97C5inSD

What do you guys run or pull? motor homes? how do you like it? did you have a diesal pickup already? if so better or worse? would you have rather gotten a large enclosed trailer with living quarters?


This is my current situation. I have 2 diesel pickups 3/4tons the one i would probly use the most is the CC short box. I have a 24ft hitch to tail long. roll back flat bed that i have a tool box and tire rack. Well now with the misses and a little one and you know a person can't always find a sitter so our option is either to not go or take the little guy with us he is gona be 1 1/2 this summer as we are doing our autox and a few track days and myself trying W2W racing. So we have been looking into options for camping at the track so that way the little one can have his run around room but not be out in the paddock area in the heat. and possibly getting in other peoples way.

Now here is the kicker my budget kinda sucks for this i have about 10-14k to spend on this unless i do some changeing around. here are things i have considered and what i see as pros and cons. I'm looking for help from you season vets that have been in my shoes and hope to learn from you guys what worked best for you or what you felt was a waste.

Option 1 Buy a 24-28ft motorhome with either a 454 vortec or the ford 460 to ford v10.

Pro's With the right one of these nice room built in generator and all the ammendites. and can pull keep and pull my open flat bed trailer still. Also can be used for other family outtings

Con's Another motor and trans to worry about. Milage. I hear 6-11mpg running in the 65-70mph range. My truck gets 16mpg pulling now.


Option 2 Buy a 30-40ft Enclosed trailer with living quarters. that has a garage.

Pros again all self contained. most have generators also. hook up and drive away. may get better milage with my truck then camper. also don't have to worry about another motor or trans.

Cons. Price finding one that is decent still in my price range is harder to find for sure unless i sell my rollback also which i don't feel like doing since i don't know if i wana tow this all the time to every event . Debatable if my 3/4 ton truck is in really equiped weight wise to run this rig. if i just wana do a family camping weekend this may be a bit excessive to drag around.

Option 3 Buy a short 5th wheel camper to tow between.

Pro's Allows me the choice of using the camper or not. can also be used easilly for other outtings. with the family and no car trailer. same comforts as the others

Con's Lenght in my state have to stay withing 75 total feet lenght so gotta stick with about a 24-26ft camper. No generators in most all of these units. Haveing to build a dummy axle to carry the trailer on since the back of the camper will not correctly support the weight. Other possiblitis is long double trailer scenario. I have pulled this before on semi and its alright on open road but defintly not something you wana do in tighter spots.


So can anyone shed any light or insight input on if there is some things that i'm missing? or over thinking?

Thanks

Don Keefhardt

How many days total ?

Just do a real analysis of the costs. You may be further ahead hiring a nanny to tag along at the track. I know several racers who do this, and it make a whole lot more financial sense than - purchasing / maintaining / licensing - vehicles & trailers.

97C5inSD

This year alone we have caculated at least 30 over night stays along with several of them being 2 over nights in a row and a few 3 nighters Not to mention we have a couple family trips that are camping that it could be used for.



The Nanny bit we have thought of some granted where we live it is hard to find someone willing to do that


I guess i'm looking for the best overall route for a longer term of time and something that in a year or 2 years time i'm not going WTF did i do this for.

mousecatcher

seems kind of light

can you pull a double trailer without CDL? i guess you must have a CDL. regardless, this doesn't seem like the way to go to me.

bb69

I pull a 40' enclosed with my 3/4 ton Dodge. I did have to add air bags to it to keep it from hitting the bump stops. Other than that, it handles the trailer with no problem at all.

I go to the track by myself and just throw a mattress in the upper portion. I wouldn't recommend this if you are bringing your family. You can probably find a trailer this size with living quarters for upper teens, but I think you will struggle to find one in the low teens. I wouldn't recommend it for camping either. A 40' trailer doesn't fit into many places. I would be nervous trying to pull into the local campground with mine. When I was interested in camping at Michigan International Speedway for the NASCAR race, their camping spots were only 40' long. By the way, my mileage towing this trailer with the diesel is about 12.

Based on what you said, I would look for a motorhome or buy a in-bed camper for your truck. I expect you could get a pretty nice camper for your truck at that price.

Ken

Z07coupe

http://www.racingjunk.com/category/1...otorhomes.html

spectator2

I have 2003 32ft Vintage Outlaw tag with 20ft garage and 12ft living qtrs. It has a sleep sofa, bench and table that coverts to bed, shower, toilet, stove, microwave, small fridge, AC, heater, water etc.. It is a triple torsion axle with six new tires bought last year. The trailer is good shape but the outside needs a good clean to remove the water stains. I pull the trailer loaded with car using my 3/4T Surburban. If I sell it I'm looking to get your max. budget amount. Anyway let me know if you want pictures.

dvandentop

easiest and cheapest solution make them stay home
or just get a hotel

yakisoba

I'm in the same fix, sort of... Wife likes to race too! So we need a rig to pull two cars.

Wife wanted me to look into stacker trailers and toters. It has a place to live, and could pull both cars and not be crazy long. However, they are upwards of $85K. Even with a long payoff, it'll be a thousand a month to do that. That's lots of hotel rooms. On the other hand, a dualie and a two car tag rig is around $25K. Better yet, the truck could still pull a stacker, so we could upgrade to that, and upgrade the truck to a toter later on.

That's how we will likely get to the track, for a while anyhow.

mousecatcher

keeper!

97C5inSD

Hmm might be something to consider if you'd like send me pics and your price to tboesen@midstatesd.net dose your rig have a generator on it also?


you should know by now derek it's not that simple. i wish granted nice to have a gal that is into racing makes spending money on the car alittle easier lol

Well i managed to avoid the 2 car bullet by letting her co drive the car for autox since she dosen't care for track days and my new adventure into wheel to wheel. So i can totally relate to your predicament. The more we talk and such the more a motor home may sound more appealing since then if and when we start to dwindle from motorsports cause our kid gets older we can still use it for family outtings and such. but who knows. we may go with a toy hauler option

MAC95 6SPD

I have looked at many motorhomes and in the price you want you will be hard pressed to find one that can tow a car and trailer even an open one. Not that people don't do it but they shouldn't.

Now with that said the motorhome is the best way I have found to be at the track with the family. I have done it all, open trailer and truck, enclosed trailer with living quarters and now a motorhome and enclosed trailer. The family is by far happier in the motorhome. More room, TV our normal food, air etc. No smells from the car etc.

The other thing to think about in the motorhome is since it is a second home the interest from a loan can be tax deductible and the term of the loan can be much longer. In my case I spent a little more but with the longer term it is still a decent payment and less than I was spending on hotels and food while racing. The face that the family doesnt mind being at the track is the real payoff.

Mat

97C5inSD

Thanks Mac i have recently found a 93 osh kosh witha 5.9l cummins diesel pusher with a alision automatic that i plan to go look at it they are asking 13,000 for it so if it's all up to spec i think this would be an awesome buy it's a class A 36ft long and has a one slide out.

cebars

I have seen rental motorhomes in the campgrounds at some events.

Google....motorhome rentals America

Maybe the rental company will place it in and remove it from the campground if you do not have a second driver for your rig.

MAC95 6SPD

A pusher or a truck conversion would be my choice. 13 K for a pusher is a good price if its sound. When I started researching motorhomes I was under the impression a pusher would have a large tow rating. Unfortunately I have found a number with poor towing. Just check out the combined weight capacity and its curb weight. Figure the things you will put in it and then the rest is how much you can tow. I have seen some with a 5000 hitch but a 19000 curb weight and a 23000 combined weight capacity. Throw in a full load of water, family, gear and now you can barely tow a car on a dolly. No trailer and gear.

Good Luck
Mat

97C5inSD

Thanks Mac we managed to get a look at the Osh Kosh yeseterday after a camper show the place was putting on and well it wasn't that grand. So we are rethinking. my 12-15k budget was what i could easily pay outta pocket. So now we are looking at a couple newer rigs both with cummins one is a winnibago adventure. and the other is a front engine Mountain Aire. I need to find out the weight ratings and such like that on them but both are in the high 30k range and both have frieghtliner Chassies. So it will just be a matter of going to the bank and borrowing some money which i didn't wana do but that should make him happy he has been wanting to loan me money anyways.

Wayne O

It may be way over of budget but I've seen some really nice Renegade units. You're lucky, at least you can get your family to come to the track. My oldest son comes with me sometimes but hanging around the track for 2 or 3 days just isn't my wife's idea of fun. Go figure.

97C5inSD

I hear ya granted some days i would like to just get away myself though guess thats me though. The misses and I both Autocross is what we mostly do so she has a bit of racing in her. She dosen't think she wants to do track days or racing which i'm gona go for my SCCA liscence this year. i got her going in the Autocross and well not she is addicted not sure if i wana get her in on the track days or racing then i would have to buy another car which means 2 cars i will have to keep up ugg not sure i wana think about that.

TheSkunkWorks

Just in case you're interested...

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/othe...rhome-pic.html


TSW

JohnD60

Here's one more opinion for you based on my experience.

We had a 29' class C motor home before my track addiction began so it was a logical next step to purchase an open trailer to tow. The combination has worked out great. The RV is built on the Ford E450 chassis and has the V10.

My wife and kids (a little older than yours) will come to the track with me on occassion. In the early days my kids spent all their time in the motor home watching TV or playing video games. My wife will spend some time on the RV roof during the events timing and giving me post session advice.

Since my son turned 16, he's now doing DE's with me.

I found having an RV at the track to be a big plus. Food, water, heat/AC, microwave, satellite TV..... all the essentials!

Also you'll find a common set of RV'er at every event so there's a social aspect to spending the night at the track.

I'm sure this set up would work for you as well. With that said, how to turn a dually and $10K into an RV and trailer is another question....

John