Wanted to stop by and say "Hi!"
New to the Forums, not new to the camping life. The outdoors run deep in the family blood, since way before my inception. Haha
Where to begin...?! It's been an interesting 4 months, to say the least!
Four and a half years ago I was creeping up on 30, and decided it was time to finally get my own RV instead of bunking with mom and dad or one of the 3 sisters. So, on a whim, we (the 2 of us and our 2 fat, lazy, barking fur babies) decided to drive down to a local dealership and walk the lot. Well... we happened to come across the PERFECT (as perfect as a first time setup can be
) RV. It was a brand new Starcraft Travel Star 186RD. Great size for the two of us, just enough space, not too heavy, etc. etc. Truth be told... It really was a good little setup for our first RV. It served us quite well. And never a problem from day 1. Never any type of Warranty work. No appliances ever went out. The worst was having to replace my 12Vs with 6V deep cycles, because the 12Vs went after 3ish years. In fact, it's still sitting in my RV pad on the side of the house... My little sister decided to buy it from us.
Fast forward to May of this year:
As many of you non-first time owners know... You live and learn with each unit. Likes, dislikes, features, layouts, conveniences, etc. And after our first trip out for this season; we decided it was time for an upgrade. I decided it was time for a 5er and slideouts. I had to keep up with family tradition, of course. Couldn't be the only outcast left with a bumper pull! Haha
So, let the hunt begin! In fact, I thought it was never going to come to an end! After 8 very, very long weeks of searching... I find "THE ONE!" I'm very meticulous. Maybe even a bit of a perfectionist. BUT... I'm not patient enough to wait for something like a custom build. Go figure.
I wanted nothing longer than a 28 footer, with a slideout in the living space and a slideout in the bedroom. It needed to be rear entrance, have a king dinette, solid surface countertops, powered landing gear, mag latches, etc. etc. I wanted it all in under 10,000lbs and sub-$40k during a worldwide pandemic and while camping life is at its peak. Simple, right?
It was a 2021 Rockwood Ultra Lite 2441WS. I go down to take a look at it and arrange the deal but there's already a deposit on it. Well... I'm in luck... There's one other unit within 200 miles of me. So I call and put a deposit on it, take the Saturday trip up there, and bring it home. Mind you, dad set proper expectations on
almost every thing I should be aware of with the change to 5er from bumper. The drive home was smooth... Painless.
Now to set the stage:
Our house is on a left-oriented corner lot in a cul-de-sac. Front and back face north and south, respectively; garage, driveway and RV pad face to the west and we have a neighbor to the east. It's always worked well for parking and pullout... I'm able to take the RV out, and pull it around the corner to the front of the house to load, water, etc. Then when we get home, I go down and around the cul-de-sac and use the pull-through in the driveway to park it on the RV pad.
The day I bring her home, I decide to test the turn around in the cul-de-sac and to test the pull-through... Ya know... Make sure parking and everything is simple enough. Sure enough, it was a breeze. Now, let's test the pullout and street parking in front of the house, so that we have no issues there. I round the corner just fine... I'm checking the mirrors, watching the curb, making sure I'm out of the street. When all of the sudden.... I hear/feel the most gut wrenching thing I've ever heard/felt in my entire life. ****! is all I managed to let out. "What on earth could that have been?!"
I get out of the truck and take a look... I'd managed to wedge/scrape a combination of the roof, sidewall and front cap on a tree limb that's attached to one of my own trees out in the front yard! Talk about feeling 2 feet tall... I'd never been more devastated! Perfect day, perfect first time with a 5er... And within 5 minutes of getting her home...
After sending the family some pictures... Dad called me and said..."Well, I told you everything you needed to know except for one small thing... Forgot to tell you to watch your height change. You've gone from 10 ft to just over 13."
All I can do now is laugh about it and remember the lesson learned. New standing family joke whenever something RV related happens... "At least you didn't hit a tree."
Outcome:
I make my insurance claim. Get the estimate back. $30,000
Bad news: Insurance totaled it. No 2441 available within 500 miles. Maybe 1/2 dozen nationwide. And none with my exact setup. I can order one, but I'm looking at November delivery; and we have 4 hunting trip weekends planned in October.
Good news: I have equity in the total loss payout. Also have total loss coverage, so insurance also covers any difference in cost that it takes to get me an exact/near exact replacement.
Took 4-ish weeks for the claim and replacement to be finalized. And I can now say that we are proud owners of a brand new 2021 Rockwood Ultra Lite 2622RK. In fact, it was the only one available in the state. I did have to settle on the 1 1/2 ft of additional length and a mid-entrance. Still happy with the purchase, though!
Posting as a learning experience for anyone interested in the story. I'm sorry it's such a long post and if it's not posted in the correct place.
Thanks for reading!
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