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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

It's a sweet home if you're on the move

By: Nick Martin

Posted: 03/11/2013 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Melissa Tait / Winnipeg Free Press Blake and Nikki Spence admire a 39-foot-long RV Sunday. t (MELISSA TAIT / WINNIPEG FREE PRE)

THERE are probably condos out there that aren't as sweet as this thing.

And it goes on the highway.

"Holy mother, this is bigger than a house," said one woman as she stepped into a 39-foot-long palace at the Mid-Canada RV Show at the convention centre Sunday.

It has a fireplace, big-screen TV, kitchen with an island counter, shower, toilet, bedroom -- and all for just $62,166.

How long are 39 feet? That's just a shade under 12 metres, or what the Blue Bombers might refer to as a first down.

"It's crazy... but very comfortable," said Margaret Blue as she and husband Bill Woollven, with two-year-old son Liam, allowed themselves to be tempted by the luxury on Sunday.

Jokes about how many gallons to the mile aside, Woollven figured the supersize RV, which has no engine and is towed by a vehicle, would be better on gas than a motor home, which is a vehicle and home in one.

Salesman Michael Millar, of Classic Trailers in Headingley, had already chalked up a sale of the 39-footer, and right behind it was one a foot longer for about $9,000 less.

The 40-footer had a catch, of course. It's a destination trailer, meant to be parked permanently, he explained.

"That would be the best idea for it. It's got a removable hitch -- put skirting around it to look more residential," he said.

Add a gazebo, a sunroom, maybe a deck, and you've driven your own cottage to the lake.

"Generally speaking, it would be set up on a seasonal site. Seasonal sites are expanding so much. Oasis totally refurbished," Millar said.

People are in the market because "campgrounds are putting in rules that anything over 10 years needs to be refurbished," he said.

Those stories about getting stuck behind RVs on the highway, are because of drivers, not the RVs, he added. "I know RVers go 80 miles per hour (125 km/h)," he said.

Nikki and Blake Spence were looking to upgrade their trailer at Pinawa, but the 39-footer didn't cut it. It didn't have enough beds to accommodate their seven- and 10-year-old, Nikki Spence said.

Husband Blake Spence said the problem with permanent trailers is if you upgrade or move, you pretty much sell everything to someone else and leave it all behind. "It;s like hermit crabs," he laughed.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 11, 2013 A5

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