Questions?

[GreyEagle]

This weekend (05-14-2011) during our yearly retiree golf tourament the subject or RV's came as it normally does with a bunch of old farts with nothing much to do but play golf, lie to one another, and tell tall tells.......... I informed them that I was looking into buying a bus for a conversion because I felt that they where much stronger, safer, etc etc etc. Anyway the question of dampness and the bus sweating during the cold months ( condensation ) came up and I did not have any answers for them as I had never really spent any time in a bus or a conversion .....
So the question I have for you is.. .
Does your bus sweat inside during the cold months because of the heat?
Or in the summer months because of air condition ?
We, the wife and I have dicussed the possibility of fulltiming after she retires in 2013. Right now her choice of RV's is a 5th wheel.. more room, more inside storage etc. I myself perferee the motorhome version because of the easy set up, pull in park, hookup if available and you're done.
Anyway enough of rambling.....
Thanks in advance for any and all input....
Your answers may put the bus ownership in a complete different light.

Roy B.
AKA Greyeagle

[lornaschinske]

The situation regarding bus or RV should be the same. So I will answer from a sticks-n-staples RVer's point of view since we have yet to move into our bus...

Does your bus sweat inside during the cold months because of the heat?

We have single pane aluminum framed windows. The windows do sweat in high humidity times (98% humidity and it's pouring rain) add to that we cover the glass and frames with Reflectix. The frames do sweat. LP dumps a high amount of water vapour into the air when you do something like cook and do not use the stove vent. We have not seen this happen with our LP fired furnace. I suspect because the combustion occurs in a sealed chamber that is vented to the exterior.

Or in the summer months because of air condition ?

the rooftop A/C unit sucks every drop of moisture from the air quite nicely. The window frames sweat slightly during high humidity (98% and pouring rain) with the A/C on. although the outside does at times. But then we have spent alot of time in places like SC upstate (around Lake Keowee and Lake Hartwell where you step out the door at midnight and you "condensate".... same for S GA on Lake Blackshear)

The aluminum frames of ANY window (single or dual pane) is why we are going to use a PVC "wood" for our window trims. The Blue Bird has aluminum framed windows.

We, the wife and I have discussed the possibility of fulltiming after she retires in 2013. Right now her choice of RV's is a 5th wheel.. more room, more inside storage etc. I myself prefer the motorhome version because of the easy set up, pull in park, hookup if available and you're done.

To me, the downside of a fiver is that once you get to your "destination" you have a rather large fuel hog to drive "locally", whereas with a motorhome you can tow a more fuel efficient vehicle to do your local trips in. That said, Our Blue Bird gets better fuel mileage than my Jeep grand Cherokee (10 - 12 mpg)!!!! And the Class C only gets 6 - 8 MPG. I have heard of some motorhomes that get as low as 2 mpg. For us the Blue Bird will be our fulltime home. We consider a sticks-n-staples RV to be several steps down from a skoolie conversion... atleast one that we could put together.

[Russell]

I agree with Lorna, I mite also ad that its best to vent or use a range hood over the stove when cooking and when I shower I like my water hot,this can problems in the winter time ( condensate ) so I have a vent in the roof over the shower. But Lorna is rite the roof top AC removes the water fine in the summer. Do what you want but I like the fact that I have a steel body on a truck frame. And half the fun was building it myself. I won't trade my skoolie for any sticks and stapels rig. And in the old days when I started the buses we got in the 60's and 70's were shot. My present bus didn't have but 66,000 miles on it no miles for a truck, and they are better mantained now.

[GreyEagle]

Thanks for all the responses,
I am still in the hunt, still waiting for the right one at the right price