RV Park thoughts, suggestions & ideas.

[CurlyDave]

rox:

Dave, I jsut gotta ask, does DW stand for 'Da Wife?"

It usually stands for "Dear Wife", but you can think anything you want.

should i shorten Curly Dave to Curly or would it be Dave?

Either is fine. I picked up the "Curly" nickname about 15 years ago, from a lady who worked in a barber shop. If you saw me without the hat, you would know that I am "hair challenged". If I have to write down my hair color on a form, I usually put "caucasian".

When I was young I though that bald men who wore hats were vain. Now I know that hair has many more uses than just looking younger. Protection from sunburn and warmth are the real big ones.

 

[bgoodman]

For trash, why not do daily pickup at the camp sites, then have a couple of roll-off dumpsters hidden somewhere near the front of the park (storage area?).

 

[BB_TX]

Eddie- If you ever get down toward Johnson City, there is a small wildlife park maybe 5 miles north of Johnson City on hwy 281. I have passed by it many times but never stopped. I don't think it has RV parking. But from the highway you can often see several different kinds of antelope and some zebra. Stopping in to talk to them might give you some ideas or head off some problems.

 

[turbo36]

Eddie, this is a link to the best Campground in the Traverse City, Michigan area. It is pretty impressive now, but they did start small and added new features every year. The big draw (other then all the lakes in the area) is the "sense of community" IE: social events and activities for all ages.

Traverse City campgrounds, Traverse City resorts, Traverse City camping, Traverse City

 

[EddieWalker]

Hard to believe the insurance cost for a spray zone is as much as a wading pool. Pretty hard for a kid to get hurt in a spray zone compared to a wading pool. The ones I have seen have rubber flooring that is not slick at all so they can't slip. Not sure how a kid could get hurt in the zones I have seen but that is Insurance companies for ya.

We joined a pool near our house. The kids have a little wadding pool with a chain link fence to keep the little ones inside. The big pool has at least two lifeguards on duty with a couple more hanging around taking breaks. Our membership is not bad and cheaper than going to the public pool we used to visit but I think you would have to have a large number of RVers to pay for the guards.

We built a play set for our kids last year that was a kit. Seemed like when I was researching the kits they had some really high end/commercial kits which is what I was thinking of for the RV park. The high end had the rubber matts that I would love to have but can't afford so we used mulch. We have been to a couple places with the matting and that stuff is awesome. For a public space that would be the product to use. A kid would have to fall just right to break a bone and the normal falls kids take would be a non issue with this stuff.

You might want to shop around the insurance if you have not done so already. When we moved into the house we built I kept the house insurance we had via AAA and it cost about $1000-1200 a year. They really asked lots of questions about our wood stove and GSD. Ended switching to the NC Farm Bureau for the same coverage for $800/900 a year. Did not ask squat about the dog and the stove. House, tractor, and autos are now with FB.

Shoot, almost forgot. Kinda along the ideas that others had is you need a place for music. I have been to a couple places in NC that had music on the weekends. The would have local county, gospel, blue grass bands in to play. The places I'm thinking about range from a place that has a real good family style resteraunt with a building for music, to an old barn that has music, to a nicer place that also just does music. That could be a draw for people to come in for a blue grass weekend. And it might get locals out as well. In my county there are a couple of places that just have outdoor music and they seem popular. Some would say they are too popular and causing problems for the neighbors.

Later,
Dan

Dan,

The Texas Campground Owner Association (TACO) has a convention every year with venders from all over the country. I spoke to the insurance company reps there about pools and water features. Basically the wading pool puts me in the lowest risk catagory, same as a spray park. Any boating in the lake, swimming in the lake or a pool with deep water will more than quadruple my rates.

Of course, before I open, I'll spend quite a bit of time shopping rates, but from the three I talked to, they all seemed pretty close to the same.

The music is a good idea. I know of a fairly new park down towards Houston that is known for it's live bands and dancing every Saturday night. The park is kind of on the ugly side with the buildings being large metal boxes, but they are full every weekend. It's a huge draw and the people don't really care what the park looks like, they are there for the dancing.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Okay Eddie I am starting to understand the concept, your business will be an RV Resort, not a campground. My experience has only been with campgrounds so that is what my coments are based on.

Now that i understand the concept more, and RV Resort, I'll offer comments accordingly.

#1 The off leash dog area is really really a good idea. As Curly (should i shorten Curly Dave to Curly or wouold it be Dave?) said dog people will for sure select your resort if it offer amenities for their dogs. We never had a dog do to health issues but my sister did and she really really loved her dog. I totally love the idea of running the off leash dog area up next to the creek. At the end of their walk they can frolic in the creek a bit.

Still on the animal theme, the horses would be a big attraction for your other guest. Take a walk out and see the horses. Thus you wnat to secure the horses in with fencing but you also want to fence the public out. The horse owners I don't think want people to be able to pet theri horses. i might be 100% wrong on this but that is mu gut reaction.

Also waht about that neighbors land. Could you get riding trails for the horsesover on his land? Wow, for the horse owners that would be super I would think. But again, I don't have the experience to know for sure.

Perhaps you could cruise the "Doggie" message boards and get good ideas for what amenities to provide for hte dogs. How about some campsite that are fenced in so that people can let their dogs free in their campsite? That way they don't ahve to be on the leash or staked all the time.

You could advertise it in your website and promotional pieces and test the market. Just build like 4 or 5 with a fence around the campsite and see what happens. If you get good demand and run out of spaces, take the reservation, say yes, and run out and fence some more.

I know I would not mind staying in a site that was fenced. Say you didn't have demand you could still rent out these sites to peoplw without dogs. I know i would look at that fence as one long clothesline!!!!!!!!

I am having a ball reading this thread i hope peopel continue to give you their ideas and comments.

Rox,

It's just a word, but to me "Resort" is used for the places that don't want kids, don't let in older RV's and only let one pet in that's under 40 pounds. In other words, they are very upity.

In my mind, I think I'm creating a "Destination Campground." I like the idea of being able to cater to as wide a group of customers as I can. There are several real estate companies that specalize in selling RV Parks and the two most common ones for sale are the brand new Resorts and the old, falling apart dumps. Two extremes with one that makes sence and the other that's for sale because the owner thought they were too good for a huge segment of the market.

Curly Dave got me to thinking, and I'm very exited about having an off leash dog area. I have these mental blocks and sometimes it just takes a new aproach for me to get it. Using that area of my land for dogs makes perfect sense.

What I'm thinking for the horse hotel is to put in a spot I was having issues with for an RV site. This site was in a corner and would be a very tough turn to get out of. Kind of a very quick, tight U-Turn. I can use that area for a the horse hotel and save those sites next to it for those with horses. If I'm full except for those sites, than I don't need to save them anyway, so they will still be used. If a horse person shows up, they will be able to stay either right next to there horse, or just a site or two away.

My thinking is to make the stalls out of pipe welded together and set in concrete footings. It will be solid and permanent. In front of that area, I'll fence it off from others with a gated entry. Something very western with tall poles on either side and a sign over the top with my logo and somehting that says "stable" or "horse hotel" or maybe something else. That front fence will be cedar post and rails to keep people about ten feet away from the horses.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Eddie,
I've skimmed over most of the answers, and they're good suggestions, but they seem to focus on a lot of the "bigger" issues. Here's some detail suggestions.

1) be sure that the electrical outlets are installed right side up. I have taken to stashing a roll of duct tape with my electrical stuff. That way when the outlet is upside down, I can tape the cord to the pole (hopefully). But this is a real hot button for me.

2) the sewer connections need to be nearly flush to the ground for some RVs to dump into. I have run into a few that were WAY too high.

3) I can't imagine you'd do this, but I've been to too many parks where the water faucet is practically touching the sewer connection. There was one place where once the sewer line was in place, it would have been hard to get the water line on the spigot. So, I didn't and luckily we only had to stay one night because we were traveling.

4) This is probably obvious, but... All connections on the driver's side please. I usually have enough electrical cord, water hose, and sewer hose to connect to the "wrong" side if I have to, but It's annoying. In the '80s we had a motorhome with connections on both sides, but I think all the newer ones are all on the driver's side. For me the best layout would be with the connections close to the "border" with the next site as that leaves the awning side with the most room.

Just some ideas.

BTW, we don't get that far south very often, but we're going to have to keep you in mind. Sounds like a first class operation to me!

Mike

Mike,

Good stuff on the outlets. I've heard a few horror stories about pedistals being too close for slide outs.

I also agree with you on the sewer connections. I've been to allot of parks where they are a foot in the air. What I really don't get is that the owners have to see the mess thats' created, but they don't do anything.

My plan is to leave the pipes long, then pour a concrete pad a foot around it with the slope angled towards the pipe. Then when the concrete is dry, I'll cut the pipe off flush with the concrete. This will make it easy to drain into and also to clean up spills. Those spills add up over time to create a very nasty mess that's impossible to clean up with a pipe sticking up in the air. If people can hose it off down into the drain pipe, most will do so. Why parks don't do this is just a mystery to me.

My current thinking for the size of sites is to start at the pedistal. From that, I'll have the pad start 6 feet over. The pad will be 12 feet wide for the RV to park on. Then I'll have another 12 feet for picnic table, fire ring and open space. Then there will be 20 feet of woods or landscaping before the next pedistal. Do you think 12 feet will be enough for your awning?

Every site will be a little different because of what's already growing there, but that's my basic layout.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

I completely understand, but...

We have camped as groups on several occasions where it is great putting the rigs awning-to-awning. Get four sites together (back to back and side to side) and you've got a large common area in between. I think I bought an extra sewer hose for one of these occasions.

I'm not sure you could plan to directly accomodate this, but you could probably plan such that it could be done if people wanted.

And one more unrelated suggestion Eddie:

The nicest parks offer an escort to your site. We stayed at one place where the guy helped us back in and even offered to help set-up. I didn't need any of those services but it was a nice touch and probably appreciated by many. Come to think of it, that same park had a small fleet of GEM electric vehicles for escorts, trash and maintenance. I'll go ahead and plug the place, Petosky KOA in Michigan. Twin Creek in Gatlinburg is one of our other memorable places.

Rob,

I've seen the buddy sites at a few parks and thought about it, but decided against it. My roads are all one way with a grid type patern to maximize the use of land with the ease of having pull thru sites. Buddy sites mean two way roads, which mean larger roads, more money and fewer sites.

The escourt to your site is one I've debated. I'm hopeful that my layout will be so simple that it won't be possible to get lost, but I know some people will get lost in there own house, so it's something I need to be flexible on. I'm just not sure of how much time it will take and who would do this.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

I can only imagine trying to care for a giraffe That one would be too much work. I can only imagine the fencing required He has a good supply of more reasonable animals such as impala, kudu, blesbuck, dik dik and the like. Blesbuck can't jump, a single strand at 3 feet will supposedly keep them in.

That just sounds like a blast, keeping a collection of different types of animals for your guests to enjoy and learning the different animal traits and personalities.

We were looking to get our oldest daughter a goat, but I might opt for a blesbuck instead if they're as easy to keep penned as I've been led to believe. I'd have the neighbors doing a double take.

Gordon,

I'm not sure what it takes to keep a giraffe, but prices I've seen put them in the $30,000 each range!!! I'll do my entire preserve for a third of that amount. hahaha

I'd also love to have a Kudu, but there feeding requirements are just too complex. Some animals do fine off grass and a little grain, kudu need a very diversified range of browse.

I hadn't considered blesbok. I shot a real nice one in Namibia that would score high in Rowland Ward, but thought they were kind of goofy looking. But now that you mention them, I'm wondering about putting a few in with my longhorns in my low fence, front pasture. I want something else in there besides the longhorns. A couple Emu's might work too. I also thought about scimitar horned oryx as they won't jump a 4 ft fence and can be very tame.

This will be the last thing I do, and the part I'm most exited about!!!

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

For trash, why not do daily pickup at the camp sites, then have a couple of roll-off dumpsters hidden somewhere near the front of the park (storage area?).

Hey Bobby,

My mental block is in how to hide half a dozen dumpsters?

When full and built out, I'll have well over 200 RV sites, 30 plus cabins, two dozen tent sites, 3 laundromats, 5 meeting areas with kitchens, dozens and dozens of garbage cans, a resturant, a store and a large storage rental area with space for 30 RV's and a couple dozen individual units.

I'm going to have a MASSIVE amount of garbage. hahahaha

Thanks,
Eddie