RVing TUGgers?

[WinniWoman]

Spontaneity is great though, when you can just pack up and go with short notice and not a lot of planning involved. While 2 weeks out might not seem like much of a spontaneous trip . . . I did just book a return visit to the W NY state park I've fallen in love with. I'm going for a long weekend for a bowling event and maybe catch some fall festivals and leaf peeping. Car camping fits well into such an impromptu trip.

Which state park?

 

[WinniWoman]

Where our home is we are surrounded by tons of RV parks and campsites. In fact, the land our HOA community was built on used to be a tent and trailer park. 10 1/2 acres. 85 homes.

Down the road a new RV park is being built. Get this- you buy one of the 100 lots at $200,000. But I think it’s still seasonal- not sure. Total acreage there is 11 1/2 acres. See link below.

I still laugh to this day when I think our former home was on 10 1/2 acres by itself. Sold for $317,000. lol!

Winni Baygo at the Lake: New RV Park Condos in Laconia, NH

Discover new RV park condos for sale at Winni Baygo at the Lake in Laconia, NH. Enjoy seasonal living with modern amenities near Weirs Beach and Lake Winnipesaukee.

www.nhlegacygroup.com

Winni Baygo at the Lake

winnibaygo.com

 

[jorcus]

I keep thinking I am going to buy a vintage trailer to go on some campouts. I have been to a few rallies put on by the Tin Can Tourist group. They are great fun with friendly outgoing people who show off their handy work. If you ever get a chance, stop by to see one of their events. The club has an interesting history it was formed in 1919 as kind of like a good sam club then after going almost extinct it morphed into a vintage camper club. It's hard to find what I want and I have seen a few but got cold feet. Someday I think I will be in the right place at the right time. A list of events is on their website. Lots of nice pictures.

Tin Can Tourists – The Original Vintage Trailer and Camper Club

tincantourists.com

 

[Elan]

We've had a hard sided pop up trailer for nearly 20 years. We've only used hookups twice and one of those was our maiden voyage just to make sure everything worked. Around here, if you don't need hookups, camping spots are quite reasonable ($10-25/nt). The challenge has become reserving spots at preferred campgrounds. Covid changed availability dramatically.

Sent from my Pixel 9a using Tapatalk

 

[VegasBella]

We have an RV. My primary advice is to acknowledge that an RV is an expense, not an investment, and it can actually wind up being a money pit in some cases. We really enjoy our RV and it's gotten us places we would never have gone without it. But it's expensive and there's a big learning curve, just so many little things to take care of. I highly recommend you buy used but get with a warranty OR if you buy new just get a trailer. The trailers are the least expensive and they offer a good option if you're comfortable towing and already have a truck that can pull it. We got a class C motorhome that's on the small side but after having it a while I think we could have gone smaller. If we already had a truck I would have wanted a trailer.

I don't think RV camping and Timesharing have much in common to be honest. Only some locations offer both options. The big pro of RVing is being able to bring your dogs. The big pro of timesharing is the homey or luxury feeling. RVing feels more like camping, more rustic and adventurous. Both can be great values or complete money pits, all depending. And planning varies too, depending on where you want to go. You can have more flexibility with RVing sometimes but not always.

 

[easyrider]

Hello TUGgers,

I hope you are well! I am curious if any of my TUGging friends are RV owners, and if so, what advice and counsel you would give to a newbie? My wife and I continue to love our timeshare trips, but are now approaching a phase of life where we think we will explore the Beautiful USA more?

We would welcome any suggestions and comments -- thank you!

Best,

Greg

We've had a few RV's over the years. All I can say is they are easy to buy but can be a real problem regarding many things like storage, parking, driving, break downs, cleaning, winterizing, leaking roof damage and definitely selling.

We decided to acquire more Worldmark and Vacation Internationale because many of these resorts are driving distance for us. Last minute opportunities are many. The locations are in areas we like. Everything usually works at our timeshare.

My favorite RV was a fifth wheel that I could park on a lake all summer. The back 10 ft was the bedroom and it hung over the lake bank. I had my own private boat dock at this facility. Everyone at this facility were people that were easy to like. No phone service. No internet. Fun times.

Bill

 

[Timeshare Von]

Which state park?

4 Mile Creek, near Niagara Falls

 

[Timeshare Von]

We have an RV. My primary advice is to acknowledge that an RV is an expense, not an investment, and it can actually wind up being a money pit in some cases . . .I don't think RV camping and Timesharing have much in common to be honest.

Mmmmm sounds a lot like timesharing

 

[moonstone]

4 Mile Creek, near Niagara Falls

Oh, that is one of our favorites! We have stayed there so many times to visit the NF NY region. We often were able to book a site backing onto Lake Ontario and could see Toronto across the water. We like to walk (or drive) to Bandanas a nearby bar/restaurant while we are there for a beef on weck. Also when camping there your pass allows (or used to last time we stayed) to park at other NY State parks including the one right at Niagara Falls for the day which is handy. We loved exploring Youngstown and seeing all their fire hydrants painted as cartoon characters. They're so cute! It is also a short drive to the town of Lockport where you can take a short cruise on the Erie Canal.

Our absolute favorite NY State park is Letchworth which is almost a 2 hour drive from NF. It is called the grand canyon of the east and is at the western side of the Finger Lakes Region. We always booked a site backing onto the gorge for beautiful views (if the trees were trimmed).


~Diane

 

[jp10558]

I was last night looking to see what it might cost to rent an RV to "just see" and the rental costs on most of the sites for say a month came close to what used ones go for. If I was going to rent a couple times to see if it was for me, I could very likely just buy one used. Yes, I'd have to look it over etc and such, but this same sort of thing got me to buy an old loader years ago to reflatten our driveway as the service fees over and above the gravel were like $1,800 back then, and the loader was $3,000. I re-did the driveway 4 times so far and I'm ahead lol.

Of course, I am pretty skeptical about RVing in general working well for me, but I just had to point out the rental rates were so high that I stepped away from "trying it out" for now.

 

[klpca]

I was last night looking to see what it might cost to rent an RV to "just see" and the rental costs on most of the sites for say a month came close to what used ones go for. If I was going to rent a couple times to see if it was for me, I could very likely just buy one used. Yes, I'd have to look it over etc and such, but this same sort of thing got me to buy an old loader years ago to reflatten our driveway as the service fees over and above the gravel were like $1,800 back then, and the loader was $3,000. I re-did the driveway 4 times so far and I'm ahead lol.

Of course, I am pretty skeptical about RVing in general working well for me, but I just had to point out the rental rates were so high that I stepped away from "trying it out" for now.

Wow. I came up with roughly 14k for a monthly rental but closer to 80k+ for a used RV (Class B), obviously a losing proposition no matter how you spin it. On the timeshare side my nightly cost is less than $175/nt (~$5k) and doing some light tent camping is super low cost but we won’t be tent camping for a month! I think that folks who are serious RVers are not motivated by finances.

 

[Chrispee]

We had an RV for a few years due to a confluence of factors; we were building a house and knew we’d likely have to figure out temporary living arrangements, we had an HD pickup truck, and we were interested in exploring off the beaten path while traveling with our dogs.

Everybody’s situation is unique, but we ended up with a used Airstream 23’ trailer because we liked the idea of unhooking at a site and being able to still drive around. I also wanted to avoid maintaining another engine.

We had the trailer for three years and sold it again for exactly what we bought it for. I will say that it was much more luxurious than the motel accommodations available in the rural areas we traveled to. Glad that we did it, but I think it’s out of my system now.

 

[jp10558]

Wow. I came up with roughly 14k for a monthly rental but closer to 80k+ for a used RV (Class B), obviously a losing proposition no matter how you spin it. On the timeshare side my nightly cost is less than $175/nt (~$5k) and doing some light tent camping is super low cost but we won’t be tent camping for a month! I think that folks who are serious RVers are not motivated by finances.

Well, it's worth pointing out I was looking in NY and I was looking at tow behind, and considering older ones like that Backhoe I mentioned, back to maybe 2010 if it good shape. The prices I saw were ~ $6,000-$12,000 for both.

 

[moonstone]

I was last night looking to see what it might cost to rent an RV to "just see" and the rental costs on most of the sites for say a month came close to what used ones go for. If I was going to rent a couple times to see if it was for me, I could very likely just buy one used. Yes, I'd have to look it over etc and such, but this same sort of thing got me to buy an old loader years ago to reflatten our driveway as the service fees over and above the gravel were like $1,800 back then, and the loader was $3,000. I re-did the driveway 4 times so far and I'm ahead lol.

Of course, I am pretty skeptical about RVing in general working well for me, but I just had to point out the rental rates were so high that I stepped away from "trying it out" for now.

We have started looking into renting a Class C motorhome in either Vancouver or Calgary late next summer and drive to either Calgary or Vancouver and the prices are pretty steep for a week or 10 days, I cant imagine what a month or so would cost! I have heard of (& know places in ON) where you can rent a trailer that is set up on a site in a campground so you can drive your (or a rental) car from place to place that has that option. Since we would be flying out west we couldnt bring a lot of the usual camping stuff. We might just have to forget the idea and book a timeshare or many hotel stays.


~Diane

 

[Timeshare Von]

Oh, that is one of our favorites! We have stayed there so many times to visit the NF NY region. We often were able to book a site backing onto Lake Ontario and could see Toronto across the water. We like to walk (or drive) to Bandanas a nearby bar/restaurant while we are there for a beef on weck. Also when camping there your pass allows (or used to last time we stayed) to park at other NY State parks including the one right at Niagara Falls for the day which is handy. We loved exploring Youngstown and seeing all their fire hydrants painted as cartoon characters. They're so cute! It is also a short drive to the town of Lockport where you can take a short cruise on the Erie Canal.

Our absolute favorite NY State park is Letchworth which is almost a 2 hour drive from NF. It is called the grand canyon of the east and is at the western side of the Finger Lakes Region. We always booked a site backing onto the gorge for beautiful views (if the trees were trimmed).


~Diane

Very cool Diane! I discovered 4 Mile Creek CG quite by chance last summer (Aug 2024) when I spent the day at Ft. Niagara and needed a campsite that night. They suggested 4 Mile Creek! This year, I was a camp host there for 2 weeks in late July/early August and totally enjoyed that experience. My assigned "host" site was in the area you mention, along Lake Ontario about 3 spots from the bathrooms/showers/laundry. It was perfect. And YES . . . we too saw Toronto across the lake on a clear day/evening.

P.S. I absolutely L O V E the farmers markets throughout this region too!

 

[Tahiya]

We bought a small travel trailer when I retired and took a 7 week mostly RV trip to the Western National parks. During the 12 years since we haven't used the trailer all that much, and it costs us about $150 every month just for storage. Of course you have to get the seals redone periodically which is very expensive and new tires even if you don't use the trailer. We should probably try to sell it, but we keep thinking maybe we'll use it.

We have about nine timeshare weeks that we use every year, and I like the trailer, but prefer the time shares.

 

[Ralph Sir Edward]

I studied RV'ing and decided it was not for me. Having read the comments here, (shout out to GregT! Glad to read you again!) I keep thinking there is some kind of business opportunity for a hybrid TS/RV setup.

Imagine a string of RVs at various locations, as a rental club. You buy in (maybe by adding an RV to a location) and drive to the RV, rather than driving the RV to get to a location. Or something like that.

Just musing. . .