RV vs Boat? - Thoughts?

We sold our 30' Sundancer last winter and found a nice class C to do a little touring and a trailer boat to at least get a little of the marine life. What I like...the RV costs me nothing when I'm not using it. What I dislike...everything else. Commercial campgrounds are cramped. State campgrounds are like living in the middle of a forest fire. Reservations are required for weekend dates whereas the boat was in the slip available to enjoy at a moments notice. Marinas generally have cleaner facilities and grounds. Boaters tend to be a bit more friendly. I'll probably hang in there with the RV for another year or so to do a little land cruising, but there's another sport cruiser in my future.
 
The real decision isn't boat or RV. The decision is yacht or trailer boat VS motorhome or popup. To live the American dream you need to have both.
 
Had both. Prefer the Boat for just general goofing off! (retired now) On the Tennessee River we can cruise to any number of interesting places. With the RV, traffic & crowds (East of THE River) are just too much of a hassle these days. Week days we have the River to ourselves. Winter time, we run down the ditch (or trailer her) to the coast for a little warmer weather - Jan thru Mar - then back to G'ville to avoid the insanity at the Beach. The kids have always preferred the boat (they now have boats of their own) - even though the RV usually meant Disney or Smithsonian or Grand Canyon - seat time was just BORING! On the boat - a swim is usually just a few seconds away - water skiing and tubing for hours on end behind the Dingy or Jet Ski's --- when it got too cool to swim - hiking trails - golf courses and Friday night football games are just a dingy ride away. Best of all - I can drop anchor in my favorite slough at dusk, steak on the grill, get up early next morning, sit out on the rear deck and watch Eagles teaching their young to fish --- 100 yards off the starboard rail in the morning mist .... boat, hands down!
 
War Eagle said:
Had both. Prefer the Boat for just general goofing off! (retired now) On the Tennessee River we can cruise to any number of interesting places. With the RV, traffic & crowds (East of THE River) are just too much of a hassle these days. Week days we have the River to ourselves. Winter time, we run down the ditch (or trailer her) to the coast for a little warmer weather - Jan thru Mar - then back to G'ville to avoid the insanity at the Beach. The kids have always preferred the boat (they now have boats of their own) - even though the RV usually meant Disney or Smithsonian or Grand Canyon - seat time was just BORING! On the boat - a swim is usually just a few seconds away - water skiing and tubing for hours on end behind the Dingy or Jet Ski's --- when it got too cool to swim - hiking trails - golf courses and Friday night football games are just a dingy ride away. Best of all - I can drop anchor in my favorite slough at dusk, steak on the grill, get up early next morning, sit out on the rear deck and watch Eagles teaching their young to fish --- 100 yards off the starboard rail in the morning mist .... boat, hands down!
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If I may add to that.... In an RV you wake up and are looking at an asphalt lot.
 
Interesting discussion as we are in between boats, and considering an RV as well which allows us to follows kids in college, tailgating at games, and use most of the year vs. 5 months of comfortable boating here in the east.
without having done a detailed analysis, seems annual operating costs on a 32 foot (newer ) Class C RV might be significantly less than that of a similar 32 twin inboard cruiser - assuming you store at a marina and have the yard perform maintenance and repairs - any thoughts from those who have owned both ?
We have lots of great options here in VA for RV'ng with Coast and Mountains only a few hours apart, and LOTS of great tailgating opportunities if you like pro/ college sports.
 
IslandTime said:
Interesting discussion as we are in between boats, and considering an RV as well which allows us to follows kids in college, tailgating at games, and use most of the year vs. 5 months of comfortable boating here in the east.
without having done a detailed analysis, seems annual operating costs on a 32 foot (newer ) Class C RV might be significantly less than that of a similar 32 twin inboard cruiser - assuming you store at a marina and have the yard perform maintenance and repairs - any thoughts from those who have owned both ?
We have lots of great options here in VA for RV'ng with Coast and Mountains only a few hours apart, and LOTS of great tailgating opportunities if you like pro/ college sports.
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In the early posts it was stated that the RV would be cheaper but as I said....I didn't get into boating to save money. What boating provides for me is worth the money. Just my opinion and I know not shared by all. Add to that, I've never lived someplace where I could not boat year 'round. If I did I'd have to find something to control the depression.
 
We have a 5th wheel that we camp in and what has been said is true. You can go to RV parks, park in an asphalt lot 20-30' away from the next guy, and sometimes thats ok. We have done it a few times. Most of our summer trips are to a beach along the coast, to Parker AZ, to the sierras, or out of state. That sort of camping requires you to park next to others but we don't just sit there as there is plenty to do ie fishing, surfing, kayaking, etc. During the winter we dry camp out in Glamis, Ocotillo Wells, and a few other spots in the desert where we can off-road. We just picked up a 2001 180 BR. Its not big enough to sleep on but it is our first boat and has gotten us out on the water. Maybe one day we will ditch the desert toys and trailer and upgrade to a bigger boat but right now we live too far from the ocean to justify that expense.
 
No need for an RV park with a 3 point hook up to go RV'ing. There are so many places in the Boone docks away from people. I like to camp away from people unless there's a reason to be there. Same with boating.
 
I own a 32 class C. And our 270 SD. That we slip 6 months a year . We never stay on boat because we are only 10 minutes from marina. Wife likes a large bathroom lol. The down fall to the RV is you need that smaller vehicle to tow . Or plan on renting cars. Your not going to want to break Rv down and drive it site seeing every day. And for that reason we never use our more then camping a weekend here or there. Although it is my hunting condo during duck season
 
Well I do appreciate everyone's feedback. We made a decision and I'll explain what brought us to that.

We decided to go the RV route for now. Many reasons that led us there, but the big one is that even though it was the 'perfect boat', it was not the 'perfect area to boat in'. Being land locked we felt it would severely limit our fun as opposed to being on the East Coast where you could go just about anywhere. I guess if you grow up on a lake and are ignorant to destination boating, then it's no big deal. Going the other way it seems different now. Maybe a smaller 25' cruiser would be fine here, but this boat would have been marginally too big in my opinion. We even went back to the marina and walked the docks talking with dock neighbors. We asked them questions, asked what they did, where they went, how long was the ride, etc. One end to the other was about 20 mins or so. Secondary to the first issue, I could conceivably see moving back to the East Coast within a year or two. To sell or move the boat will just be icing on the cake during a stressful time.

The RV on the other hand will be something new for us to try out. I don't envision us staying in RV parks but rather state parks that have lakes right on the premises. I wasn't aware, but the more research I've done, the more I've realized that RV'ing in Texas is HUGE!! There are so many areas to go. We're looking forward to it. Plus at the end of the day this rig will be able to be utilized for College football tailgating and other fun activities. We shall see. If it's not fun, we'll just unload it. The dealers around here literally can't keep used rigs in stock... they sell within hours to days. We lost out on several deals during the time where we tried to make up our mind..

Keep you posted. Maybe I'll throw up a pic or two once we finalize a deal.
 
Makes sense. If you can't use the boat a lot, and have access, then an RV is a good way to go. Have fun.

douglee25 said:
Well I do appreciate everyone's feedback. We made a decision and I'll explain what brought us to that.

We decided to go the RV route for now. Many reasons that led us there, but the big one is that even though it was the 'perfect boat', it was not the 'perfect area to boat in'. Being land locked we felt it would severely limit our fun as opposed to being on the East Coast where you could go just about anywhere. I guess if you grow up on a lake and are ignorant to destination boating, then it's no big deal. Going the other way it seems different now. Maybe a smaller 25' cruiser would be fine here, but this boat would have been marginally too big in my opinion. We even went back to the marina and walked the docks talking with dock neighbors. We asked them questions, asked what they did, where they went, how long was the ride, etc. One end to the other was about 20 mins or so. Secondary to the first issue, I could conceivably see moving back to the East Coast within a year or two. To sell or move the boat will just be icing on the cake during a stressful time.

The RV on the other hand will be something new for us to try out. I don't envision us staying in RV parks but rather state parks that have lakes right on the premises. I wasn't aware, but the more research I've done, the more I've realized that RV'ing in Texas is HUGE!! There are so many areas to go. We're looking forward to it. Plus at the end of the day this rig will be able to be utilized for College football tailgating and other fun activities. We shall see. If it's not fun, we'll just unload it. The dealers around here literally can't keep used rigs in stock... they sell within hours to days. We lost out on several deals during the time where we tried to make up our mind..

Keep you posted. Maybe I'll throw up a pic or two once we finalize a deal.
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I'm sure it will work out one way or another. I relate to the lake boating. I was never much of a lake boater. I figure all you can do on a lake is go around in a circle. I know, there are some lakes that allow destination boating and if they connect to other water bodies you can go places. I'll boat here on Lake Pontchatrain but have access to the Gulf and the Intercoastal.

Don't leave the Club and post pictures for us from the Dark Side.

Shawn
 
If Imwere in your position I would have probably made the same decision.
 
Although you can boat year around in Seattle the weather in the winter isn't much fun, but what we do have 1-2 hours away are a 1/2 dozen ski resorts. My passion is water whether in I'm floating on it or carving major turns in it.... So we have 36' Monaco class A and we'll use it 2-3 times through spring to fall, but in the winter it is used every weekend. Our ski resort where I teach part time has 50 power hookups in the RV lot, so we don't even have to run the gennie.
 
Thanks for this worthy discussion and comparison between RV and Boats..... I am new to such stuffs so I learned a lot.
 
NorCal Boater said:
I'm sure it will work out one way or another. I relate to the lake boating. I was never much of a lake boater. I figure all you can do on a lake is go around in a circle. I know, there are some lakes that allow destination boating and if they connect to other water bodies you can go places. I'll boat here on Lake Pontchatrain but have access to the Gulf and the Intercoastal.

Don't leave the Club and post pictures for us from the Dark Side.

Shawn
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Will do!
 
The Bill Collector said:
Although you can boat year around in Seattle the weather in the winter isn't much fun, but what we do have 1-2 hours away are a 1/2 dozen ski resorts. My passion is water whether in I'm floating on it or carving major turns in it.... So we have 36' Monaco class A and we'll use it 2-3 times through spring to fall, but in the winter it is used every weekend. Our ski resort where I teach part time has 50 power hookups in the RV lot, so we don't even have to run the gennie.
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That sounds like a good time!! Sounds like you get some use out of yours during the winter months.
 
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