It sure would be nice to purchase a shiny new RV that’s tricked out and ready to hit the road for a year. Unfortunately, there wouldn’t be any money left to actually DO the trip so the second best thing to do is to find a used vehicle that would suit your needs with a few minor modifications/repairs. Here’s how something like this might go, theoretically speaking, of course.
1. Buy RV after a year of searching. Check.
2. Pay insurance and get vehicle tags with only 3 trips to the DMV. Check
3. Get engine tested, twice. Once, before the purchase, the second after a faulty oil gauge indicates a high oil pressure. This would include a costly tow to the nearest diesel engine shop so that one does not blow up the engine on the way there. Check.
Now, this is how you tow an RV!
4. Learn all about towing an RV(see #3). Regular tow trucks don’t work even though the person on the other end of the phone may say that it will. Go for the “big boys” from the start, you know, the kind of rigs that tow Mack trucks. Check.
5. Replace 12 year old tires. Check.
6. Rebuild leaky water manifold. Check.
7. Rebuild basement floor where the water manifold leaked. Check.
8. Rebuild rotted bathroom floor where the toilet was falling through. Check.
9. Replace toilet seal to prevent sewege gases replacing all of the breathable air in the RV. Check.
10. Rip out peeling vinyl sofa and build a futon platform with storage below for a medium sized child. Check.
11. Remove a loveseat to build a retractable futon frame to be used as a couch and pull out bed with storage underneath for a small child. Check.
12. Remove a bistro table with two chairs and build a booth that is customized to fit small to medium sized children to do school work yet still large enough to fit two additional adults for a family meal. Check.
13. Remove “jersey cow” wallpaper border from kitchen area and paint over the remaining ugly wall. Check.
14. Replace broken microwave. Check.
15. Replace old, wrinkled and stained Rand McNally Road Atlas from the 80’s with a GPS system. Check.
16. Replace all severely dated window treatments with custom made window coverings requiring several days of sewing. Check.
17. Replace faulty odometer and oil pressure guages. Almost checked.
18. Rebuild broken awning spring and reinstall awning. Almost checked.
19. Replace second roof air conditioner cover so that it won’t “fly off” while driving down the freeway endangering the drivers behind you. Almost checked
20. Tighten rear self-leveling leg so that it is….level. Almost checked.
21. Replace propane tank fill valve so that fueling hoses can be removed without danger to the environment or close neighbors. Almost checked.
The only thing else you need is a highly motivated Hippygeek handyman to pull all of this together and you’re good to go!
“In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm….in the real world all rests on perseverence” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe