Thanks!
Yesterday spent some time digging through the regulations and talking to a few people. It appears there's a LOT of RV'ers out there breaking the law, which fortunately is not enforced too much. But as many pointed out, if there is a mishap it becomes an issue.
The box conversion is to create a vehicle that will serve to 1: haul the gear we carry, 2: to provide for one or two night accommodations as well as "class A walkthrough" style accommodations while on the road, and 3: pull larger accommodations for longer trips.
Initially I will pull our Keystone Cougar 29BHS which is well under 10000 pounds, no problem. But later on I want to convert a tall 30 footer to our specifications.
Most under 26000 trucks do NOT come with a specified MCVW. (max combined) So, the trailer weight comes out of the truck MGVW. Plus, a lot of those trucks don't have the horses to pulll a 15K trailer. 210 or 250 is not enough.
So, it appears I will need a 33K truck. 14 empty, 5 for the conversion (wag) that leaves 14K for the trailer. Plus, the bigger trucks have 350+ horses, preferably more, and will pull all that I need to do. I HATE being underpowered.
So, according to the PENNDOT folks I need a non commercial class B to drive the truck, and a non commercial class A to pull the trailer as it is over 10K.
Problem is, the driving schools either teach your kid to drive a car, or there's CDL schools, nothing in between. I can however take out a learners permit and take the driving test. A buddy has a class A so he can cover that legal angle. (Driving me to the test.) Since it is a non commercial add on there appears to be no additional knowledge tests required.
So, I am looking for a classic full size Pete or Kenworth or similar, with a fully loaded cockpit, a 20 foot box, air ride, a rail lift, a hitch plate and no more than a couple hundred K miles for around 25K...... anyone?
