New Member Saying Hello & Looking For A Bit Of Advice

[geminusprime]

Hi everyone, I'm Art. New to the forums as a member, I've been just browsing the forums far too long. Finally time to make my wallet hate me, so figured I'd create an account and say hello.

Brief Background: I've always loved driving/traveling, but never got to do anything more than two cross country moves (SC>CO, CO>SC) and a few annual vacations to the same spots. I've came sooooo close to getting an RV several times for decent prices, but seeing an RV accidents over the course of my previous move from SC to CO I am 100% against RV's.

So, I've decided to go with either a DT444/466, 545 is fine with me, and most importantly I'm trying to stick with something that will fit within 2 parking spaces laterally, so ~35' is my max length, ~30' preferred. I'm on the lookout for a 444/466 mechanical, but the electronic versions aren't a deal breaker (should they be?)

I did a lot of planning & 3d mockups of my layout in a TC1000 25' Shorty, however I never noticed the itty bitty wheels on it. Second to the length in importance is the ability to go offroad. Not trails made for 4x4s, but also not being restricted to pavement and highly maintained dirt/gravel roads.

While I'm not going with the TC1000 because of the small wheels/clearance, it does share a rough size as the length of dog-nose shorties in terms of usable space. 5-8' for the front (unless I get a Vista), but I'd be fine with that. From what I read on here, Dog-Nose/conventional are going to do much better than transit style on rough terrain. But, I'd love to do all this in a transit platform with regular wheel sizes, but have been lead to believe these don't do well on light-offroad use.

Since I'm in SC, I'm likely going to go with the NC Bus Auctions. Horrible site, but doing a VIN check on a lot of their local buses show it's a lot of 3800's which means DT444/466. I've been omitting the mountains/coastal areas, most I've seen are around Charlotte. I'm planning on visiting the Union County bus lot next week on a couple $3,500 International 3800's under 200k.

So, thanks for reading, and I'd appreciate any input/advice you have with my current search/criteria. I'm fairly sure I've made a good choice in engines, moderate choice for tranny, but honestly I'm still stuck on whether I should go dog nose, or if a transit style with 11R22.5's will be capable of light offroad use.