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What would you rather own?

  • Sailboat

    Votes: 99 90.0%
  • RV

    Votes: 11 10.0%
  • Motor Yacht

    Votes: 4 3.6%

Would you rather own a sailboat or a RV?

20K views 134 replies 67 participants last post by  LessTacksing 
#1 ·
So here's my dilemma.

I really want to buy a new sailboat. Has been wanting one for a while now. But I also want to get a RV of some kind.

With a sailboat you have a house on water. You could explore islands, remote coasts, lakes, rivers.

But with a RV you could explore the remotest parts of North America. I think RVing is alot cheaper too.

What do you guys think?
 
#71 · (Edited)
BTW, to answer the OPs question - What would you rather see? An RV will get you to inland destinations. A boat will take you along the coast. Both offer the same thing - the opportunity to explore.

Having done both there is no wrong answer. it is purely a personal decision on how you want to spend your time.

As for cost, there are off sets on both sides of the equation. While you won't have to pay to dock your motorhome your boat will never need $3000 worth of tires. So, expense wise it's a six of one type of thing.
 
#73 ·
My plan has been to sail until I am too old to sail, then buy a trawler and motor cruise until I'm too old then buy an motor home and land cruise until I'm forced to stop driving.

Currently, I actually spend my summers in a 5th wheel at a campground and my winters on my boat cruising Florida and the Bahamas.

RVing is not without costs. Someone mentioned you don't dock your motorhome but actually you do in the form of park fees. You can "anchor out" at Walmart of Interstate rest stops but most people only do that when they are traveling. Daily rate at The Red Coconut in Ft. Myers Beach $83 to $118 or monthly $550 to $750. It's cheaper inland but not free.
 
#74 ·
I have both. The RV has been pretty cool to go out west, and when I used to fly ultralights it was nice to bring your "house" to the fly-ins, but a sailboat is way cooler. Here is why.

Free anchorages. Places to anchor that are absolutely beautiful. There really isn't places like that to go park your RV. Private "campgrounds" are really just glorified trailer parks. National parks are cool, but again, just rows of RVs parked next to eachother. "Boondocking" on public lands was a close as you got to the "anchorage" thing.

For example, we love south florida. We go down the coast in my dad's sea ray, anchoring at different places along the way and taking the dinghy in. You can have peace and solitude one minute, and be at a salsa bar the next. Lots of very cool options. (Not necessarily a big fan of the Sea Ray, but it is similar to cruising a sailboat without, of course, the sailing part).
 
#75 ·
I agree that a boat gives you a way to get away. And, that free anchorage options are only as far as the next point on the coast. One of the big advantages of boating.

I disagree that private campgrounds are glorified trailer parks. In places like the Keys, because of space limitations, units are jammed together. Still, some nice places, even there. Going up and down the coast there are some really nice places to take a motorhome. Places like Raytown Lake in Pa. Anything but a glorified trailer park! And nothing beats having your own bathroom and own bed!

What toy is better is totally in the eye of the beholder.
 
#79 ·
This is so easy...

If it's a trailer-sailor, you can use it on land (for sleeping, etc....on the way to the water ;) ) - but your rv won't float.

You can get the sailboat and use a tent and backpack on land (recommended).

How close are you to good water? How fast can you be under way in the sailboat? In my case, I can be sailing a bit sooner than I can find a camping spot on land. If I lived far from good sailing, I might think differently.
 
#83 ·
Sounds like a slip in a marina.

Not everyone with an RV stays in campground, just as not everyone with a boat stays in a crowded marina.

If I can ever get comfortable with safety, way down the road from now we would love to take a truck camper through Mexico and into Central America.
 
#87 ·
I find the notion that RV parks are as expensive as hotels a little silly. It is hard to find a hotel these days for under $100. We were on the road 9 months last year in the RV and paid <$30 for all but one or two nights. The 9 month average was <$20 / night.

Transient rates at marinas on the other hand ARE more like hotel bills. Quite a few places around here charge $1.50 - 2.50 per foot per night.
 
#88 · (Edited)
Depends on how much importance you place on delaying brain atrophy. An RV is hardly going to challenge the mind. A boat, on the other hand, will always have something to fix, plus outsmarting wind and tide has to be good for the neurons.
In the off-sailing season, supplement the boat with a motor bike and bedroll and camp out under the stars. Medical research indicates that staying alive on a motor bike is also good for the brain.
When I am too old to sail and ride, they can put me in a sack and send me to Davey Jones.
 
#92 ·
Well my friend you should have been with me last month then. Was in the Tahoe national forest hiking for a few days back in a jeep/ horse only area and there was a fire. The fire blocked the main roads no big deal I could have waited for the fire to be put out but I decided to take a road out that I hadn't been on in years. Well my camper is light only about 2000 lb loaded so I decided to go out via this old jeep road. The road became steeper and steeper with lots of hair pin slanted turns that made the camper lean pretty good. Got to the top of the mountain and started down to find that road closed so had to take a skid trail down to the Soda Springs road which we made ok. At this point I figured I was home clear just another fifty miles of poor dirt rock road and we could have a beer. Ran into a guy on a bike that said I should go back cause the road was washed out. Well I wasn't about to go back so decided to head on down the road. A storm had indeed washed out the road for almost 1/2 mile which we negotiated very very slowly and carefully until we came to the part where the mountain side had slide off into the canyon. I sent an hour or two studying the slide and thought I may be able to make it so I went for it. I made it but barely, the camper was not correctly centered on the truck when I managed to get past the slide but it was still there. Time for a beer.
no my friend driving down the interstate type rv-in is not my cup of tea. come join me sometime, its fun.
one good thing is on this trip I was not pulling a boat
 
#94 ·
cept that a man is supposed to wear the pants in the family and make the decisions........
That's fine if you don't want to get into her pants for a long damn time! LOL

I am just fine with the motorhome, in fact I picked it out. The only thing I would change is the engine, I'd rather have a diesel instead of gas, but this model only came with gas.
 
#95 ·
really, that proves it, no man in your house. A real man would make his woman wear a dress if anything at all not pants! Men wear pants....geezz....<smile>....

Motorhomes are nice. I would like to have one as well but I have too many toys to play with now. Motorhomes are like driving your living room down the road. No, actually gas is far cheaper than diesel in the long term. If your D needs work its always a few thousand gas engines just go and go. D is better in the mountains on fuel but when you change the oil and the D takes 15 quarts. I own a diesel truck and now I wish I had bought gas. would have saved almost 10k at the purchase. I had an F250 5.4 gas and that truck has never died. Its well over 250k and still working. Very cheap to operate and maintain compared to the diesel truck I also own.
 
#96 ·
Been there done that, sounds so clicher but did the camping thing for probably more than half my life, then got into sailing last 6 years

When its all said an done, sailing is definetely cheaper considering your
only fuel used is diesel, propane for cooking which is mininal on any given day
whereas RV, fill her up buddy

So much more to see from this side, dock or anchor go into shore, bum a ride, take a bus, or rent car or bike and explore the brown stuff if you must
then off to explore some more.
 
#98 · (Edited)
On point that is being missed by some here is a key difference between RVs and boats. That is an RV is a means to an end. That end being the adventure you will find at the end of the road. A boat is an adventure in itself.

The poster who wrote that RVs do not challenge the mind has obviously never driven an RV. OK, I'm not gonna compare driving an RV with piloting a sailboat to Tahiti, but gotta tell you when you've got 45 ft of motor home pulling a car on a dolly, which means you can't back up, you really have to plan every move. Even stopping for fuel becomes a game of access and turning room. And rest areas can become traps.

Then there are days where things don't go right. Like coming off a ramp from I-10 in Florida at 6am and your Grand Cherokee that has very obediently followed the motor home all the way from Jersey decides it needs to cross four lanes of traffic all by itself! Good news was it didn't cause a crash! Better news was it didn't roll over as it went down the embankment on the far side of the highway. Less good was the tow bill and the repair charge for a new tow bar.

So challenge? Yeah it has its days!!!
 
#99 ·
On point that is being missed by some here is a key difference between RVs and boats. That is an RV is a means to an end. That end being the adventure you will find at the end of the road. A boat is an adventure in itself.

The poster who wrote that RVs do not challenge the mind has obviously never driven an RV. OK, I'm not gonna compare driving an RV with piloting a sailboat to Tahiti, but gotta tell you when you've got 45 ft of motor home pulling a car on a dolly, which means you can't back up, you really have to plan every move. Even stopping for fuel becomes a game of access and turning room. And rest areas can become traps.

Then there are days where things don't go right. Like coming off a ramp from I-10 in Florida at 6am and your Grand Cherokee that has very obediently followed the motor home all the way from Jersey decides it needs to cross four lanes of traffic all by itself! Good news was it didn't cause a crash! Better news was it didn't roll over as it went down the embankment on the far side of the highway. Less good was the tow bill and the repair charge for a new tow bar.

So challenge? Yeah it has its days!!!
do you think driving a 40ft motorhome on todays highways is not an adventure?
 
#101 ·
There have been times I've been looking at getting a small camper, like one of the smaller models that Airstream sells. Sometimes I still look into campers but I really like that I have my boat. It just seems so much more exciting. I think I'll stick with the boat.
 
#103 ·
save yourself $30K and look at any other manuf of RV out there. I know the Airstreams have a devout following but really why would you spend so much on a "retro" camper that is very confining due to it's shape and the appointments are "retro" at best and archaic at worst. The seating is poor and uncomfortable, the layouts are meant to make you say "oh this is what it was like in the fifties" apparently. terrible campers in my opinion.

you could keep the boat and have a very nice camper and spend a lot less than the price of the stream.
 
#102 ·
The only challenge I would find in driving an RV would be a challenge to my patience. Meeting up with all those other senile people doing the same thing. Now, if you could get them (the senile people and their RVs) to do 100m.p.h. and lean into corners, maybe. Perhaps organise some midnight RV burn-outs or street drags to stir the neighbourhood.

......who, me, biased?
 
#105 ·
So here's my dilemma.

I really want to buy a new sailboat. Has been wanting one for a while now. But I also want to get a RV of some kind.

With a sailboat you have a house on water. You could explore islands, remote coasts, lakes, rivers.

But with a RV you could explore the remotest parts of North America. I think RVing is alot cheaper too.

What do you guys think?
I, for one, understand the attraction of an RV. I have a small travel trailer and a sailboat. I guess I couldn't choose!:D
 
#108 ·
I say post this on an RV forum and see what the thread looks like just for fun. There were a lot of interesting, thoughtful responses here and I wonder what the RV posts would look like. I wonder if the poll would look exactally the same - except the the RV at the top Motor Yacht second, sailboat 3rd. But that's just a guess ;0)
 
#110 ·
I'm not so critical of Airstream. Fact is most RVs, from small towables to 40 ft plus diesel pushers are made out of a combination of cardboard, plastic, and rubber these days. You can buy quality, but it costs! Personally, i wouldn't buy anything with a rubber roof or anything where the owner is required to maintain the walls, windows, roof, or door openings with any type of sealant. Once water gets in the walls will start to delaminate. That's when things get expensive. On towables i would make sure the axles, wheel hubs etc are up to the weight being carried. Once I'm thru with the struture, next up is usability. Everything from the layout to how the utilities are layed out. to where are the breakers. Just like with boats, you hang around RVs long enough you see some pretty stupid stuff. The idea is to catch it before you write the check.
 
#114 ·
There is actually a perfect way to make this decision scientifically proven to result is a perfect choice, and it can be done cheaply without going off and buying either a yacht or an RV.



Get yourself a copy 2 movies:

RV with Robin Williams
Captain Ron


Watch both of these entirely realistic versions of both life styles and then make your decision.
 
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