After about 3 months into our road trip it's time to write a little summary on our experience with the RV. First some details:
1993 Fleetwood Southwind
30 feet ( 9.15m ) long, around 8 feet wide ( 2.4 m )
7.5 liter V8 Ford motor, handles every incline easily
Mileage at start of our trip: 36292 miles
Fuel consumption: 8.2 miles per gallon, doing normally around 60 mph (95 km/h) on highways.
Gross weight: 20,000 lb ( around 9 tonnes)
Fresh water: 100 gallons ( 380 liters), gray and black water 50 gallons each
Layout: Class A with queen bed in rear, bathroom with shower over small tub and toilet + basin. Huge wardrobe plus storage cabinets along all walls. Fridge/freezer combination, huge, stove/cooktop, dinette with 2 benches (converts into a double bed if needed), couch ( another double bed), barrel chair, swivel driver's and passenger's seats
We had pondered for quite a while on what type of RV to buy:
Class A: most expensive when purchased new, usually higher quality if interior, built on a truck chassis. Fuel consumption somewhere between 5 and 8, maybe 9 miles per gallon. Spacious feeling, easily set up for camping thus handy when you're planning to usually move on after a couple of days max. 30 feet is a rather smallish size for a motorhome here, but we feel after 12 weeks it's pretty much perfect for the two of us, enough space, easy to manoeuvre - even on smaller country roads or in the mountains and cities, no problem to park in most places - practically no limitations at National Parks( on 2 or 3 roads we couldn't drive, we couldn't have done that anyway due to the width. There was always some other transportation like free ranger tours or so ). For us, simply perfect.
Class C: Cab-over types, usually for families with kids. A 30 footer would offer 8 to 10 sleeping places to 4 at our Class A. The interior feels a little cramped accordingly, fresh water is usually limited to around 40 gallons, gray and black accordingly. The shorter versions ( 25 or 26 foot) mostly have double beds on the side, rather short and narrow, maybe 1.3 to 1.4 m wide. Not enough for longer trips in my opinion. Mileage is better, probably 9 to 12 miles per gallon. Safety may be somewhat better due to airbags and crash-tested cab of the light truck they're built on.
Class B: more the size of a van, maybe a good solution if you want to combine camping with B&B or hotel. Can be parked everywhere you can park a car, fuel consumption again better. Camping capabilities very limited in rainy periods.
Fifth Wheel: Camping Trailer pulled by a light truck. The fifth wheels are similar to Class A or C, depending on model. The advantage is that you can set up your trailer at a campground and visit the attractions in your light truck. They are imho most appropriate for people planning to stay alittle longer at each destination on their trip as setting the trailer up can easily take an hour or so. If you think your average stay at one place will be 2 or 3 days max this is probably not the best solution. Another factor is cost as you'll need to buy tow truck and trailer.
Initially we had been planning on buying a class C RV but are more than happy now with our decision to go class A.
