Why boats not motorhomes?

[meuritt]

Just sold my RV Saturday, no happier day. Why I went back to boating:

Use of boat is immediate, no need to move it to use. Enjoy your dock neighbors or sail away. RV has to be taken somewhere. Further, in my case, the marina is a mile and a half from home, the RV storage was never so convenient.

The RV had to be towed, yes to beautiful areas, but the hassle of dragging it down the road, being the slow one on the steep hills, I was exhausted by the time we arrived.

More adventure in a motor across the bay than being on the highway. i used to think the RV had the whole country and the boat had coastal only, even it was a foreign coast. True enough, but I've found more annoying neighbors in my RV experience, and more importantly crowded conditions in RV parks where the view out your patio is the neighbors slide out. I live downtown, want to get away from it Population density of an average RV park is higher than my stick house. Older RV parks, built before slide outs became common, are sometimes so tight that you can hardly walk between units when they are set up. I can't imagine a crowded anchorage being so tight that you can't paddle the dink around your boat, unless, of course, you are in a raft up.

Range in the RV is better, a 4 day weekend could get me a couple hundred or more miles away, but here in SF Bay half an hour gets me to a usually quiet place with an easy row to shore with the dog.

I could go on, but I am sure you see why I've no regrets going back to boating.

mike
San Rafael, CA

 

[Mike B]

Tim, any chance he tried to drive it through the "Bog" at the Glen?
Mike

 

[Tim R.]

Tim, any chance he tried to drive it through the "Bog" at the Glen?
Mike

No, but that would have been interesting. The bog was not quite the same during our events than it was during the F1 events when my brothers were there. They were spectators while I was either driving or crew. That makes a big difference when choosing refreshments.

They had lots of fun. :2cool::stirthepot:

 

[RAD]

I'm into both

"A motor home is often seen as a relatively low-class way to travel regardless of the cost of the motor home itself. Sailboats, or yachts as they are often called, are seen as much more of an upscale, leisurely, and luxurious way to travel—the refuge of the wealthy elite... etc. "

I resent that low class way to travel remark

Every other year at this time I take every thing off Free Spirit and put it in the land yacht and in less then 24 hours I'm in sunny Florida and camping at some of the states best kept secret state parks adjacent to water and I find it just as rewarding as dropping the anchor in some cove for the weekend and I don't see myself in the Florida Keys with my boat too soon so this will have to do for now.
I will say though I've called up some snowbird friends and have been told you can come visit but ya gotta leave the RV somewhere cause there not allowed in the neighborhood so we don't visit

here's a few pics of last Christmas morning at Long Key State park

 

[Allan R]

Best of both worlds

Life is good

 

[Big Windy]

Like RAD, I'm into both. My boat is land locked, so I can get in my RV and go where it is warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

The comment about an RV being "a low class way to travel" is absurd...especially coming from a guy with a $130k boat. You can't even buy a diesel pusher MH for that little money.

 

[Ross]

Substitute motorhomes for boats in the following and see how it works.

There is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. In or out of ‘em, it doesn’t matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that’s the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don’t; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you’re always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you’ve done it there’s always something else to do

 

[Maine Sail]

Guys the comment was:

"is often seen as a relatively low-class way to travel regardless of the cost of the motorhome itself"

Perhaps you guys read that differently than I do. Let me explain..

"A motor home is often seen" this refers to the general public perception not the posters perception.

"as a relatively low-class way to travel" Again following the "is often seen" comment, it is an observation of the general public perception. Right or wrong, but mostly wrong, it is a valid observation of the way many un-informed folks in the US view RV's.

"regardless of the cost of the motorhome itself" Here is where the poster is referring to the sheer stupidity of the public perception of RV's. As if to say "if the public only knew how much these things really cost they would not view it as low class.. they are freaking expensive and not "low class"!!


How is it that multiple people can read the same post and all have a different view of what's actually been said??? That is how I read it now go ahead and beat me up too...

 

[Ross]

Mainesail I have been inside some of these interstate palaces. There is nothing lowbrow about them. My 8x28 mobile home I lived in during 1958-59 was larger inside than my Islander sail boat. Had all of the needed amenities and kept us warm in two winters in Bangor, Me. We never took it anywhere but it was home. It just sat there like a big contented dog. If it did get moved it had to stick to the highways and there in lies the difference between boats and motorhomes. Boats can travel anywhere there is water to float them and RV's can travel anywhere there are roads.
Would you prefer a milk cow or a saddle horse?

 

[sailingdog]

I still stand by what I said.... It isn't my opinion of motorhomes.... it is an observation of what the general perception of motorhomes and RVs are in the USA. That's probably the reason many neighborhoods have bans or regulations against having RVs parked there. My friends have a fifth-wheel trailer RV and it's pretty nice on the inside.

"A motor home is often seen as a relatively low-class way to travel regardless of the cost of the motor home itself. Sailboats, or yachts as they are often called, are seen as much more of an upscale, leisurely, and luxurious way to travel—the refuge of the wealthy elite... etc. "

I resent that low class way to travel remark

Every other year at this time I take every thing off Free Spirit and put it in the land yacht and in less then 24 hours I'm in sunny Florida and camping at some of the states best kept secret state parks adjacent to water and I find it just as rewarding as dropping the anchor in some cove for the weekend and I don't see myself in the Florida Keys with my boat too soon so this will have to do for now.
I will say though I've called up some snowbird friends and have been told you can come visit but ya gotta leave the RV somewhere cause there not allowed in the neighborhood so we don't visit

here's a few pics of last Christmas morning at Long Key State park

 

[Andy1237]

If you have to ask you don't understand the romance of the sea, the quite power of steady breeze, the joy of sailing. Or suffice it to say...you just don't understand.

 

[RAD]

OK, I'm with MaineSail's interpretation and Sailingdogs opinion

 

[Ross]

kinda ,sorta like "It's a jeep thing. you won't understand!" Nonsense! It's an elitist thing! We have neighborhoods that allow pickup trucks of a certain age and won't allow trucks of a more rustic appearance. They exclude RVs and Motor homes categorically just to avoid a discrimination fight.

 

[BobM]

Maybe if the price of gas keeps going up driving a big motorhome will make more people romantic, as they are about the "days of sail."

My friend keeps their 37 foot Hunter cutter in his driveway on his tiny lot in a town just outside of Boston. Before that it was a 30 foot Catalina. I asked him how his neighbors felt and the only things I can figure are that (a) he is in complete denial (b) as long as nobody says anything, he doesn't care and/or (c) he is such a nice guy nobody will say anything to him or (d) all of the above. I vote for (d).

I, for one, miss going camping (not that I am directly equating a luxury motorhoom with tenting). My Wife will tell one and all she now considers camping a hotel without room service. Perhaps it is my fault. The first time I took her camping it was on her birthday (May 29th) in NH, in a tent, and it was about zero and snowed. We did camp a couple of more times after that, but there was heavy peer pressure from her friends to go. Anyway, she has driven across the country four times and we plan to make it a fifth some day in a rented motorhome. Sounds like we should do it this summer if the price of gas stays low...before OPEC figures out a way to turn that trend around ;-)

 

[letterman]

who cares

It's all perception. I see freedom in both. But the public....
Here is one for you. I have claustrophobia. Yet, I sleep like a baby on my boat and PREFER it to my house. A boat is alive, even at anchor. When you look at a boat, the sea is moving, the sky is moving, the boat is moving....that is relaxing to our senses, to our self being.
A parked Motorhome just sits there. Watching it you might see grass, roads, etc., but nothing moves. Everything just SITS there. Grass growing in the background is as exciting as the expression. The street or driveway just SIT THERE. They HAVE the expression "Watching grass grow" for a reason! It's BORING! Not so the sea, the ever moving, constantly changing sea.

 

[Tim R.]

I cannot say that I will never use an RV. Maybe tour the US when retired. But right now my boat provides a kind of escape you simply cannot get in an RV. When anchored, the vast majority of people who have access to me are like minded and will tend to respect my privacy. Anyone can walk, drive or stumble up to an RV.

Same reason I do not live in a neighborhood. My wife and I are very private people and we do not like living in close proximity to others. Most people do. There is nothing wrong with it, it is just not for us. Our boat is an extension of that lifestyle. I also do not really care what people think of what I drive.

Again, I may be driving one of "those";-) things someday because there are many interesting places to see on the interior of the US that boats simply cannot get to.

 

[Jim Kolstoe]

Perspective

Put yourself in the place of the watcher. If you're looking out across the water, boats are part of the expected and, especially in the case of sailboats, desired scenery. If you're looking out your front window across the street and see someone else's motorhome, its just interfering with your view. Of course, its helps that sailboats look and move far more gracefully than any other form of vehicle or vessel.
Why do I regard sailboats as "desired scenery?" Aside from my obvious bias, there is the empirical evidence from anyone whom you might ask about watching different vessels on the water. And of course, sailing is, correctly, perceived as a romantic activity in the popular imagination.
This isn't science, folks, its art. It just feels right looking over the water at boats. You can't say that about RVs.
Jim Kolstoe, h23 Kara's Boo

 

[Franklin]

"This isn't science, folks, its art. It just feels right looking over the water at boats."

Tell that to the people in Florida who outlaw anchoring because the boats invade their view.

 

[Ross]

I wondered when someone would mention that. It doesn't matter if it is a pop-up tent on wheels or a forty foot Frieghtliner, an eighteen foot beach camper boat or a 55 foot Hinckley, The owner derives pleasure from the freedom to pull up stakes or anchor and move to another place with a different view. Whether it was a home with wheels or with a keel the choice would be made on the basis of what was a pleasant view when the sun came up and when the sun set. Far better to occupy a place without leaving a trail of distruction in your wake. I rather like the look of undeveloped places and I marvel at the effort that has been made to make them accessable and soon thereafter develope them.

 

[dvideohd]

I have a friend who has sold his house, bought a motor home and is hitting the road. In California, if you are retired, then you might consider it because of financial reasons..

Kind of like the movie "Independence Day"...

I friend considers the mobile community to be a part of "Bush Town".... Kind of like "Hooverville". I'm getting him a collection of Woodie Guthrie music to listen to as he travels. Jimmy Buffet don't fit his lifestyle.. :>

--jerry