Why dont more Mudders RV?

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arcteryx

arcteryx

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I dont see many folks talk about RVing, whether it be in a Class A, B, C or Travel Trailer. I see a lot of talk about RTTs and sleeping platforms on M416s, but really, that only works if its you and another person, maybe 1 kid.

The fact is, I used to tent camp, had a RTT, and had an off-road popup trailer (Starcraft 11RT), but as the family gets bigger/older, these are just not comfortable options anymore. And the :princess:, whom is very rough/tough when needed, would rather have an actual toilet than a porta potty if she had her druthers. I get that. I am sure I am not alone with these family "requirements".

Are there others who have RVs but just not talk about it? I'd like to hear/see some RV setups, why you chose your RV type vs another, as well as why you do/do not RV.
 
Yeah Jason, I think there's interest, but most on Mud are interested more in their Toyotas and RTTs - maybe a tent trailer or an off road utility/camper combo. RVs can be "dry camped" seriously with a generator or maybe solar assistance, but are more for like KOA and campgrounds with hookups. I picked up a 1990 Ford F250 7.3L Diesel 4x4 and found a used 1989 Western Wilderness Alpine 11' camper earlier this year. Separate deals, it wasn't a package setup. It's been fun getting everything setup and in working order. I've "driveway camped" in it, but no real excursions yet. To be honest, I've kinda lost interest in my RTT that I got for my Land Cruiser, but I'm pushing 60 yrs old, so comfort appeals to me quite loudly, if you know what I mean. Here's a pic with camper off during some truck maintenance:

IMG_0825a.webp
 
We have a class A and tow the 60 behind it. This works great for us, set the MH up as base camp and do day trips, with an occasional overnighter in great areas. All the comforts of home and remote travel too!

A great way to see the country.

Doug
 
My :princess: used to be a great tent camper.

Her knees are bad now and she doesn't like sleeping on the ground anymore. The last time we tent camped I had to bring a big honking blow-up queen sized bed for her. Took up dang near the whole tent. The two end tables she brought took up the rest.

My plan now is to get a diesel van and camperize it. Then I'll 4x4 it and we can do all the off-road camping that we want in style. It will replace the diesel suburban as a tow rig.
 
Glad to see that there are others who do this. And like ya'll we seem to be on the same page- done the RTT, done the tent, looking for something a little easier/more friendly.

doug, I like your idea a lot. I am itching to get one, and cant decide between an A, C, travel trailer, or even a truck camper, although the latter would be very tight. I do like the fiberglass ones.

Kevin- sounds like a great idea. I can see doing that when the kids are out of the house. PLus by then hopefully those sprinters will be a lot less than they are now. $90K. ouch.

And I prefer to boondock if possible or at least go to the national/state parks off season. its amazing how quiet they can be. Ironically, I just tent camped in Yosemite last week in Lower Pines. The place was packed but it was the quietest campground Ive been to in a long time. It's like everyone knew to be quiet and was there to respect nature.
=
 
A few years ago, the lovely Mrs. Skidplate said "No more sleeping in a tent and peeing in a coffee can". The only way she will "camp" now is in our trailer. It is nice to have a shower, toilet, and all the goodies of home. I still hunt and camp in my '40 whenever I want, she stays home, :clap: so I have the best of both worlds. The trailer is a Trail Lite 21'. The 1/2 ton Cheby hauls it with no effort.

044.webp
 
maybe it has a lot to do with the demographics on this particular section. lots of talks on tents, gear, fridges, trailers, awnings, rtt's which all equate to the more roughing it style of enjoying the outdoors.

an RV is not a land cruiser either and this is a landcruiser site. :) as you can see, two pics posted with big horse pickups pulling big loads and stayin on flat ground.

maybe there are more guys here that are NOT into "glamping" and bringing showers and tv's with them, not that there's anything wrong with that.

always thought i'd never be that guy with kids with a full size kitchen and slide out bedroom and an RV, but the idea appeals to me from time to time. i'll drool over sprinter/benze rv's, safari condo trailers, and quicksilver ultralights...BUT..well..it's just not the same. i love sleeping in a jungle hammock and keeping it simple.

but maybe i'll get there and will be that guy with a decked out bus in my retirement cuz my legs can't handle the rough stuff anymore!
 
Bought the m416 and took family to Moab on spring break at dead horse point. After 5 wonderful nights and very little water usage to remove dirt and grime from our bodies there was a fine aroma in my tent. Although we had great family time camping the shoe pile by the tent entrance made me admire the surrounding campers.

Someone pulled into campsite across from us In a small Lance trailer. To make a long story short 2 weeks later I purchased a2014 Lance 1865. We love it, made for lighter vehicles and has nice slide out. Can be used to go to the boondocks. I also use it when I'm on call and park it at local state park. It has been exememly reliable and we took it to Oshkosh Wisconsin at the end of July for 10 day 2500 mile round trip. I can't say enough how much we love the little trailer. I pulled it home with my 2006 100 series initially however it didn't quite have the oomph I wanted when pulling. I will pick up my tundra next week which will be nicer to pull around the mountains.

Since purchasing it we have used it a lot! I have personally spent probably 30 comfortable nights in it since mid may. Except for broken toilet lid and leak with shower head it had performed flawlessly.

There is time and place for tent camping which I love and my kids really enjoy. But when that weather goes south and winds come join so thankful I have the camper.
 
arcteryx said:
Kevin- sounds like a great idea. I can see doing that when the kids are out of the house. PLus by then hopefully those sprinters will be a lot less than they are now. $90K. ouch.


=
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My diesel van will probably be a ford 7.3; unless I can find an AWD chebby duramax that I can throw a part-time TC in it. Yes the sprinters are nice, but they are very pricey and I don't think the 3 liter engine will be any good at towing and they are definitely not off-road friendly.

I need three things in my camper van, off-road (expedition) ready, a tow rig, and be able to be parked as a regular van (on the street for extended periods).

I am hoping to get this thing together for next summer. I'll do a build thread when I get going on it.
 
But look at all that space you need.
You need a huge level place to set up then you need to set up, which, from my observation takes longer than pulling gear out, opening an awning and unfolding the RTT.
There is a ton of maintenance involved with RV ownership. You have to store them somewhere and for most people that means paying rent of over $100/mo to some storage place. Then there's the whole insurance and registration (more taxe$ in my state), and that's to say nothing of the extra fuel costs and the impact on the environment, the very environment, ironically, I'd be driving a very far distance to appreciate how serene it is.

When I had a truck camper, I was getting 13mpg on the highway. The cost of fuel was so high, and this was back when gas was a dollar or two cheaper, that I couldn't afford to go anywhere. And I couldn't go a lot of places that I wanted to go and I couldn't take my kayak.

I know RVing isn't a cheap hobby, nor is offroading for that matter, at least not with the gear that a lot of people here buy, but I crunched the numbers once upon a time on buying a small travel trailer and with the costs of ownership, what it boiled down to is I could stay 2 weeks a year at a 5 diamond Ritz Carlton for what I'd be spending. Not to sound like Jeremy Clarkston on Top Gear but if you want to stay in luxury, it;s far cheaper to stay in a really luxurious hotel room with golf and spa package than it is to go RVing and deal with the offgassing of all the formaldehyde soaked carpet and cheap Chinese appliances. But what interests me more is getting away from the conveniences and comforts of everyday life , get out of the manic campgrounds with screaming brats running around and bears digging through trash, and going places that have the best view and have real peace and quiet. And going places with minimal evidence that anyone else exists on this planet. And more importantly, I have to be able to afford to do it.

So that's my reason. I started with a truck camper and got rid of it and moved to RTT and haven't looked back. At some point in my life, climbing up the ladder, going into Brief Relief bags will probably be more difficult. I would probably go back to truck camper or a van at that time. Or maybe for the costs of doing that, it'd probably be cheaper to hire a nurse to hoist me into the RTT and empty my bed pan.

I'm just sayin.
 
ih88hi10 said:
But what interests me more is getting away from the conveniences and comforts of everyday life , get out of the manic campgrounds with screaming brats running around and bears digging through trash, and going places that have the best view and have real peace and quiet. And going places with minimal evidence that anyone else exists on this planet. And more importantly, I have to be able to afford to do it.

.
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^^^ Well said!!!
 
ih88hi10 said:
But look at all that space you need.
You need a huge level place to set up then you need to set up, which, from my observation takes longer than pulling gear out, opening an awning and unfolding the RTT.
There is a ton of maintenance involved with RV ownership. You have to store them somewhere and for most people that means paying rent of over $100/mo to some storage place. Then there's the whole insurance and registration (more taxe$ in my state), and that's to say nothing of the extra fuel costs and the impact on the environment, the very environment, ironically, I'd be driving a very far distance to appreciate how serene it is.

When I had a truck camper, I was getting 13mpg on the highway. The cost of fuel was so high, and this was back when gas was a dollar or two cheaper, that I couldn't afford to go anywhere. And I couldn't go a lot of places that I wanted to go and I couldn't take my kayak.

I know RVing isn't a cheap hobby, nor is offroading for that matter, at least not with the gear that a lot of people here buy, but I crunched the numbers once upon a time on buying a small travel trailer and with the costs of ownership, what it boiled down to is I could stay 2 weeks a year at a 5 diamond Ritz Carlton for what I'd be spending. Not to sound like Jeremy Clarkston on Top Gear but if you want to stay in luxury, it;s far cheaper to stay in a really luxurious hotel room with golf and spa package than it is to go RVing and deal with the offgassing of all the formaldehyde soaked carpet and cheap Chinese appliances. But what interests me more is getting away from the conveniences and comforts of everyday life , get out of the manic campgrounds with screaming brats running around and bears digging through trash, and going places that have the best view and have real peace and quiet. And going places with minimal evidence that anyone else exists on this planet. And more importantly, I have to be able to afford to do it.

So that's my reason. I started with a truck camper and got rid of it and moved to RTT and haven't looked back. At some point in my life, climbing up the ladder, going into Brief Relief bags will probably be more difficult. I would probably go back to truck camper or a van at that time. Or maybe for the costs of doing that, it'd probably be cheaper to hire a nurse to hoist me into the RTT and empty my bed pan.

I'm just sayin.
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You obviously dont have wife or kids that go with you. Sure, if it was just me or the wife and I, then this is a valid argument. Throw in a fam and its a complete game changer as others have realized. Getting there can be just as important as arriving- "are we there yet", "how much longer". Mine are very well travelled and are not brats, but being in a car for a good portion of the day and even they will start asking.

Yes most RVs are POC, but there are a few that are solid. I agree with you on the mainstream campgrounds, but sometimes it's inevitable.
 
LandCruiserPhil said:
Last weekend in Mexico:cool:
We like and do camping out of the Land Cruiser also
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Very nice! I cant get the wife to camp on the beach- too much sand. I get that but it would be nice once in a while to wake up looking at the ocean
 
arcteryx said:
Very nice! I cant get the wife to camp on the beach- too much sand. I get that but it would be nice once in a while to wake up looking at the ocean
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To be honest, even though it looks perfect it was hot as hell. Wanted to get the trailer down early this year. It will stay down there from now till ~April. Perfect is just around the corner.:cool:

Another picture that makes it look nice but:frown:...

IMG_6585.webp
 
I have been in places where an RV shouldn't, but they all have been rentals from European kids visiting the US. I also seen some tricked out rigs build for comfort and great off road capability..


I can't afford an RV anyways...
 
arcteryx said:
Throw in a fam and its a complete game changer as others have realized. Getting there can be just as important as arriving-
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I don't really see why it would be a game changer then again, I live in a place where in just 45 minutes time, I can be crawling to the top of a mountain on a road that makes a creek bed look like an airport runway. So "getting there" is pretty exciting to say the least. Sometimes a little terrifying actually. :D

If I couldn't get out of the city or the burbs and escape all the highway boringness of truckstops, RVs, farm fields and walmarts within a relatively short period of time, I'd probably go insane. I have been to other parts of the country where you cannot escape it so I guess I can understand that. If it takes you 2 days just to get to the destination via interstates like I just described then yeah...

You asked why don't more mudders RV... well, why don't more RVers go muddin?

It's a completely different hobby, with a completely different set of goals and a completely different set of participants.
One could say, oh just get an EarthRoamer, they're only $400k.
But you simply cannot maneuver one of those in the mountains.
If someone gave me one for free, I really can't think of any places that I could take the thing other than a campground. So what's the point? If I was out west in the desert then maybe one of those would come in handy but even full size trucks without any sort of camper or appendage are difficult to use on a lot of the trails/roads around here.
 
Having grown up with parents that had rvs, my experience is that the larger they get, the less they get used. More size = more work to use = less use. To the point where they ended up giving up entirely on the idea and buying a sports car and staying in hotels.

For me - when I go camping, my primary goal is to get away from people. RV to me almost always means being as close to my camping neighbor as I am to my real neighbor at home. Kinda defeats the point for me.
 
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