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Fulltimer statistics


BrianT

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Hmmm, I guess we do that too. Although we do boondock some. But we have the RV so that we can see the country in the manner we wish. We COULD just stay in hotels/motels. But the RV is far more convenient and is "home". We definitely do not do what most people would consider "camping". Except probably when we are boondocking. Then we will often have a fire, etc and sit around it with others.Other than that, we use our RV like one would a home.

 

We do go to COE parks....is that "camping"? And we do go to National Parks. Is that "camping"?

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
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2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 
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No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
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Wouldn't the term 'glamping' work? To me camping was when the luxury was an air mattress that didn't go flat during the night! My body couldn't take that now - - wouldn't be able to get up in the morning. Now we have very comfortable beds no matter where the motorhome is parked. Camping was cooking over the Coleman stove with the sides up to try and keep the flame from going out. Now I have a microwave/convection oven to bake cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Luxury were parks that had showers with hot water to use in stead of heating water on the Coleman stove for a sponge bath or hoping the water in the lake was warm enough for a swim as that was our bath for the day.

 

Barb

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

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To me this is just living-

Glamping in when we have the patio and fancy fireplace.

Camping is more low key, just a normal site with the wooden picnic table ready to fall over, have some family members around for the campfire, but still have full hook-ups

Roughing it- no water hookups, 30amp- and no Satellite coverage. :o

The rest of the time we're just living in a true mobile home of our liking!

Alie & Jim + 8 paws

2017 DRV Memphis 

BART- 1998 Volvo 610

Lil'ole 6cyl Cummins

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We never put a label on ourselves till various forums said we should. We have always camped tent, popup, TT, 5th wheel. We never thought about it in any other way till we were told by forums we had to. We believe that owners forums are the best for the various brands. We recommend Escapees to folks who are considering full timing. We really do not care what forums or folks call us or think what we should call ourselves. We travel the country, stay out of the cold and we do it in RV. We stay in Hotels/ Motels when we choose to and enjoy the experience. We have a S&B because we choose to. We do agree that the vast majority of people who own Rv's of some type are recreational campers. We were for years. What matters is that we are all doing what pleases us and in our own way. What more could we ask for.

Helen and I are long timers ..08 F-350 Ford,LB,CC,6.4L,4X4, Dually,4:10 diff dragging around a 2013 Montana 3402 Big Sky

SKP 100137. North Ridgeville, Ohio in the summer, sort of and where ever it is warm in the winter.

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Full time'n for the past 12 year, we've been to a few places of interest, and have spent several of them 6 months here and 6 months there (boating & Fishing!) ....And with some in between trips whenever the urge hits!! :D

 

When the boat's back in storage, and we hook up to the 5th wheel for the first time! ... I'm thinking about a trip up the west coast to shake down the M2/DRV combo! :D....And she just thinks we're going to Solvang for a short stay and the Danish sweets! :lol:

2000 Holiday Rambler Imperial 40' DP

2015 DRV 38RSSA 5th wheel

2004 M2 106 MDT

 

It's What You Learn, After You Know It All!... That Counts!!

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I gave up some time ago, we call ourselves "most timers" Started that when we had a townhouse but were on the road one way or another more than 6 months. Now we have a rental apartment for high quality storage of things and us when we happen to be there, generally less than 2 months at a time, unless doctors chose to make our lives a misery.

 

OTOH Home is where we park it!

'12 Phaeton 36 QSH hauling '11 4 dr Jeep Wrangler Unlimited - Rubicon 4 down. Follow our travels Click here

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  • 1 month later...

I'm doing a bit of research on this topic and found the 2010 Escapees member survey really helpful.

 

Does anyone know:

  1. If the Escapees has completed additional surveys in later years, where those (or the analyses) can be located?
  2. If there are any statistics available regarding age demographics?

I found this white paper from 2011 that talks about how the average age of RVers is slowly decreasing, and how Americans age 35-54 now outstrip Americans age 55+ in RV ownership.

 

I'm looking for more age-related data, like how many RVers there are in different age groups and how they identify themselves (full-timers, weekenders, etc.). I know it's impossible to find numbers for the whole country, but anything helps, even just self-reporting from RV clubs. Anyone know of any resources?

Full-time RVing before retirement: Ardent Camper blog

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I don't believe that the Escapees have done a survey recently but they do so on a periodic basis and are probably about due so I suggest that as a member you should call the office and ask them. Share with them your interest and I am pretty sure that you will find them to be very helpful.

 

Escapees began as a group of traveling construction workers and so emphasis has always been on the fulltimers but the current management is in the process of working to attract more younger members and to improve things that will attract them. I believe that we have seen some increase in younger, working members with the increase in jobs which can commute electronically, but that has been slow. The vast majority of fulltimers have always been retired folks and that has tended to keep the average are up. Escapees management have always been very open to ideas from the membership and even have a member advisory council that is appointed to assist in steering the club so you might even want to look into involvement in that group.

 

As to other places that might have information that would help you, Good Sam Club probably has more younger, working members than Escapees so you may want to contact them. The Family Motor Coach Association is a group limited to motorhomes but they too have at least some younger members so may be helpful to you. The Census Bureau does compile information about where people live and might have some information but I have previously found it rather limited on RVs, but you may want to at least check that out.

 

One of the difficult things about determining who the majority of fulltimers are is that there is a wide divergence in what people define the term fulltimer to mean. I would love to see you succeed in compiling this sort of information and the results of it. If you do have any success in your project, I suggest that you might want to write an article about the results and submit it to the Escapees Magazine and they prefer contributors who are members and they pay, although not as much as some other magazines. They do release you to sell your articles to other publications after your work has been published and I have personally sold an article to more than one magazine.

 

Good luck! Please keep us posted and let us know if there is anything that we could do to help you. :D

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

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I prefer to think of it as somebody out traveling around the country 24/7/365 enjoying themselves. Whether they are volunteering or workamping or own tons of investment property and pay a gazillion dollars in property taxes is meaningless to me.

 

If I can sit around the campfire with a full timer for an evening listening to wonderful tales of all the great places out there to go see - the evening surely won't be destroyed if I learn that you have a lot down in South Florida or a rented out stick and brick up in Minnesota.

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