Getting Down to the Wire - a Toyota Sunrader
Here we are, about a month away from my son's high school graduation and ~6 weeks away from trip departure... and still no RV.
I've recognized in myself a reluctance to act when I'm unsure or uncertain. The whole trip is rather foreboding, as is the expense of a motor home (and my lack of associated knowledge required to operate it), so I've been procrastinating.
With the ETD (estimated time of departure) looming, it's time to kick the ball.
Although I've been keeping an eye out on Craigslist, RVTrader, and local RV dealer sites, I haven't seen anything I'm interested in. I know I want a small one, this being my first RV, and because of the planned length of the trip, mileage is important. Plus there's only the two of us, so we won't need much.
I headed back to the Cruise America site. Again.
And discovered they didn't have any of the 19 footers in stock. Last time I checked, maybe 2 months ago, they had maybe 10?
In one sense, I suppose that's a good thing. If I managed to get one, chances are I'd be able to sell it when we got back, supposing I didn't want to keep it. But right now, it's worrisome. I was kind of looking at them as a last resort, and I'm close to last resort time. I figured if I didn't find anything anywhere else, I'd just pop over to CA and buy one.
But that seems to be no-go as a plan. Time of year maybe? I guess people are gearing up for summertime RV adventures.
CA has plenty of 23-footers, but compared to the 19, it's intimidating and bigger than I want/need. Plus my research indicates around 10-12 mpg with the 23, and 14-16 with the 19. Doesn't sound like a lot, but over a potential 10,000 miles, that's a 20 - 30% fuel savings.
Because I'm a numbers guy, let's go with 10,000 total miles.
For the 23-footer at an average 11 mpg, that's 909 gallons for a total cost of ~2,400 at $2.60 a gallon. The 19-footer getting 15 mpg would be ~1750. So right around ~700 less. Maybe not a lot in the whole scheme of things, but trip wise that's probably food for 6 weeks, or 20 nights in an RV park at $35 a night. From that aspect, it's significant.
Pricewise the 19 and 23 run about the same--between 26,000 and 30,000. Right now, the cheaper 23s are gone too, leaving the least expensive one coming in at 31,000 and going up from there. That's an intimidating amount. Even with 12,000 down, it's a ~230 a month payment for 10 years. Add in the 70 a month for storage and it rounds to ~$300.
I investigated renting, but that's even worse. It would be $14,000 to rent the 19-footer from CA, and that doesn't include my own fuel or RV park costs.
El Monte was a bit cheaper at $12,000 for a 22-footer. Both cases would leave me with no RV at the end.
Considering that, buying seems the best cost cutting option. Even if I ended up paying 30,000 for an RV, with a $300 monthly payment and 12,000 down, the RV would still have value at the end of the trip.
Judging from prices on the CA site (which vary according to year and total miles) an RV initially costing ~$30,000 would be "worth" around 25,000 after the trip. Of course it's only worth what someone will pay for it, but RVs in that price and mileage rang are selling on the CA site....
In that scenario, the RV cost would be the difference between the purchase price (less number of monthly payments and storage) and the price I sell it for. In the above case, I'd be getting the RV for ~6,000, considerably less than the 14,000 for renting.
Considering all of the above, the best case would seem to be to find a used RV around the 15,000 range, paying cash for it, with the idea of either keeping it ($70 a month for storage) or selling it. For a used RV costing around 15,000, the trip would probably only knock off a grand or two, reducing the RV cost even more.
All of this is speculation... yet with this speculation in mind, I'm going to take a look at a 1984 Toyota Sunrader 21. It has the 22R 4 cylinder engine, which has an excellent reputation for reliability and should get between 15-20 mile per gallon.
I've recognized in myself a reluctance to act when I'm unsure or uncertain. The whole trip is rather foreboding, as is the expense of a motor home (and my lack of associated knowledge required to operate it), so I've been procrastinating.
With the ETD (estimated time of departure) looming, it's time to kick the ball.
Although I've been keeping an eye out on Craigslist, RVTrader, and local RV dealer sites, I haven't seen anything I'm interested in. I know I want a small one, this being my first RV, and because of the planned length of the trip, mileage is important. Plus there's only the two of us, so we won't need much.
I headed back to the Cruise America site. Again.
And discovered they didn't have any of the 19 footers in stock. Last time I checked, maybe 2 months ago, they had maybe 10?
In one sense, I suppose that's a good thing. If I managed to get one, chances are I'd be able to sell it when we got back, supposing I didn't want to keep it. But right now, it's worrisome. I was kind of looking at them as a last resort, and I'm close to last resort time. I figured if I didn't find anything anywhere else, I'd just pop over to CA and buy one.
But that seems to be no-go as a plan. Time of year maybe? I guess people are gearing up for summertime RV adventures.
CA has plenty of 23-footers, but compared to the 19, it's intimidating and bigger than I want/need. Plus my research indicates around 10-12 mpg with the 23, and 14-16 with the 19. Doesn't sound like a lot, but over a potential 10,000 miles, that's a 20 - 30% fuel savings.
Because I'm a numbers guy, let's go with 10,000 total miles.
For the 23-footer at an average 11 mpg, that's 909 gallons for a total cost of ~2,400 at $2.60 a gallon. The 19-footer getting 15 mpg would be ~1750. So right around ~700 less. Maybe not a lot in the whole scheme of things, but trip wise that's probably food for 6 weeks, or 20 nights in an RV park at $35 a night. From that aspect, it's significant.
Pricewise the 19 and 23 run about the same--between 26,000 and 30,000. Right now, the cheaper 23s are gone too, leaving the least expensive one coming in at 31,000 and going up from there. That's an intimidating amount. Even with 12,000 down, it's a ~230 a month payment for 10 years. Add in the 70 a month for storage and it rounds to ~$300.
I investigated renting, but that's even worse. It would be $14,000 to rent the 19-footer from CA, and that doesn't include my own fuel or RV park costs.
El Monte was a bit cheaper at $12,000 for a 22-footer. Both cases would leave me with no RV at the end.
Considering that, buying seems the best cost cutting option. Even if I ended up paying 30,000 for an RV, with a $300 monthly payment and 12,000 down, the RV would still have value at the end of the trip.
Judging from prices on the CA site (which vary according to year and total miles) an RV initially costing ~$30,000 would be "worth" around 25,000 after the trip. Of course it's only worth what someone will pay for it, but RVs in that price and mileage rang are selling on the CA site....
In that scenario, the RV cost would be the difference between the purchase price (less number of monthly payments and storage) and the price I sell it for. In the above case, I'd be getting the RV for ~6,000, considerably less than the 14,000 for renting.
Considering all of the above, the best case would seem to be to find a used RV around the 15,000 range, paying cash for it, with the idea of either keeping it ($70 a month for storage) or selling it. For a used RV costing around 15,000, the trip would probably only knock off a grand or two, reducing the RV cost even more.
All of this is speculation... yet with this speculation in mind, I'm going to take a look at a 1984 Toyota Sunrader 21. It has the 22R 4 cylinder engine, which has an excellent reputation for reliability and should get between 15-20 mile per gallon.
At 12,000, it seems a bit high, but the ad cites extensive restoration and the seller has receipts for work done. Too, being as old as it is, and restores as it is, and also being a popular RV among the Toyota RV niche crowd, it's probably pretty close to the bottom in value. Meaning I could do the trip and, if I decided not to keep it, sell it for, say, 9,000-10,000.
It doesn't have a generator; evidentially the generator compartment here is pretty small and to get one to fit would be around 2,200. I could get a portable gas generator for less than half that. If I'm in RV parks it won't matter.
I'll see it tonight, and I still have some questions, but barring some unforeseen and obvious disqualifier, I'm going to get it.
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