Using Your RV
Florida couple build dream motorhome for full-timing
By Gerry Bruder

The tanks hold 200 gal. each of fuel, fresh water and black/gray water.

Is it an RV, a truck or a big banana? A bit of all three. It's a custom-built motorhome based on the chassis of a 1987 GMC General truck and is named "Going Banana."

"Someone told us it looks like a great big banana, and we're always going somewhere in it, so that's what we call it," explains co-owner Andy Bott of the Florida Keys. Andy and his wife, Donna, just finished building the Going Banana in preparation for full-timing. They began RVing about 12 years ago and have owned two conventional trailers. For a life on the road, though, they wanted a custom-tailored home, and no manufacturer could meet  their dream specifications. So they decided to build their own.

A truck up front, an RV in back.

The work took about a year and a half. "We repositioned the wheels back and stretched the frame," Andy says. "Then we got some sheet metal, built the ribs, and added insulation and paneling."

A friend who is a professional interior-decorator helped design the inside, which features top-quality woodwork and just about all the amenities and any RVer could want: water bed, fold-out couch, dish washer, stove, convection microwave, full-sized shower, air-conditioner, washer-dryer, ice-making refrigerator, inverter, solar panels, two generators, catalytic heater, furnace, TV, stereo equipment, satellite system.... There's plenty of room left over for the family pets: an Australian sheep dog, a chow breed and two cats.

The Going Banana includes a rear garage in which the Botts keep a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a couple of bicycles, tools and other gear.

The bedroom is positioned atop the garage.

As for capacities, this baby can boondock for weeks. It has two water systems, a main tank with 200 gallons and a 10-gallon tank for drinking. The combined black/gray tank also holds 200 gallons. Up front, the eight-speed, 60-series Detroit Diesel engine delivers 5-7 gallons per hour from a fuel tank that holds an additional 200 gallons (imagine the tab at the service station). The Botts estimate a typical traveling weight of 39,000 pounds, far below the gross weight of 80,000 pounds.

Now that the Going Banana is operational, the Botts are making plans for their full-timing. Andy has retired from his career, which he describes as "a little bit of everything," including skippering a scuba-diving boat. Donna will operate from the road an Internet service she created, www.florida-keys.fl.us. "That's our money-maker now," Andy says.

They've put their house in the Keys on the market and have sold their trailer, which they soon plan to tow to the new owner in Everett, Washington. Meanwhile, they intend to enjoy the Southwest sunshine a while longer. These photos caught the

Andy and Donna Bott by the door of the Going Banana.

Going Banana at a service station in Ajo, Arizona. The Botts will spend the summer in Maryland, then take the Going Banana to a hunting camp in South Carolina. "That’s about as far ahead as we've planned so far," Andy says.

The Going Banana generates lots of attention everywhere they go. Would they sell it? The Botts both shake their heads. "It would have to be for an awful lot of money," Donna says.