We had a wonderful time on our most recent trip. I'm coming very close to accomplishing my goal of seeing all the national parks a reasonable driving distance from the Denver area. We originally bought the 1994 Brave because we could not find a new model that met our requirements of being less than 30 ft, a narrow body, walk around queen bed, and lots of windows. If I revisit my requirements now a couple of things have changed.
I would love a king bed that is easy to get into with being able to walk up to the side of it. The RV queen bed is too small for us and one of our dogs.
We don't need all the windows. We keep them covered with the metal foil insulation most of the time to keep the RV cool.
We still need the less than 30 ft for the campgrounds we go to. Anything bigger will limit where we can stay and is a trade off we aren't willing to make yet. I still want a narrower body because it is downright scary on major expressways to be caught between two trucks. Also many of the older national parks have narrow roads and we take our RV sight seeing in them.
I would love larger tanks sizes. Our 57 gallon fresh water and associated black/gray tanks only get us through 3 days of boondocking. The larger tank sizes is at odds with the shorter RV size in most cases.
I also want a big shower and not one that you can't turn around in. Ours is decent size but has a shower curtain which is annoying. When I look at some new ones they are so narrow in one direction that you hit both sides when turning around.
We find that we have more than enough storage in our RV. Even when we took 14 days of clothes and food for this trip we never filled up all our interior cabinets.
Originally I did not want a slide. I think I am now ambivalent about slides. If I found something I liked that had them, and was fully functional when they were in I would get it. However if I found something (like the 2015 Brave 26A) without them the lack of them would not be a deterrent.
I also didn't want a diesel. I wanted something every mechanic could work on for a reasonable price. Lots of mechanics know the Chevy 454 truck engine so that was a plus for me. I think I would still shy away from a diesel if an alternative in gas could be found. The exception may be some of the Mercedes Sprinter chassis. But they seem to lack in carrying capacity and/or tank size so not sure if they will ever be a serious consideration for me.
There are now several models of RV that meet some of our requirements better. They include the Forest River FR3, Forest River Georgetown 270K, Thor ACE and Thor Hurricane 27K. We would love for there to be a Winnebago choice but they seem to be behind the curve in terms of offering a king bed short RV. They have a new Brave with an interesting option of a corner queen with a bunk above. Unfortunately it has a measly 41 gallon fresh water tank.
Also a new RV will set us back about $80K. I'm not sure that the price is worth it when we already have a RV that we can take into the mountains and over passes like Monarch Pass. We spent $10K on this RV and have put approx. $11K into fixes and upgrades. We have an excellent suspension system, no wandering problems and it holds steady when the big trucks pass us.
I also like our fabric seats better than what is offered on the new ones where they are vinyl but called something like ultra leather which is just a fancy name for vinyl.
Whenever we make a fix or upgrade we choose the highest quality option so I have confidence in our Hankook tires, high temperature spark plugs and our other upgrades. In 1994 Winnebago built a quality product. Many of the new ones seem to be pretty shoddy in materials and build quality in comparison. The Brave generally gives us very little trouble compared to what I see on the forums for new models from the above manufacturers.
Also I'm wondering if we have enough big trips left in our area to warrant a new RV. Will we get tired of it if we get a new one with lots of problems? Many people spend the whole first year getting their new ones fixed and often have to take them back to the factory to fix all the build problems. They seem very happy to get good treatment at the factory but I'm not that sort of person. If my RV was so poorly built that I had to drive it back to the factory I'd be pretty unhappy with the purchase no matter how nice they were while fixing it.
While I ponder all these things I will keep my eye out for my perfect RV. Since I have so many requirements I'll probably never find it and just keep this one.
Hope you were able to get some barefoot time on the ground and in the streams, very grounding I hear. Great views but I don't miss the rocks and sand. This year when the trees started leafing out and the grass got 5 feet high I had to figure out where I was all over again!
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I (no pets) have a 1995 25' Itasca Passage class A made be Winnegabo with the same drive train you have; P30 chassis, Chevy 454 and the same transmission you have. It has 52,000 miles on it. (How many miles does yours have?). We paid $10,500 for it a couple of years ago and have put about $4,000 in it since then, new radiator, rebuilt alternator, new belts and hoses, new fuel pump, tires,etc. It runs great and has a rear bedroom like yours except no sofa, but has a pull down bed up front which we use for storage. We only use it occasionally because we seem to have so little time between doctor appointments! We are both retired and live in Sun City, AZ and have for the last 11 years. We too are from Colorado, west of the Springs where we lived most of our lives, so we know the state like the back of our hands. We too have thought of a newer RV, but the cost just doesn't make sense at our age and the amount of use it would get. Besides RVs depreciate like crazy and are a huge money loser unless someone was full timing and was going to do that for years. Love your site and really hope you keep the Winnie and post some more of your adventures as time goes. Best regards.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are enjoying the blog. You are doing great at controlling cost! And you got a great deal. Ours has about 70K miles. I think we bought it at 60K miles so about 10K from us (best guestimate because it is currently at the storage lot). I think the 90's Winnebagos are great deals because they were built so well compared to what is available new now.
ReplyDeleteMy husband makes a great point when I start eying the newer RVs. He asks what does this have that ours doesn't? Other than being newer and shinier not much that I can think of. Ours always drove great. According to the guy we got it from the original owner was a policeman and it had/has all sorts of wiring from radios and such. I don't know if they beefed up the suspension and/or engine or not but when we test drive the new ones they are heavy, ponderous and don't handle as well. We did replace the shocks when we got it along with the idler arms and some other suspension components that I think we broke on the forest service roads in our first couple of trips. But it really does drive like a dream.
I would love a bigger shower and a king sized bed but many units we look at have smaller showers than ours and the short Winnebagos have queen size beds. We looked at a couple of units from Thor and Forest River with King sized beds, both of which had glaring manufacturing quality issues right on the lot. The dealers are every so soothing, saying their service dept. doesn't let them leave that way but will fix it all. Our thought is that they shouldn't be even showing them that way. Both units had water intrusion because things weren't built right and instead of fixing them or noting what we saw they just let them sit out getting rained on until some hapless soul buys them and complains about water coming in. That being said I'm very interested to look at the 2015 Brave 26A when it comes out. I can't help myself. :-)
Hi, WorldCruise! I just discovered your blog and can't wait to read all your stuff about RV camping around Colorado. In response to your Wish List, I have to say the RV we have (by Winnebago!!!) is absolutely the BEST size with the best amenities we've ever seen or found...An Itasca Reyo 25T, 2013 model. It's a diesel (Mercedes Sprinter chassis, 2012) that averages 17 mpg even in high headwinds and in the hgh mountains...you can't possibly beat that! The freshwater tank holds 34 gallons, and I cannot imagine that you can only boondock 3 days with 57 gallons! We've almost never run out of water with only partial tank fills! You guys are real water-hogs! Our unit has a gigantic king bed (twins that covert to a king that exceeds standard king width!!...a real biggie!) and we use a small stepladder to climb in...very easy. We have 1 slide which gives us a terrific living/cooking/dressing space while parked. We don't ever tow a car b/c the unit is such a good size to actually use as our car. We
ReplyDeletespent 110 days on the road last year traveling to Alaska, in Alaska and from Alaska, putting almost 10,000 mi on our Rollin Home...it was perfect! And the cost taking it on 12 legs of the Alaska Marine Highway was very affordable, eliminating our need to drive the long haul back up over the hump to the Southeast and then head south to BC and down to Washington. We can't say enough good things about the Itasca Reyo! The bathroom is just the right size, and the shower is also just the right size! The style of pull-across door on the shower is fabulous! The units loaded with storage space
and when we seem to take everything including the kitchen sink along with us, we still have empty spaces available. By taking the front wheel off our bikes, we're able to house them inside the rear storage compartment that goes all the way through, eliminating mud on our bikes and wind resistance when carrying them on a rear rack.
Thanks for the suggestion on the Reyo. I will check it out. Your right we are water hogs but our limit is hit usually with our black tank, and if we don't hit it there we do with the grey tank. We've never run out of room with the fresh water tank.
ReplyDeleteI took out your contact info but will send you an e-mail. Thanks for reading the blog!