Sold Copper Canyon and upgraded to a DRV Mobile Suites

[Trent McCain]

As the title says, we got a chance to sell our 2008 bunkhouse. Our teenage boys are out growing the bunks and don't travel with us much anymore. So it's just the wife, 8 yr. old daughter and myself. We had bought the coach right and enjoyed it 3 years. It basically cost us tires and routine maintance. So it really didn't cost us much to own and was a wise time to sell it. Found a beautiful 2004 DRV Mobile Suites that a nice couple had bought with intentions of full-timing. The husbands health is declining so they decided to sell. We are in our late 30's and wanted a high quality true 4 seasons coach (even though it's in storage during the winter) with a king bed and a residential feel. This coach has more home stereo equipment than our stick house! We didn't want to borrow money, so we had to go back a few years (2004) to keep in our budget. With the partial body paint, painted on graphics and all LED lights, it looks 2-3 years old anyways. The wife and I feel we found a nice coach for the money. We are pretty pleased with our purchase and best of all truck and trailer are paid for and should last us a long time. Hopefully we can still visit the forums as I feel it doesn't matter what we camp in or pull it with, we can still learn from each other.

Trent

[chuckster57]

I wont ignore you just because you bought something else

Congrats and enjoy, those are beautiful trailers.

[JRTJH]

We've got a number of members who have bought SOB (Some Other Brand) RV's. Many of us feel that once you're "family" you're always "family". So, congratulations on your new RV !!!! We look forward to hearing about your experiences with your new to you RV.

[GaryWT]

Good luck, hope it all works out for you.

[Kristi]

Ohhh, we are so jealous. Truck & trailer paid off... someday we will be there too. Congrats & enjoy!

[Trent McCain]

Kristi, you will make it. I was single for many years, so that helped! I own my own business and still have a little debt from that, but no personal debt, ie: vehicles, campers, credit cards ect. I've found like in the case of our campers, we buy them used and save big. After I got married, we purchased Our first 5th wheel. It was a 1991 Excel purchased from a retired gentleman, My new family and I speant many weekends cleaning and detailing it, found out they liked camping as much as I did, so we sold the Excel (broke even minus our "sweat equity") and purchased the 2008 Copper Canyon. We bought it right and it came with a B&W hitch we didn't need, so that was sold for $500. We pulled the trailer right a 3 years, we replaced the tires, and a few odds and ends. When the time came to sell last month, we sold it for $500 less than we paid for it...so if you take the $500 we got for the hitch....we broke even minus the maintenance costs (which we may or may not have had regardless of what we bought) We put another $3,200 cash with our winnings and bought the 2004 DRV. We paid less money for our used DRV than we could have bought a new "entry level" 5th wheel regardless of manufacturer. So my point is, we have gotten where we are by purchasing used. I've ordered new pickups, trucks and trailers for my business in the past, but when it came time for a F350 diesel to pull our campers, I again went back to used. The one in our sig was purchased 3 years ago with 39K on it, we currently have 56K. It's fully loaded and I knew the gentleman that ordered it new. You can save a ton of money by buying used and get out of debt faster. For no more than we actually use our 5th wheel, which varies from year to year....it just made sense to us. If we use it fine, if we don't get a chance too, it can sit in the building. My wife and I would like to travel, but life has been hectic...we at least have a capable rig when we are ready. You'll make it out of debt, enjoy time with the family....I waited until late in life to start mine.

Trent

[Shadowcats]

Sounds like a good choice for you. We're retired so getting something that was comfortable, with all the perks was important to us too. Still had to go big to allow for kids, grandkids...and their dogs. Funny how health often helps with decisions too. Enjoy each and every trip.

[Trent McCain]

I think we will really like it. Our 8yr old daughter was anxious to try it out, so she and I "camped" in the driveway last weekend. We had a great time and I slept better in this coach than I did in our previous coaches. Comparing this coach to our old one is like an outhouse to the Taj Mahal. That doesn't mean our Keystone was bad, they are two different coaches built for different purposes and price points. Another thing I like about the DRV over our Keystone is the generous residential lighting. In our CC, only a couple lights were on the wall switch, most were on the fixture and difficult to reach. In the DRV , they are all individually controlled via wall switches. Overall I think for our current needs, we will enjoy it.

Trent