Wow, and old thread from Way Back...before our class C was even a twinkle in our eyes, LOL!
So, we made the move from TT to a class C last April and are very happy with our choice. One of our big things was that we don’t have big property or work that demands a truck. As much fun and comfortable as our tuck was, it just wasn’t a good daily driver for us. I started taking public transit to work and DH was only taking the small car for ease of parking at the office, so we realized that we pretty much had the truck solely for towing (and the occasional Lowes/Home Depot stuff)…started making sense to us to think about a driveable if we’re going to have a vehicle solely for that purpose anyway.
Some of the points that we like about the C vs. our TT:
-We don’t store at home, but with the C we find it a lot more convenient to maneuver into our tight New England driveway (on our narrow, dead-end street), so we always bring it home before a trip now.
-Love not monkeying with hitching/unhitching. I don’t miss that heavy Equal-i-zer hitch (as great of a job as it did)
-I find backing to be easier.
-Of course the access to the bathroom and kitchen while en route. (I hear you on the safety concerns, Napria, we are seat-belted the majority of the time, with only driver-approved unbuckles for potty breaks/snack grabs…one could make the rule that only unbuckle when not in motion, which is still more convenient than getting out of the truck, unlocking the trailer door and using the potty…which is still way more convenient than finding a skeevy rest stop!)
-Did I mention that I love not messing with hitching and unhitching? Pull in, make sure you’re level, throw on the parking brake, and that’s it. Really nice when you have a 9 year old and two dogs that are ready to start exploring the campground.
-No stuff left in the truck that you want to go grab (after you have your jammies on or when it is pouring rain, of course)
-For us with two dogs we just enjoy more space for them to ride. We also keep a water bowl in the shower stall on a non-skid mat, so they can grab a drink whenever they want.
-On board generator – we traveled during a hot spell this past summer and really appreciated the ability to run the a/c for the dogs while we went on little visits at various places. We simply could not have stopped and explored like we did had we not had a way to keep the boys cool.
- 55 gallon fuel tank, a lot fewer gas stops now! We get about a gallon less MPG on average between the C and the truck and TT, so that part is pretty much a wash. (and our fuel expense is offset by being able to bring our dogs along rather than pay the sitter)
The big drawbacks:
-No vehicle for sightseeing or errands: So far we have been fine without towing, which is a spendy proposition to set-up. We decided to give it a season and see how it went, and right now as weekenders/a few week a year-ers we've decided not to tow. We've done a combination of staying put at the CG for the duration of the trip, renting a car for sightseeing (where they pick you up), riding bikes to nearby restaurants/stores/destinations, took a cab once, and just driving the RV to wherever we want to go. All methods have worked just fine for us for different scenarios and destinations, so there’s no towable car in our foreseeable future. (if we were full timing we’d probably have a different tune)
-So with no towable car we had to come up with a good way to haul kayaks along, which we like to do. We ended up selling off our “fleet” of hard kayaks and went with inflatables. It turns out that I prefer transporting an inflatable to our local lake better than messing with up and down off a rack on the car anyway.
For us, a 5th wheel wasn't ever a consideration since we'd need an even bigger truck than we had. Plus we like to go to State Parks that are sometimes tight fits or simply not an option with bigger rigs. As it is with our 31-footer we find that we are more limited than we used to be.
Oh, and to note, we have yet to run into a campground that requires your equipment to stay put for the duration of your stay. I haven't seen it mentioned on the class C forum I frequent either. I wonder if it is a regional thing? Most people leave camping chairs and a mat set up when they drive off with plans to come back. We've only done the drive off and come back thing once so far (and it worked well!) and I just told the CG office what our plans were. No problems.
Here’s our blog of our adventures with our Class C:
www.winnieadventures.blogspot.com
