Brand new, looking to buy, renting first to try it out

[jfr123]

Hi there. We're as new as they come – a couple in our 60s from San Diego who have never traveled before in an RV. We've been doing tons of research and our ideal choice is the Leisure Travel Van Wonder, but we know it takes ages to get one of those. We're renting a Coachmen Crosstrek 21XG in April to go on a trial trip to make sure we love this way of traveling as much as we think we will. The bed is probably too small in that RV but we're considering the Crosstrek 20XG as an alternative (cheaper, easier to get quickly) so this was the closest we could come. We do hear there are quality and service issues with Coachmen so any advice would be appreciated as we evaluate our options.

 

[Calsun]

There is a 18 month wait for a Leisure Travel Van RV so consider that as well. The twin beds in these RVs are 32" wide and so we wanted an RV with a queen bed and also one where we did not have to crawl over each other to get out. That meant a Murphy bed for us. Otherwise the RVs with the corner bed would be our second choice. The LTV are among the best built and great designs for the most part.

The type without the cabover section are not something I would get as this area provides additional storage for items we want to get to quickly. With our SUV or crew cab truck we put photo gear and jackets and the like in the back seat and the area over the cab we use in the same manner.

A problem with the smaller Class C gas powered motorhomes is their having a small gas tank and this tank is often shared by the generator. The Class C that use the Ford 450 cab chassis have 50 to 55 gallon fuel tanks for a lot more range and are better suited to dry camping as one can carry more freshwater with their great load capacity. The diesel powered RV's will get 25-30 percent more miles per gallon of fuel and that means more miles between having to find a service station.

We like to cook 95% of our meals inside the RV and being able to do so is important as we are not fans of restaurant food. The Coachman 21G provides less space to cook than we have with our small Lance slide-in camper. Something to look at instead is the Thor Qwest 24 models where there is 4x the counter space available in the Coachman 21Gfor cooking and without having to use the dinette table as a staging area. I would also check to see how usable the dinnette area is for actual use. Many are too small or require turning around the cab seats and using them with a booster cushion.

Many RVs now come with a DC only fridge and these take up more than 50% of the house battery capacity. A 3-way fridge takes 1/20 as much juice to operate as it is using propane. We have been in freezing temperatures and running the furnace and the propane fridge and cooking on a propane cooktop and we used roughly 2 gallons of propane each week. With our new RV tha has a DC only fridge I needed to spend $3000 on lithium phosphate batteries and $1000 to upgrade the rooftop solar setup to be able to power the DC fridge without plugging in to shore power.

Something I have often recommended but doubt many have followed my advice, is to go to RV parks and ask the people there what they like about their current motorhome and what they had before it and if they were buying now what would they get. A lot more useful information first hand and very educational. People do this when investigating a boat but seldom for an RV - go figure.