RV vs Boat? - Thoughts?

I have nephew who recently retired. He had a 32 foot boat for a few years. He sold it and now has a class A motor home with car behind. His boat was a summer item the motor home is an all year think. He winters in southern US and sees Canada in the summer. RV is like living in a trailer park. Boating is like living in the wilderness. He still misses the boat. As to cost the RV is more due to fuel.
 
...In a perfect world it would be nice to have both. Especially since we have a relatively short enjoyable boating season here in the Northeast. Boat until the fall, and then RV until late Spring. But the older I get (63 now) the thought of having yet another thing to maintain gets less appealing. Between the house, my 2 special interest cars, my teen aged kids cars (luckily my wife and I drive leases), my 410, and the 18' Bowrider the kids run around in, sometimes I feel like all I ever do is work on stuff...

What I call the "Curse of Things".
 
I would like to add my 2 cents about a "tag axle" we just went from a 33' to a 36' both w/o the tag axle. I do notice a fair difference in just the 3 feet extra, I would not go any longer without a tag axle and I think it would help my current 36' rig ride smoother if it had one.... If you a strictly a freeway driver you probably wouldn't notice too much difference, but since ours is a ski coach on 2 lane mountain roads with woopity doos I do notice it.
 
So here we are a year later....

Update time!

About 6k miles, 120 hrs of genset usage, second round of annual maintenance completed, and just using the thing fairly regularly. The most memorable trip was to the beach this summer. What was supposed to be 3 families vacationing together turned into 29 people! I was feeling nervous since I coordinated the original invite to be responsible for the venue, but everyone made their own decisions and had a blast! The kids especially enjoyed the charter boat tour we did. We had so many people we had the entire boat to ourselves. The RV site was right on the beach. Pretty badass with a great pool, etc.

Subsequently I couldn't shake my boating itch.... And here we are... Purchased a Cruisers Yachts 3575 OAL almost 40'. Projects ensued on this boat taking away some RV time, but we've had a blast thus far! Feeling blessed to be able to do both. I probably should create another thread on the boat...

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We parked ours in May and I did some roof maintenance, wash/wax and put the storage cover on it. We have close to 40 nights on the boat as of today. The motorhome comes back out in November when the snow is flying and the boat is put away.
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If you think it takes a long time to get your boat fixed in season, wait till you buy an RV....it'll be worse.

If you think BOAT means "break out another thousand", wait till you buy an RV. They break down more than boats do.

If you just bought a brand new boat and are unhappy because there are things wrong with it, wait till you buy an RV - EVERYTHING will be wrong with it. (exaggeration). Regardless, the quality level of the cheapest boat is better than the most expensive RV (opinion). Just frequent the RV forums and you'll see what I mean.

Now MY story - we have owned a boat for 51 years and an RV for 32 years. We wouldn't be without either one. When we "camped" the boat was our RV. We took it wherever we went. It was the best of both worlds. Then, we bought 50 acres for a song and put a used RV on it. That old trailer is now 54 years old and everything still works. It is built more solidly than anything available today.

So, when we want to "camp" we go to our "Summer Home" and watch the wildlife. No noise, no people (except family) and no stress. When we want to boat, we take out the boat. No asphalt, no dust and no stress.
 
If you think it takes a long time to get your boat fixed in season, wait till you buy an RV....it'll be worse

It's not quite that bad...

If you think BOAT means "break out another thousand", wait till you buy an RV. They break down more than boats do.

If you just bought a brand new boat and are unhappy because there are things wrong with it, wait till you buy an RV - EVERYTHING will be wrong with it. (exaggeration). Regardless, the quality level of the cheapest boat is better than the most expensive RV (opinion). Just frequent the RV forums and you'll see what I mean.

Now MY story - we have owned a boat for 51 years and an RV for 32 years. We wouldn't be without either one. When we "camped" the boat was our RV. We took it wherever we went. It was the best of both worlds. Then, we bought 50 acres for a song and put a used RV on it. That old trailer is now 54 years old and everything still works. It is built more solidly than anything available today.

So, when we want to "camp" we go to our "Summer Home" and watch the wildlife. No noise, no people (except family) and no stress. When we want to boat, we take out the boat. No asphalt, no dust and no stress.
 
I follow some people with a blog called "Trailer Trawler Life". They have a 27ft Ranger Tug that they trailer around the continent to explore various waterways that would otherwise be inaccessible for most. When they're on the road, they stop in RV parks and hook up ..treating their trailered trawler much like an RV. Really interesting concept, and it seems to work for them. They've boated everywhere from Alaska to the Florida Keys and everywhere in between. I'm not sure it would be for me, but I find it fascinating and their photos and stories are inspiring.

https://trailertrawlerlife.com
 
Its all regional. My area has several boat dealers. Summer repairs take 2-3 weeks before they start work. I have a "Mobile mechanic that will usually come in no more than a week. RV dealers usually quote 5-6 weeks. HOWEVER, that's when they start. If its a warranty repair, add another few weeks to get the parts approved and shipped in.

I have friends that have lost the entire Summer season. Of course, give them your checkbook and it gets done faster...
 
I follow some people with a blog called "Trailer Trawler Life". They have a 27ft Ranger Tug that they trailer around the continent to explore various waterways that would otherwise be inaccessible for most. When they're on the road, they stop in RV parks and hook up ..treating their trailered trawler much like an RV. Really interesting concept, and it seems to work for them. They've boated everywhere from Alaska to the Florida Keys and everywhere in between. I'm not sure it would be for me, but I find it fascinating and their photos and stories are inspiring.

https://trailertrawlerlife.com

Pretty cool blog!
 
If you think BOAT means "break out another thousand", wait till you buy an RV. They break down more than boats do.
I disagree. I think it depends a lot on the quality of the RV and the maintenance. Just like with boats. My boat is 46 years old (1972) and the engine finally gave up the ghost so I'm having a "new" 42 year old engine put in it. But that old one lasted a long time with routine maintenance.

My RV is an 2004 Itasca Sunova 35 foot (read Winnebago Sightseer). We have lived in it for 14 (going on 15) years. No major problems. Had a controller board for a slide go bad. Plug and play replacement. About 3 years ago the engine started running rough and backfiring. I think the squirrels chewed the ignition wiring. New plugs and wires and we were good to go. The only thing that has gone that I haven't fixed is the hydraulic jacks. $1500 to repair. For $200 I bought set of four scissors jacks that do the same thing just take a little more work. The costliest item was new tires. Almost like buying a new engine.

When I retired in 2004 for we decide to hit the road. We had thought long and hard about living on a boat, but my wife had serious reservations about it. But she loves the RV. For about 10 years we traveled a lot, been to all 48 lower states. But now we have settled down. For a year we looked at different parks before we picked one. RV parks are not cookie cutter parks unless you stay in a chain like KOA. We used mostly military RV parks (I am retired Coast Guard). My favorite is right on the lake where we keep our boat. That's really great. But being a military park you can't stay very long so we are now about 5 miles away but have easy access to the boat and the lake. The best of both worlds. and I keep this rig in good condition so if we decide to go somewhere it will get there just fine.

But we have stayed in RV parks all over the country and they vary. There's everything from really expensive RV resorts (I don't like them much) to places like the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Port Townsend WA. It's just a grass field with stand ups for electric and water spaced around the field. Great in the summer but the rest of the year it's a mud hole. So. Get both. Better yet if you get a motor home, buy a trailerable boat and take it with you when you go places where there is water. Here in Washington you see a lot of RV's pulling boats.
 
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I disagree. I think it depends a lot on the quality of the RV and the maintenance. Just like with boats. My boat is 46 years old (1972) and the engine finally gave up the ghost so I'm having a "new" 42 year old engine put in it. But that old one lasted a long time with routine maintenance.

My RV is an 2004 Itasca Sunova 35 foot (read Winnebago Sightseer). We have lived in it for 14 (going on 15) years. No major problems. Had a controller board for a slide go bad. Plug and play replacement. About 3 years ago the engine started running rough and backfiring. I think the squirrels chewed the ignition wiring. New plugs and wires and we were good to go. The only thing that has gone that I haven't fixed is the hydraulic jacks. $1500 to repair. For $200 I bought set of four scissors jacks that do the same thing just take a little more work. The costliest item was new tires. Almost like buying a new engine.

When I retired in 2004 for we decide to hit the road. We had thought long and hard about living on a boat, but my wife had serious reservations about it. But she loves the RV. For about 10 years we traveled a lot, been to all 48 lower states. But now we have settled down. For a year we looked at different parks before we picked one. RV parks are not cookie cutter parks unless you stay in a chain like KOA. We used mostly military RV parks (I am retired Coast Guard). My favorite is right on the lake where we keep our boat. That's really great. But being a military park you can't stay very long so we are now about 5 miles away but have easy access to the boat and the lake. The best of both worlds. and I keep this rig in good condition so if we decide to go somewhere it will get there just fine.

But we have stayed in RV parks all over the country and they vary. There's everything from really expensive RV resorts (I don't like them much) to places like the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Port Townsend WA. It's just a grass field with stand ups for electric and water spaced around the field. Great in the summer but the rest of the year it's a mud hole. So. Get both. Better yet if you get a motor home, buy a trailerable boat and take it with you when you go places where there is water. Here in Washington you see a lot of RV's pulling boats.
Our experience is quite different. Rv quality today is an oxymoron, while boat quality has steadily improved. Our 2015 Rv is cheap and tinny while our 1964 is still in use and built like a tank. Rv forums report issues that are unimaginable. A quality Rv that costs 4 times what we paid for ours still has reports of crappie construction and workmanship. Sure maintenance is the key. The problem is when nothing works on delivery. Rvs have been oversold for a few years and many dealers are incompetent. A typical small Rv is built in about 6 hours. I just hope our new Searay comes in ok.
 
The last thing I want to do is take an RV to the beach and look at the water. I want to be on the water looking at the water....and those guys in their RVs sitting on the beach wishing they were on the water.
 
Our experience is quite different. Rv quality today is an oxymoron, while boat quality has steadily improved. Our 2015 Rv is cheap and tinny while our 1964 is still in use and built like a tank. Rv forums report issues that are unimaginable. A quality Rv that costs 4 times what we paid for ours still has reports of crappie construction and workmanship. Sure maintenance is the key. The problem is when nothing works on delivery. Rvs have been oversold for a few years and many dealers are incompetent. A typical small Rv is built in about 6 hours. I just hope our new Searay comes in ok.

Oh yes I have heard all the horror stories about RVs. As a full timer we have met a lot (I mean thousands) of RV owners. They all have a tale to tell, some of them really horrific. I used to read the RV forums too and simply got over saturated with the problems. But boat forums are no different. You hear all the problems and few of the successes. But like with boats (and cars and trucks) the biggest issue is complexity. I am an engineer. I believe very strongly in the KISS principle (Keep it Simple Stupid). So when we bought our Itasca we bought the model without all the fancy bells and whistles like sofas that unfold at the touch of a button, and upscale electronics. The more complex, the more that can go wrong.

If I see a problem developing I fix it immediately. I don't wait until it becomes a real problem. Keeps things working and saves money in the long run. I'm the same way with my boat. it's going on 47 years old (I've had it for ten of those). If there is a problem developing I fix it right away. Same with cars. I have had two that went well over 300K miles before they became a money pit. Most others well over 100K and most close to 200K (a few more than that). And yes I had a couple of lemons. I got rid of them fast. I don't like feeding money pits.

I hope the newer Sea Rays are as good as the older ones. If they are not, I know a guy who used to be a VP at Sea Ray in the late 90's, early 2000's and he was always bragging on how good they were.
 

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