Hey everyone,

My name is Patrick and my partner is Mark.

I'm 28, and currently active duty Navy. Mark is 40 and is a former airline employee. We met around October of last year and have been dating for a month. We both have common  interests, chief among them being simple living and travel. So right now, we're looking at RV options.

Originally, we were hoping to be able to tow something with our FJ, but I did some research (i'm not really a 'car person' yet...), and found that the towing capacity is about 5000lbs, which is really not enough to tow the size of RV we would probably need. I did, however, get an offer last week to do a trade for an F250 pickup, so I might re-investigate that, as it could be easier than going through a dealer.  But to be honest, I'd rather get a class-C motor home (I dont feel comfortable driving a bus. lol), but I'm sure we'll find a compromise.

I still have about a year-and-a-half left on my Navy contract (though may be getting out for medical reasons), so we're going to keep our options open and try to downsize and pay off debt as much as we can until then. Hopefully that will give us enough time to get some more specific plans together.

My condolences on having to live in Jax.  I lived there for a year and a half recently.  

If you are planning to roam around a lot, a class C has definite advantages over an unweildy truck plus trailer setup, and an f250 is a pretty huge truck to drive around all the rest of the time if you don't have other uses for it.  

One option you might want to look into is a smaller truck and a fiberglass "egg" fifth wheel, like a Bigfoot 21.  Fiberglass trailers are lighter weight and more durable than stick-built, and you can manage a 21-footer with a standard v8 pickup truck.  You could probably also tow a regular 17' egg with that FJ.  My Bigfoot 17 weighs a lot less than 5000 pounds.  

Welcome Mark & Patrick!

 

Oh hey I just saw your other post and asked about how long you have left to serve...never mind!

 

You have a lot of time to research rigs. One of the most fun parts about our research was going to various RV shows and checking out floor plans. Even if you aren't going to buy new at least you'll see what you like and don't like in a rig. Look at every aspect of them, from sitting on the toilet to make sure the bathroom is large enough, to laying on the bed and seeing if you'll bump your head when you wake up in the morning. Seriously! Don't just look, play around with everything inside to make sure it's comfortable.

 

If you're new to RVing, and you aren't sure it will work, start cheap. You can always upgrade later. Although I tend to think that a small fiberglass trailer might make two people who haven't been together that long want to kill eachother after a while. Really small space like that, combined with the overall newness of life on the road, can be incredibly challenging. Just my personal thoughts though.

 

My husband and I have a 24' 5th wheel which some people think is really small but it's just right for us because we do a lot of off-road adventures with it and go places that larger rigs can't go. At some point I think we'll get a larger 5th wheel. We prefer this kind of setup because 1) fifth wheels are ALL living space, unlike a motorhome which needs room for the engine, and 2) you're only maintaining one engine, whereas with a moho you are taking care of two. Also, our rig really holds its value when combined with our Dodge 4x4 pickup. We don't always need a pickup but the 4wd is super handy and we love that it's there when we need it for hauling stuff. That's my argument for 5th wheels, take it for what it's worth.

 

Anyhow, good luck on your research, you're in for a lot of fun times. Thanks for joining us!

 

 

Thanks for the insight! Mark is leaning towards a TT because there is a separation between transportation and home, so if something bad were to happen to either the trailer or the car, the other would be useable.

Another big consideration for us is that we are currently making our final payment on our 2006 Chevy Aveo. It's a nice little car, and we would prefer to keep it.

We did find a class C motorhome in our price range that we are going to look at tomorrow or Friday:

 http://www.riversrv.com/inventory/252950/Used-1997-Coachmen-RV-Pathfinder-29RF.aspx

Welcome guys... happy to have you here!

It's fantastic that you're starting to think through the various options for a rig. There really is no 'right' way or perfect option.  Get out there looking at lots of options as you're in your dreaming phase, and really try to imagine what daily life would be like in the space. 

Maybe even get a smaller trailer that you can tow with your current truck and try some weekend camping together to start really defining what it is you want. There are some gorgeous options not too far from you to explore. 

 

 - Cherie

(One half of a couple who started dating and moved right into a super tiny travel trailer full time... and didn't kill each other.)