java230 said:Oh, and on the topic of safety, if you want the best you're going to get, use an ambulance and build it yourself. They have rollover requirements.
Use a hearse instead.
Technically, they're probably the safest thing out there. I don't think anyone has actually died IN a hearse. :P
frenchyd said:grover said:I have a bit to say on this but much has been covered. I would think GRM, of all places, has the type of people who can buy cheap rv’s. We paid $1700 for our 1990 class A- put about $500 in it initially and then drove it from west palm beach, to bass Harbour Maine and out to montauk. We spent 5 weeks in it and it was one of the best months of my life. Happy to share more if needed.
Should also note that we towed our Odyssey with it as well, HA! It was an adventure to say the least.
That’s exactly what I did with my Cortez. In case you didn’t know what a Cortez is it’s a GMC like motor home powered by the front wheel drive olds 455 except it’s lower and shorter.
I bought a non running one for $500 and got it running in his back yard, brought it home, cleaned it up and did the neglected maintenance. Used it for a while and sold it at a nice profit.
The point being there are plenty of old motorhomes out there that are “barn Finds” needing repairs to get running and work. They can be had for far under the OP’s $7000.
Dont worry, many you will look at won’t be worth your time even if free.
Yep! Basically the same story, and I'm on a laptop now so I can actually type. Ours was in pretty decent physical shape except that on the test drive, the generator didn't start, the a/c didn't work, and the brakes were more of a suggestion than a slowdown. They wanted $5,500 and I offered $1,500 and we settled at 1700.
Generator was just a bad oil pressure switch. A/C's were bad breakers on the generator, and brakes were a master cylinder gasket gone awry. I also replaced the airshocks and then painted the interiror. It already had updated fridge and tanks...it wasn't terrible.
Also, I let my kids sit without belts, and we absolutely did lunch while moving- we only stopped for me to pee- that was the best thing about it!
We were originally in the market for a pop up but it's hard to pass on a class A for that cheap. I will say, check the dang tires. The worst part of the whole ordeal was sketchy tires and blow outs. New tires made the thing ride like a caddy in comparisson. If you have a friend that buys fleet truck tires, you will save a fortune.
ShawnG said:
Use a hearse instead.Technically, they're probably the safest thing out there. I don't think anyone has actually died IN a hearse. :P
That's funny!
java230 said:Oh, and on the topic of safety, if you want the best you're going to get, use an ambulance and build it yourself. They have rollover requirements.
That is really impressive!
Aside from the 7 figure bus conversions, there are 2 makes of class A' that demonstrably have survived a rollover; Blue Bird Wanderlodges and Foretravel Unihomes. There might be others but I don't know of em and info is scarce. Since Wanderlodges were built on the same chassis as their school busses, they are friggin tanks. Unihomes are a semi-monocoque, sides and roof are part of the structure (they make their own chassis, rare in this business, and engineered zero bump steer into it. I cannot overstate how nice that trait is). One of them a few years newer than mine, got an offramp very wrong and went over 4 times, landed on its wheels and the occupants walked away. The cleanup crew, to their utter astonishment, *drove it out*. OTOH, a late-model 4-slideout big buck Tiffin went over on its side in CT iirc, didn't even do a full roll, the occupants went to hospital, and I saw pix of the cleanup drew gathering chunks of motorhome up and using brooms for the rest. Since there are a few GRM folk that have Wanderlodges and unihomes, I guess they sorta fall into the GRM category but you have to be ready for a commitment. A 36' diesel pusher in the driveway is a 2nd house. On wheels. Danger Will Robinson. Moby was bought new in '89 for 286k and I got it in 2013 for 13. After tires, paying to get the roof and windows sealed, and doing my own r n r for radiator (gad) and paying 2 grand for a recore, we have about 20k into it. To me, totally worth it. We don't drive 500 miles to a park and stay for 2 weeks. If we did, we'd have a trailer, no question. What we tend to do is 1-200 miles a day, dry camp wherever, or hit a park for a day or three, and move on. So setup time and tankage requirements ruled out a trailer. And though it has only been used as such a couple times, if and when I get the goldern rallykar running again, there is no better support rig than something with 100 gallons of water and 3 tons of cargo capacity (ie every spare part I own and all my tools and a 30g racegas drum and extra wheels, all of which fits in the basement), and a built-in air compressor. It'll only require that I do what... 1-200 more events for the thing to pay for itself in hotel rooms I don't hafta buy!
This rig puts the 19 years I dealt with the 6.2l diseasel in the Chevy P30 chassis class A into proper perspective. I blew tires at least once a year in that goldern thing. Why? Max weight was listed at 14k. I took it over the scales with me in it and almost nothing extra, half a tank of fuel and no water and it weighed 13600. This is totally common among midrange class A and C and many trailers. And is to be avoided if at all possible and is one big reason to look at class B cuz it might be harder to overload some of those.
I agree with lotsa others here, try renting, maybe try renting more than one type, and see if it's for you. After the p30 gave up the ghost, I figured that's it, we're out, and a year went by and we decided the damn things are just too handy. Spent another year researching and shopping and then we scooooored...
Oops sry got windbaggy
yeesh. how big of an ambulance do they make...?
Curtis, thank you for the excellent write-up. That's super helpful. Regarding a tow vehicle all I have right now is a 2008 3.3l Chrysler T&C.
My girlfriend and I are planning on a similar foray in the next couple years. Our budget is similar. We've looked at many RV type vehicles from pop-ups, 5th wheels, travel trailers, and a couple of super cheap Class Bs. For our purposes and types of adventuring, we've decided that the best bet is actually a conversion van which I'll modify for a pull-out galley and a bed in the back. We mostly do campgrounds and national park type stuff, so we'll have no problems using those showers/toilets.
For your purposes with children, I wonder if a conversion van with a small kitchen area in it would work and then tow a pop-up for sleeping quarters.
Curtis said:frenchyd said:grover said:I have a bit to say on this but much has been covered. I would think GRM, of all places, has the type of people who can buy cheap rv’s. We paid $1700 for our 1990 class A- put about $500 in it initially and then drove it from west palm beach, to bass Harbour Maine and out to montauk. We spent 5 weeks in it and it was one of the best months of my life. Happy to share more if needed.
Should also note that we towed our Odyssey with it as well, HA! It was an adventure to say the least.
That’s exactly what I did with my Cortez. In case you didn’t know what a Cortez is it’s a GMC like motor home powered by the front wheel drive olds 455 except it’s lower and shorter.
I bought a non running one for $500 and got it running in his back yard, brought it home, cleaned it up and did the neglected maintenance. Used it for a while and sold it at a nice profit.
The point being there are plenty of old motorhomes out there that are “barn Finds” needing repairs to get running and work. They can be had for far under the OP’s $7000.
Dont worry, many you will look at won’t be worth your time even if free.
A little off topic, but did you ever see the Cortez that got modified with a twin turbo Caddy 500? Front wheel burnouts in a motorhome.
I’ve read about turbo’d GMC’s but never saw a Cortez turbo’d . On the other hand GMC’s that have 500 cu in Caddy’s are so common as to be almost a factory option.
A conversion van is definitely not an RV and I wouldn't try to use it as one. I've camped in them before and it can work, but that's a hard-sided tent, not an RV. No house battery system, no holding tanks, no fresh water, no provisions for shore power, no generator, and no ventilation. Those things can be added, but with that tiny footprint, you're in for a real project and a ton of compromises that you'll probably hate. If it's absolutely got to be a van and you REALLY like the people you're camping with, do a class B since they've already got that figured out for you. It comes down to personal space requirements, though -- even if it were just the wife and me, a class B would turn into a murder scene the first weekend we tried to use it. I just can't stand being that close to any other human being for that long. In a TT, class C, or an A you can at least spread out a bit. But some folks don't need that. With kids, I like being able to put the kids in their bunks and then retire to the master bedroom. Our conversations have primarily revolved around getting something bigger and with slides so that we have a little more room to move around since the path to the door and all the galley and saloon seating is pretty well blocked once all the beds are pulled out.
Where a conversion van could help you, though, is as a tow rig for a lightweight hybrid TT. You'd have your run-about vehicle while you're camping, something that you could DD, and a better place to eat up road miles on your trip. The captains chairs can keep some distance between the kiddos (and good fences make children that don't get murdered by their parents or whatever Frost said), and the non-driving adult can fairly easily climb back and deal with any kidmergencies that might crop up. There's also plenty of room for a cooler so that sammich duty doesn't get neglected, although in-flight un-fueling isn't an option.
These guys have the answer!
penultimetasaid:
For your purposes with children, I wonder if a conversion van with a small kitchen area in it would work and then tow a pop-up for sleeping quarters.
wae said:
Where a conversion van could help you, though, is as a tow rig for a lightweight hybrid TT. You'd have your run-about vehicle while you're camping, something that you could DD, and a better place to eat up road miles on your trip. The captains chairs can keep some distance between the kiddos (and good fences make children that don't get murdered by their parents or whatever Frost said), and the non-driving adult can fairly easily climb back and deal with any kidmergenciesthat might crop up. There's also plenty of room for a cooler so that sammich duty doesn't get neglected, although in-flight un-fueling isn't an option.
In reply to SVreX :
Maybe if you have no interest in Motorsports. Otherwise the travel trailer stays home whenever you go to a race.
Hence the focus on Motorhomes.
frenchyd said:In reply to SVreX :
Maybe if you have no interest in Motorsports. Otherwise the travel trailer stays home whenever you go to a race.
Hence the focus on Motorhomes.
That's what pushed me to a motorhome versus a TT. Being able to walk around the paddock (such that it is) in the morning dew after a hot shower and carrying a hot cup of coffee while not having a sore back is one of the most sublime pleasures of a two-day event. That said, though, before I went the motorhome route, I did two-day events by taking the middle seats out of the conversion van and using it as a hard-shell tent. It's not the worst compromise in the world if the $7k number is a hard ceiling.
In reply to wae :
I agree, I found my SUV worked as a hard shell tent and I had a couple of hatchbacks I could fold the rear seat down and have a flat floor to sleep on.
But as a place to be during a race week -Weekend a RV is best. Shower, bathroom, kitchen, are all best if used privately.
wae said:frenchyd said:In reply to SVreX :
Maybe if you have no interest in Motorsports. Otherwise the travel trailer stays home whenever you go to a race.
Hence the focus on Motorhomes.
That's what pushed me to a motorhome versus a TT. Being able to walk around the paddock (such that it is) in the morning dew after a hot shower and carrying a hot cup of coffee while not having a sore back is one of the most sublime pleasures of a two-day event. That said, though, before I went the motorhome route, I did two-day events by taking the middle seats out of the conversion van and using it as a hard-shell tent. It's not the worst compromise in the world if the $7k number is a hard ceiling.
A standard conversion van with the middle seats removed was my base camp for a couple of years when racing mountain bikes. I had a straight leg EZ-Up that would go right against the side doors of the van which served as my "kitchen" area. It worked well enough, kept me dry when it rained and was reasonably cheap, but here were often situations when lacking other RV attributes made life less than pleasant. Hence my desire for an RV now.
If you want small but all the features of a class A try an old Frank Industries Xplorer. Many years ago they were made on a van chassis with a raised roof and extended back. Had a bed, dinette, shower, toilet, and galley in less than 20 feet. Also there was the Rialto which is newer but has a very efficient use of space.
I am sure there are more in this group, these are two I have personal experience with and can recommend.
ShawnG said:No motorhome is ever in great mechanical shape.
They spend 99% of their time sitting and something will always be broken or not functioning when you want to take them somewhere.
Seals dry out, gas goes bad, water gets into the brake fluid, mice get at the wiring, etc.
We stick to trailers and even they have issues. My CO detector is acting up in mine, causing a loud beep every couple of minutes. I need new batteries this year and probably new tires. My trailer is a 2013 model.
This.
They are kind of like boats and cabins. Great idea at first then reality sets in and all the time and money just keeping them up. Next thing you know you want out. But if you have nothing but gobs of free time and enough $$$$$ knock yourself out.
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