Chaser vs. Dinghy

[mleekamp]

Hey all. I recently saw a couple u-tube vids on folks using chaser cars vs. dinghy towing (regardless of dolly, 4 down, etc).

Currently, with our new Class C, I don't have a dinghy set up yet...we've camped local so far (we got the C in late Aug) and wife met us at campsite after work.

Our plans are to make my truck into a dinghy (can be towed flat 4).

But the question I have is...what experiences do any of you have using chaser on long trips vs dinghy? Set up cost is not my concern...just the ease of driving motorhome w/o towing.

Obvious disadvantage is not all being together at the same time, but an advantage would be ability to reverse and less strain on motorhome.

Looking for honest input!

[Big_Katuna]

willald wrote:
JMO, but if you're going to have some of your family follow you in a separate vehicle (a 'chaser')...You just defeated the main purpose/advantage of a motorized RV (Motorhome).

If you're going to do that, you might as well just get a towable RV (TT or 5th wheel) and an appropriate vehicle to tow it. Would be much less expensive, and would allow everyone to ride together.

Except that I don’t like driving a big truck around into downtowns, shopping venues, small parking lots etc.

Not to mention pot hole, rough secondary and tertiary country roads sight seeing.

And a class A is much easier to back in and set up.

If a chase car works for some, more power to them.

[willald]

JMO, but if you're going to have some of your family follow you in a separate vehicle (a 'chaser')...You just defeated the main purpose/advantage of a motorized RV (Motorhome).

If you're going to do that, you might as well just get a towable RV (TT or 5th wheel) and an appropriate vehicle to tow it. Would be much less expensive, and would allow everyone to ride together.

[Hank85713]

really the cost can be minimized by purchasing used equipment. Check ebay, craigslist and surf the junk yards for items. I see stuff on craigslist all the time and some are by junkyards. Would need for you to make a friend or 2 if shopping the yards to have them check stuff out if found not locallly. Used brake kits from the expensive to cheaper and be found also. Often you will find some stuff posted on rv sites. I bought roadmaster cables and cross bar for $50 from a guy on CL it just takes a little longer vs going the new route and dealer. Typically the tow bar runs less than $200 the hard part might be trying to find used base plates for whatever vehicle you have in mind. here is an example. There was another for $200.

https://tucson.craigslist.org/rvs/d/tucson-roadmaster-tow-bar-falcon-2-self/6785100897.html

[Second_Chance]

rhagfo wrote:

Second Chance wrote:

rhagfo wrote:

Second Chance wrote:

F1bNorm wrote:
... most campgrounds charge an extra car fee if you drive the car in...

I wouldn't say "most," as we've never encountered that in the 181 places we've stayed - including in California. (Yes, I keep a log.)

Rob

Never encountered or just didn't pay attention to the fee schedule and not get caught? If you passed through an Oregon SP, you just skipped payment.

I pay attention to all fees and charges - but haven't been to Oregon, yet.

Rob

Interesting, do you stay at mostly private parks or state parks? I was with F1bNorm most SP on the West coast charge for extra cars.

We use a mix: military FamCamps whenever available/feasible, Escapees Rainbow or co-op parks when those make sense, a privately owned park/resort in New Mexico while staying near my family, another privately owned park in Georgia for medical/dental appointments, state parks in Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma and Arizona, a few county/city parks in various places, several US Forrest Service campgrounds in different states, some county fairgrounds, a TVA park or two, etc.

Except for over-nighters near the highway, most of the private parks we use are off the beaten track in areas we want to explore. Our order of preference is 1) military campgrounds/resorts, 2) Escapees parks, 3) our favorite private campgrounds, and 4) state or national park campgrounds. Factors that figure into this preference order include expense, allowable length of stay (and monthly rates when we're near family - which we've done a fair bit of this year with two new grandbabies), and ease of getting space when we want it. Most everyone we've met on the road have different criteria and budgets, and pursue different goals. YMMV.

Rob

[rhagfo]

Second Chance wrote:

rhagfo wrote:

Second Chance wrote:

F1bNorm wrote:
... most campgrounds charge an extra car fee if you drive the car in...

I wouldn't say "most," as we've never encountered that in the 181 places we've stayed - including in California. (Yes, I keep a log.)

Rob

Never encountered or just didn't pay attention to the fee schedule and not get caught? If you passed through an Oregon SP, you just skipped payment.

I pay attention to all fees and charges - but haven't been to Oregon, yet.

Rob

Interesting, do you stay at mostly private parks or state parks? I was with F1bNorm most SP on the West coast charge for extra cars.

[Second_Chance]

rhagfo wrote:

Second Chance wrote:
Here's a little different perspective... We're full-timers, and in a fifth wheel rather than a motorhome. When we hit the road, we knew we didn't want to use a crew cab diesel truck (our current truck is a long bed dual rear wheel, to boot) as a daily driver. We had a Toyota sedan at the time and the advice from the folks on the Escapees forum was to try the "chase car" for a year or so. If we didn't like it, we could reconfigure. Turns out, we like it a lot. My wife doesn't mind driving on travel days. She gets to listen to her audio books and music whenever she likes (I don't like anything on in the cab in heavy traffic or big cities). She can keep the thermostat up where she likes it, etc.

We average about 12K miles/year with the rig but put another 6k - 8K on the car touring, sightseeing, shopping, or running back and forth between wherever we're staying and kids/grandkids/siblings/parents houses. We typically do not travel more than 150 miles per day on travel days, so it's not that much time apart. We sold the Toyota and bought a Honda CR-V last spring and we're still very happy with the the "chase car" approach.

We have a document with the pros and cons from our POV - but it's aimed at full-timers in towables. If you're interested in that document, let me know.

Rob

Interesting POV, we just traded our chaser car for a 2016 Ram Laramie 6.7 CTD DRW. Will sell the 2001 Ram 2500 soon and be a single vehicle family. The Ram is plush and comfortable, size is something you learn to deal with. It will get smaller the more you drive it. I figure the cost to be a wash, the 2012 Equinox we traded insurance cost was only $24 more per month to insure the Ram above the Equinox. As soon as we sell the 2001 Ram expect to see a noticeable drop.
No it will not fit into the same spot as your Toyota, but in time will get into some tight spots.

Perhaps it would have made more sense had I said that my wife doesn't/won't drive the truck. She would see it as a loss of independence if she couldn't jump in the car and go to a yoga class or something. Happy wife, happy life...

Rob

[Second_Chance]

rhagfo wrote:

Second Chance wrote:

F1bNorm wrote:
... most campgrounds charge an extra car fee if you drive the car in...

I wouldn't say "most," as we've never encountered that in the 181 places we've stayed - including in California. (Yes, I keep a log.)

Rob

Never encountered or just didn't pay attention to the fee schedule and not get caught? If you passed through an Oregon SP, you just skipped payment.

I pay attention to all fees and charges - but haven't been to Oregon, yet.

Rob

[rhagfo]

Second Chance wrote:
Here's a little different perspective... We're full-timers, and in a fifth wheel rather than a motorhome. When we hit the road, we knew we didn't want to use a crew cab diesel truck (our current truck is a long bed dual rear wheel, to boot) as a daily driver. We had a Toyota sedan at the time and the advice from the folks on the Escapees forum was to try the "chase car" for a year or so. If we didn't like it, we could reconfigure. Turns out, we like it a lot. My wife doesn't mind driving on travel days. She gets to listen to her audio books and music whenever she likes (I don't like anything on in the cab in heavy traffic or big cities). She can keep the thermostat up where she likes it, etc.

We average about 12K miles/year with the rig but put another 6k - 8K on the car touring, sightseeing, shopping, or running back and forth between wherever we're staying and kids/grandkids/siblings/parents houses. We typically do not travel more than 150 miles per day on travel days, so it's not that much time apart. We sold the Toyota and bought a Honda CR-V last spring and we're still very happy with the the "chase car" approach.

We have a document with the pros and cons from our POV - but it's aimed at full-timers in towables. If you're interested in that document, let me know.

Rob

Interesting POV, we just traded our chaser car for a 2016 Ram Laramie 6.7 CTD DRW. Will sell the 2001 Ram 2500 soon and be a single vehicle family. The Ram is plush and comfortable, size is something you learn to deal with. It will get smaller the more you drive it. I figure the cost to be a wash, the 2012 Equinox we traded insurance cost was only $24 more per month to insure the Ram above the Equinox. As soon as we sell the 2001 Ram expect to see a noticeable drop.
No it will not fit into the same spot as your Toyota, but in time will get into some tight spots.

[rhagfo]

Second Chance wrote:

F1bNorm wrote:
... most campgrounds charge an extra car fee if you drive the car in...

I wouldn't say "most," as we've never encountered that in the 181 places we've stayed - including in California. (Yes, I keep a log.)

Rob

Never encountered or just didn't pay attention to the fee schedule and not get caught? If you passed through an Oregon SP, you just skipped payment.

[Y-Guy]

Second Chance wrote:
I wouldn't say "most," as we've never encountered that in the 181 places we've stayed - including in California. (Yes, I keep a log.)

Wish I ran into more of those, the Oregon State Parks charge the fee as many other have too. 😞

[Second_Chance]

F1bNorm wrote:
... most campgrounds charge an extra car fee if you drive the car in...

I wouldn't say "most," as we've never encountered that in the 181 places we've stayed - including in California. (Yes, I keep a log.)

Rob

[F1bNorm]

We currently chase, tow and rent. If traveling from campground to campground, we often do both tow and chase. It’s nice to have the option. We started rving with a TT, so we always had a vehicle to sight see in. When we switched to a C, we missed being able to hop in the car and go to town. Sight seeing with the MH was not always easy. Especially finding parking in downtown areas. The test was to have my wife drive our CRV behind the camper. Liked having the car so we set it up to tow. A down side to using a chaser is most campgrounds charge an extra car fee if you drive the car in. If you tow it it’s considered a trailer and no extra fee. We do a few extended trips, say 4000+ miles and usually with a single destination, on those trips we rent a car.

A lot depends on where you are going and what you are going to do upon arrival. Money wise it’s a wash. Towing, it costs us a mile or two per gallon, but we make it up by the higher MPG when sight seeing in the toad. Our CRV is smaller/lighter than a typical TT and for the most part, an easy tow, except you can’t backup.

I say try using a chase car for a few trips and then decide. There is no perfect answer, just more choices!

Norm

[Second_Chance]

Here's a little different perspective... We're full-timers, and in a fifth wheel rather than a motorhome. When we hit the road, we knew we didn't want to use a crew cab diesel truck (our current truck is a long bed dual rear wheel, to boot) as a daily driver. We had a Toyota sedan at the time and the advice from the folks on the Escapees forum was to try the "chase car" for a year or so. If we didn't like it, we could reconfigure. Turns out, we like it a lot. My wife doesn't mind driving on travel days. She gets to listen to her audio books and music whenever she likes (I don't like anything on in the cab in heavy traffic or big cities). She can keep the thermostat up where she likes it, etc.

We average about 12K miles/year with the rig but put another 6k - 8K on the car touring, sightseeing, shopping, or running back and forth between wherever we're staying and kids/grandkids/siblings/parents houses. We typically do not travel more than 150 miles per day on travel days, so it's not that much time apart. We sold the Toyota and bought a Honda CR-V last spring and we're still very happy with the the "chase car" approach.

We have a document with the pros and cons from our POV - but it's aimed at full-timers in towables. If you're interested in that document, let me know.

Rob

[mleekamp]

soren, I understand. We are not full-timers, just a once a year 2-week trip family (for now while we work and kids in school).

On weekend or 3 day trips, usually we've always had wife come on her own, as she works later and she arrives to a all-set-up campsite.

For 2019, we may try the chaser theory and see where to go from there. I'm pretty convinced it's a waste of time/$$$ to set up the F150 as a toad on a Class C when the next several years we will travel through the Rocky's into Yellowstone, Glacier, etc.

We will either find a smaller toad or ???

Thanks for all the input everyone.