The last day on Rock Chalk in Southport, NC
So 2016 has been a significant transition year. We have moved from the boat to dirt again, and it was my last year of working for the insurance agency. My company of 39 years, New England Financial has gone away, Metlife has sold out to Mass Mutual, and that part of my life was turned upside down. All that turmoil made it a much easier decision to fully retire, and start doing our homework for new places to travel. So Shelley and I spent the balance of 2016 researching where we want to travel around the world, and looking for an RV. The former was pretty easy, as we knew that an extended trip to New Zealand was # 1 on our bucket list of travel destinations. That trip begins March 10th, 2017 for 5 weeks.
I will blog on this site once we reach Auckland, whenever we can connect to an internet connection, which we understand to be a bit more difficult to find. We are renting a 22 ft. campervan from Wilderness RV in Auckland, and taking her around both the North Island, and the South Island, dropping it off in Christchurch four weeks later. More to come.
So we bought an RV. After months and months of research, reading online blogs, going to RV shows, and talking to as many people as we could who have different types of RV's, we bought a Tiffin Class A gas coach. How did we get there? It's complicated.
We had to figure out where we wanted to go, and how we wanted to travel. There are a number of newer smaller diesel chassis that get great gas mileage (16 mpg), are very easy to drive, park, and can get into any camping spot in the country. They are called Class B's. They are so maneuverable that you do not need to pull a dinghy (the term RV'ers use to refer to a car you pull behind the RV). We were very tempted for their simplicity and ease of driving. The trade off was that they are very small inside, with individual bunk beds, no slide outs, very limited storage, and a small refrigerator. We were used to the boat, but a Class B just did not fit our lifestyle.
The next step up was a Class C which is a gas engine, Ford van chassis with a coach attached, and typically with at least two slide outs to provide more interior room. This is a good compromise, with much more room and storage, and still easy to drive. This is a popular choice for many people, who when driving a Class C for extended trips, will pull a dinghy behind. This type was a finalist in our decision process.
However, we purchased a Class A gas coach. There are two excellent brands of Class A coaches out there, Newmar and Tiffin. Both have the best quality, best after the sale support service, and excellent customer satisfaction. We wanted the smallest coach we could find, that still handled well, but had the interior size for long comfortable trips, and the storage beneath to carry everything you may want for those long trips. Just like boating, there is no one coach that is perfect in every respect, so we made our decision based on the interior comfort, and the amazing amount of coach we could get for the same price as a Class C.
By far the best time to purchase an RV is in the fall. It is the end of the travel season, and many people are ready to sell their coach. Plus, if you find the one you want at a dealer, this is the time they are ready to make deals. In our case, after much research, visiting the Tiffin factory, and visiting many different dealerships to look at every conceivable model, we decided on the coach and floor plan we wanted. It was a Tiffin Open Road 32 SA gas coach. I found 15 dealerships around the country on RVtrader.com. They each had slightly different options, but anyone of them would have worked for us. I negotiated with each dealership on an "Out the Door" price, ie. I wanted their bottom line price that I would write my check for to drive the coach away. No hidden dealer fees, or other charges, just give me the simple bottom line number. North Trail RV in Ft. Myers Fl. gave us the best price for a 2016 model that was still brand new, but had been on their lot unsold now for over a year. That price was less than many of the Class C's we saw around the country, and was $10,000 to $15,000 less than any other of the 15 dealerships with whom I was talking.
The other major item to note if you are in the market, is the significant price increase for a diesel coach. That is what we REALLY wanted. The diesel chassis is a much better platform with the engine in the rear to keep all that noise behind you, and the generator up front, far away from the bedroom at night. The diesel engine is much more powerful and handles climbing passes, and coming back down much easier. They ride better because of the heavy duty diesel truck chassis. All in all, a much better choice. But we could just not justify a $50,000 to $100,000 higher price for the exact same size coach. That was the killer. So a gas coach it was made by Tiffin Motorhomes in Red Bay, Alabama.
Everyone has different budgets and needs, and there is an RV, or Fifth Wheel, or Travel trailer to meet their goal. We found the one we wanted (at least for now) and are anxious to head out across the country in our new "Rock Chalk 2".
Our new coach and our little Kia dinghy on our break in trip to Mesa AZ
But first off to New Zealand.
Marc and Shelley
Feb. 2017
