Newbie to RV -- Interstate Grand Tour EXT

[Rig Rat]

Originally Posted by fourjean

We just purchased a new Airstream. Been on a few short trips. So far we love it. We plan a trip west to the national parks in Wyoming, Utah and Arizona this September.

Does anyone know of any great boondocking spots they could share with us?

freecampsites.net is a good source and they have a trip planner section where you can chart your route with boon docking spots shown along your path!

Also at the top of this page under the "Forums" tab....go to the community sections pull down and select boon docking....lots of good information there!

[Cindyberm]

Originally Posted by landl

Great info in this thread for someone like me who is looking to buy an RV for the first time. Pretty sure I'm set on the Interstate Grand Tour, but I'm not in a huge rush, and it sounds like it is a dealer's/seller's market for these right now. Does anyone know when the 2018 models will come out? Maybe I'll wait to see if I can get a 2017 model on sale then??

Hi. We just put a deposit down on a 2018, and its "build" date is August 28th. Our dealer said it should arrive in Seattle in early September, in the first week. We were going to get a 2017 (to save money) but the new Interstates are coming standard with three 100-watt solar panels, plus a few things that were options in 2017 (the best of which is the additional solar panels). We have owned several RVs in the past and are tired -- no, disgusted with the cheaply-built crap out there. This Interstate is the smallest we've ever owned and we are worried about that, but we are finally NOT worried about the construction and onboard systems. Airstream does not build "cheap". I would always worry about a builder that makes 9 models, from cheap to expensive, wondering where they cut the corners on even their "top of the line." Anyway, that was more info than you wanted, sorry about that. This is my first time writing on any kind of forum.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Cindyberm

Hi. We just put a deposit down on a 2018, and its "build" date is August 28th.

Curious whether the build date is when they start building, or when they finish building. Mainly because August 28th is a Monday, and Airstreams finished on a Monday are notorious for having problems, the result of things left undone over the weekend being rushed to completion on the Monday. Maybe things are better now, but a lot of the old-timers around here (been on the Forums longer than me, not necessarily older than me) could tell you stories…

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by mineralfarme

....Unfortunately they cost as much as a substantial size home.

In our incredibly-low-cost-of-living neck of the woods, that's literally true - AND for semi-custom to boot. LB_3 and I took a tract home plan and specified 68 different modifications in our build contract. By this method, we essentially ended up with a custom home at a slightly inflated tract home price, but still nowhere near what a from-scratch custom home would have cost (it's a *great* strategy if you can find a builder who will tolerate you pulling it off, because they know what you're doing, and whether or not they agree to such a contract basically comes down to how hungry they are). Our resulting county tax appraisal puts us right at what an ARV rig typically sells for.

At a certain point, one has to examine the issue through that kind of lens of relatively and ask, even if I COULD afford it, SHOULD I, or should I put the investment elsewhere?

I've noticed that a lot depends on age. People who are well into the fourth quarter of their lives tend to go for it whereas the rest of us might decline. It's now or never for them, not so much for us (hopefully).