Ok, since things are so darn slow here, I figure it gives me an opportunity to ask a stupid question, what is a park model? I hear them mentioned occasionally, and I picture a small house, bigger than a cabin, with most home facilities, but I've never been in a park that has one. Do you rent these? Is the rent daily, weekly monthly, or do you have to pay a year lease? Do you/can you buy one? Are they a permanent fixture in the park, or can some be semi-permant 5th wheels with skirting? Do they come furnished? Thanks for educating me. Chris g.
Park models are a specific class of RV and come in two principal "flavors". One, type, known as "destination trailers" are towable RVs that are designed to be placed semi-permanently on a site in an RV park. They are not designed to be towed behind a vehicle and taken from park to park on a vacation. The other major class of park models look like manufactured housing but they they have <400 sq ft of living space. Therefore, they still meet the basic qualifications for being an RV. Most, if not all of these, are brought to sites by dealers. RV parks may permit either or both types of park models. For example, the park in which we own a site only permits the first type of park model. Some parks use park models as rental units for vacationers. Others allow people to use them (or their own park models) as permanent accommodations. Here's a short explanation: https://www.hitchrv.com/blog/destination-trailers-park-models-and-travel-trailers-oh-my/
Great response Joel.............. Hope all is going well for you and yours........... Regards, Terry.............(aka BankShot)
We're currently in Maryland on our way north to the Maritime Provinces. Way too many people around here!!!
Joel, if you like space then don't come to CT! Hope you have a great trip to the Maritime Provinces & safe travels! Mike
Docj, thanks for the explaination and the link! The photos really helped understanding what they look like. Cg.
The term "park model" originally referred to a trailer that was not self contained and therefore needed a "park" to be useful. Now days, some are trailers, some look like cabins, and many parks have them. Some rent daily, some weekly and some long term. You can also buy your own and park it in some parks.
Park models "need a park" only to the extent that they lack waste storage tanks and are plumbed with residential fixtures to flow directly into a septic or sewer system. They are RVs designed to be used in a park rather than to be towed down a highway or used on their own in a boondocking environment.
Joel's definition is exactly right - the key part of the definition is that they must not exceed 400 square feet. We are living in a PMRV in Texas (over 1 year) - great home base as we travel with our 5er!
I believe in most states the maximum length on the roads for an RV is 45 feet, give or take an inch or three. And the maximum width for said RV is 8.5 feet. So using those dimensions, and with all the slide out rooms closed, the interior living space should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 380 sq. ft. With the rooms extended that of course opens it up by a fairly large amount. My point being that tiny homes have to be towed/moved to their set up place and unless special permits are taken out to have them on the road, they too must have to be limited to RV measurements I would think? Also in many parks we've been to that offer 'park models' those models are usually some type of tiny house or a very long 5ver or trailer set up on blocks, and in many cases, with skirting all around the bottom for appearance sake, etc. Personally if we ever did decide to full time it we would probably consider buying into one of those super duper motorcoach resorts that have lots for sale with a 'casita' that is right next to where you park your coach. We've seen a few that are somewhat affordable and we've also seen a couple that would really bust open the old retirement piggy bank to get into. For now however we are content to just motor on down the open roads and come home to our sticks & bricks abode........... Just my nickel's worth, BankShot...............(aka Terry)
Terry, I did a recent google on this question, there was also some mention about when your over 400sqft on park models the building codes have to be under stick built homes and not park models. I would bet that may be a slippery slope and I'm not feeling very motivated to research.... LOL Mike
---------------------------------------------------------------- I can appreciate your non-motivation here Mike and would have to agree with you. One more thing I might mention is that a 45x8.5 RV exceeds 400 sq.ft. easily when two to four slide out rooms are opened so I wonder how that is handled by the folks who write the rules............ Terry..............(aka BankShot)
If you really want to know how RV's are defined in determining whether they fall under HUD's regulations or not, settle in for a long read: https://www.federalregister.gov/doc...s-clarifying-the-exemption-for-manufacture-of
