Moving into an RV may seem like a way to save money, but it can come with unexpected costs and trap families in a cycle of debt.
Moving into an RV may seem like a way to save money, but it can come with unexpected costs and trap families in a cycle of debt.
I do all the maintenance on my travel trailer, but I have a garage full of tools and a different place to sleep when there’s problems. And if I screw it up, I’m not homeless.
I imagine if you’re living in an RV, even if you know exactly how to fix a problem, you still have to pay someone else to do it because you don’t have a good way to get parts, or equipment to do the work. How do you get Amazon to ship a head gasket to a random spot in the woods on federal lands?
There are tool libraries, and a lot of auto parts places have loaner tools, but you still have to get there to do it, and you can’t just sit there for a week working on the problem.
Just another time that it’s way more expensive to be poor.
The way that I have it setup is my truck bed is my tool shed. I have those long drawers to store everything in. Amazon deliveries can be planned around travel or lockers, usually worst (because most expensive) case scenario is getting someone out ($150/min) to fix whatever the problem is. Frankly my plumbing has a lot of bandaids because I can’t just rip it out and replace everything. Although I might when I upgrade to a tankless water heater.
If it’s a travel trailer, that’s probably easy enough for most people to repair as necessary, and if you can’t, at least you can disconnect your tow vehicle. A proper driving Breaking Bad RV is a whole other story; many more complicated ways that can leave you stranded, and having to get an RV towed is gonna cost you. And if you have an RV that’s reliable enough to not have to worry about that so much … you already have plenty of money and don’t need to live in it.
If you can fix a truck, you can fix anything on a rv that’ll have you stranded. You don’t need any of the extra stuff from an rv to make it drive. And just like trucks, there are old ones that are more sought after because they’re more reliable and easier to fix than newer ones with computers and efi and emissions and theft protections etc.
If.
I can diagnose and fix a whole lot of things, probably better than most people. Working on the drivetrain of an RV is an order of magnitude more a pain in the ass than a regular car or truck. Certain parts can be hard to come by on older vehicles. Having the additional pressure of “You have to get this working so you can move before the RV park gets pissed off” makes it worse. And an old RV is likely to have horrible livability without having been recently rehabbed. Brakes - arguably the easiest thing to work on - are even going to more difficult, because they’re going to be big truck brakes.
Older vehicles are not more reliable than newer ones. Don’t get me wrong; I love carburetors and points and drum brakes, but for not having to put a wrench on anything, give me electronic ignition and fuel injection all day long. All those sensors and variable valve timing bits pay you back in fuel economy.
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