[JandC]

We looked at MH's several years ago when researching before going full time. We decided to go with a larger fiver for many of the reasons that have already been listed. But that was based on being full time.

Our current MH has a value that is almost the same as our 2014 Montana added with our 2012 F350. Of course it is a 2014 gas MH and not diesel. We looked at some used diesel units but not being full time didn't want to spend that kind of money.

Fuel economy has surprised me. One of our regular trips is between Cape Coral and Peoria (1350 miles). The MH averages 7.5 mpg pulling a toad. This one way trip recently cost me $370 in gasoline. If I would have made that same trip with current prices diesel for my F350 would have been about $320. But if you factor in DEF plus fuel filter expenses it gets closer to being the same overall. Some day I will be replacing 6 Michelin 22.5 tires at about $550 each. Of course with a fiver and truck you have 8 to 10 tires to replace.

Our 3725RL had good livability. The 38' MH is almost the same livability inside, is on one level, but has 224 square feet of basement storage.

Camp set up is faster and easier. It only takes me a couple minutes to drop the toad. When parked where you want it you simply put on emergency brake, activate the lippert auto level (from driver seat) and you are done.

There are other little things that I find make a gas MH better for us currently. The oil/filter is extremely easy to get to and change myself. The tank gate valves are exposed in the convenience center so if they need changed or serviced it is easily done. City water hook up runs through a "whole-house" filter. The 5500 Onan is teamed up with 2 cart batteries, large inverter, and power management system. In other words, if I leave my coach unplugged with residential frig running on inverter, I can set it up so that my gen set will automatically come on and charge the batteries when needed. Or it can also be set up so that if power goes out in the middle of the night the gen set will come on.

For us having only a MH registration and insurance policy was cheaper than having two registrations plus insurance on a truck and a separate RV policy. Of course that could be determined by what state you call home.

Circumstances change. We have started doing more local camping around Florida where we wanted to just take the Harley, but we still travel up north during part of the summer where we may pull the car or pull the car and Harley (extended tow dolly).