To add:
If you use a diesel truck consider how you will store it in the winter so your fuel doesnt gel up.
Do you have a good and cheap place to store your rv or trailer?
When looking at the costs I’m thinking of just having a comfortable vehicle like a van or suv that we can haul stuff like bicycles yet still gets 20 mpg and just staying in hotels or like airbnb’s. With sites like hotels.com you can find some pretty good bargains.
To each his/her own, but Mrs. L likes having “her” toilet, not something to share with the rest of the world. I kinda get it: we men often aim the equipment, but women sometimes have to hover above a nasty gas station commode.
And I would really like to explore in depth, chat up more locals etc. When we were traveling on weekends we’d hit the major post card type sites, stumble across a few things, and then head back home because work starts again on Monday. I would literally like to be on the road for six months (except for visiting family and friends a few days here and there). ISTM that most hotels and the like will add up pretty quickly.
To stick with the idea of starting in San Diego I would pick some of these:
and some of these:
and some of these:
Some will show up on multiple sites and lists, I’m sure. In any case by staying in one place for a couple weeks you can hit the ones you like—don’t forget the eateries available–and then move to the next target rich environment.
Mind you, I’m not trying to promote San Diego. When we went to Memphis, I used the same sites to research it. I looked up the highly rated BBQ places. We’re walking to get to one and WTF?! Right past the Lorraine, where MLK was assassinated!!! Later on, hell that’s the Gibson guitar factory, which my research had somehow missed, but drool! Etc.
“Still working” is a different beast I think.
I’ve never been to San Diego. Are there alot of good campgrounds?
My dream trip is to explore the Civil War battlefields.
Then another is to drive to Alaska.
Well, my experience with rear view cameras is limited, but in both cases, the camera only comes on when backing. I wouldn’t be surprised if motorhomes have an “always on” rearview camera though. On cars and trucks rear cameras may be common, and probably becoming more so, but far from universal.
Our Subaru has a camera for backing, as well. I wondered why they didn’t allow you to watch who’s tailgating you. But that camera shares the display for the stereo, Bluetooth, etc…maybe that’s why.
I also have a Garmin dash cam. They have a feature where if the vehicle is bumped, they come on and record automatically. The idea is that if you park your car on the street and someone hits it, even if nobody’s around, you might get their license plate number etc.
There’s also this.
A recommendation for John Cadogan’s (aka Auto Expert) set of heavy towing videos.
You do need to be prepared for some pretty normal aussie straight talking. And the odd profanity. Plus he isn’t exactly complementary about the entire caravanning experience.
OTOH, he is qualified to talk about this, and presents what you need to know well.
Translation:
Grey nomad - you
Ute - pickup
Shitsville - Australia
Huh, well that’s interesting(the video). I wonder how they do that.
Nevermind, I see that they simply added a camera to the trailer, not that interesting after all
A lot of that looks familiar. A couple of issues strike me about the situation…
Some people may load up their rig and that’s that. Maybe they put a coffee maker in it, some towels and clothes, a few card games, whatever…and they STAY there. In that case you could kind of weigh it, get it just so, and that would be that. But for people who constantly change what they carry, the distribution and total weight would be an ongoing concern.
I’ve seen some hitches that indicate the tongue weight and that sounds awesome. Rather than constantly going to scales, which I imagine charge for the service, that scale would be an “anytime” sort of verification. Verify when you get it, and recall that loads still need to be balanced, but…
I was doing the conversion from kg to lb in my head and it seems like a lot of Aussies want to tow a full-size Airstream with a Ford Focus or something. I get it. You need a powerful enough vehicle, and you need to look at tongue weight plus everything else.
Then I watched this one of his.
At about 13:00 he goes off again on respecting the weights involved—fine. But he then talks (13:35) about the springs in these hitches being potentially dangerous. I think he’s talking about something different from what I’ve seen? He talks about the “springs you wind up” and if they slip off their chains…what?
These are difficult issues to optimize – travel trailer, pop-up, teardrop, Class A, Class B, Class C, 5th wheel.
As somebody who lived most of his adult life in San Diego (several of those years in an RV park in my Class A Airstream), one thing I think about:
San Diego – like many beautiful bigger cities – has an amazing number of sites to see, but it would be an act of penance to drive your Class A or – for some people – your big dually pickup truck – in heavy traffic, stop and go, bumper-to-bumper, criss-crossing the highways and byways of a place like San Diego.
And that’s after you made camp and wanted to go sightseeing.
If you kept changing campgrounds in a geographically large area like San Diego County, then you’re threading the traffic needle with a pretty big, heavy setup.
I had mountain bikes on the back of my motorhome which was great, but – obviously – limiting. For those who can carry and ride a motorcycle … great.
Otherwise, if urban environments are where you plan to spend a lot of your time, it’s good to think about a travel trailer light enough to tow with an SUV or a Class A that can tow a smaller, easier to drive dinghy – relatively easier modes of transportation apart from the RV.
For those to whom a full-sized dually is just never a chore to drive, though ? More power to you 
Thanks for the reply…it’s awesome to get info from a local!
My thought process is that a lot of attractions are near urban environments, which is why I picked one for my example. We welcome off-the-beaten-path attractions, some that are even in Podunk, but some of the bigger landmarks etc. can be only found in the city.
“A light enough trailer” is often a “not very durable trailer,” or course. It turns into a kind of zero sum game…build it stronger and you add weight, maybe need a bigger truck, lose manuverability, etc. But I’d like to do this for six months or a year and mpg matters. Hmm, where’s the happy medium?
Before we had the RV, we would drive a car and visit places. We have a dog and that meant finding a hotel that accepts them. They sometimes charge extra but ok. We’ve also flown places. Sometimes we flew and rented cars. Other times we flew and walked—those local hop on hop off tour buses can be a great deal.
ISTM that the question is often whati the best way is to get there. San Diego may be the sort of place you fly into and walk around? Or uber around?
It feels like you’re asking (yourself and others) all the right questions.
Yeah. RVs aren’t particularly durable. Clanging and banging down the road can take a toll. You do make peace with fixing stuff while you’re camping.
Having a dog while RV’ing, and trying to do the tourist things … might be tough. I’m sure the RV forums have no end of discussions about this one.
To take San Diego, the answer is … it totally depends.
It depends on where you want to stay, what you want to see, and how much time you’ll spend there.
If you want to stay coastal, that’s one thing. If you want to see the beaches and the mountains/forests, that’s quite another. If you want to see Tijuana or any other part of Baja California – yet another.
The Zoo/Balboa Park and the Zoo Safari Park are quite a ways apart but both well worth seeing. Just look at San Diego County on a map. BIg sucker. And lots of things around the perimeter are well worth seeing … if you have the luxury of some time.
Depending on which way you go on the RV/dinghy/tow vehicle equation, one option is to just rent a passenger car while you stay in a big, congested urban area, and just see what you want to see, drive what you want to drive, and camp in the vehicle you want to camp in.
In other words, drive and live in what you want, and rent for the exceptions.
That will probably work in most urban areas, even if you camp away from the congestion and have to Uber to the rental agency.
They look very similar to what I posted earlier. At about 7:55 they show attaching it, and I see the chains. Do they mean that by virtue of going down the road the springs “wind up” or…?
Like many people (?) I’m a snowball who sees or learns things and later can’t remember where…I thought those springs were not release-able when they’re under tension, unless of course you’re Superman. But if they break, ok.
Some years ago I was considering putting up a new garage door opener. I thought maybe the spring was worn out. I don’t have much mechanical ability so I ran the idea past my bro, who does. He said garage door springs are not for the uninformed to mess around with. A little googling later…
This is interesting. He talks about incorrect height of ball mount contributing to sway. I hadn’t heard that before. The “wipeout” videos often contain people towing with cars rather than trucks. His heavy truck, with a long wheel base, helps. Hmm…
I have no USA experience, but I have towed a trailer van around Europe with a 2 litre estate car for many years.
Weight distribution is the first factor: the tow car must be heavier than the trailer fully loaded with batteries and gas etc. Find out the max allowable weight on the hitch and try to keep just under that. The locker at the front of the van is great for stowing stuff like gas bottles/spare wheel/locks etc but its easy o overload it. Don’t be tempted to just move some weight to the back to take load off the front.
Tyre pressures need to be correct for the load. Trailer van tyres often need quite high pressure - mine run at 50psi.
Smooth and steady is the key while driving - no sudden moves. The worst problems I encountered where when I was overtaken by a truck or a coach. High speed coaches are a special problem - the trailer is pushed by the bow wave and then sucked in by the vacuum at the back. It paid to slow down and pull over as far as possible when one of those loomed in the mirror.
If you have one available, enrol on an instruction day to learn the fine art of reversing and much more.
“Estate car” is what I guess we call a station wagon. “Trailer van”=cargo van, not for people? “Locker”=space atop the hitch for propane tanks etc.? Or do you have an enclosed, separate box outside?
I read once that the 2 liter engine in Europe is ridiculously well-refined because years ago, some big tax was placed on anything bigger than 2.0L. Starting then everybody refined and perfected turbocharging or supercharging or fuel injection or…anything they could improve to get more out of the engine rather than increasing displacement.
I’ll have to start noticing what people are pulling and what they’re pulling it with. I’ll see guys pulling 35 foot trailers with a pickup truck. Ford makes F-150, F-250, F-350, and F-450—but which one?
A quick google finds that the F450 has a curb weight of up to 8586 lbs. These Keystone fifth wheel RVs approach 14,000 lbs.
I wouldn’t guess the tow vehicle outweighs what they’re pulling in a lot of cases, but that doesn’t mean they’re doing it correctly, either.
As I’ve mentioned before, I used to sell RVs for awhile. If you’re considering trailers and 5th wheels, the correctly sized vehicle is essential. Forget the F-150 for anything other than the lightest of pull-behind trailers. Generally, a 5th wheel trailer requires a larger truck to pull it because 5th wheel trailers are usually quite large. The way to go about buying these sorts of rigs is to first find the 5th wheel you want to buy by visiting several dealers or looking online first. Make it clear to the sales person that you don’t yet have a towing vehicle and will be looking for advice once you figure out which trailer suits you. RV dealers have books that tell you what trucks can pull what sorts of loads. For a 5th wheel, you generally end up with an F-350 with the biggest diesel engine you can get, and an automatic transmission. For really large 5th wheels, you will need a dually.
So the order of business is: find a trailer, find out what it takes to pull it, buy the tow vehicle (if you don’t already have it), then buy the trailer, and have a towing professional install the hitch. This is true for either a regular trailer and for a 5th wheel. Regular trailers, depending on weight, can be towed by all manner of vehicles, but if your vehicle is undersized, you risk some seriously dangerous issues.
I much prefer a motor home, of which I’ve owned three. Somebody mentioned a class A, which is fine, but even the really big buses are really only designed for two people. For a family, a class C configuration is going to work best. Class B motor homes (van conversions, basically) are also designed for two people. Class B vans can seat more than two people, but you’ll need a tent for them to sleep in.
Sure, I remember posting with you months ago on a thread about someone dreaming of getting an RV (?)…
“Fifth wheel” a kind of buzzword? The first image that comes to mind is a 40 foot behemoth. No, that’s not what we want. The reason for it was simply “I want control of what I’m towing.” My research brought up some that were 20-25 feet long. I want “big enough” that I’m not living in a sardine can, but “small enough” that maneuvering on city streets isn’t a white-knuckle event. Then I catch myself and realize that Mrs. L ought to be driving it as well, and she’s more skittish than I am.
To be honest, I’d like to keep the truck bed or a place to carry some cargo, not put a fifth wheel hitch in at all, but the trailer sway wipeout videos convinced Mrs. L that we need a fifth wheel. The weight distribution hitch and anti-sway thing might solve that.
I also don’t like fifth wheels because they want to put the bed in the gooseneck. I understand the geometric appeal…climbing up and down lacks geriatric appeal, however. @Chefguy do you have an opinion about the Idle-Time brand from Allen Campers? They look like they run 5000-7500 or so max loaded—maybe one third to one half of what the really big ones weigh. I can’t see where they’re RVIA certified, but they seem like a good builder.
I was tempted to post a separate thread about the diesel thing. Instead…
My dad was a truck driver, so I have a little background knowledge about diesel engines. As I recall back in the late 1970s Oldsmobile offered their “88” model with diesel engines. I guessed this was because the oil crisis made people think about the MPG they were getting and I calculated what the savings might be on fuel. But then, I remembered dad telling me it burns dirtier and once you do more oil changes, what have you saved?
So what do diesels have going for them?
They last a long time, I hear (but they’re expensive and heavy, I also hear).
They produce a lot of torque (I’m not sure what that is, but I also hear they have very poor acceleration).
In the big RVs, they overcome the noise a diesel makes by putting them in the back (a pusher), so you don’t hear them while driving, then put the generator in front, so at night you can run that while sleeping (but you haven’t got much protection in a front end collision).
Dad told me he’d be hauling new cars to Baltimore, via the Pennsylvania turnpike, in the winter. He’d pull over, lock the doors, and sleep. But he didn’t shut off the engine, because you might not get it started again—gasoline is volatile and the fumes explode, but diesel merely burns and if it’s cold the glow plugs might not be able to get it going again.
He quit driving 50 years ago so it’s entirely likely that there have been improvements. But I don’t get the reverence. I had the impression that if you’re driving a semi, you need grunt to get it going but an RV (of the size we’re considering) is much smaller potatoes.
Yes, estate car = station wagon. The extra overhang at the back can be a problem.
Trailer van = trailer caravan as opposed to 5th wheel - these are rare over here.
Locker is as you describe. 2 litres is considered a big engine here, but not for tax reasons. With petrol at £1.10 a litre (equivalent to $4.20 a gallon in America) fuel economy is paramount. Add in some stringent emission laws and you can see why we avoid big ‘gas’ guzzlers.
From what you have written above, especially about your wife, I would suggest that an RV is the way to go - the smallest one you think you can live with as bigger ones can be harder to handle. Why not rent one for a week or two to see how you get on?
I may be reading this all wrong, but there seems to be some mixing of terms. For clarity’s sake, in the USA, the following generally applies:
RV: generally applies to ALL recreational vehicles, motorized or otherwise.
Motor home: Self-propelled, fully contained to include toilet, generator, kitchen and HVAC elements
Class A motor home: Bus style, usually 30-42 feet, gas puller or diesel pusher, usually sleeps two, but may have a fold down couch
Class B motor home: Usually a van conversion, with a maximum size of about 22 feet. Sleeps two. Gas or diesel puller.
Class C motor home: Either gas or diesel puller; size ranges from about 20 feet to about 30 feet. Can sleep from four to six or more.
Trailer: any non-motorized RV that is towed behind a vehicle. These are generally of two types: a regular trailer or a 5th wheel trailer, and can range in size from tiny teardrops to 45 feet. A regular trailer connects to the tow vehicle via a ball connector that is welded to the frame of the vehicle. A 5th wheel connects to the tow vehicle via a bed-mounted connector similar to that used on a semi tractor. The vehicle must have a bed, so has to be a truck by default. One big advantage of a trailer over a motor home is that all of the inside is usable living space. You can buy a simple tent trailer that will sleep at least 6-8 people, can be towed with a car, and won’t break the bank.
It’s not reverence that prompts the purchase of a diesel for pulling large trailers and having a turbo-charged version. You really need that torque to get all that mass moving without destroying your transmission and drive train, and rapid acceleration is not a good thing when towing several tons behind you. Also, purists who think that they’d rather die than drive an automatic soon find the error of their ways. The real downside of a diesel is, as mentioned, the cost of that engine and finding a reliable mechanic. There has been a rush to Sprinters (Mercedes diesel) for the Class B market. You pay a LOT of money to have that logo on the front, and it isn’t worth it, IMO. When people used to mention fuel mileage, I’d ask them: if you’re worried about mileage, why are you spending $80K on an RV?
Fifth wheel setups are much less vulnerable to sway, simply because the weight distribution doesn’t cause it in the first place. Travel trailers are more vulnerable to sway because their center of gravity is more centered over the trailer wheels. I’ve had two fifth wheels, two travel trailers, and three different double-tow rigs (2 trailers in a row). Currently I’m towing a 36 foot travel trailer behind a 3/4 ton pickup. I also tow a large boat (30 ft. 12,000 lbs.). In addition to fifth-wheel hitches I’ve used the traditional trunnion and chains, the Equalizer (brand), friction sway controllers, and trapezoidal hitches. Note my username. 
Here is a video of a large travel trailer towed by a full-sized truck but with inadequate sway control. Note the amount of stuff loaded on the rear bumper as he passes the semi before losing control. I would guess the CG is too far to the rear as well. This sway can be controlled even with improper loading, but it requires some thought and money to solve.
@Chefguy covered the half-ton vs heavy-duty truck issue upthread, but let me add the following. I owned a half-ton Ram 1500 Quad Cab w 5.7L Hemi and 10,500 lb. tow rating. Once placed on an actual truck scale, the real weight of the truck was only 900 lbs under its GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating – the max it can hold, including the weight on the hitch). This 900 lb allowable load was less than that of my wife’s Camry (950 lbs.). GVWR will almost always be your limiting factor when towing with a light truck, and quite often it will limit you from any but the smallest campers. As Chefguy mentioned, almost all 5th wheels will put you in the 1-ton category. They don’t seem to make small ones any more, and there’s also the issue of matching heights (trucks have been growing taller for the last decade and your trailer will need to match the bed rail height).
I offer the following based on my own experience fighting the sway of a large travel trailer.
You can solve the sway problem with an atypical hitch. There are two brands that I’m aware of that actually stop sway as opposed to resisting it. One is called a Hensley Arrow, and the other Pro-Pride. These make use of a trapezoidal framework instead of pivoting on the ball, and are amazing. In the RV forums, those of us who use them are often teased and accused of “drinking the Koolaid”, but we can verify they actually work. Here is a schematic of how they work, and here is a video of an over the top test, but showing the sway control in sudden maneuvers. When traveling down the highway, the hitch is rigid and you’re driving one long solid vehicle. It doesn’t feel like there’s a “hinge” until you turn.
If you decide on a travel trailer and later discover you’re having sway problems, these unusual hitches will solve it for you, but they cost around $2500. When I bought mine, the company sent it to me for a month with a guarantee to buy it back if I didn’t like it.
Hope some of this helps, and best of luck on your purchase(s).