Don't let him weenie out on you Sally. It's fine if you do all the research & fact finding but when the facts are in, the discussions should begin, and you both need to sound off. Besides, you said "he keeps looking at diesels", so he does have an opinion.
I suggest a trip to Tampa, FL and visit Lazy Days for a few days. This is not a commercial to buy at LD, but it's a fact and you can see, sit in, and drive if you want, more motor homes in a short period of time than any place else on the planet. All their coaches are unlocked and most are hooked up. You can spend days there without having a salesman shadowing you if you like. They will even feed you two meals a day free. There is no substitute for having some time to sit & look at storage possibilities and visualize living in that space. My wife and I did this in ' 06. We have now lived full time in our coach for 5 years and remain completely happy with our choice.
Only time I've ever gotten nervous searching for diesel was when I had my diesel pickup pulling our 5th wheel. I bypassed the truck stops on the edge of town and went searching for diesel in the inner city area of some town/city and never really found an accessible place for it until I got back onto the main highway where the major traffic (and truckers) were. I hadn't owned a diesel pickup for very long at that point and I just wasn't used to paying attention and noticing that inner city is generally *not* where you find lots of diesel stations. I did a lot of back-n-forth within the city going from one gasoline-only station to another before I woke up to the simple fact that diesel is on the outskirts/highways and gasoline-only is in the inner city (generally speaking).
With the Class A and it's huge tank (100+ gallons) relative to the pickup's tank(~ 30 gallons), I stop for fuel so infrequently that it's hard to imagine it ever being a problem. That, and I've learned the simple fact that the easiest place to find diesel is generally along the major highway routes on the edge of the larger cities/towns. Really small towns are quite often even easier since there is often only a couple of stations to choose from and they almost always have diesel available as well as reasonable space to maneuver.
Constructive disagreement is encouraged. It is how I/we learn!
steveownby wrote: Don't let him weenie out on you Sally. It's fine if you do all the research & fact finding but when the facts are in, the discussions should begin, and you both need to sound off. Besides, you said "he keeps looking at diesels", so he does have an opinion.
I suggest a trip to Tampa, FL and visit Lazy Days for a few days. This is not a commercial to buy at LD, but it's a fact and you can see, sit in, and drive if you want, more motor homes in a short period of time than any place else on the planet. All their coaches are unlocked and most are hooked up. You can spend days there without having a salesman shadowing you if you like. They will even feed you two meals a day free. There is no substitute for having some time to sit & look at storage possibilities and visualize living in that space. My wife and I did this in ' 06. We have now lived full time in our coach for 5 years and remain completely happy with our choice.
Good luck and enjoy the hunt.
Not to worry he (DH) knows how to handle me, and get what he wants...lol.
We love places that are all unlocked and will let us just stay in there until we feel comfortable, or uncomfortable....thanks
I trust that you are also going to do some of the driving. You really need to learn how to do it in case of an emergency and to give Bob a spell when traveling. Trust me when I tell you that the first time you use the exhaust brake coming down a steep grade you will be thankful that you went with a diesel. Plus the ride is so much more comfortable and the DPs are generally a little more stable on the road because of their larger mass. Diesel fuel is not a problem. We even found it out on the northern end of Nova Scotia (though it was ~ $6/gallon at the time in 2008), just always make sure you fill when you are about a 1/2 tank down and you'll never have a problem.
Barb
Barb & Dave O'Keeffe - full-timing since 2006 Traveling catpanion Shadow (age 15) Figment II (2002 Alpine 36 MDDS) Mischief (2004 Subaru Forester Toad) FMCA - F337834, SKP #90761 Our Blog
The nice thing about diesel is you can fuel up at Toronto, and drive all the way to Charlotte, NC (about 760 miles) and not worry about finding a fuel stop. And by the time you get to Charlotte, you will have seen all kinds of fuel stops and not needed to stop. But we usually fuel up at the end of the day, before stopping for the night. That way we can have breakfast and go in the morning, without worrying about fuel. And there are lots of fuel stops out there, even in Canada.
I trust that you are also going to do some of the driving. You really need to learn how to do it in case of an emergency and to give Bob a spell when traveling. Trust me when I tell you that the first time you use the exhaust brake coming down a steep grade you will be thankful that you went with a diesel. Plus the ride is so much more comfortable and the DPs are generally a little more stable on the road because of their larger mass. Diesel fuel is not a problem. We even found it out on the northern end of Nova Scotia (though it was ~ $6/gallon at the time in 2008), just always make sure you fill when you are about a 1/2 tank down and you'll never have a problem.
Barb
Yes Barb I will be doing some of the driving, it would just be plan silly of me not to have some experience under my belt incase of an emergency. Not to mention he needs some time to just sit and enjoy the view. Thanks
I had a gas class a motor home in 2006 traded it for a 40ft. diesel pusher and would never go back to gas better millage and more power.
We went to alaska and had no problem finding fuel much more room 4 slides love it.
* This post was
edited 04/23/12 02:34pm by loubela *
If we go Diesel I just realized I will have to think about Air brakes. Most do have them do they not? That means a licence change right? So many things to think about.
Diesel is not hard to find. Many stations carry diesel.... Especially when RV'ing, you are near big rigs that are all diesel.
4 whopping cylinders on Toyota RV's. Talk about great getting good MPG. Also I have a very light foot on the pedal. I followed some MPG advice on Livingpress.com and I now get 22 MPG! Not bad for a home on wheels.
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