We’re shopping for a new RV, so looking back at what we learned the hard way, here’s everything we wish we had known when buying our first RV. Welcome back to the RV couple, We are pursuing freedom, independence, and adventure because life is so short, guys, it is. And before you guys say, “How are you buying another RV? You just got a new one,” let us explain. Right now, our fifth wheel is almost acting as a sixth in Britain, we need a smaller, nimble vehicle so that we can continue to shoot videos in places all over the state of Florida. Right? And so we’re not gonna tell exactly what we’re deciding on yet, but we started the process of going and looking at RVs. Yeah, this is the sign of the times. This is Jack, thank you grannies. Yes, and we thought it would be a great opportunity to look back at the way we did it the first time and the way that we do it now. We need to cover a couple of things.
One of the first things I want to talk about are the different types of RVs and the pros and cons to each. Then we’re gonna go into some tough questions that you really need to ask yourself, and finally, we’re gonna share our biggest regrets that, knowing what we know now, we would have done differently. We’ve spent the last two days doing a ton of research on buying an RV, so grab your notebooks. We’re going deep. If you’re a newbie, don’t make the same mistakes we did. If you’re an RV veteran, we challenge you—if there’s a question or an important consideration that we’ve missed, please put it in the comments to help other newbies. We’ve left no stone unturned.
Alright, so first we’re gonna talk about towables. These are all RVs that require a vehicle that you tow them with, right? So a lot of this is gonna depend on the type of truck you have or you may need to be buying a truck in addition to the towable. First, we’ll talk about travel trailers. Now, this is great if you are entry-level, looking at your first camper, you’ve never done it before. Some travel trailers are small enough so that you don’t need to buy a special Big Kahuna-type truck like what we’ve got, right? You can pull them with just about anything, half-ton truck or a bigger truck. But they are, in my opinion, the least safe RV to tow. They also have a lot less storage. You’ve got to be very clear about how you weight them and balance them. You never want to put heavy weight to the back of them. Don’t just think about, “Oh, I have a truck. I just need to buy the travel trailer.” You’re gonna have to put extra money into things like sway bars that you may not have considered.
The next type of towable is a fifth wheel, and we are very partial to fifth wheels. We own a fifth wheel. It gives you the biggest bang for the buck as far as the living space. Yeah, you won’t get more living space than in a fifth wheel when you’re RVing, and it’s also a lot safer to drive because a lot of the weight is on the right in the center of the back of the pin, which is in the center of the truck, right between the axles. And so it’s a lot easier to maneuver. It’s a lot safer to pull. You won’t get that death sway that you get from a travel trailer, and there’s more room in a fifth wheel than anything else out there, including all classes. But the longer you go, the trickier it’s gonna be to navigate. Fifth wheels do require a heavier, more beastly truck, which I like. And also, remember guys, they build these up to 44 feet now, so when you connect your truck to a 44-foot rig (ours is 41 feet 7 inches), that is a long rig, and a lot of these older campgrounds didn’t even build these to maneuver rigs that size. So consider that. They can also be a little bit more stressful to drive because they’re so long, and again, you’re gonna have to buy an accessory for the back of your truck, a pin, so that you can tow that vehicle behind.
The next is gonna be a toy hauler, which is very versatile. But you can have toy haulers in both a travel trailer and a fifth wheel. For me, it’s really versatile, so you can make that back area a place to store a golf cart or motorcycles or whatever you want back there, or you can turn that into another room. But I don’t like it—it’s like buying an RV with an unfinished basement.
The next type of towable is a pop-up, and these are great if you’re just testing the waters, you know, your first RV. They’re awesome, they’re versatile, and typically you don’t have to buy a really expensive truck to go along with them. Some of them are nimble enough to be towed with an SUV or, in some cases, a Volkswagen. You don’t need very much to pull a pop-up trailer. There are a lot of positives, however, for long-term use, you better really like the person you’re camping with because they’re smaller and they’re gonna have the least amount of storage. But the price is low, so this is a step up above tent camping, guys. Yeah, it’s a very entry-level option.
The next camper that we’re gonna take a look at is a slide-in truck camper. Now, these are great. They’re making them with two and three different pop-ups now, so they make them extremely spacious. You are gonna want to make sure that you have a truck that can carry that weight. The rigs they’re making out for sliding campers are absolutely amazing, but you have to have a big enough truck with a good enough GVWR to carry the weight. Some of these are over 5,000 pounds, guys, and so they’re versatile. You can slip them right off your truck, leave them in space, and drive away afterward. You’ve got to always consider, no matter what rig you get, there’s gonna be additional accessories to set the truck up and make it safe to pull that rig.
Now that we’ve covered towables, let’s talk about motorhomes. These are the drivable ones, right? You don’t need an extra vehicle to drive them. If anything, you want an extra vehicle so that you can drive away from them, right? So let’s start with the classes. Nowadays, they make classes with the sky’s the limit. They can put whirlpool bathtubs in these things, guys. The price goes extremely high. We saw one recently at the Tampa RV show that was three million dollars. So a couple of nice things about Class A’s is they’re completely self-contained, right? Classes A’s are absolutely beautiful and they’re big, but just know you’re not gonna have as much living space as you would, let’s say, in a fifth wheel because this portion is dedicated to driving. And while these chairs do flip around and you can use them for other items, just know that classes don’t have the living space that big wheels do. Classes have a ton of storage space for full-time RVing, but they can be the most expensive, and you’re gonna need a vehicle that you’ll tow because you can’t just go to the grocery store all the time in your Class A motorhome.
Next is the Class B, and the Class B is the smaller motorhome. We actually rented a van, we absolutely loved renting a van. But just because they’re small, don’t be fooled—they are very, very expensive. They can be just as expensive as a huge fifth wheel. The other thing to note about vans that is awesome is that you can go absolutely anywhere. If you can park in a parking spot, you can go there. But if you’re gonna do long-term travel in a van, you might get a little cabin fever. Another nice thing about Class B’s is that they are super easy to drive, so you don’t have to worry about the stress. Yeah, and you can park just about anywhere that you would typically park your car or truck.
I’m standing in front of a Class C, and Class C’s are really awesome, especially if it’s just two people traveling. They’re a lot more easier to navigate, drive into smaller places, and they’re more likely to be small enough to get into state parks and those sorts of things. Now, I don’t know why the C is bigger than the B—you would think they would go in some sort of order—but the Class C is kind of like a hybrid between an A and a B. One of the nice things about Class C’s is that they’re easy to drive and you can have access to the living quarters while you’re driving, but you’re not gonna have a lot of storage space. Sometimes you might lack some of the amenities. One of the things that I really like about a Class C is that they’re a little bit more driver-friendly. I also really like this top bunk over here for the kids.
So when you’re shopping for an RV, we think that you should start by dreaming and by really looking at what it is you want and how you think you’re going to use it. One of the things I would highly suggest is enjoy this process! Go out and visit dealerships, go to RV shows, and get on everything you possibly can. The more you get on different units, the more you’re going to start to figure out that you can’t have everything you want. You have to prioritize what’s going to work best for your family. The more rigs you can get on, the more you’re going to start to dial in on what’s going to be best for you—but leave your checkbook at home. The longer you spend in the research phase, the more likely you are to make a decision that you love.
We’ve compiled a list of things to ask yourself when looking for an RV. I think the biggest question you have to ask yourself is how are you going to use it? Really use it, guys! Do you want to boondock? Do you want to camp? Do you want full hookups? Do you want to go into state parks or national parks? Not just how are you going to use it, but how long are you going to use it? Because if you’re getting an RV for short weekend trips, your needs are going to be completely different than if you’re looking for full-time RVing.
When you’re shopping for an RV, be sure to actually stand inside the shower, take off your shoes, and go around. Make sure that you actually fit inside the shower. When you’re buying a house, you don’t normally try out the furniture, but when you’re buying an RV, the furniture comes with it—so test it out and make sure it’s actually comfortable.
The next question you want to ask yourself is where are you traveling? Are you traveling to state parks, are you traveling all over the country, or are you traveling to the middle of nowhere? I mean, all of these things are really going to impact what kind of RV you should get.
Next one is who’s going to be driving it? Right now, Mercedes has this dream of having a Class B or Class C because she can drive the rig. She’s still afraid to drive the fifth wheel, so consider who it is that’s going to be doing the driving. You may even want to consider renting one just to see if you’re comfortable pulling it.
And the kiddos, get in there! Jump on this—this is the one Mama wants if she were to ever get a Class B because I feel like I could actually drive this, and that’s a big thing. Like, who’s going to be driving it? How comfortable do you feel driving it? I feel like this is perfect—yeah, got a bed here, a little privacy thing here, Paige would sleep up over the top, baby. Even though the kitchen is small, smart. Yeah, really, really smart. Yeah, I mean, this would be great for short trips, but I think long-term it’d be a little tight. It’d be a little tight, but for short trips, this is awesome.
I think one of the hardest questions to look at is how you’re really going to be using it because you don’t know these answers until you actually try it. Are you really going to be entertaining? If so, how many people do you expect to have in your RV at any given time? This one is obviously an excellent RV for entertaining, it’s huge, but you better not have kids unless you plan on sleeping on this pull-out couch. And do you really need two bathrooms? Do you really need an outdoor kitchen? Like, are you really going to be using a microwave outside? I mean, they look great when you’re on the showroom floor, but will you ever use it? We actually ripped ours out and built it into a tool shed.
Another major question to ask yourself is how many people are going to be staying there, and how many are kids? Little people take up just as much room—exactly. It makes a big difference if you’re by yourself, or with your spouse, or girlfriend. How many kids do you have? How many pets do you have? These things are all going to make a big difference on what your choice is going to be. Typically, the kitchen table will drop down into a bed, but always be sure to ask them how many the RV sleeps.
Another question to ask yourself is, are you going to be working on the road? Because if so, you need a dedicated workspace. I know from personal experience that countertop space is a huge deal when it comes to RVing, especially if you’re going to be RVing full-time. This is rare and hard to come by.
The next question is, do you spend a lot of time inside or outside? If you’re full-time RVing and you tend to spend a lot of time inside, you’re probably still going to spend a lot of time inside the RV. Also, with weather—when there’s bad weather, you’ve got to be inside the RV. The longer you stay in one location, or when the weather is bad, the smaller that RV starts to feel.
Another big question you have to ask yourself is how much space do you really have in the cabinets and where are you going to store stuff? Now, if you’re just part-time, you probably don’t need all the appliances and gadgets that you do if you’re full-time, but definitely when you’re looking at RVs, look at this and try to really see how you’re going to be using this space. I get asked this question all the time when we were RV shopping. I literally brought a tape measure with me and measured the inside of the cabinet. I measured because they have this lip so things don’t fall out. I measured inside so that I knew exactly how much storage space I had. You constantly have to be looking at storage space.
I love this kind of dining area, but be aware that you’ve lost storage space. The bunk booth-style dining space offers you so much more storage than this, so how much storage do you really need? When we bought our first fifth wheel, one of the things we never checked was always have them pull all the slides in so that you can see what you have access to. Now, we got lucky on our 372L, we had access to everything. With our second rig, we went ahead and pulled all the slides in, and we had access to our bathroom but not our bedroom, and we kind of had to squeeze through to get to the refrigerator. These are important things—while you’re traveling, you want to have access to your bathroom so that you don’t have to go to public restrooms or restaurants. It’s not so easy just to pull off the side of the road and find a place to park a big rig.
This leads into another question: do you really need access to the inside of the RV when you’re driving? If you’re a weekend warrior and you’re just going to be doing a couple-hour trips close by, you probably don’t, but if you’re going full-time and you’re going to be doing some long hauls, having access to the inside might be something you really want. If you’re going to be RVing full-time, especially, are there rough-ins for a washer and dryer? Units that don’t have these areas already roughed in are a lot harder to convert, so especially if you’re going full-time, having that already pre-roughed-in is a big help.
Another big thing to think about is, is the vehicle that you have now able to tow the RV that you want to purchase with the vehicle you have now, or are you going to have to buy a bigger vehicle or even a bigger truck to pull that rig? Yeah, because one of the things we realized was that the fifth wheel cost less than a Class A, but we had to buy a special truck. So, when you take the cost of the truck and the fifth wheel, it was comparable to buying a Class A. Exactly.
Another thing—if you have a small vehicle already and you’re going to buy a motorhome, is it small enough that you could tow it along so that when you go grocery shopping, you don’t have to take the whole motorhome with you? You want to make sure that the rig you’re purchasing can pull the tow car that you want to have, which leads us into our biggest regrets.
For me, the biggest regret that I have was that we didn’t try renting first. This experiment of selling almost everything in our RV could have fallen flat on our face. And the biggest mistake for me was where we bought the rig and making an emotional decision because we were so excited. If I was talking to one of my kids, or a family member, or even a friend, I would suggest that if you are considering this type of lifestyle, you don’t buy new—buy a used rig. The reason why is because if you ever did buy a new rig, you know as soon as you drive it off the lot, it depreciates big time. You lose fifteen, twenty thousand dollars as soon as you drive it off the lot, so consider that.
Now for us, I’m a germaphobe, so I wanted to buy new, but thank God we love the lifestyle because we literally, if we had ever decided to walk away from it, we’d be $15,000-$20,000 upside down. So if you possibly can and you’re not sure if you’ll live this lifestyle, buy something used, look for the best value you can, try to pay cash if you can, but you don’t want to give yourself that upside down feeling from buying a new rig and not liking the lifestyle.