Full Timing in a Cruiser

[artgpo]

Some random thoughts on the subject from a scattered brain:

We have been camp host volunteers at a Texas State park for almost seven months. In three weeks our adventure ends. All told this year we have had the Cruiser out almost 250 nights and towed it over 3,000 miles. While we enjoy our Cruiser we have come to realize that this is NOT a full time RV, nor was it made to be such. It has served us very well but does leave things for improvement. Most noticeable on the list is the furniture. We have an optional eight foot long sectional sofa that is uncomfortable at best. Over the winter we plan on replacing this sofa with something suitable for the human anatomy....Any suggestions?

Most components of our Cruiser are just not that heavy duty to endure sustained full-time use. I say this because our next door neighbors for most of these seven months live in a Mobile Suites 5th wheel. All of the components of the Mobile Suites are made for and intended for a full timer.

When we use the Cruiser for its intended purpose, "vacation RV", we have no complaints. A week or two here and there are fine but not for 365 days a year.

A disclaimer: We only slept in the RV about 130 of those nights as we spent our off duty days at our daughter's house in Plano. We did this by choice as the house is more expansive and comfortable than the RV.

Some of us are cut out for life on the road and others (us) are not. If I were to do this over as full timers I certainly would need to invest another $30,000 - $50,000 for a true full time unit.

One more thing: Does using the Cruiser as a full time unit void the warranty as so stated in the owner's manual?



Edited by: artgpo

[mwebber78]

;od write up of your experiences.

Truly the Cruiser isn't meant to be a full-time unit but for the price you can't beat it's durability. My wife and I had ours for two years, we had a bunkhouse model with two young children (read: heard on gear!).

We towed the Cruiser all over New England and from Maine to New Mexico (twice). My wife is a teacher for special education so she has a break from late June through late August so the unit sat those months at a seasonal campsite with daily use. In the Spring and Fall we would travel to our various destinations. I'm not sure the miles I put on the rig but a good guess is over 10K in two years. Nights spent in the camper would be upward of 300 given it's use on a seasonal site.

Overall we had very few components that couldn't stand continous use. The carpet showed that it wasn't intended for frequent use, we had the axles replaced when new becuase of alignment, I had one tire replaced becuase it was wearing oddly so we suspect it was defective, and the shower door was used so frequently I had to replace the plastic bushings.

Other than that, the appliances, cabinets, structure, kids bunks, and all the important things worked with no issues.

[Chrisnan23]

We have been in ours since 2006 fultime except for a 6 month stint in 2009. We have replaced all the furniture with pieces we have made that suit our wants better. I have replaced the furnace twice (the last because the furnace was a repaired one that only lasted 18 months) We have gone through one water pump. We just found out that the microwave was recalled and replaced it. Other than that we have countless nights and over 15K miles on the unit. We still love it! Oh we did replace one tire also. In the overall the Crusier has been great with very little upkeep for us, on the other hand the truck has caused more problems than the RV. But it is doing fine as well.

Overall fulltiming is not for everyone and doing it in a Crusier is much more rugged than in aRedwood or anotherlarger unit. We have no plans to change our unit and it fits for us.

Edited by: Chrisnan23

[ClassicHammond]

There's a reason the Cruiser is half the price of a Mobile Suites, NuWa, Continental Coach, Spacecraft, Redwoodor whatever else is out there. You get what you pay for. Crossroads is in a certain category and delivers a lot for the buck. We all here know this is a quality product and has given most of us a good experience, but to sell at the point they do, it's not meant to be a full time coach. Chris and Nan can't have TOO much of a wild child!Even the furniture in your house has different grades...compare that Ashley Couch to one from Ethan Allen. I love my Cruiser.....but that Redwood.....4 years till I full-time.

[gossamar]

Some very good points made here. We stayed at a KOA in northern Illinois over the summer and the hosts had a Cruiser TT that they had parked on a site. I never did get a chance to talk with them to see how it held up, but still looked good on the outside. I have had my trailer just over 4-years and probably have towed about 10K as well. As others have said, the Cruiser line is not intended for full time use, but I guess if you were to have a comparable unit from another manufacturer, would it have held up the same, better...worse?? The Rushmore or Redwood might be fit the bill better for you...all I know is that unless the lottery gods are kind to me or someone writes me a BIG check, I still have about 20-years before I can enjoy thinking about full-timing.... Again....great thread....