buying – Roving Dutchmen

Welcome, Home!

4 Comments / Family, Story / By rovingdutchmen / 2021-12-14 2021-12-15

We got it! Our 2022 Grand Design Momentum 397TH was delivered to us on Friday morning.

A big thanks to Brian from Roadrunner RV Inspections, and RV Driving School, who helped us inspect our RV before accepting delivery, and then teaching Eric how to drive the beast! Eric drove the RV right off the delivery lot and into the sales parking lot, before we even signed for it! His first time towing anything at all. Then off to driving lessons, and then to our first camping spot at the KOA in Tucson, Arizona. We’d been staying at that KOA for a week in a cabin, but now it was time to move in to our RV!

We’ve been very busy sorting through everything, and figuring out where things should go, and more importantly, how this thing works! Who knew how much time we’d spend thinking about water and sewage! Nadine’s been doing a fantastic job making it feel like home, too. Pancakes & Christmas lights, amongst other touches, go a long way!

There have been a few minor build issues we’re dealing with, but on the whole, nothing major. The stereo hisses, for example, but more annoyingly, the Lippert OneControl system, which controls our whole rig, and you should be able to access on your phone, isn’t working. We’ve made progress on both items, especially with some great support from Grand Design’s Rockford Fosgate technician on the stereo issue, who walked Eric through a full diagnostic over the phone! We’ve also been busy installing extra bells and whistles: a backup camera, and a tire pressure & temperature sensor system.

That aside, we’re very happy with our new home! It’s gorgeous, spacious, and I hope will treat us well (so long as we treat it well!). The kids have been loving the back patio, and so have the parents: enclosed play space! Tyler’s been making friends with the neighbors, and really asking about everything; endearing, but exhausting!

Our first “Travel Day” is coming…!

Full-Time Waiting

Leave a Comment / Family, Story / By rovingdutchmen / 2021-12-03 2021-12-03

We got our first taste of full-time RVing, at the Full-Time Families Hangout in the White Tank Regional Park. There were about 18 families “boon-docking” at the group camping area there, which means they were running without “shore” power nor water and sewage. Instead, they relied on batteries, solar, or generators for power. Tyler and Aidan were amongst the youngest participants, but had a blast… Especially when they hired a bouncy castle!

We didn’t have our own RV yet, so we stayed at a nearby farm we found on Airbnb. This turned out to be a great location for us as well, as the host family had a son well-matched to Tyler, who taught him how to handle 1-week-old piglets, and how to properly climb a treehouse. And how to keep the adults out, by means of a trap door. In any case, a great time had by all, and we met some amazing full-time families whom we hope to meet again soon on the road!

The boys admiring the farm animals. That’s Kevin Bacon in the middle.

We’re now waiting impatiently for our rig to arrive in Tucson, Arizona. We’re hopeful that it will arrive this week, though it will still be next week or so until we could possibly drive it off the lot. But it’s so close!

We Got Our Truck!

3 Comments / Story / By rovingdutchmen / 2021-11-13 2021-11-13

Our 2022 Ford F-350 DRW King Ranch arrived, and we’re very happy with it!

Now we’re waiting on the trailer, which is being built this week, but it’ll still likely be some weeks until we can see it.

Buying a Tow Vehicle

Leave a Comment / Story / By rovingdutchmen / 2021-07-13 2021-07-13

So now that we’ve bought a rig, we need something to tow it with. Since we chose a 21,000lbs GVWR monster of a trailer, the decision was pretty straight-forward: which 1-ton dually truck do you like best?

Why such a large vehicle? Well, it needs to be able to safely pull that 21,000lbs rig in a 5th-wheel configuration, with probably about 4,000lbs pin-weight (which is effectively payload directly on the truck’s rear axle). That carrying capacity puts us into dual-rear-wheel (DRW), or dually, territory immediately. So, we hope on over to the towing guides, and take a look, as well as the tech specs for the payload portion.

First, some terminology: GVWR is the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, or the maximum weight the vehicle is rated to be, when adding payload to the curb weight. The curb weight is the “total mass of a vehicle with standard equipment and all necessary operating consumables”^ref, or effectively the weight the vehicle most likely is when it’s parked at your curb. So the difference between the GVWR and the Curb Weight is your maximum usable payload. For a 2022 Ford F-350 Super Duty DRW Crew Cab 6.7L diesel, that should be:

GVWR: 14,000lbs

Curb Weight: 8,500lbs (approx)

Max payload: 14,000 – 8,500 = 5,500 lbs

So even if we have a pin weight approaching 4,000lbs (estimated), we should still be in the clear, with plenty of room to spare. This should be a fairly pessimistic estimate as well. It is clear however that the 3/4 tons can’t do the job (max payload 3,500lbs), and the SRW (single-rear-wheel) models are borderline (maxt payload 4,300lbs).

What about the RAM 3500, and GMC 3500? I tried them, but the Ford just felt better. And the payload capacities are superior on the Fords: 4,900lbs for the GMC, 5,500lbs for the RAM, and these numbers are optimistic, unlike my pessimistic curb weight estimate for the Ford above.

2022 Ford Super Duty F-350 DRW Crew Cab Long Bed King Ranch

Besides, the Ford King Ranch package just looks awesome! So, that’s the one. We’ve ordered it, and also hope to receive it by the end of the year… and hopefully, before we get the trailer. There’s hope yet, for the Ford chip shortage to be resolved!

Buying a Rig

Leave a Comment / Story / By rovingdutchmen / 2021-07-12 2021-07-12

Step 1 of moving into an RV full-time? Buy an RV. We toured quite a few models during our last US road trip, mainly focusing on 5th wheel bunkhouse and toy haulers.

The main reason for looking at 5th wheels was for safety during travel. We have two little ones, and it seems very few motorhomes (Class A/B/C) are well-equipped for safely holding a car seat in the direction of travel, secured to the frame. With a 5th wheel, the tow vehicle has standard auto safety features, so car seats are no problem.

A second reason for a 5th wheel is that we then have a separate vehicle for moving around when camped, without the RV part. Having that as a single vehicle for both purposes makes things simpler, especially when it comes to making it comfortable for the children.

A third reason is space: 5th wheel RVs have a ton of it! Eric is relatively tall at 194cm (6’4”), and most 5th wheels have tall ceilings that avoid the closed-in feeling, especially in the master bedroom. And the living room ceiling is easily in excess of 2.4m, generally taller than most ceilings in Switzerland. And let’s not forget that 18cu-ft refrigerator! The size of our refrigerator in Switzerland? 10cu-ft. That’s standard.

So it came down to bunkhouse models versus toy-hauler models. The bunkhouses are cute, but we liked the versatility of the toy-hauler garage for being able to use it for a bunkhouse, office and/or playroom. The rear patio options are icing on the cake!

The final point that sold us on a toy-hauler was carrying capacity. So many of the RVs being sold barely have carrying capacity for actual full-time living for a family of four. The toy-haulers, especially 3-axle variants, have in excess of 3,000lbs of carrying capacity. That’ll do, without having to make too many compromises.

So, we ended up choosing the 2022 Grand Design Momentum 397TH, a 43-foot triple-axle 5th-wheel toy-hauler with a 13-foot garage and a raised rear patio option. It has enough space for the four of us to live comfortably, and it looks like a luxury hotel room on wheels!

It’s on order, and we hope to receive it by the end of the year. Next up: a tow vehicle.