Wow, lots of feedback already!
Bandi - sounds like we're on the same wavelength!
Pete - I'm not worried about CCC - the CCC is underrated for the chassis. I have no doubt we will exceed it loaded with water, but the frame, engine, brakes, tires, and suspension are all rated for past that. I'm surprised they rated it as low as they did. 10k tow is plenty.
Droregon - Glad to see an rb34 owner chime in
Selecting a dealer is a good point and consideration. We're buying on the East coast, but going West in a few months, so that won't affect us much. At least in our case, I will do my own preventative maintenance and can fix a lot of things myself in an RV. I learned a LOT from our travel trailer, and have flipped 2 houses, so I'm hopeful those skills will set me for success in a motorcoach.
Ducksface - I appreciate your tough criticism of my criteria - thinking through why I disagree with you on several of them helps me be confident in my decision. The biggest criticism I agree with is the contortion from passenger to back of RV. My wife has MS, and that was her biggest criticism of the rb and biggest like in Jayco.
Bob, thanks for the warm welcome!
rlbuzz - thanks for the info on the new unit! We'll be moving and using the unit a LOT starting in either March or April, so unfortunately we can't wait. I hadn't heard about the new F600 so I found this comparing the two -
https://www.ford.com/commercial-truc...-600xl|f-550xl - it looks like tires and the chassis itself are the biggest difference, leading to more cargo carrying capacity - a definite good thing as Pete pointed out earlier.
I started looking into mods we will do on the camper once we get it, since I had some downtime today.
- Laundry. After researching, it sounds like a vented unit is a much better option than a ventless unit. This makes sense, as the ventless unit must rely on condensation to dry the clothes. That takes longer and has a worse result. I think we'll get a Splendide WDV2200XCD. This will be a mod, since I'll have to add a dryer vent to the side of the rig. The power and water are supposed to be already there.
- Ground clearance. A lift will be a must, even though we have zero plans to offroad this truck. A factory height RV doesn't have the breakover angle or departure angle to make it into or out of our current driveway - let alone the clearance we'd want to run some of the rough roads on trips I have planned. Again, we're never planning on leaving the "road," but a marked gravel road is still a road. Unpaved roads are common in some of the most beautiful parts of this country and having clearance is a must. Tires will come eventually, but I plan run the tires until they wear down, then consider an upgrade to 35" tires.
- Spare tire. Why do no RVs come with a spare? That's loony. I have a massive bottle jack that I can throw in the back if the stabilizers can't lift the rig enough. I think the stabilizers can though - I'll need to see. There's plenty of room for the spare under the back middle of the truck, I'll just weld in a bracket and tire lift. Onboard air will come with that. I've had good luck with Viair's industrial series compressors, so I'll probably hook one of those up even though 120v is an option.
- Kitchen organization. Minor, but a big deal. I have to have my magnetic knife block next to the stove on the wall, it has all our kitchen stuff on there. I will need to get a better look at the cabinetry to adjust the blanks and open up more space. We completely redid the interior of the cabinets on our TT, getting us way more space.
I'm surprised that's all I'd change. We changed a LOT in our TT. I even moved a wall. The design of the rb34 seems really well thought out, so I hope I keep feeling that nothing will need changed once we finalize the purchase and do a shakedown trip.
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