We registered with the forum in September 2013 and have spent time reviewing the encyclopedia of Foretravel information available in this place. It hurts my brain and makes me wonder if I will live long enough to learn enough to drive down the street in a Foretravel RV! At any rate, I am pleased to be here and know that is forum will help my DW and I as we search for our piece of the RV pie. We hope a Foretravel is in our future and way sooner than way later.
And so it goes.
Welcome from another couple in the same situation. We have been looking for the "perfect" Foretravel (for us) since the first of this year. Haven't found it yet, but sure have learned a lot just by hanging out. The amount of information available here is hard to believe until you actually start digging through it. You've probably already figured this out, but if not, you can do two things to aid your search:
1. Decide what coach will work best for you (year, model, length, floor plan, etc) and then publish that info on the forum. Do it multiple times!
2. Activate the "location" area of your profile, and fill in your signature, so people can see where you live.
If people on the forum know what you are looking for, and where you live, they might be able to alert you about a coach for sale. These Foretravel aficionados are thick as thieves, and they are always talking to each other. When a owner decides to sell their coach, word spreads quickly, and you might hear about "through the grapevine" before it is ever posted in a "For Sale" ad.
Good luck with your search!
Welcome and I hope you have good luck!!!! I was looking for a retirement RV around 1999 and stumbled across a 1991 FT in Sacramento, CA with what I thought was an incredibly high price on the windshield. Then I walked in to see what was so special. From that point on, I was sold on FT and began the hunt that ended up with a 1990 U280. I sold it to someone who was on the forum, they traded it in for a newer model, and a second person on this forum bought it, remodeled it, and sold it to another party. So you are right, this forum is the best way to find your FT. You can't have mine until I get a LOT older, tho.
Again, welcome and I hope you enjoy the forum. I've met lotsa nice folks and learned an incredible amount of facts from others here.
Hello and Welcome!
Do your home work, figure out what will work, what you like, don't like, what you want to spend and be patient. When you find what you want be ready to go for it. We looked for a couple of years, adjusted search parameters as we saw what was actually available, found what we wanted in California (we are in MN) and worked with the seller for a few months and then came to an agreement that worked for both of us.
Do your due diligence. Ask and expect to see service and maintenance documentation. Find a qualified inspector and pay for a thorough inspection. It is good to know what is good to go and where there are some problems. Figure what needs attention (batteries, maintenance, tires, etc) into your offer. We finally got to meet the sellers when we flew to CA to finalize the deal. It was immediately obvious that these were owners who took very good care of their FT. Everything was spotless, everything worked and they did everything they could to make sure we knew how everything worked. They were sorry to see their coach go but were happy to see it go with someone they were comfortable with.
Keep at it and then it will be there. We found ours on-line only because we looked all the time.
Roger and Susan
And remember that SearchTempest Online Classifieds Search - All the Classifieds. One Search. (http://www.searchtempest.com) is your friend. When we were looking we set it first to 400 miles, then 1000 miles and finall 3,000 miles (we're in WA). It was a little easier to use then though... but still worth it. (It searches all the craigslists in the area you specify for what you specify.)
Craig
Craig,
Thanks for that link. I have been searching Craigslist one town at a time. I was just telling my friend that they need to have a way to search all of them across the country at one time. ^.^d
Traxless, Don't overthink it. Drive a FT ( any of us will be glad to help you with that ), then buy what your budget will allow regardless of whether it is your IDEAL or DREAM coach, if you wait for the PERFECT coach you will miss many that would serve your needs just fine and you may even pass up a real jewel.
Gary B
Please accept my gratitude for the warm welcome and the excellent advice. Seems like I'm on the right road now! Take care now.
Traxless - I know how you feel. We have had our, new to us coach, since of March of this year and my head still spins sometimes. We were lucky in our search as we found her shortly, 1 month, after deciding to sell the house and go full-time. We placed a deposit on her and 3 months later we took possession of her. House, cars, truck, motorcycle and all other real property gone with our life belongings trailing behind our Wrangler in a 4 x 8 UHaul trailer. During those 4 months I spent most of my waking time, when not painting, cleaning and fixing the property to sell, on this forum reading almost every comment in every thread. I learned alot but it was nothing compared to what I have learned since we took possession of our Girl.
Please be assured that many of us on this forum have been where you are now and have survived the looking and learning experience and will assist you when possible. As others have said - ask any question and I would guess that in a short period of time you will have responses.
Good luck and good hunting.
Scott
Welcome, Traxless! We spent a couple of years doing our research. At this point in your research you probably don't even know half of the questions you will need to answer, so start talking to people in campgrounds, dealerships, and on forums. I'd suggest that you not start by saying you want a Foretravel, and then trying to find one that will suit you. Rather, start by deciding how you will use your coach. Is this going to be for several weekends each year, and maybe one or two longer vacations, are you going to be full-timing, or somewhere between? Remember that your purpose may change over a period of time, but don't think too long-term here. We're eventually going to be full-timers, but until we get our place sold we're weekenders. Will you set up camp and stay for months at a time, will you move every few days, or somewhere between those two? Do you need/want slides? If so, how many? How many people and pets will you have with you? What kind of pets? Do you have any special needs/wants? All of these questions, and many more, will need to be answered before you can really start shopping for a coach.
That said, though, you DO want to go to RV shows and dealers at this point. There are only so many ways that the interior of a coach can be arranged, and some will suit you better than others. It doesn't matter at this point whether you are looking at a $5000 refugee from a salvage yard or the latest $2.5 million Whiz Bang Mark XXX. You are just looking at how the unit is laid out, and whether or not it will fit your needs.
Finally, do some figuring with the budget. Buying a coach that is exactly right can take you a year or two. On the other hand, buying a coach that can easily be updated/modified to suit you may take less time. You may find that you will prefer to get a coach that has some older equipment (television, refrigerator, microwave, etc.) because the price will reflect that, and then you can put in new items that you like. If the previous owner put in a new flat screen two years ago the price will reflect that. If you want a larger (or smaller) set, you are still going to pay for what's there AND pay for what you want. It may not be much compared to the price of the coach, but it is still an expense.
Finally, EVERY coach will need some work right away - and that includes new ones that sell for over a million dollars. If you are buying a new coach, it will probably be covered by the warranty (which was included in the price you paid). If it is a used coach, YOU get to pay the money. You can partially offset this by doing your homework and knowing the life expectancy of big-ticket items like tires, batteries, and major appliances. Old tires should mean a lower price, for example, since a new set of tires can run $4000 or more.
Ask lots of questions, and go look at some Foretravels and other brands. Tour factories and see how things are built. That can be a real eye-opener!
Enjoy the research and eventually the hunt.
The above post is a very thoughtful reply to my post. I certainly am grateful for your guidance, which I can tell comes from experience. We have started to do some of the things you mentioned and will do some of the other things from your list of suggestions. I'm 67 years old and don't want to spent years on this project ... I can hear the clock ticking. I suppose time will tell how all this turns out!
Take care.
As a minimum, sit or lie where you plan to read/watch TV, sit where you would eat a meal, lie in the bed. If it has slides, do everything with the slides in and out. Open every cabinet. See what's in each. You can tell a lot about the construction quality that way.