Motorhome to Compliment the Boat?

22' SUPERIOR Class A , the best!.

We use our motor home as a great compliment to boating.

Esp living on the hard , painting an interior , or doing GRP (stinks) the MH has been a great refuge.

Of course we have driven coast to coast and to AK , but that's RVing , not boating.

In Middletown CT , ready to go. Titled in FLORIDA.

One grand thing is insurance is just over $100 a year.

Since its only 22 ft ,(town parking friendly) we use it as a second car!

Set up for a couple , but will sleep 6 if desired.

FF

My next great adventure will be an RV. The boat is a temporary diversion. Lots of fun but too expensive well into retirement.

Had the motorhome, Class C, Gulfstream 102 Limited. Loaded. It's been gone awhile now. I want to get back into boating. To each their own I guess.

We have been doing both for years. We cruised the Bahamas and part of the loop in our Trawler but use it now for local cruising on the Chesapeake. We leave of RV in FL and spend the winter there. We do tow an 18' Century CC to FL for water sports. We are lucky to have the opportunity to enjoy both.

"The boat is a temporary diversion. Lots of fun but too expensive well into retirement

Would have to disagree , boating on a budget is a snap.

Takes a slow (displacement) boat , a commercial engine (not lorry ir yard implement marinization) and a willingness to live modestly.

Under a buck a mile cruising is easy enough , and 95% of the coastal areas are fine for anchoring, no charge.

Sure , at your home port you will be rowing out to a mooring , but a few bucks for a rowing dink (not condom) and you are all set.

Far cheaper than paying $15,000 a year in Skool bills for your neighbors spawn in property taxes.

FF

Neither my wife nor I can see the appeal to RV-ing at all. Driving in traffic down roads someone else laid out, staying in RV parks or, at best, campgrounds with designated sites surrounded by other RVers and campers, and looking (if you're lucky) at a nice view.

We would rather be part of the view instead of just looking at it.

RV-ing is certainly better than sitting at home watching the grass grow. But compared to boating, well, we don't see any comparison at all. The water environment is so constantly alive and changing and challenging where the RV environment is, well, boring from our perspective, at least.

True, you don't have to worry about dragging anchor or docking in an adverse wind or dealing wth bad weather or all the other things that can add an element of risk to boating. But to us, it's that very element of risk that makes boating so "alive."

If one is no longer able to boat for whatever reason, RV-ing is a great way to keep moving and keep seeing and experiencing new things, no question. So in that respect I can see the value in it. But as long as we are able to boat, an RV will not even be a consideration. And even after boating, if we're still able to travel around, I think we'd rather do it by car rather than have the hassle of dealing with an RV, self-propelled or towed.

Friends we used to boat with on occasion sold their sailboat a few years ago and bought a new pickup and a 30' trailer. These are people who took the small sailboats they've owned to Desolation Sound and the Broughtons and up the Inside Passage to Alaska and back. For the past two years they've been taking the trailer to California and Arizona from November through April as well as taking one to three week trips in Washington and Oregon during the summer. And they've had a good time doing this.

Last weekend we invited the husband (the wife was out of town) to go with us on the boat to Anacortes. It was interesting to see how much the husband clearly missed boating even though he had been the one pushing so hard for the RV. By the end of the trip he was even starting to talk about the notion of getting a small powerboat and getting back into boating.

Not that this means he's sorry they got into the RV but I think it indicated that he, too, is seeing the difference between the dynamics of being on the water and the predictability and "same old, same old" of being on the road.

It's not necessary to demean the RV to praise the boat. We spend roughly 1/2 the year in a converted bus and the other 1/2 on Gray Hawk. There's a lot of similarities to the two forms of travel and lot of obvious differences. We couldn't have spent a weekend at Palliser Regional Park with my classmates from 1979 if we didn't have the bus. We can't waterski on fresh water or visit my father with Gray Hawk. We can't drop in on old friends and spend a few nights parked in their yard with the boat. And as Marin is fond of pointing out, there are lots of things we can't do with the bus that we can with Gray Hawk. Personally I think owning a boat and a bus is the best of both worlds. And for my part I can't imagine why people choose to own houses and mow grass and renovate kitchens but I guess that's what keeps the economy turning.

Very well said Bob

I can not back pack or hunt on a trawler. I imagine gold panning and trout fishing in a stream would be difficult too.

bobofthenorth said:

It's not necessary to demean the RV to praise the boat. .

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I can't fly or go moose hunting or steelhead fishing or a zillion other things with a boat, either. I don't think anyone is saying boating is the only form of recreation worth pursuing.

But the topic is RV-ing as a compliment to boating, and for us, it isn't. If other people enjoy the heck out of RV-ing that's great. I'm not saying their experiences on the road are meaningless or are less valuable than boating for them.

Everyone is different and enjoys different things. Speaking only for myself (and my wife) there are few things I can imagine that would be more boring to us than RV-ing. I also think golf is the world's most pointless game but that doesn't mean I condemn other people for playing it. It just means I never will.

If we all liked doing the same things the water or roads or golf courses would be mighty crowded. Fortunately, we don't.

Different strokes.

Just as some boaters run from one marina to the next ,some campers go from campground to campground.

Boondocking is the RV name for what the boaters call anchoring out.

The US parks and US Forest are open (for about $25 a year fee) .

Easier to do with the vast lands owned in the west , but also done in the more crowded east too.

There are also state and county parks for folks that don't like to be side by side , marina style!

One thing that is attractive to many folks about RV ing is the modest cost , and with used units frequently almost a ZERO round trip cost.

FF

Rving brings a set of challenges and opportunities that is different but, in my mind, complimentary to cruising in a boat. It's the spirit of adventure, experiencing new places, learning local history and meeting people with similar interests. There is a social potential in RVing that is only approached in cruising.

And, let's face it, you can see a whole lot more of this beautiful country from an RV than you ever could from a trawler. And when it comes to visiting friends and family in land locked areas, RV's are tough to beat.

Not to mention that if you enjoy fixing old diesel powertrains you can do it without worrying that it will let you down some night on a lee shore. I just spent the afternoon changing rad hoses on my slobbering Detroit. No doubt it will still slobber but maybe now it will just be oil that it leaks.

I can see the RV thing. I have a 3/4 ton Suburban that is a good tow vehicle. Checking the price of used trailers the other day, there were many really good buys out there. I think it could be possible to buy one, travel for about 6 months, sell it, and recover almost all your cost. It would be difficult to do that with a boat. I'm thinking of buying one to use a couple of years.

FlyWright said:

And, let's face it, you can see a whole lot more of this beautiful country from an RV than you ever could from a trawler. And when it comes to visiting friends and family in land locked areas, RV's are tough to beat.

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All of that is totally true, no question. For us, however, it's not the "where you can go and who you can visit" aspect of RV-ing that we find so disinteresting but the RV environment itself. When the day comes that we decide to-- or have to--- get out of boating it's very possible we may think differently. At this point, however, visiting places and people outside this area is a fly there, rent a car proposition. The image of RVs lined up side by side on their pads is just not an environment we can see ourselves enjoying.

Moonstruck said:

I can see the RV thing. I have a 3/4 ton Suburban that is a good tow vehicle. Checking the price of used trailers the other day, there were many really good buys out there. I think it could be possible to buy one, travel for about 6 months, sell it, and recover almost all your cost. It would be difficult to do that with a boat. I'm thinking of buying one to use a couple of years.

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That has been my experience too. Bumper pull travel trailers are perhaps the best for easy in easy out, buy and sell. Motor homes are more of a buy and hold item due to the mechanical systems, kinda similar to boats in that regard.

You can get your best value/$ in travel trailers IMO. Although a good friend just bought a new custom diesel pusher that rivals any 5 star hotel for sheer luxury. However he'll take a pretty big bath at re-sale.

Visiting friends , you go see them or they come visit , is loads easier for both parties when the RV is a seper1ate living envioroment.

To that end it is a worthwhile goal to be able to operate from a 15A power supply.

And of course Ben Franklyns "Fish and friends smell after 3 days" saying is a good rule .

The best of both worlds?






It's just missing those classic lines.

That first one looks like it's got a nice walkaround! With a little plywood, it could have a nice flybridge, too. ;-)

Probably lacking the bow thrusters though...

And if you like 4-wheeling...

Sweet !!!

Forgot about the raised bridge model:

Moving away from RVs for a second, but since you raised boats with wheels, here's the real deal, an NZ invention. It has always struck me if I ever ended up a landlubber with a beach-side cottage, being able to pack and unpack your fishing boat at the back (or front) door would be good...?
Sealegs 5.6 RIB Inflatable

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