Tampa // 31 May – 4 Jun
We hit the three biggest RV dealerships on our first day in Tampa. First was Camping World, where Marc showed us through at least 10 different travel trailers (caravans) and fifth wheels. He said it’s unusual to show people so many options but was happy to do this as it was our first time seeing American-style rigs. It was great to look at so many different brands and layouts, all used RV’s and mostly in our price range. Of course the kids’ and my favourite was the one waaaayyy over budget. Next we went to General RV, where they unfortunately only had a few used options to show us. We still got a ride around in the golf cart winding through hundreds of RVs. Third we went to
Lazy Days, who had about four options for us and also showed us quite a few new options which unfortunately either weren’t what we were after or were over budget. It was a huge day and good fun being driven around in golf carts.
All of the dealerships had hundreds, close to a thousand trailer trailers, fifth wheels and motor homes on their HUGE lots. The salesmen were really nice, not too pushy (we were pretty clear on what we wanted) but did keep pushing the new models. There’s significantly less used options and hundreds of new models lining the lots. We saw a couple of new caravans but they seemed a bit unfinished, you get to choose a lot of your options (for additional price) so the new models are finalised after purchase. We weren’t up for the extra time, cost and decisions involved, as well as the drop in value once we drive off the lot. With the used models we knew (hoped!) someone had already ironed out the kinks, and hopefully we’ll lose less when we sell it after our travels.
By the end of the day we’d decided a travel trailer (caravan) was what we were after. The fifth wheels felt slightly bigger inside, but not enough to justify the extra investment (in the fifth shell and also the truck needed to tow it). So we had a shortlist of one or two. We were also scouring the online sales sites for more options at dealerships slightly further afield. I had two options (both private sale) which had our preferred bunk room layout, with the mini dinette in the kids room. Unfortunately we weren’t able to see those until Saturday and Sunday. Robin found a great option at another Camping World an hour north of where we were staying, so we called and organised to see that one. It was our second preference layout, where the kids still have big bunks but not really any room. It was so good we put a deposit down to hold it until after we looked at the private sale options on the weekend. Making progress! We had an option that we’d be happy with so we didn’t want to lose it as there were so few unused options on the market.
With our ‘back-up’ option at Camping World we narrowed down the private sale options to the model we were seeing on Sunday. It was three hours drive away near Daytona. It was also a Dutchmen Astoria, so we were choosing between the 2903BH and 3203BH models, the private sale option being the slightly longer travel trailer with the larger bunk room for the kids. They were both quite recent models (2021 and 2022) and in really good nick. We set off for Daytona with high hopes but also lots of questions about how a private sale would work. The caravan looked great and the kids loved the bunk room. Ashlee was really great to deal with and her hubby and father-in-law were also really helpful and accommodating (the caravan was being stored on her father-in-law’s property). We talked about how the process would work (the caravan was under finance so that was an extra hurdle and extra time) and talked price. We agreed to chat later that evening once we’d had time to consider. On the drive back we were looking for a lunchtime spot and found a State Park with a natural spring called DeLeon Springs. We stopped for a refreshing swim and explore. Ashlee called before we were back in Tampa and we came to an agreement on price. We started the paperwork that evening when we got back to our hotel. We couldn’t believe we’d found our RV and home for the next 10 months!
