RV vs Cruising

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Moonstruck said:
. There is a lot of this country not accessible by water. We don't want to limit ourselves to coast and rivers. .
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Wifey B: What you talkin bout Willis? :lol:

Checking this heresy out. :mad:

States I haven't been to and don't see a way to get to by water or if there is, it's too difficult. Not accessible from where we are:

North Dakota
South Dakota
Colorado
New Mexico
Arizona
Montana
Wyoming
Utah
Nevada

That's only 9 states. You guys can check my list. Let me know if it's not right. :)
 
BandB said:
Wifey B:

That's only 9 states. You guys can check my list. Let me know if it's not right. :)
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I see your point, but there is a lot more to see in many states than just from the water. For instance we plan to do the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive in a few weeks. We have boated extensively in NC and VA, but you can't do that drive on a boat. It's cooler in the mountains this time of year.

Edit: Almost forgot to mention that fall is all about football in the South. We use the Airstream for going to see my grandson play football. That means much travelling.

I am on my boat in Florida this week enjoying the water. I will be in the mountains fishing for trout on a cool stream this summer. Best of both worlds. I guess it comes under the heading of different strokes for . . . . . ., or whatever cranks your tractor. I can't camp at 9,000 ft elevation in the Colorado Rockies in my boat.
 
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Moonstruck said:
I see your point, but there is a lot more to see in many states than just from the water. For instance we plan to do the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive in a few weeks. We have boated extensively in NC and VA, but you can't do that drive on a boat. It's cooler in the mountains this time of year.

.
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Wifey B: We do rent cars and vary further from the coast than most do. NC is the extreme state from Manteo to Murphy. Now, we don't exactly have to check it out since I lived 11 years and he lived 41 years in Charlotte area and we go there 4 times a year. :)

There are places I'd like to see. Did Vegas for wedding and flew over Grand Canyon. He's been to Salt Lake City but I haven't. Arizona sounds interesting. I know now people who live there may love it, but not seeing the Dakotas doesn't leave me feeling deprived. :eek:

I can see us sometime when we're older doing some occasional land touring to places we haven't been. ;)
 
This was real camping, carrying all necessities on one's back!

 
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IMO RV's are cheaper than boats. All ya need to do is think about moorage to see the light on that question.

However from my perspective the RV will peobably burn far more fuel. But it dosn't require haulouts. Think of changing a tire or a prop.
An RV could possibly be a motorcycle w a tiny tent trailer. But then a small trawler could be a trailerable trawler w FD hull and a small engine.

But w a typical trawler and RV the RV is usually much cheaper ... IMO.

I agree Mark. The notion that camping is done w an RV is stupid.
 
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Pluto said:
Greetings All,

I am curious how many cruisers out there also do the RV thing part of the time. I love being on the water, but we have grand kids spread out around the country and Im thinking a used RV might be the way to see more of them and the country. The driving and RV parks don't appeal to me, but then again I have never tried it. Have any of you?

Appreciate any comments.
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Glad to see this thread. I see one person worked for a dealer and I produced RV Buddies - great thing for us was that we got expensive free RVs to use. That said, I've owned a few and am getting a new one. Driving an RV is like sitting on the flybridge - a great view. And yes, like a trawler - causing speeds - enjoy the journey - no rush.

If not anything else, there is room for the pets. You have a bathroom. You can fix a snack. I was in a traffic jam where we didn't move for 2 hours in the Vegas desert. We kicked on the gen set and AC - enjoyed drinks and a sammy. I swear we could have sold cokes for $20!

As for size, even a small one makes the travels nicer. And then you can still stay in hotels if you want. More average ones are great for dry camping, places that aren't perfectly manicured - you won't mind getting the floors dirty. The $$$ ones are nice - but RV parks that are nice can be very expensive. They have them all over - Vegas, Palm Springs, Newport Beach... Hundreds a night to park but they have cleaning crews and deliver gourmet meals to your door.

Any route you take can be fun - you need to pick the route that's right for you. It's a great way to travel. When you think about a large SUV creeping upward to $100K, you can get a pretty nice RV starting at $80K. Something to think about - and besides - now you have a great excuse to go to all the RV shows :)
 
Nomad Willy said:
IMO RV's are cheaper than boats. All ya need to do is think about moorage to see the light on that question.

However from my perspective the RV will peobably burn far more fuel. But it dosn't require haulouts. Think of changing a tire or a prop.
An RV could possibly be a motorcycle w a tiny tent trailer. But then a small trawler could be a trailerable trawler w FD hull and a small engine.

But w a typical trawler and RV the RV is usually much cheaper ... IMO.

I agree Mark. The notion that camping is done w an RV is stupid.
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Re: far more fuel

Not following - are you in a sailboat?

The absolute worst an RV will do is around 5-6MPG. The best is 20MPG (the newer class C CRD's)

That seems to be at least twice as good as typical for a trawler?
 
Lepke said:
Rent one about the size you want. Drive around Atlanta for a few days and let us know how it goes.
If you do decide to buy, check out retirement communities. Usually they have an RV parking yard and there's always a couple for sale. Almost new, bought by people that thought they would be comfortable driving them.
I'm not saying it can't be done but there's a lot of stress driving a large RV in traffic. I don't mind docking ships & boats, even in a crowded harbor, but driving a vehicle that barely fits in a lane, is hard to stop and difficult to maneuver is beyond me.
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If you encounter heavy metro traffic, pull off, have dinner, take a nap and get back on the road after the idiots have gotten home and the traffic opens back up... The nice thing about an RV is you're always home. Just like a boat, having a schedule is often the cause of problems. If you HAVE to be there by a certain time, fly.
 
kev_rm said:
That seems to be at least twice as good as typical for a trawler?
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A typical days travel in an RV is more than twice as many miles as in a boat. If 50mi a day on the ICW or loop is a good day, that's about an hour on the highway. We don't care to travel more than 5 hours a day maximum irregardless of what we are in: boat or RV. It happens some times, but only if it's unavoidable, rarely by plan.
 
As to fuel economy our 38' DP gets over 9 MPG even when towing a mid size SUV. If our 41' boat got half as good mileage it would be phenomenal. Either way fuel cost isn't the determinant factor in either boating or RVing.
 
kev_rm said:
Re: far more fuel

Not following - are you in a sailboat?

The absolute worst an RV will do is around 5-6MPG. The best is 20MPG (the newer class C CRD's)

That seems to be at least twice as good as typical for a trawler?
Click to expand...

My Willard burns 1gph the small RV 350V8 burns 6gph. But I should have mentioned the low burn of the Willard. My bad. Sorry.
 
Or mpg which in this case is the ruler, not gph.
 
1 g/h at 6 knots is 6 mpg. We get more than 13 mpg average towing at 65 to 70 miles per hour.
At 6 knots our boat gets between 6 and 7 miles per gallon.
Of course we almost never cruise at that speed...
Bruce
 
GPH isn't the important number. MPG is the important number. Most trawlers burn more than 1 gph, but even at 1 gph at 6 knots comparing it to my 36' RV that gets at least 9 mpg towing an SUV and 10.5 not towing. Your boat is getting less than 7 mpg. And most trawlers are getting around 1.5 to 2.5 mpg. Your RV may burn 6 gph but you are probably running at 55 to 65 mph.
 
If I'm traveling on the road I'm going to run about the same amount time. So the fuel burn over time is most important .. by far. But that's just me w my 1gph/6mpg boat. For equal fuel burn I'm going to be running one day out of every six .. to match my boat burn rate over time. I'm not going to sit around for 5 days waiting to burn more fuel. So since I'll burn six times as much fuel .. count me out.

I am however, looking to find a small and light trailer to tow behind my Avalon. Should burn less that half as much fuel as a 350 Chevrolet.
 
Nomad Willy said:
If I'm traveling on the road I'm going to run about the same amount time. So the fuel burn over time is most important .. by far. But that's just me w my 1gph/6mpg boat. For equal fuel burn I'm going to be running one day out of every six .. to match my boat burn rate over time. I'm not going to sit around for 5 days waiting to burn more fuel. So since I'll burn six times as much fuel .. count me out.

I am however, looking to find a small and light trailer to tow behind my Avalon. Should burn less that half as much fuel as a 350 Chevrolet.
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I believe that you may be disappointed unless you find a very short or aerodynamic trailer...
The issue is less weight than the force exerted by resistance to moving through the air at speed. Most trailers, even small lightweight trailers cause even fairly fuel efficient vehicles to burn fuel at similar rates.
For example, when towing our 16' Airstream, we get similar mileage as those towing 25' Airstream's.
The only time we best their numbers is in stop and go slow traffic conditions...
We have a friend with a very lightweight, small trailer that is less aerodynamic than our Bambi and their fuel mileage is worse than my diesel 2500 Ram's when towing with a 4 cylinder VW.
Bruce
 
Be thankful that vehicles with trailers are usually limited to a max speed of 55 mph.
 
You "fast" guys former jet fighter pilots?
 
I can't believe fuel burn is a consideration on this thread. Both the boat and the RV/mother tow vehicle have considerable aquisition and maintenance costs WAY beyond what fuel use should be, especially in this very inexpensive fuel cost market. The barrier to entry isn't the cost of fuel...
 
The cost of fuel isn't the main cost at all. That is what I have been getting at with my previous posts. You are going to spend what it takes to move the boat or you sit at the dock or at anchor, which is still being on the boat. I spend way more money maintaining and improving and insuring the boat than I do on fuel.
 
So can I.

S of F wrote;
"I can't believe fuel burn is a consideration on this thread."

Really? What do "we" talk about on this forum more than fuel burn? How many hundreds of posts are there on under loading?
The original purchasers of these yachts have enough money to care less about fuel consumption but the guy that buys it years later when it's cheap and an old boat can afford the boat, maybe the moorage and maybe the maintenance but add the fuel on top of all that and it gets to be a concern. So there's hundreds of skippers running about burning less than 2gph. Yup it's a consideration.
 
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Nomad Willy said:
So can I.

S of F wrote;
"I can't believe fuel burn is a consideration on this thread."
Really? What do "we" talk about on this forum more than fuel burn?
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Anchors, the true definition of a "trawler", maybe the importance of microwaves and how frugal people who own sailboats are?
Bruce
 
Anchors, Twin screw and window leaks. How many peeps do you think this forum would lose if the price of fuel went up a dollar/gallon? Lottery discussions, way to die etc are just as prevalent. Nobodies getting rid of their boat or RV because of fuel price, bitch?probably but sell? no way.
I bet you spend more money on grinding wheels modifying your anchors that you did on fuel in the last year for Willy. Boating is a hobby and addiction, not a necessity. I would assume RVs are the same. If it costs you family grocery money, get out!
 
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