and try us out. We have our own full hookup campground for staff and a seperate one for guests. You would love it there. So much to do and enjoy.

Mel and Gail

melandu · RV-Dreams Community Member

Ralph and Nell,

I unhook the water and put it up on nights that are 32 or below. I have found that works best for me. We just use the pump and water in the tank until the temp goes above 32, which here in Texas is most of the time. We have a 38ft fiver and really enjoying full time life. Another thing that will help, is to keep your door closed from the living area to upstairs. Its easier to heat a 2 small areas, than 1 large area. Hope that helps.

Mel & Gail

2008 Carri-Lite Emerald
2011 F350 Ford

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

Terry and Jo . . . Have you had any issues with towing with your 450? Connie and I will be going full time in the summer and have our 5ver choice down to either an Elite Suites 38RSSB3 (or possibly the 38TSKB3 like you have) or a New Horizons. The NH is about $50K more and while it's probably better built I'm not sure that it isn't a case of "better is the enemy of good enough" since DRV will do all the customizations we want anyway it's going to be hard to justify the extra price tag. I'm also a bit concerned about pulling the NH with just a 450 whih is another strike against it. The NH (39 footer) will be about 21,000 loaded while the 38RSSB3 is 15,800 dry and probably 18,500 loaded . . .both models are well within the towing capacity of the 450 according to Ford. I've talked to both Jack Mayer and the owner of 2L Custom Trucks and both of them pretty strongly recommend the HDT over a pickup . . .but then Jack has an HDT and experience as a truck driver and 2L builds custom HDTs for a living.
Howard and Linda tow with a 450 and they haven't had any issues . . .but then I think their loaded trailer is only about 17,500 or so (Howard, feel free to jump in here and correct that number and/or offer your opinion as well). Conceptually . . .I know that the HDT is "better" from a towing and braking standpoint . . .but I can't shake the feeling that this is a matter of (as I said above) "better and good enough".

My gut is telling me that the 450 for either 5ver is fine especially considering the complete lack of experience either Connie or I have with HDT/MDTs . . .but it's always a good idea to validate your gut feelings. Looking at the RV parks . . .even looking at only 38-40 foot RVs I see a lot more pickups than I see HDT/MDT . . .probably 10 to 1 ratio . . .which sort of tells me that the pickup is the "good enough" answer.

-- Edited by laubenthal on Saturday 17th of December 2011 02:48:24 PM

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Neil,

We've only pulled the Mobile Suites with the Ford F450 about three times on a trip more than an hour or two. We live in Oklahoma City and have traveled once to Carthage, Missouri and back, Grove, Oklahoma and back, and out west of Oklahoma City to Hinton and Red Rock Canyon state park.

Ours is a 2008 F450 and has the 6.4L diesel and the 4:88 differential. When I pull the 18,500 lbs of the Mobile Suites, the F450 hardly even knows it is back there.

Jo has commented that the lightweight Rockwood that we had before made our old F250 strain, but it was a gas engine. In pulling the Mobile Suites, even up the steep ascent out of Red Rock Canyon in Oklahoma, it was a piece of cake.

We originally had the intention of towing out to the Colorado Springs area this past summer, but we had other things come up, so we went to Colorado in our Mercury Mariner and stayed with relatives instead. That would have been our first trip over a mountain pass with the F450 and Mobile Suites. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens next year.

Now, if you go with the Elite Suites, you will be heavier than 18,500 lbs if you use up your cargo carrying capacity. The Elites are heavier. That is part of the reason we went with a Mobile Suites, especially since one can order Elite Suite features to be put on a Mobile Suites coach. We felt the extra dollars for the Elite and the weight just wasn't worth the difference.

If you go to my blog below and use the search function there for posts entitled "Why We Did What We Did", you will find better narratives as to our decisions than I can provide here or in a private message. However, if you have more questions you want to ask, feel free to send me a private message and provide me with your e-mail address and we can correspond that way as well.

I will gladly do what I can to answer your questions as we have gotten a lot of help from others on the forums in our quest. One has to return favors and provide help to others.

One other thing. I like towing with the pickup. I've driven 18-wheelers and bobtails professionally and they don't have the same viewing capability as a pickup. An MDT would help give better viewing capacity, but even a used one of those is expensive. Considering that when we will travel in the future that we won't be towing all that far at each leg of a journey, I see no reason to think we need more than the F450. If ours was a New Horizons, that would be a different colored horse.

Terry

-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Saturday 17th of December 2011 06:07:06 PM

Pinon · RV-Dreams Family Member

Really enjoyed your blog. I can't wait to be in your situation!

Pinon

TheParkers · RV-Dreams Community Member

Pinon, thanks! I have two blogs, and really enjoy writing them. Don't be too envious of our situation just yet. We're sitting at anchor right now until DW retires, but as you can tell it's a good learning experience. Stick with us when we finally hit the road around the first of April, if not sooner.

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

Terry and Jo wrote:
Now, if you go with the Elite Suites, you will be heavier. That is part of the reason we went with a Mobile Suites, especially since one can order Elite Suite features to be put on a Mobile Suites coach.

I will gladly do what I can to answer your questions as we have gotten a lot of help from others on the forums in our quest. One has to return favors and provide help to others.
If ours was a New Horizons, that would be a different colored horse.

Terry . . .sorry I didn't reply to this before today . . .somehow I missed it back on the 17th.

We hadn't considered the Mobile up-featured vs the Elite . . .I'll have to look at the differences in detail to see what makes the most sense. I'll PM you my email for some detailed discussions if I have questions. We've about eliminated the HDT unless we end up with the New Horizons when we'll have to revisit the truck question . . .but I personally don't think we'll like it enough better after our tour next week to make the extra $50K or so worthwhile.

53 Merc · RV-Dreams Family Member

laubenthal wrote:
Terry and Jo wrote:
Now, if you go with the Elite Suites, you will be heavier. That is part of the reason we went with a Mobile Suites, especially since one can order Elite Suite features to be put on a Mobile Suites coach.
I will gladly do what I can to answer your questions as we have gotten a lot of help from others on the forums in our quest. One has to return favors and provide help to others.
If ours was a New Horizons, that would be a different colored horse.
Terry . . .sorry I didn't reply to this before today . . .somehow I missed it back on the 17th.
We hadn't considered the Mobile up-featured vs the Elite . . .I'll have to look at the differences in detail to see what makes the most sense. I'll PM you my email for some detailed discussions if I have questions. We've about eliminated the HDT unless we end up with the New Horizons when we'll have to revisit the truck question . . .but I personally don't think we'll like it enough better after our tour next week to make the extra $50K or so worthwhile.

Check out Jack Mayer's classified on this forum. A New Horizons and a Volvo class 6 just might be your ticket. If Jack had it built, it is correct. Anyway, it might be what you need.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

laubenthal wrote:
Terry . . .sorry I didn't reply to this before today . . .somehow I missed it back on the 17th.
We hadn't considered the Mobile up-featured vs the Elite . . .I'll have to look at the differences in detail to see what makes the most sense. I'll PM you my email for some detailed discussions if I have questions. We've about eliminated the HDT unless we end up with the New Horizons when we'll have to revisit the truck question . . .but I personally don't think we'll like it enough better after our tour next week to make the extra $50K or so worthwhile.

Neal,

I'm waiting for your message. If I remember correctly, I went through the DRV brochure and listed each of the things on an Elite Suites that were not standard on the Mobile Suites. Then I matched prices for each feature and came up with a price difference to decide whether we needed any of those features for the prices.

We are pretty simple "farm folk" and didn't need all the amenities of the Elite, so there was very little from an Elite that we took, if any. Where we added was with other amenities like an inverter and extra batteries, generator prep (but no generator), and a few other minor things.

To each his own, but even with our 38' coach and Ford F450, we can still go into some National Forest campgrounds and boondock where we would never take a New Horizons and an HDT. Besides, if we were willing to pay the price for a New Horizons, we would have purchased a 42' Tiffin Phaeton Class A.

Terry

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

53 Merc wrote:
Check out Jack Mayer's classified on this forum. A New Horizons and a Volvo class 6 just might be your ticket. If Jack had it built, it is correct.

It's a very nice rig . . .but Connie vetoed it already . . .too big for most state parks where we plan on spending the majority of our time. She's not all that keen on needing an HDT either. I did think about it though . . .we could probably get both the rig and the truck (via Jack's trade in to 2L) for not much more than a new 38-39 foot NH would cost without the truck.