选择合适的房车可能很困难。选择太多了！我们给正在选购房车的人的第一条建议是 没有完美的房车 for you. You will have to make some sacrifices…of course unless you plan to spend a million dollars for custom options. But if that’s the case, you probably aren’t reading this post anyway.

说实话， 你问到的许多全职房车爱好者很可能至少拥有 2 到 3 辆不同的房车. Before you’ve lived in an RV, it’s hard to truly know what you want and need. So don’t be surprised if you change your mind, too.

您可以阅读所有 选择合适的房车的技巧 （就像我们写的帖子一样， DON’T Buy an RV Until You’ve Read These 5 Tips!), do tons of research, and drive yourself crazy. But, ultimately, until you’ve hit the open road and discovered your travel style, your parking preference, etc….it’s hard to know which RV is the best for your lifestyle.

对于我们来说，我们从来没有拥有过房车，甚至几乎没有在房车里露营过。 我们自动为该空间选择了第五轮车。 We loved it, too! In fact, we wrote this post – 选择五轮房车进行全程房车旅行的十个理由。这些理由正是我们决定选择五轮房车的原因，并且至今仍然如此。 选择第五轮车有巨大的好处。

然而，8 个月后，当需要购买一辆新房车时， 当我们选择换一辆 C 级房车而不是另一辆五轮房车时，我们完全感到惊讶. We purchased our fifth wheel knowing it was a “starter unit” to simply allow us to try out RV life and determine if it was for us or not. It wasn’t designed for full-time living…it was much more of a weekend warrior RV. So we originally went into the purchasing process with the plans to buy another fifth wheel.

不过，我们最终选择 C ​​级房车的原因如下。

We didn’t need as much “stuff” as we thought we did

当我们把物品搬出 第五个轮子, 我们拿出了很多从未使用过的东西 and actually forgot we had in there. Again, we didn’t know anything about the lifestyle and how it would be. Now, we know what we like to do in the places we visit, we know we don’t need as many clothes as we thought, and we ditched the duplicates of things.

It’s a huge adjustment to downsize from a house to 房车。因此，许多人会选择更大的房车，直到他们意识到他们实际上需要的有多小。 It’s extremely common for full-time RVers to downsize their RV during or after their first year on the road. 从某种程度上来说，经历这些阶段是简化生活过程的一部分。

机动性>生存空间

我们从五轮拖车换到C级房车后，损失了大约50平方英尺（约4.5平方米）的空间。我们怀念它吗？当然！ 但我们获得的好处超过了空间的损失。

我们最喜欢的优点是我们的 C 级机动性非常强。 驾驶它的感觉与驾驶我们的旧卡车非常相似。 Since the length is right under 26 feet, we can “fit” into most parking spots. We’ve even managed to find street parking in the city and have “moochdocked” outside of family members’ houses with no problem at all.

In contrast, the last time we returned home, we had no choice but to put our fifth wheel in storage while visiting family because there was not enough space for it in anyone’s driveway or neighborhood. It was really inconvenient to move out of our home for a few weeks and not have full access to some of our belongings.

We also used to be so jealous of the RVers who could pull off the side of the road to snap a photo of a scenic view. We’ve had to settle for mental pictures because pulling over with a 30ft trailer isn’t exactly safe, if there is even space for it. 现在，我们发现自己可以轻松地将车停在任何地方，而不必经常检查后视镜以确保我们能够避开路缘，而且 Lindsay 在任何时候都感到 100% 舒适地驾驶。 

更轻松的旅行

Let me paint a picture of what our travel days looked like when towing the fifth wheel. First, we would have to strap down any loose furniture, along with the typical stowing of items. Then, we’d have the usual disconnecting of the sewer, water and electric. The final step would be backing up the truck just right, lowering the trailer, and hitching it up, which would typically take 10 minutes alone (on a good day). We’d often be stressed that we would forget a step, because there were just so many.

I forgot to mention that we’d have to set up a comfortable space for the dogs, pack up a bag of snacks, water bottles, a trash bag, our computers (if we wanted to struggle to work at all), cameras (you always have to be prepared for beautiful scenery), etc. We would be crammed in and have to stop every 2-3 hours to stretch and use the bathroom. If we wanted to make lunch in the fifth wheel, we’d end up taking 30-45 minutes every time we stopped, which made travel days even longer.

现在，让我开始解释旅行天数的差异，因为我在写这篇文章时，我们正开车去纳什维尔。 丹开车时，我舒适而安全地坐在餐桌旁。 When it’s lunch time, I’ll get up and 不用停下来就给我们做三明治 如果我需要 使用洗手间…no problem! The dogs can move around a bit more too.

哦，在我们离开某个地方之前，我们只需要 10-15分钟打包，断开连接，然后起飞。无需再系上安全带。我们收拾好物品，拉上滑梯，卸下挂钩，跳上去就可以出发！我们旅行节奏很快，通常每次在新地方只待一周，所以这对我们来说意义重大！

第五轮 38C 铸顶板拖车卡车零件挂接装置 重型挂接装置

更好的工作空间

虽然很多新款的五轮拖车都有很大的工作空间，但我们的却没有。我们唯一的工作区域是厨房餐桌椅。那里摆放着几把没有靠背的小木椅，距离餐桌也勉强够用。配有优质靠垫的卡座餐桌椅更适合整天坐着。

如果餐桌太挤，我们俩都坐不下，我更喜欢在副驾驶椅上工作，它可以旋转到面向起居区。我还准备了一张可拆卸的桌子，如果我想更舒适地坐着，一边写作一边看电视，也可以把它放在沙发前面。因此，我们 3 种工作空间选择！ 

I mentioned that I am working while we drive, which is also a big deal for us. And the computer is not sitting on my lap in the passenger seat. I am actually at a “desk”, where I can focus without getting car sick or getting a neck cramp!

We also used to only be able to travel on weekends because Dan was the primary driver and he couldn’t take time away from his work during week days. We would occasionally be able to squeeze travel in on a week day if the drive was under 3 hours and after the work day. The hardest part about that though, other than driving at night, is that our weekends are our most valuable time. Weekends are the best time for us to be exploring new places and enjoying the greatest benefit of RV life.

现在我可以更舒服地驾驶新的房车了，丹可以在我开车的时候工作。 旅行日不再意味着我们必须抽出时间工作. It’s all about efficiency and multi-tasking, right? And our weekends are free for adventuring!

更省油

What do you get when you cross a GMC Sierra 2500 truck and a 8,500 pound fifth wheel? A gas guzzler! That’s not a joke. We used to get 7-8 miles per gallon while towing! Then we’d continue to get poor gas mileage when we would detach the trailer and drive the truck around cities. We basically lived at gas stations.

现在，房车的油耗与卡车的油耗相同, which is around 15 mpg. When we tow our Jeep Wrangler behind the motorhome, we still average around 11 miles per gallon…not too shabby. But when we arrive, we can ride around in the jeep and get 18 miles per gallon around the city! Cha-ching! More money in our pockets, which makes us happy campers!

就是这样！显然，我们对从五轮拖车换成房车的决定非常满意！ 我们选择了 2018 款 Winnebago Navion 24D，并且非常喜欢它！ We named her “Wanda” because she allows us to “wanda” around the country while feeding our “wanda-lust”. Or, as my dad says, we “wanda” how we’re going to pay for her! But, as they say, not all who “wanda” are lost. Ha! Okay, that’s enough puns!