Full-timing in You Phoenix Cruiser?

My wife and I are planning to become full-timers when we retire this summer, and we're shopping for a suitable Class B+ or C for that purpose. If you are full-timing in your PC, please share your thoughts, good and bad.

Thanks,
kfrog49 

This thread catches my curiosity for I have wondered the same.

We were full time for a year and a half. The first year we also worked half time out of the coach via the internet. We are temporarily grounded while we care for our granddaughter but are both ready to go again as soon as we can get back on the road. We then plan to stay on the road in our Phoenix until we either can't do it anymore or don't want to. Part of our travels can be found on our blog spiritofthewoods.net. The ads were stuck in there by wordpress, we apologize for them.

The Phoenix has performed wonderfully. It took us a long while to slow down our travels and to feel comfortable with life in an RV but we now realize we can go just about anywhere, do anything. We chose the 2552 for two main reasons. 1) length: some state and national parks have a 30' limit. That said, many can accommodate longer rigs so we don't know how much a 2910 or 3100 would have limited us. A few times, we barely fit in the sites. 2) weight: the added slide in the 3100 takes about 1,000 lbs off your possible payload. We have not weighed our rig yet so we can't say if that would have been an issue but I'm pretty sure it would. We did add a bank of cabinets behind the passenger seat with a flip up desk and a few other weight adding items plus we carried a full office for the job - small printer, mini scanner, two laptop computers, cell phone booster with interior and exterior antennas and all the office paraphernalia of paper, pens, notebooks, etc.

My recommendations if you are seriously considering full time: 1) Do it now - that was the one regret of pretty much all the full timers we've met - they waited too long (mostly to hold on to what they have and know: the house, the stuff, the garden). You never know when something will happen that stops you or limits you. Do it while you can. 3) Reduce now while you plan. Get rid of or pack up all that stuff in the closets and kitchen cabinets and basement. Label it clearly. Use your kitchen with the stripped down "RV stuff" and see how you do. You'll find a couple good knives can replace a whole draw full of gadgets. If there is something you really miss and know you will use a lot, go dig it out of that box and add it to your RV kitchen gear. Do it in steps. One pass through each room to get rid of the "low hanging fruit" or easy pickings. A second pass to part with things that you thought you wanted the month before. A third pass to get down to the hard core necessities. If you are holding onto it for your kids for after you die, give it to them now. You can always borrow it back if you have to but we found they don't want most of what you have. They already set up a house with their own tastes. Our son wanted a few keepsakes and that was it. 2) Sell the stuff. We paid a bunch of money to store stuff thinking we would come back and settle again. Within two months on the road we knew that was a mistake. When we stop traveling it will be to settle into a much smaller house in an area with a much lower cost of living... with room for our RV. We are actively selling off almost everything we stored. We don't want to pay to store it anymore, we don't want to pay to move it across the country, and we figure it won't fit in our planned little retirement house. It would have been soooo much easier and cost effective to get rid of it up front.

Hopefully we'll get the blog updated this winter so it shows our first year and the explains why we did what we did and how things worked out. We want to show all the things we carry in the RV and how we organize and store stuff but we just stripped it all out for the winter so that will have to wait.

If you have specific questions, send me a personal message through the forum and I'll do my best to answer them.

Enjoy the dream!
   Holly

Hello Kfrog&wife
Holly gave lots of good advice and tips.
I'll just add a couple of thoughts, more specific to the PC and the B+ style.

First, you absolutely cannot beat getting a rig built and sold factory-direct.  PC was extraordinarily accommodating in making changes to my rig that made it more suitable for full-timing (for me, that meant trying to get as much storage as possible).  

Phoenix USA is also awesome to work with when it comes to after-sales support.  You don't have to look far through some of the threads on this forum to find case after case where people are able to resolve issues with PC's help, often with Kermit's direct assistance.

As for B+ vs. C type of rig, most of the C's I have seen use that bunk-over-cab area like attic storage.  Personally, I prefer the streamlined, aerodynamic shape of the B+ and I love having the entertainment center up there.  It works great for TV viewing from my dinette and from my rear corner bed.  If I had little kids traveling with me fairly often, then I could see having that bunk instead.  But, honestly, even then I think I'd prefer sticking them outside in a tent and keeping my entertainment center intact.  

Holly brought up really good points about the length and weight of your rig.  At 25 feet (no slide), mine is great for me and my dog.  We do a lot of state parks, some with small spaces, crowded with trees.  Except for when I was first learning how to back this thing up, we've never had a problem fitting into a spot.

You don't mention if you have RV camped previously or not.  If you have, then you have a great head start on figuring out what will work for you to turn your full-time dream into reality.  If you are new to RV'ing, don't despair!  Research, research, research.  Go to RV shows.  Talk to anybody who will listen and hopefully respond.  And if you are possibly serious about a PC, take a trip to visit their factory in Elkhart!

Good luck in your planning and let us know if you have more questions along the way!

Carol

P.S.  Holly, have you considered having your blog put onto Phoenix's blog page?  It's very well done and I enjoyed reading about your travels while you were out there. 

Kfrog,
We have a 2013 2910 that the factory customized at our request (twin beds, one slide and a bank of cabinets behind the driver's seat). We have been travelling in it seasonally for 4 years now. This past summer, we were in New England for four months. We have never had a problem with fitting into sites at either state or national parks with the 2910.

We love it. We have owned a 2350, a 2551 and this 2910. For us the 2910 is the best fit.

Judi