We had a 1989 Avion 34V that was a fantastic trailer that we had restored. But when we decided to go full time, the Avion just did not have enough room for us, two dogs, a small parrot, a guitar and a ham radio. SO we went back to a 5t wheel and wound up at 40' and 3 slides.

We have seen a few folks full timing in 30' to 34' Avions or Aistreams and they hace set up the truck with a cap on the bed and store a lot of stuff there.

AN Airstream owner will not admit that an Avion is the better built trailer.

Ken

Since you have begun the process quite early, I'd suggest that you spend a lot of time in the potential choices that are of interest to you. When you think that you may have found a candidate, go there and do a walk-through with both of you simulating doing all of the same things that you do in your home today. Keep in mind that this will be your house and not just a short vacation, which means that minor issues will be with you constantly and will be much more difficult to accept than they would for a vacation of temporary nature. Go through the motions of your entire daily routine, both at the same time just as you do now. You will find some things can be easily solved by minor changes in routines but there may be others that just have to stay the same. A great deal of what determines the size of RV a couple must have is the physical size of the two people. Both your height and girth contribute to this effect. Small people do not need the same space as do larger ones. One thing that is often overlooked and too small for long term use is the bathroom. If you bump your knees on the sink when you sit on the commode it will probably not be a good experience.

Also keep in mind that there will be days that you will both be cooped up on the inside, no matter how well you follow weather patterns. There will also be times when one is ill and the other feels great and so you need to make allowance for each to have some space at times. We find that the couples who seem to fair best in the smaller RVs are usually smaller physically and they are also couples who consider themselves best friends and not just partners or spouses. Pretend to take a shower, brush your teeth and everything in your life routine each morning. Simulate the cooking of meals with both inside and doing whatever it is that you do at the same time.

If all of this works you then need to consider what things you will want to have with each of you and where those things will be kept. If you have a hobby now that requires a lot of space, say model railroading, what will you do to occupy your time once you don't have room for the train layout? If you expect to change your hobbies to fit the smaller living space, start making those changes now so that you will know what you enjoy and what turns out to be a dud. You can easily try living small now with the ability to expand again, but once you sell the house and move into the RV your options will be far less. Take advantage of the advance time that you have to do what is needed to insure a successful transition.

Most of all, remember that there is no single right way to live in your RV any more than there is for a stick house. The only limitation to what you can do while living on the road is your own imagination!

  On 7/3/2015 at 7:48 AM, TXiceman said:

We had a 1989 Avion 34V that was a fantastic trailer that we had restored. But when we decided to go full time, the Avion just did not have enough room for us, two dogs, a small parrot, a guitar and a ham radio. SO we went back to a 5t wheel and wound up at 40' and 3 slides.

 

We have seen a few folks full timing in 30' to 34' Avions or Aistreams and they hace set up the truck with a cap on the bed and store a lot of stuff there.

 

AN Airstream owner will not admit that an Avion is the better built trailer.

 

Ken

Thanks Ken, appreciate your thoughts. We are definitely looking now in the 31' to 34' range for Avions, just like the one that you had. We also understand that if we do this long enough, it probably won't be our last trailer that we buy, so we just need to make the best decision that we can to get us to that point. Maybe one day we'll upgrade to a 5th wheel.

  On 7/3/2015 at 9:44 PM, Kirk said:

Since you have begun the process quite early, I'd suggest that you spend a lot of time in the potential choices that are of interest to you.

Thanks Kirk, we definitely plan on doing something like you suggested. We're planning a couple stops at RV dealerships that have Airstreams (even if we end up with an Avion, Airstream will be close enough for this little test). We may even look to Airbnb and stay in an Airstream for a couple nights so we become fully immersed for that time.

Listen well to Kirk when he says to pretend living in a potential RV. Hitting your head every time you bend over the sink while brushing your teeth is more than a minor inconvenience when it happens daily. Not being able to get to the bathroom to wash your hands while your spouse is cooking may mean your food gets cold when you finally get clearance to do that. Fighting over the one comfortable seat is not good for a marriage. When checking out a potential RV I sit in that chair and read whatever literature is available to keep me in the chair long enough to know if it is comfortable for more than two minutes. When you've been hiking around an RV lot any chair is comfortable for two minutes. Also look at the TV from the various chairs; are you comfortable or do you have to crane your neck to see? Are you going to have to take turns sitting in the left or right view chair to balance out your neck? Do you have to slouch down to keep from tilting your chin up? How long are you going to be willing to do that? Empty your pockets and lie down on the bed--where did you put your pocket things? Will you be able to put your shoes back on there or will you have to carry them into the living room? It is hard to realize how many little things we do in a day and how we will do those things in an RV unless you stay in it long enough to actually go through all the motions. That's why I like doing my initial evaluations at PPL in Houston. They leave you alone and let you spend as much time as you need in each unit to determine whether or not you could live in that one. If I was starting out I'd likely check into a motel in Houston, pack a lunch, and go spend a couple days at PPL spending a half day in each potential unit. You could save thousands of dollars by not making a mistake on your first purchase. (Don't eat in the unit, go to the customer lounge to do that, please.)

Linda Sand

Kirk has great advice and is very tactfull. I'll be a little more critical. A 25 ft trailer with no slide outs is going to be very tight for two adults and two dogs. OK for a camping trip but for a home on wheels? Really think hard about it. Remember this is not just going to be a house on wheels, it is going to be your home.

Then there is the issue of storage. Air Stream TTs are beautiful to look at but they have limited storage compared to a 5th wheel or Class A. Yes you can pack a lot of stuff in the back of a Suburban to tow it, but is that where you want to carry your tools (and you will need to carry some), compressor, grill, outdoor chairs, extra cloths and bedding, perhaps a portable sat dish, etc? You may not want those things now but you will given some time.

I know there are people who do full time in such a small space, I just don't know how.

  On 7/4/2015 at 8:09 AM, Selah said:

I know there are people who do full time in such a small space, I just don't know how.

We will certainly be looking for something larger than 25' - somewhere in the neighborhood of 31 to 34 now, based on the helpful comments of the forum and just a little common sense, too. We will also be looking to stay in an Airstream over the next couple months through Airbnb to get a feel for how this might work for us. This should give us a good indication of the living arrangements, though far from the entire "full timing" experience.

Good move! Living in one for even a week will be better for you to gauge whether it suits you. No matter what rig we get there is always one that is just what we wanted but didn't know at the time. I can tell you that were I to start all over again back in 1997 knowing what I know now my decisions would have been a tad different. Not the type, just the details.

  On 7/6/2015 at 4:58 AM, RV said:

Good move! Living in one for even a week will be better for you to gauge whether it suits you. No matter what rig we get there is always one that is just what we wanted but didn't know at the time. I can tell you that were I to start all over again back in 1997 knowing what I know now my decisions would have been a tad different. Not the type, just the details.

Yup, understood. And honestly, we aren't looking to make the perfect decision right off the bat because, well, perfection doesn't exist. Instead, we'll make the best decision we can with the information that we have available. If we want to upgrade to something larger in the future, no big deal, we do it. Live and learn.

  On 7/6/2015 at 11:19 PM, sdnet01 said:

 

Yup, understood. And honestly, we aren't looking to make the perfect decision right off the bat because, well, perfection doesn't exist. Instead, we'll make the best decision we can with the information that we have available. If we want to upgrade to something larger in the future, no big deal, we do it. Live and learn.

Good thinking. Very few of us buy our last RV first. In spite of all the research and practicing at home we did our first RV only lasted four months. That can happen when your spouse is so intent on pleasing you that reality of the downsides for the spouse doesn't hit in time. Plus, you just don't know what you don't know until you get on the road. Who knew how quickly a 10 gallon black tank would fill up with two full-timers using it? That wasn't something we could test at home.

Linda Sand