Cost of Ownership

[rsl]

And lets not forget about the cost of eating out for 3 meals each day for 2 adults and 2 kids (plus tips) versus the cost of making all or most of the meals in a camper. Lots of $$$$ saved right there.

[m&m]

My thoughts on this topic. I have been camping over 40yrs. Raised 3 kids with the help of all the campers I enjoyed weekends with or a day. Leaving out the religious aspect I'll say that you can not put a price on family time. The great times the kids had meeting people of all cultures and working class. They taught them a lot about right and wrong, Respect for others and their property etc. Team work in the family and others needing help. Spending time with wife and learning her struggles. Enough said. You can't put a price on raising a family right. Yes the next generation are campers.

[Mike484]

Originally Posted by Irish Mist

You need to do things within your means.. As it is with everything you can stay at expensive spots or reasonably priced spots.. You can pull a brand new top of the line rig or look for a deal in a used one. My point here is not to discourage those on the edge looking for an excuse not to be free and take a chance.. Too often people read others take on how expensive this is and don't try it.. I just wanted to say it can be as expensive or inexpensive as you make it.. but once you experience the friendly and helpfulness of fellow travelers most will be glad they are free ..

This is spot on. What it costs one family isn't really what it may cost the next. What costs one family $400 a month may cost another $100 a month.

You can get into a nice RV for $10,000 - $15,000.
Insurance will be less with a lower valued RV.
If you have a place to store it without having to pay storage fees, this will save a lot.
Stay at state parks or other "reasonably" priced parks, there are some that are $25 - $30 a night that are just as nice as some of the $50 - $60 a night ones, just shop around.

You can easily reduce the costs to where it is affordable to just about any budget. And the rewards you will get from owning/using an RV, you cannot really put a price on.

[gary31]

Keep In mind that in some of the most beautiful places there will not be a Hotel, there might be one down the road but not in some of the off the beat places. Camping cannot be measured by the cost factor alone, it really is the experience you get from the adventure. Not all trips will be spectacular but even the simplest ones can make great memories especially with kids. We will continue to camp as long as our bodies can hold up to the task at hand then maybe it will be time to Drop and Plop in at Hotels. We drag our Toy hauler out into the back woods of NC where we can ride Four wheelers and hunt, you will not find a hotel for many miles on those adventures. Is owning a camper cheap? No..... anything you deem recreational will be expensive, cars, boats, planes. You own a camper because you enjoy the challenge the adventure and the excitement of being outside with friend and family. Otherwise stay at home and have a cookout.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by jmak

In the past I have always thought in my mind that camping in a travel trailer would be inexpensive even for us still 40 hour a week working stiffs. However after adding up all the cost of ownership it does not seem to be that inexpensive.

Say you get a great deal on a nice trailer for $20K and after 5 years of ownership you can sell it for $10K. That puts a cost of $10k of ownership for $2K per year. Don't forget insurance of $500 a year. Also if you don't have your own covered storage and that can run another $1500 plus a year.

So fixed cost you are looking at $2500 w/o storage or $4k a year with storage.

Now lets add in some fun and simply take one weekend a trip a year of 2 nights each for a total of 24 nights a year. Let's say the average cost of camping is $35 a night to stay somewhere for a total of $840. Plus don't forget the extra fuel cost to get there of getting 10mpg in your truck instead of say 18mpg with an average destination of 150 miles away. That's an extra $324 a year.

Add in the extra cost of food, site seeing, repairs, and all the misc stuff you buy over each year for camping and w/o storage you are easily over $4k a year is cost or over $6k a year with storage cost.

While we all love camping you can take some pretty nice vacations for that kind of money. Even if you love camping only, that pays for a lot of nights in a cabin. I fully agree that RVing if you are retired or don't have that 40 hour a week job is much more cost effective as you can travel much more. If I was retired I would be out 4-6 months out of the year.

So what am I missing or doing wrong?

RVing, boating.....toys, aren't something to try to do a cost analysis on in my opinion. You either like it and do it.....or do something else.

We travel and stay in condos, one of our homes, nice resorts, timeshare and the RV. We don't really have anything else to do other than maintenance on all the things we personally own. That said. ALL of the various ways to go have fun come with costs, positives, negatives.

Without going through an analysis of all of them let me say that the RV puts an entirely different, fun perspective to travel. When's the last time you went to an exclusive resort and threw out the fire ring (where you want) and cranked up a fire? How do you get to "those" beautiful, remote, people less places in a condo? How many really nice condo/resorts do you find in that untouched little fishing village sitting on the coast(you don't)? How do you take your grandkids with no problems or extra costs and they get to be involved in everything daily? If you have a little personal companion (50lb-pet), how many places do you get to take him/her?

I think trying to equate money to fun and happiness is a losing proposition. Do it (RV). Figure out how to make the RV fit your lifestyle. See if it "fills your sails". If not, get rid of it. Our first foray into RVs was much like that and we couldn't find a way to use it to fit us so it was gone. We bought our new one with much trepidation because we both are very set in what we want and expect and had our previous memories/experiences. It took us 2 trips to see the fun we could have and then envision many more ways to expand those options. Be sure and get the RV that is set up for you.

I guess if an RV doesn't work you could look at a boat. They seem to be something that someone could just stay on all the time, or fish, or cruise......that's what I've thought on the 5 boats I've had in my life.....and then, those old words I was always told come to me..... "when dealing with a boat, the happiest days in your life are when you buy it........and when you sell it". Well, that pretty much sums up my thoughts Not trying to start a discussion on boats in a RV forum....just a personal thought

[bsmith0404]

The real question, that many have pointed out is what are you actually paying for/getting? It's not the RV, it's everything that becomes available as a result of owning an RV. It's the memories, the destinations, the family time. When we ask our kids about their favorite vacations, they always bring up one of our RV destinations, not the hotel vacations we've taken. My only regret is that we are a bit limited sometimes because of the size/cost of our 5er. There are some destinations I just won't take it...we are considering a second, smaller unit that we can use to go to some of those spots, but we won't get rid of our Alpine, that is home away from home.

[fourfourto]

bought old camper in 08 11k totaled by tree 2016 insurance paid $9500 = $187.50 year insurance $180 year $367.50 year not bad add some grease, anode, round up to 400 a year.
that's 2 nights at a hotel

nothing like climbing into your own bed .
bringing and cooking own food saves lots of $$$
Cat and dog no problem.

New keystone cost $11,500 paid cash owes me nothing at this point

Fun and adventures= priceless

[itat]

Before starting our family, my DW and I used to camp in a tent while touring around on our 1982 GoldWing Standard. We even honeymooned that way. It was definitely much less expensive than owning an RV and we thoroughly enjoyed riding with our group of fellow 'Wing riders. But then the kids came along and DW didn't want her own motorcycle so we started renting a popup and camping. We got hooked on sleeping up off the ground pretty quickly and eventually bought our own popup, then we upgraded to a hybrid and now a TT.

Compared to flying to a sunny destination, owning the camper is a decent value despite the depreciation and cost of upkeep (and my mods). I prefer driving to flying and have no interest in sitting on a beach all day. I also enjoy home cooking our own meals most of the time and the kids were fussy eaters so it was more of a necessity for us. We do a mix of provincial park camping and using the TT as a mobile motel room for sightseeing to get the best of both worlds.

We'll be empty nesters before too long and my DW has no interest in touring on the motorcycle anymore so we'll be camping as long as we continue to enjoy it. I've got my eye on a 5th wheel when I retire in a few years.