Hey all, posting here for a sanity check (and not getting much traction in r/RVLiving). I have a 2020 Thor Aria 3901 with an Escape toad. The weight specs for the RV are:

• GVWR: 35,320
• GCWR: 42,400
• Front GAWR: 14,320
• Rear GAWR: 21,000.

What I actually weighed at a CAT Scale (fully loaded):

• GVWR: 31,620
• GCWR: 35,340
• Front GAWR: 11,900
• Rear GAWR: 19,720

So far, so good. All my actual weight numbers come in under the max numbers. I then weighed my coach once on each side so I could get (roughly) the weight on each set of tires (I know this isn't as good as getting an actual 4 corners weight, but you do what you can with what you've got). These numbers came out to:

• Front Driver: 6,380
• Front Pass: 5,340
• Rear Driver: 9,420
• Rear Pass: 10,200

So, heavier up front on the driver side, but heavier in the rear on the passenger side. I'm not sure why the front passenger side is 1,000 lbs. lighter than the driver's side. If anyone has any ideas why this might be, I would love to hear it. The rear passenger side is likely heavier due to the full fresh water tank located just in front of the rear passenger tires.

All 6 of my tires are Michelin 275/80R22.5 LRH. According to the Tire Inflation Guide for these tires and using the heaviest weighed tire in the front (6,380) as the benchmark, I should set the tire pressure to 105 PSI. Doing the same for the rear tires (using 10,200 as the benchmark) and using the dual tire configuration, the tire pressure should be set to 90 PSI.

What I would like to know is did I use the tire inflation guide correctly? Are my numbers generally correct? Is it normal for the front tires to be inflated to a higher PSI than the rear ones? And lastly, should I be overly concerned with the overall weight distribution?

Is this enough for a starter off-grid system? We would need to run fridge, lights, charge our phones and Chromebooks, potentially the microwave if that's possible? And if it's also possible, the A/C and heater? In a 24' travel trailer. We don't have the trailer yet, still talking to dealers, trying to get ideas on what extras we will need for power. I know I want LiFePO4 batteries to cut down on weight. We will be doing a lot of dry camping, including winter camping on the west coast of Canada. Do the batteries need to have the warming function?

What else am I missing? The trailers we are looking at are already prepped for solar, I think we just need to ask to upgrade the package and get an inverter, but maybe I'm wrong? We are nowhere near close to the buying stage yet, just trying to get an idea of everything that we will need.

I’ve been looking and googling but haven’t found a toy hauler with front living or front kitchen or maybe a front office. Is there such a thing?

As title suggests, Im in the market for a pickup truck! Here is the mission, recently sold our house and moving into a RV. Looking at travel trailers and fifth wheels, we are a family of four so we are shopping around the 7500-15000lbs gvrw but could possibly go bigger if the budget allows.

Ultimately seeking a broader spectrum of opinions for a truck with these criteria...

3/4ton or 1ton Crew Cab Preferably Diesel, I don't mind a gaaser if it's good No preference on 2x4 4x4

Not really brand loyal, just looking for reliability and something comfortable to ride long road trips in.

I am mechanically inclined so maintenance or repairs won't scare me too much but obliviously I don't want to be wrenching on it everyday.

I know there are plenty options out there and there certainly is a BEST choice, but here is the kicker I'd really like to keep the budget around the $15,000 mark....I know laugh at me...I'm well aware good trucks are expensive. Thats why I'm here...

Location, USA

I know of Waggle but I want to know what other options I have. My camper is a 2018 and only been in it 2 months. Replaced some of the usuals; water pump, ceiling lights, propane regulator.. but not the AC. My AC is a Coleman mach that only has controls on the unit itself and run’s constantly. I don’t want this thing to crap out while at work and have to rush home to rescue pup. I won’t have any options to stay cool after that happens.

I currently live in Georgia with a FT job and apartment, planning on going full time on the road this summer. I'll be purchasing a used fifth wheel and tow vehicle at some point in the coming weeks, estimated to cost upwards of $80-90k. Georgia has a brutal 7% TAVT tax upfront on vehicle purchases and trailers that doesn't have transferability to other states, and so you essentially get double taxed when you move into or out of GA on all of your vehicles. In my case, I never plan to return to Georgia.

I'm ready now to buy the truck and trailer to start taking it out on weekends and getting set up for full time living, but hesitant with the tax situation.

Has anyone here had experience registering from out of state upfront in say SD or Florida before transitioning to full timing, and what would that order of operations look like from "moving", switching domicile/DL & insurance, to the actual vehicle purchase and then registration? Am I actually overcomplicating this, and can I just simply just register now in FL with a family address who lived in Florida, keeping my Georgia driver's license and residence?

Appreciate any guidance any of you may have, or any article you could point me to!

What type of rig do you have (class A, van, class c, skoolie, etc)? Why did you choose that rig style? And have you been happy with it full time?

I had a Class C Winnebago when I started out and I loved it. I was solo at the time and mainly chose class c for safety reason - if I ever needed to just leave I could hop in the driver seat and drive away. I boondock a lot and she got me to so many places! The price was right for me back in 2020 - $52,000 out the door. She had a lot of storage and all the amenities I needed - fridge, shower, toilet, full bed, dinette. And she was pretty easy to drive.

I was happy with her yet I hike, explore and bike a lot. So now I'm in a travel trailer with my BF. I like to have the freedom of the tow vehicle (I guess I could have towed a car with my class c but never did) now but I do miss my Class C, she was awesome!

How about you?

I’ve looked at ~100 RVs, across a dozen dealerships, in 5 different states.

Ingested countless forums and videos about everything travel trailer, towing, etc.

After 2 months, my final conclusion is to buy a new 2024 Grand Design Imagine AIM 15BH.

I haven’t done it yet. But here’s my thinking, please share your thoughts!

#The Situation: My wife will have an 1 year travel nurse contract next year, 1 month at each spot. And I work remotely. So we’re thinking of doing a travel trailer where I’ll work remotely and she’ll use the car to go/from her hospitals.

#Our Experience We are avid campers, backpackers, and overlanders. But have 0 RV experience.

#The RV Requirements & Timeline

• Under $30k (financing).
• Have an OK resale value cause we want to sell it after 2 years.
• Towable by a midsize SUV (our existing car).
• Be able to live 80% of our time at RV parks, boondocking the rest.
• Have a dinette or area to use as my office.
• We need it by next year, but we wanted to get it this year so we can work out the kinks and get familiar with it before full time living in it.

#The RV Options and Thought Process From my research, it seems like every brand has a 50/50 chance of being a piece of shit that stays in service forever, or a reliable RV! But it seems like Grand Design travel trailers with fiberglass walls have the highest chance of not being a piece of junk.

The initial thought was to buy used, use it for 2 years, and resale it. But I couldn’t find any used RVs under $30k, towable, and didn’t need a bunch of upgrades or maintenance.

The core upgrades were: tankless, heated underbelly, solar.

And you’re on the hook for any repairs!

Whereas with a new RV, it would depreciate a lot in 2 years. But the manufacturer would solve any issues we discover during our “trial year”. And it wouldn’t need any upgrades!

So the TL;DR was: get a brand new Grand Design within our weight class.

I looked at a few floor plans and fell in love with a new 2024 Grand Design Imagine AIM 15BH, for $28k out the door!

What do y’all think?

I have the opportunity to purchase a 2004 Scamper that is in very good condition. My idea is to make it into my full-time tiny home. It's me and two dogs. Would this be too tiny of a space?

Questions About Towing (Rookie)

My wife and I are looking to start an adventure and we are looking at me starting to do Travel Nursing, and taking our kids and seeing the country. I grew up on a farm and I am not inexperienced with pulling trailer but I am inexperienced with RVing and weight capacity.

I have a 2008 F-250 6.4 Diesel Crew Cab 4x2 with a Curb weight of 6,100 pounds and a GCVWR of 23,000 pounds. Its deleted and tuned and just had the turbo and oil cooler replaced 2,000 miles ago. It’s been great for our current 5th wheel. Which is and old 2000 Sierra toy hauler that’s a 27 footer.

The trailer we are looking at getting is a 44 footer (we want the most space as we will be living in it). It has a dry weight of 12,500 pounds and a GVWR of 15,500. By my calculation, that gives us 4,400 pounds to play with for extra weight. Am I doing something wrong here? Do I need to upgrade my truck? It runs great, has been a work horse, and I don’t want to. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Truck: 2008 F-250 Lariat Crew Cab 4x2 (Rear Wheel Drive) 6.4 Diesel

Trailer and specs: 2021 Heartland Milestone 370FLMB Fifth wheel RV 2 7k axles Gvwr 15,500lbs Dry weight 12,520lbs Hitch weight 2,675lbs Caro Capacity 2,432 429 Sqft

How far in advance to you make reservations while travelling? When I first started planning for our full time journey my thought was to just go from place to place as whimsy took us, making reservation on the day of or maybe a week or two in advance.

Then covid happen and it seemed like everyone and their cousin was RVing and reservations were hard to come by. My wife and I are starting our journey 6/1 and I already have all the reservations made for every stop along the way that will take us to the end of Sept.

Is this normal? Am I planning too far out? Or should I stick with it for the peace of mind if nothing else?

Hello,

I am looking to start living in my vehicle this upcoming May and haven't figured out the legality and logistics of obtaining a physical address. I am currently living in Kentucky, but intend to primarily be in Florida. My main goal by living in my vehicle is to save as much money as humanly possible, and as a 18M, insurance tends to not be forgiving towards us. This has led me to consider options of establishing domicile in a state offering lowered insurance rates such as South Dakota. Websites such as DakotaPost and ChooseSD state you only need to spend 24hrs in the state to be eligible for residency, while some people online have said they have now updated the term to be 30 days.

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1. Is this a county specific issue, or is this an issue statewide?
2. If I established residency in SD, but got a job in Florida, what is the legality of taxes?
3. Should I just bite the bullet and claim domicile in Florida? (For the record, I am not intending to be in Florida for more than a few months.)

I know this is a non-RV question, and I also know these questions have been discussed previously, but I need some further clarification on all of this.

​

Thank you!

Hey all!

So long story short, my wife is going in to have surgery again for a benign tumor near her brain. We've decided that regardless of the outcome (provided she isn't completely disabled by it), we would like to try fulltiming for a while and see the states. Neither of us have gone very far before, mostly West Coast. It will be us and our two kids.

We intend to buy an RV for $100,000 or less. We have an Internet solution (Starlink), and that will suffice for my work and our entertainment needs. We're looking for an RV with bunks for the kids, stove, fridge, microwave. Would be sweet if it had a laundry machine, and solar, but not necessary.

Anywho, we're really looking for some tips, things to watch out for maybe a listing of RV parks or campgrounds that folks have found enjoyable and/or inexpensive to stay at around the states, really anything you might think is helpful for first timers.

Thanks!

https://www.rvupgradestore.com/True-Induction-Double-Gas-Burner-And-Induction-p/TI-1-2B.htm

Two propane burners, for when you want to go boondocking for a bit, and one induction cooking surface for when you're at an RV park and want to save some gas. Cool! Been looking for something like this for a while, and didn't know that you could buy them aftermarket.

Now, how to go about installing something like this without having to uninstall the oven and range... :)

I camp in the back of my truck and want to install an inverter setup so I can charge my Jackery 3000 while on the road and not have to stop to charge solar or in a Panera.
Initially, I wanted to just run 2 AWG wires {15ish feet} (with a 250 amp fuse as close to the battery as possible) from my starter battery to my 2000W Jupiter inverter ( I needed 2000W since my jackery draws 1700W when plugged into an AC outlet and Idk if there's a way to lower that).
I no longer am doing that since I learned that its not good to draw a constant current from my starter battery. (I also run 270W offroad lights from the starter)
Starters, I have limited knowledge on electricity.
I also have a 160amp inverter with a 5.3L Vortec
My current plan is to have a battery isolator relay connected to my starter with 2 AWG wires that are connected to a second 105ah deep cycle lead acid battery on the other side of the engine bay (apparently you can't charge or run batteries in the back of a camper bc of the fumes?). Now having that second battery, I will have a fuse block (more organized than just wires) to power my front and rear offroading lights (270W front 50W rear) and then 2 AWG wires running to the back of the truck powering my 2000W inverter. I will have a 250W fuse running to the relay, then another to the secondary battery, and then another leaving the battery to the inverter so 3 (not sure if that's necessary).
If anyone has any suggestions or changes, please let me know, I'm very open to anything.
link to the battery
Battery link

Hey Folks, does anyone have experience with RV'er Insurance? https://rvinsurancebenefits.com/

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I domicile in WA and am trying to get my own insurance plan, I won't be employed and plan to do this all on savings.

I recently created a group specifically for Thousand Trails related content. If you are a Thousand Trails member and have any interest in discussing anything thousand trails related, please join so we can make this an active group to help everybody.

R/ThousandTrailsParks

I'm not sure if this is allowed or not, if it's not, Mods please remove (I'm not trying to take your traffic, just give folks a space to specifically discuss Thousand Trails).

My family and I are in the process of transitioning to living full time in an RV.

We are looking for recommendations on a 5th Wheel Toy Hauler that could accommodate a family with 3 young boys.

We really like the floor plan of the Brinkley 3950 but don’t want to spend that much. What other brands and models have a similar setup?

I was also curious why there is typically only 1 slide in the main bedroom?

If anyone has had experience with the Durango Gold G382MBQ. Wanting to know thoughts on:

1. rear deck - was it worthwhile? Do you always need to put it up when it rains?
2. Pros and cons in general of the RV

Thanks!

My furnace and thermostat are clicking and turning off. So I got a portable indoor propane heater. Here are my concerns. I have a cat, will she knock it over. I have to bring in my 30# tank. I have a CO 2 detector and will check the line but is that safe. It’s 3 degrees and going to drop. Any advice?

Who do you have as fulltimers insurance coverage? Are you happy with them and what are your coverages like? I've gotten a few quotes but there's a few companies I've never heard of, like roamly. I'll be fulltiming in a 375baf chaparral and progressive quotes are around 1.1k a year and good sam is about 750

I am getting divorced and plan to do a bit of a reset while I sort out what is next for me. When I sell my house and settle my debts, I'll have about $50k. I think I want to buy the best bang for the buck reliable RV or Camp Trailer that I'll hate the least in the northern Utah winters and summers.

I'd love to get some basic suggestions as to what models I should really consider and what to avoid.

I expect to live in it for a year while I build something more permanent; hopefully on the same land. Also, I'm 6'-4" and have a couple dogs. Neither of these are ideal, I know.

This is crossposted on /gorving

Here Y'all go. Discount codes for Micro-Air LLC. Soft Starts and Thermostats.
Discount Code: OURROADETRV
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Active from today until Mar 31, 2024

Discount Code: OURROAD
Discount: $25.00 off EasyStart™ 364 Soft Starter (ASY-364-X20-IP)
Active from today until Mar 31, 2024

If you're full timing with a Westinghouse portable generator, or any portable generator with a carburetor I suppose, and you switch it off at night in cold winter weather after it's been working hard, the fuel float inside the carburetor can become stuck, causing the carb to overflow and leak fuel onto the ground, or the back of your pickup bed, etc, all night long.

Then, when you go to start it in the morning, and you don't notice the smell of gas, because there's a strong breeze or something, you could potentially end up starting that engine while it's swimming in a tiny lake of its own go-juice.

Not the most comforting feeling in the world, to be sure. In the winter, take a moment to inspect underneath the generator, and maybe even sniff around it a couple of times before you fire it up again. Better to know that it's been leaking gas than to discover that you now own a very hot fireball that will only be considered a generator-of-sorts for a few more minutes before it melts itself into molten plastic and such. ;)

Would like opinions! I have always assumed I just better have it, but is it really worth keeping it?! (There’s a tldr at the end)

For background, my ‘address’ is in Massachusetts, and mainly because of threats of tax penalties (not sure how much but I’m sure cheaper than my insurance)

I’ve been paying for health insurance for years (~$400/mo for cheapest plan) - I don’t qualify for free/reduced.

I’m 39, I don’t have any prescriptions, I rarely go to doctors (I went to urgent care years ago in NY and ended up paying $1000+ out of pocket basically for a Tylenol drip and a “you’re fine”.)

I am in good health, but do have a fairly risky job in terms of possible injuries.

I’m full time RV but lately have been 2-3 months in a spot at a time, and not in MA for that long.

I don’t know if I can submit out of state visits for preventive care or specialized services (Physical therapy etc) to insurance company for reimbursement, guess I should ask? That’s what I would use it for if I thought it would cover.

Basically if I cancel I’m saving $4800/yr which I haven’t used over the past 5 years, so $24k I’ve spent on nothing. It just seems ridiculous, seeing as any injuries that may happen, I could take out a loan if needed and pay off for cheaper than insurance that doesn’t seem to cover much. Or pay for four $100 PT appointments a month and actually be benefiting from my expense.

TLDR; opinions wanted. As a healthy 39 yo seems like I could cancel my health insurance but I’m just so conditioned to think I need it. Kinda just curious on other people’s thoughts/reasonings/what they might do in my scenario? Or what they have done?

I’m amazed there are no nationwide cheaper health plans from some privatized do-gooder company. Though also not surprised….

I'm looking to track my RVs monthly electrical use to better plan for an offgrid solar system for if i were to park it permanently. What is the easiest way to track my monthly electrical uses? I was hoping for something I could put inline between the pedastool and RV connection, and hopefully not have to spend a couple hundred dollars. Appreciate if anyone can point me in the right direction.

I do have a Thornwave Labs Powermon-5S shunt that I have not installed on the batteries yet, but I'm assuming that is only useful when running off battery power?