New Rig Dreams

When your RV rig gets old you might as well start window shopping early, since finding something might take a long time. Of course, that problem is worse when the shopper is stubborn about camping in quiet and interesting places and avoiding unnecessary expenses and luxuries. You would make it easier on yourself, during the shopping process, if you thought like a mainstream RVer, but then the negative payoff would come later when you end up with a rig that is expensive and troublesome to repair, and you can't camp where you really want to camp. 

Here's my most recent heart-throb:

It's made by Tiger RV, circa 1990. What a nice camping experience these lucky people must have had! They had gotten to a campsite that big or "overhang-ey" rigs couldn't get to. They could walk right out of their rig to dozens of mountain bike/multi-purpose trails. Here is RV camping at its finest: the perfect balance of outdoor flavor combined with realistic and hard-shelled comfort.

Alas Toyota hasn't even made a compact pickup truck since 2005. Their Tacoma has become a victim of bloat. Why don't they make just one model of pickup if they are going to make the Tacoma so close to the Tundra? Thus modern Tiger RVs (made in Colorado, amazingly enough) are built on full-sized pickup truck bloat platforms. Sigh.

Actually I am barely willing to pay more than $2000 for the "housey" part of an RV. The real part of an RV is the engine and powertrain that make it move down the road. The "interior" stuff could be done easily enough by the owner, using thin plywood, and plastic boxes, especially if he understands electricity, solar equipment, etc.

I've long had an interest in box vans. I saw one in a parking lot and yakked it up with the owner for 20 minutes. By "box van" I mean the smallest size of "cubical U-Haul-type van," built on a cargo van chassis. The box is 10 feet long and about 8 feet wide, and just over 6 feet high (standing height). It's much roomier than a class B motorhome or a conversion van, but it's the same length.

Did you know that on Uhaul.com you can go to the bottom of the front page, click on "buy used trucks", and see a list of used box vans and box trucks available from them in big cities? But I'm not sure if you will find any low mileage ones. Also I don't know if the Dept. of Motor Vehicles requires a different type of license for them, or whether your insurance company will insure a "commercial" truck like this. But it's something to fantasize about.