Today is April the 14th 2016. Yesterday I spent an hour or so puttering
around in our motor home, chomping at the bit to get “Elvis” out on the
road. For those of you that don’t
already know, our motor home model name is a Vegas by Thor Industries, so
naturally we named it Elvis. Yesterday
was a long time ago. Today I’m gazing
out my window at a full on snow storm.
Saturday it’s forecast to be 67 degrees.
I have no freaking idea what conclusions I should draw from that. But, just to be on the safe side, I will be
building a couple of pontoons to bolt onto Elvis. Everyone thought Noah was a nut-ball at the
time.
In my postings about campsites, I always include a couple of sections
entitled “The Good” and “The Bad.” In
keeping with the theme, here’s my thoughts on RVing as a concept.
The Good:
As an activity and a method of vacationing, Sandi and I just love
it. Being able to head off in any
direction of our choosing, knowing that when we arrive we will have everything we
need in surroundings we personally selected, is outstanding. Prior to owning an RV we would spend a
substantial amount of money on vacation rentals, only to discover a place with
broken down old furniture and a kitchen that looked like it had been kitted out
from the local thrift store. Apparently,
thrift stores don’t carry colanders, who knew.
The most we’ve spent on a campsite is $50 per night, and that was for
one with full hook up including internet and TV, literally on the beach at the
Oregon Coast. Forest Service sites are
under $20 per night, in some gorgeous locations. It is truly a wonderful experience and we can’t
wait to hit the road.
The Bad:
Let me say upfront, there is nothing I have encountered so far that has
in any way injected doubt into our decision to buy an RV. That said, here are a couple of things worth
note.
Let’s compare it to buying a new car.
You will futz around doing your research on what will best fit your
wants and desires, etcetera, etcetera. You will
settle on a vehicle you have convinced yourself is the result of intense
scrutinization when, in fact, it was more emotion than anything else. You slap down your hard earned cash, or sell
your soul to a finance company, and you drive it off the lot. In the vast majority of cases, that’s
it. Short of routine maintenance you go
on your merry way. Eventually there’ll
be repairs, but, on a new car, not for some time.
With an RV, not so much.
I’m not going to get into the countless hours (not to mention money)
you will spend “tricking it out” with all manner of chachkies large and small. After
all, any RV owner will tell you, that’s the fun part.
The bad, in my humble opinion, is an industry with next to no quality
control, and very poor customer service.
Finding someone who actually knows what they are talking about is the
exception not the rule. I get it,
sometimes you buy a brand new car and it has problems, but that’s rare. In most cases, someone can buy the same make
and model of automobile at any dealership across the country, and drive off
with the identical car. Not true in the
RV world. A significant percentage of
new RV buyers will find themselves returning to the dealership for one or two,
and maybe many, repairs. I knew someone
who bought a brand new $250,000 Class A, only to discover the hot water heater
had not been installed. Horror stories on
the internet are prolific. We’ve been
fortunate, not too many issues.
Although, on our very first night camping in Elvis, we turned in for the
night only to discover the entry door wouldn’t close. Turned out to be a
relatively easy fix, but I had to strap the door closed in order to drive back
to the dealership to have it repaired. Case
in point.
For me the biggest frustration has come from getting good information
to resolve problems. This past winter I
made it a habit to fire up Elvis once a month and run the engine for a
while. One time I went to start it and…
nothing… dead as the proverbial door nail.
I had been “told” that starting the motor home up once a month should
prevent a dead battery. In
troubleshooting the problem, the dealership we bought Elvis from told me I
might have a parasitic drain on the battery.
To cut a very long story short, it took four or five conversations with
people working in the RV industry in one capacity or another, to finally
discover that onboard computers constantly running in the background, were the
cause of the discharging battery. The
solution was simple, keep a trickle charger plugged into the cigarette lighter
in between camping trips, and the problem would go away, it did.
So, where am I going with all of this?
Bottom line: Owning an RV is a
truly fun experience and one my wife and I are thrilled to have
rediscovered. But, you enter into this
human/RV marriage knowing that you will encounter challenges and frustrations guaranteed
to expand your vocabulary, and will most likely involve bloodletting. For me, the frustration comes not so much
because something breaks, it can and it will, but because it is a complete roll
of the dice whether or not I will find someone that really knows what they’re
doing when it comes to the repair. Be
prepared to trust no one and do your own extensive research. And… have your bull shit meter plugged in and
turned all the way up.
p.s. We have purchased a cute little Ford Fiesta to tow behind
Elvis. Naturally we’ve named it Priscilla. No doubt the subject of a future posting.
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