Jumping Ship

Within the first 3 days of owning my TT, I tested the oven out in the backyard on a frozen pizza....I love my oven.

 

For balance the other night we ran the AC to cool down the dark side. DW and I both commented how nice it would have been to unzip the entire pup.

I want to add a solar charger to the roof. I keep thinking it would be hours easier with the pup. I wouldn't be 10' up on a roof and wondering what's in the walls. I would be in my garage instead of outside at my storage facility.

We're planning a 7,000 mile trip this summer. Imagine the cost difference between 15 mpg towing a pup versus 10 mpg with our dark side.


The views expressed may not be mine in five minutes.

 

@Jimbow - There's not really enough space for the solar panels on our small TT's roof, even if we wanted to install them there. I know some TTs and RVs have sturdy enough roofs to walk on, but DH tends to sprawl out when he needs to work on something up there.
We like having the solar panel separate. that gives us the ability to move it away from the TT (as we did with the pup) and orient it so that it works most efficiently. There are few campsites where we need to reorient it during the day, but we can do so if necessary.

That mpg thing - ours dived when we changed from the pup to the TT, using the 4Runner as TV. Our mpg went up while towing when we changed to the Chevy Colorado for our TV a year ago. It's variable, and took a nosedive when I encountered 50 mph headwinds last April, approaching the worst we had with the 4Runner/Retro combination.

 

I think towing MPG is pretty much irrelevant. If you can afford to enter the TT world, then you can definitely afford gas money. Even when I first started looking at pop ups to buy, I was amazed at how incredibly expensive camping was. A TT makes it makes it more so.

 

You think the gas mileage issue is bad, you should see the people pulling $100,000 fifth wheels complaining because they don't want to buy a dually because it is so expensive to put 2 more tires on it every few years.

 

There is a limit in most people's budget. To suggest if you can afford the TT you now have an unlimited budget for gas, camp fees, insurance, etc isn't reality for most people.

Maybe we're the exception. We've budgeted $3,500 for this summer's vacation. Gas is half of that expense. 700 gallons at $2.50. If gas prices went to $3.50 we would be looking at an additional $700. The comment is $700 is no big deal for someone with a TT. I think it is. $2,000 in gas is a big number.

The views expressed may not be mine in five minutes.

 

Reduced mpg for us isn't really enough to challenge the budget, we try to save enough elsewhere to cover it. Bouncing gas prices make estimating the costs interesting anyway.
What was frustrating with the reduction in mpg going from pup to TT was the need to stop more often to buy gas. On trips with the 4Runner, we began to look for gas stations as soon as the range indicator hit 150 miles; we seemed to stop every couple of hours. Good for the driver to take a break, but we'd rather not be forced to stop for gas as often. The Colorado gets better mpg than the 4Runner (most of the time) when towing and has a larger fuel tank. We still begin to look for gas stations at about 150 miles of range left. In some places, we use our long time "campers' rules" - fill up when you find a gas station, use a bathroom when you find one (nicer option now that we tow our own!).

 

A TT doesn't have to cost more than a PUP.

My buddy just bought a really nice older 30 ft fifth wheel for $5k.