Full timing

[rufus11381]

So not being familiar with rv's in general, what feature of your trailers are the most awesome as a full timer, what not-necessarily-needed feature do you live the most.

[n2916s]

I half-time in mine (April to October every year). I like the fact that wherever I am, I am home. My linens, dishes, bathroom,kitchen... I also like the simplicity of the systems. With modest mechanical skills, there is very little that you can't fix and, of course, those skills will help you with preventative maintenance.

Everyone would probably agree that storage is a key factor. After ten years, we have achieved a real "minimalist" mind-set. Every year we inventory the trailer at the end of our journeys and anything that wasn't used at least a few times, is left home the next year. It is surprising how little you really need.

It isn't for everyone -- get a few rainy days in a row keeping you indoors and you better really like your partner.

If you haven't tried it, you probably should rent a rig for a week or two before jumping in. Every Spring, a lot of RV's hit the consignment lots here in Florida because one or both partners just didn't enjoy the experience.

Mike

[rufus11381]

Not worried about living the life, we are in a 33ft sailboat now, space isn't an issue lol, what is your biggest "lifesaver" when the weather is crap or you hide inside for any extended time

[n2916s]

Bourbon.

M

[Tuco]

The internet.

[AnnArborBob]

We love our Vitrifrigo 12 volt electric fridge. It is larger on the inside than the adsorption Dometic model that came with our unit and cools as effectively as a residential fridge and it does not need to be kept level! Just make sure you have the battery capacity to handle the times when you are not hooked up to shore power. We have a large solar array and LFP batteries.

[rufus11381]

Very interesting Bob, thanks tuco lol, and n2916's I've got that down but I'm a pirate so it's rum instead

[AWCHIEF]

My Airstream has all the comforts home in a tidy compact packages. My days if roughing it at over with.

[kb0zke]

We've been fulltiming for somewhat over a year, and the biggest advantage for me is living in my own home. That means sleeping in my own bed, eating the food my bride fixes for me on our own dishes. We don't have an Airstream (yet) but living in your own home is usually pretty high for all fulltimers.

As for the features, the one that is highest in my mind is the few steps needed to get from outside to inside. Closely following that is that the 34' coach we would like can be towed by an F250-class truck. A 5th wheel would require at least an F350-class truck, and some we've looked at require an F550!

[nrgtrakr]

I had a 45' fifth wheel. Plenty of room, huge kitchen, full bath, even had a stackable w/d. It towed just fine with a 3/4 ton as the thing was mostly foam and fiberglass on a strong metal frame. But a bit much for travelling, more like a park model you could move if need be.
By this time next year we'll probably be full timing in our 27' AS. The nice part about the smallness is it encourages getting outside to prevent cabin fever. :P

[kb0zke]

One mistake that some make is to buy a small coach and then discover that they are going crazy after a couple of days of steady rain, and after a week of it they can't stand each other, and both hate the coach. While you may well spend most of each day outside, there WILL come that week of steady rain. You need to have enough space inside that you won't be in each other's way when that happens.

[rufus11381]

We are definitely increasing our space. Anything more than a 25ft fifth wheel is bigger by a long shot than our boat, especially if it has any slides at all

[BoldAdventure]

We've heavily customized ours. But even with two kids and two adults, we are comfortable indoors over multiple days. It takes a mentality to be able to live in small spaces. And we as a family like being around each other.

[truxpin]

We fulltime in our "34 Limited and chose it for a few reasons. It's the largest AS made, so there are no regrets over "not getting the bigger model"
Otherwise, we like having separate shower/toilet areas; like having the larger fridge/freezer (perfect for two people) ; We like having the combination of the galley dinette along with a separate sitting area in the front of the Airstream. Allows us to do separate activities when necessary; LOVE the dual 40 gallon propane tanks; Found one with dual A/C units ( a + on those really hot days here in Tucson!) ; 6 foot of hanging clothes storage in the bedroom closet was nice for us as well.
I think I could go on & on..... We're obviously happy with it, but there are a few things we wish were improved as well.....
More comfortable furniture ( we've already replaced the couch with a much better unit) ;more storage!( there is a constant, no matter how big your Airstream is) ;Energy sucking incandescent bulbs (we've since replaced all with nice bright LED's)
My advice is to go as BIG as you like!

[DreamStreamr]

We chose 25' trailer so we could access every national and state park we encounter. Cades Cove in Smoky Mountains has some small sites - we backed our 25' Airstream into a tent site no problem. Like David says, we're just closer to the outdoors lots of times. Sometimes we arrive an old national park campground and the available sites are the smaller ones. Again, no problem for our trailer.

We love sleeping in our own bed on our own pillows every night. We love the freedom of hitching up and leaving whenever we please. We like the relative simplicity of life when all your "stuff" is in the trailer or in the truck. Storage in the International CCD25 Sleep Six models is huge. That works well for us, although we sometimes seem to misplace things still. Go figure?

We like being energy independent and having enough tanks capacity to go fully 8 to 10 days with no hookups of any kind. A pair of solar panels and a 1KW genset help with that, as does learning to really scrimp on water usage.