Camper delivery + setup service

CJones

Final Approach
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uHaveNoIdea
Curious how many folks here use the service that delivers and sets up a camper for you at Scholler and how you would rate your experiences.

Just weighing options for future trips.
 
We rented from RV Share. The overall experience was very good and we were satisfied. We arrived on a commercial flight to Appleton, rented a car and met the owner at the entrance to Camp Scholler. They let the owner follow us in and set up. Be advised that there are fees in addition to the daily rental such as delivery, generator, cleaning, and insurance. My guess is that much depends on who you rent from as to their honesty and integrity. I will say that we did the search on RVShare.com and emailed over 20 owners asking about delivery to Camp Scholler and only received two replies. We were parked next to some great campers and had a great time. The Camp Scholler camping experience was very good.
 
There used to be one or two RV companies that facilitated this kind of deal. At least one no longer does.

Kind of like RAGBRAI, where you paid one company for turnkey event logisitics for you.
 
The trick to RVShare is Instant Booking. If the owner doesn’t allow Instant Booking, there's a good chance you won’t get an answer.
 
I had heard somewhere else that one of the EAA 'approved' services was no-more and they were being sticklers on letting other folks in, but have not confirmed other than hearing it through the grapevine.

ETA: Now that I reviewed the camping page, I see no mention of 'approved' services. So now I'm not trusting my grapevine source.

We may look at checking this out in the future. We've never had a 'bad' experience camping with the plane, but a few creature comforts would be nice for recovering after a long day of hoofing it.
 
We rented from Kunes RV (a “local” dealer) last year and RVShare this year. We didn’t have any issues with either as far as delivery and setup of the RV at our campsite albeit Sleepy Hollow and not Scholler.
 
We rented from Kunes RV (a “local” dealer) last year and RVShare this year. We didn’t have any issues with either as far as delivery and setup of the RV at our campsite albeit Sleepy Hollow and not Scholler.

Did you fly in and then migrate to the camper or did you drive in?
 
I plan to do this next year to facilitate bringing in Mrs. Steingar. She does poorly in the heat, so I have to make certain there is a cool place for her to retreat to. My plan is to rent the smallest RV I can that has air conditioning, and place it in the electrical sites in Scholler. I know exactly nothing about RVs, RV rental, or anything else connected to it. Any and all advice is appreciated.
 
I plan to do this next year to facilitate bringing in Mrs. Steingar. She does poorly in the heat, so I have to make certain there is a cool place for her to retreat to. My plan is to rent the smallest RV I can that has air conditioning, and place it in the electrical sites in Scholler. I know exactly nothing about RVs, RV rental, or anything else connected to it. Any and all advice is appreciated.
Rent a bigger RV with a generator so you don't need an electrical site. Probably cheaper in the end.
 
I plan to do this next year to facilitate bringing in Mrs. Steingar. She does poorly in the heat, so I have to make certain there is a cool place for her to retreat to. My plan is to rent the smallest RV I can that has air conditioning, and place it in the electrical sites in Scholler. I know exactly nothing about RVs, RV rental, or anything else connected to it. Any and all advice is appreciated.

YouTube can teach the basics of RV operations. In many regards, having sewer and water connections are more of a priority if you are renting the trailer and don’t have a prime mover to take it to a dump station. The smaller the RV the smaller the fresh, gray and black water tanks. In Scholler you can minimize the use of the trailers facilities and maximize the use of the bathrooms/showers/porta-potties on the campgrounds if that’s an issue.

as stated above you can skip the electrical and go generator. If you go through RVShare, you’ll have to look for an RV that has one. Smaller RVs probability won’t. But realistically you need either an electric hookup or a decent sized generator to run the trailers a/c. Just food for thought.

A few other things to consider. If you rent from an RV dealer you’ll most likely get a new model but it will probably be empty— no linens, towels, cookware, silverware, etc. if you rent from RVShare (or something similar) it may have everything included but you’ll need to confirm with the owner. Renting from a local Wisconsin dealer can also be significantly more expensive— like 3x as much because the local dealers have learned to charge EAA prices like the hotels and can have a 10-day minimum rental.

Finally, if you are budgeting, don’t forget that the campsite is a separate charge and a separate reservation regardless of where you end up staying. Some of the private campgrounds, like Sleepy Hollow start taking reservations for next year during the show so spots can go quick a year in advance.
 
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Some, perhaps many, RV dealers will rent them equipped with linens, cookware, etc, for an upcharge. I've not looked at many, but I've seen it on some websites.
Some, perhaps most or all (again, my experience is limited) charge for Hobbs time on the generator, so consider the hourly cost of running the generator against the increased cost of getting a campsite with power.
Some campsites have 'quiet hours' during which you can't run the generator, so if it is a hot and sticky night, you won't have AC after a certain hour in those campsites. But you can leave the AC on if you are connected to 'shore' power.
 
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Rent a bigger RV with a generator so you don't need an electrical site. Probably cheaper in the end.
Can confirm. The electric/water sites are hella expensive. Getting a smaller trailer and generator will almost definitely be cheaper. The one downfall to that is either needing to be in the 24-hour generator zone (which is... not enjoyable in the least), or not use the genny (and a/c) at night and hope the temps support that. This year was AMAZING... we had all the windows and doors of the camper open, and it was pleasantly chilly!

Steingar, how does Mrs. Steingar feel about shower houses? That's another benefit to the RV, though you do have to think about water/dumping logistics. We've worked out a pretty good system if you are interested in using your RV to bathe.
 
Some campsites have 'quiet hours' during which you can't run the generator, so if it is a hot and sticky night, you won't have AC after a certain hour in those campsites. But you can leave the AC on if you are connected to 'shore' power.
If your generator is quiet like ours is you can leave them run 24/7 like we did. It ran non stop for 10 days and no one said a word. AC ran non stop to keep the dog cool. Can't even hear it during the day and not much at night. Others around us ran theirs over night and were louder than ours drowning ours out. We were not in a area where you can run generators 24/7.
 
Curious how many folks here use the service that delivers and sets up a camper for you at Scholler and how you would rate your experiences.

Just weighing options for future trips.
We did a chapter site 4 RV's two were delivered for guests driving in. No issues, extra $150 charge for setup and delivery and I think for them to Dump/Clean I brought my truck and picked up our RV 2 hrs south as I booked later. It all seemed to go rather smoothly and we used RVShare and Outdoorsy. The trick to this service is to book early as most people will only deliver within a 100 miles

EAA can get a little funny about how you let people in the campground so we met them at the gate on Friday to get setup early. They picked up on Sunday I believe my unit was $1400 for the trip but we could sleep 4-6 comfortably and were next to shower houses and had the AC on all week with the generator
 
If your generator is quiet like ours is you can leave them run 24/7 like we did. It ran non stop for 10 days and no one said a word. AC ran non stop to keep the dog cool. Can't even hear it during the day and not much at night. Others around us ran theirs over night and were louder than ours drowning ours out. We were not in a area where you can run generators 24/7.
Yeah, we did shut ours off at 11PM but others didn't was not a big deal but the weather this week was honestly perfect. One thing with some new RV's is they all don't have Propane/Electric fridges anymore. Most are going to larger fridges so you need to keep the fridge cool somehow. It's the manufactures way to sell more solar.
 
Rent a bigger RV with a generator so you don't need an electrical site. Probably cheaper in the end.
Because I'm a cochair of the Activity Center I get a camp site for free, so the electrical site works far better for me. I just need the AC for Mrs. Steingar.
 
We rented a Rockford Roo 23IKSS from RVShare. RV was accurately represented in the description and everything worked great. Pic below is not of the actual RV but a representative photo.

Here are the charges:

Nightly rental 5 nights @$150 $750
Delivery fee to Camp Scholler $600
Generator $198
Tax $168.73
Service Fee $139.32

Total $1,987.99

Actual cost per night $397.60

iu

 
Can confirm. The electric/water sites are hella expensive. Getting a smaller trailer and generator will almost definitely be cheaper. The one downfall to that is either needing to be in the 24-hour generator zone (which is... not enjoyable in the least), or not use the genny (and a/c) at night and hope the temps support that. This year was AMAZING... we had all the windows and doors of the camper open, and it was pleasantly chilly!

Steingar, how does Mrs. Steingar feel about shower houses? That's another benefit to the RV, though you do have to think about water/dumping logistics. We've worked out a pretty good system if you are interested in using your RV to bathe.
My hope is we can shower in the thing. I'd prefer not to subject Mrs. Steingar to some of the things I've witnessed in those shower houses.
 
Well, then have her shower in the woman’s showers…………
:D:D:D

My hope is we can shower in the thing.
In that case definitely look at the tank capacity (both fresh and grey water). It's a slight adjustment to showering normally in that one should really not just let the water run... it's surprising how quickly one can drain their fresh water tanks (and fill the grey) taking normal household showers in an RV! Water on-rinse-water off-soap-repeat is definitely the way to go.

A pretty decent water capacity in modern trailers runs around 40 for fresh. That should net you a few days of showering and other light water usage. If you stay the full week, chances are that you'll need to either pull the trailer to the fill & dump site, dump the trailer in situ with a portable dump tank and fill with a different tank :eek:, or pony up the $$$ to have it done for you via the booth across from the Red One Market Central (the big market across from the Fly Market Gate) . I don't recall what they charge, but I do remember it being enough to make me think twice and just go through the hassle of dragging the camper to the fill & dump station. YMMV
 
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We picked up this unit 2.5 hrs south of Camp and I needed to truck anyway to haul all the stuff my wife thought we needed. It was about $120 a night and I brought my own generator.

You can shower in them but you'll need to have water delivered $55 per fill and likely the septic truck come 1-2 times to empty the tanks $60 each. Just make sure you know how good the water system is, ours was still winterized and took awhile to get the crap out of the lines the shower was hot and easy.
 
YouTube can teach the basics of RV operations. In many regards, having sewer and water connections are more of a priority if you are renting the trailer and don’t have a prime mover to take it to a dump station.

There's a service that comes around and does it for you. It's pricy (about $120 or so for both a dump and a fresh water fill) but IMO worth it to avoid the lengthy hassle of getting it ready to roll again, going to dump, and then having to get everything set up and re-leveled when you're done.

Some campsites have 'quiet hours' during which you can't run the generator, so if it is a hot and sticky night, you won't have AC after a certain hour in those campsites. But you can leave the AC on if you are connected to 'shore' power.

The problem with both the hookup sites and the 24-hour generator sites is that they are WAY far away from the show, so you'll need to bring a bike at the very least or you'll have to ride the campground buses which aren't particularly convenient.

Lots of people bring golf carts, ATVs, etc if they're going to be way out there, and there's parking for them south of hangars B and D, east of the Fly Mart. There was also a big surge in the number of e-bikes this year.

The sites that are closer to the show, the main Red One Market, the Fly-In Theater, and other amenities are much more easily walkable (or bike-able).

You really don't need AC at night in Oshkosh - Usually I need heat! I seem to be somewhat sensitive to humidity so I run my generator and AC up until 10:30 which is the cut-off for the non-generator sites to dry out the air in the trailer, and that's plenty. Usually the thermostat will kick on the propane heater overnight. Overnight temps in Oshkosh average in the low 60s that time of year, with mid-50s being fairly common.

My new toy this year was a generator with a remote start, which is GREAT for the good (close, non-24-hour-generator) spots as well, for a night owl such as myself. If the camper started getting too hot for me to continue sleeping in the morning, I could reach up and hit a button and the generator and AC would kick on. Most people will probably be awake before that's much of an issue though.
 
Sadly, this is sounding way too expensive. My normal housing costs at Oshkosh are only a few hundred dollars to camp with the airplane. This sounds like it's going to get into the thousands, and if so I'm not doing it. I dearly love Mrs. Steingar, but I don't have to take her everywhere.
 
Sadly, this is sounding way too expensive. My normal housing costs at Oshkosh are only a few hundred dollars to camp with the airplane. This sounds like it's going to get into the thousands, and if so I'm not doing it. I dearly love Mrs. Steingar, but I don't have to take her everywhere.

There are ways around most of the expenses if you're willing to sacrifice a bit of convenience. The thing that's hard to avoid is the expense of renting the RV. Here's how you make it cheaper:

1) You seem like relatively fit people, so if you're willing to park the RV further away and bring your own bikes, you'll save a lot of walking and you'll be able to get around on your own schedule.
2) If you get an RV you can move easily, you can dump/fill for $5 at the south end of the campground instead of the $120 it'll cost for a truck to come do it for you. Just make sure you bring enough stuff to leave in your site so nobody takes it while you're doing so!
3) If you camp near or just west of the trees not far inside the entrance to Scholler, you probably won't need to fire up the AC in the morning.

In fact, you can make non-RV camping quite tolerable as well. The newer (white) shower buildings with individual exterior doors are way nicer, there are air conditioned bathrooms in several places, and there are things that can be done to make temperatures at both extremes tolerable. Bring lots of covers for nighttime cold, and get a battery-powered fan with an AC adapter plug and hook it up to a solar panel facing east so that it kicks in when the sun rises in the morning.

Or, just leave her at home if she's not gonna have fun.
 
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