Class C Towing: an Unscientific Survey

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Class C Towing: an Unscientific Survey

June 10, 2018, 09:00:31 am

There have been several discussions on LDO about towing; to tow, or not to tow . . . that is the question! That got me to wondering, how many class C's actually tow a car? So, on our trip to Monterey, we decided to do a survey of class C motorhomes that we observed while traveling (hey, you gotta do something to pass the time, right?).

The survey was done over the course of about 10 hours driving time so it's a very small sample size. We hope to continue the survey as we take some family visit trips over the summer, and we encourage others to do the same if interested in this subject. We tried to exclude obvious rentals as I've rarely seen a rental towing, however, since it's difficult sometimes to tell the rentals as you are speeding towards each other at 65 mph so there may be a few included in the survey. Hey, that's why it's unscientific!

We also excluded class C's towing cargo and other trailers as it was usually unknown what was inside the trailer.

It's interesting to note that we only saw one Lazy Daze on the trip and it WAS towing. For what it's worth, and without further ado, here are our results:

Total number of class C's: 44
Number towing: 9
Number not towing: 35
Percent towing: 20.4%

Re: Class C Towing: an Unscientific Survey

Reply #1 – June 10, 2018, 09:27:11 am

I suspect your survey is about right for C's. I would suspect it's double that for A's.
Wondering what it proves?
You did not intend it, but it comes off to me that if most people tow that would incline others to tow?
We knew from the start we would require a tow to travel the way we wanted to. We had our rig set up for towing three days after we picked it up in Montclair. [I installed the toad brakes in the Jeep before we left. We flew to Montclair and a friend drove our Jeep to Albuquerque from Alabama. Where we did the toad brake wiring in the LD. Yeah, we were serious about it]
It's a lifestyle choice for us.

Re: Class C Towing: an Unscientific Survey

Reply #2 – June 10, 2018, 10:46:21 am

For the next iteration of the sampling:
how many of the non-tows display 'Cruise America', 'El Monte RV' or other rental logo?
Does day-of-week matter? Full timers and extended trip rigs vs weekend jaunters?

Another way to stay alert on the road. You could try to enlist passengers as well.
(That last doesn't work with Dora, Sam and Zeke for some reason)
Joel

Re: Class C Towing: an Unscientific Survey

Reply #3 – June 10, 2018, 11:23:36 am

Don, it does not prove a thing. I was simply curious and thought it would be an interesting way to pass time while driving down otherwise boring freeways and highways. We didn't count them but, yes, more class A's seem to tow, percentage wise. Also not counted were people pulling trailers, especially very large 5th wheels. Trailers probably outnumbered motorhomes at least 2-1.

Joel, I suspect that there are many factors that would change the results, such as time of hour and day, and time of year, not to mention different locations.

Re: Class C Towing: an Unscientific Survey

Reply #4 – June 10, 2018, 12:28:06 pm

Interesting survey, Greg. Even if it was a small sample, I suspect it's not far off the mark. Joel does have a good point: rental RVs almost never tow, so if one is curious about how many class C owners tow, the rentals shouldn't be counted. As for class As, I rarely see one that isn't towing.

Re: Class C Towing: an Unscientific Survey

Reply #5 – June 10, 2018, 01:14:23 pm

Quote from: joel wiley - June 10, 2018, 10:46:21 am

For the next iteration of the sampling:
how many of the non-tows display 'Cruise America', 'El Monte RV' or other rental logo?
Does day-of-week matter? Full timers and extended trip rigs vs weekend jaunters?

I have seen rental Class Cs with small cargo trailers but never with a toad.
The rental agreements probably prohibit doing so.

Larry

Re: Class C Towing: an Unscientific Survey

Reply #6 – June 10, 2018, 02:11:53 pm

Quote from: Andy Baird - June 10, 2018, 12:28:06 pm

Interesting survey, Greg. Even if it was a small sample, I suspect it's not far off the mark. Joel does have a good point: rental RVs almost never tow, so if one is curious about how many class C owners tow, the rentals shouldn't be counted. As for class As, I rarely see one that isn't towing.

Yes, I excluded rentals but one or two may have slipped by me as some aren't very obvious. We also excluded rigs like Rialta's which I consider more of a B+ class.

We did see quite a few class A's that were not towing, though, but the majority were, I think.

Re: Class C Towing: an Unscientific Survey

Reply #7 – June 18, 2018, 09:12:19 am

Continuing the survey on our latest road trip, this time to San Diego and back; approx. another 10 hours of driving time. Didn't see as many class C's this trip but a similar trend was noted. No LD's seen. Rentals were excluded.

Total number of class C's: 27
Number towing: 3
Number not towing: 24
Percent towing: 11.11%

Totals for two trips
Total number of class C's: 71
Number towing: 12
Number not towing: 59
Percent towing: 16.9%

Re: Class C Towing: an Unscientific Survey

Reply #8 – June 18, 2018, 10:46:09 am

Greg,

Thanks for the running total, but I’m wondering if you may want to include the RVs currently at CGs. A quick survey by those of us currently enjoying the great outdoors may shed a bit more light on your data.

While your count seems fairly high and is a nice way to stay awake and active during drive time, RVs tend to scatter quickly into the woods so very few are meandering on the highways. Many more are already parked under the trees.

I’ll be heading up to Serrano next week and I’ll see what I can add to your “camped” data.

As I do a fair amount of solo camping, counting rigs as I drive could add to the workload at the Mothership. While good for their bottom line, poor Vince seems to be a bit overwhelmed at the moment. 😫

Kent

Re: Class C Towing: an Unscientific Survey

Reply #9 – June 18, 2018, 11:13:44 am

Kent, this is an open thread so anyone who wants to add their findings, please do!

Yes, please use a co-pilot while counting and driving!

Re: Class C Towing: an Unscientific Survey

Reply #10 – June 19, 2018, 09:18:35 am

We have a number of 'short' camping trips planned before the 'big' one. We, DW and I, generally count Ravens. A very ubiquitous bird. I'll add class c towing to the list.

Re: Class C Towing: an Unscientific Survey

Reply #11 – June 19, 2018, 10:21:16 am

Ravens are also a favorite bird for us. I love watching the pairs as the forage and vocalize to each other. Ravens are a brilliant bird, arguably only intellectually bested by the African Grey.
Cyndy and I were given a baby raven, very recently out of the egg, with only pin feathers. We named him Reverend Jim and raised him in our living room and later outside in a aviary we built for him. He was an incredible house guest, but never a pet. He didn't take any guff from the German shepherds (2), loved french fries and beer while standing on my knee, and thought he was the alpha of our home. We helped him learn to fly and gave him lots of freedom to fly in the neighborhood. One day some crows were chasing him and we watched him fly over the horizon.
Ravens are amazing animals and certainly sentient beings. They are unlike any other species of birds.
Cyndy doesn't miss chopping up frozen rats and doves in order to keep him healthy. We didn't even know you could buy such things.
Sorry to go so far off topic; I just couldn't resist.
Back to the towing survey.

Re: Class C Towing: an Unscientific Survey

Reply #12 – June 19, 2018, 11:52:53 am

We missed this thread because we were gone on a 5-day trip in our RB. We did not tow our Jeep, although I can say we started to wish that we had on the 4th day still in the same campground. The campground has no electric, and water only from spigots not located in designated spots. sort of a semi-boondocking situation. We are big hikers, and by that day we had covered all of the local trails. Since I knew we were about to head home, we stayed the 4th night and drove out the next day. That said, we like not towing for short trips (4-5 days), but prefer to tow on longer trips when just one destination is in the plan. That gives us more flexibility to explore the area. On this trip we were just one of three motor homes in the campground all week. The rest were trailers, fivers, or tenters. Of the three moho's, there was one huge 36' Class-A with paint-matched toad that came, set up with screened canopy and went in two nights, and one other older Class C also not towing. We did see on the road coming and going many of the hot new RV trend -- compact Class -B's on Mercedes chassis. Also lots of rental Class-C's. None of those were towing.

Re: Class C Towing: an Unscientific Survey

Reply #13 – July 07, 2018, 11:06:47 pm

Took a look around Serrano CG the week of June 25. Here’s what I saw:

Evening Star Loop:
1 Class A-No Toad
0 Class C
Snowberry Loop:   [Full Hookup]
3 Class A-w/Toads
0 Class C
Summer Wind Loop
No RVs
Lakeview Loop    2 Class C No Toads

Drive Home 3 Class A-1 Toad
   1 Class C No Toad

That’s all I’ve got. Lots of tent camping at this time. RVs will probably start showing up in larger numbers soon.

Kent

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