Good Morning Richard. Short answer is YES, it is doable and no you do not need to "work up to it". There will be a learning curve to the RV world and living aboard. However, this will be the same for a fiberglass coach or a Prevost. Of course unless you are buying a short Class C, there will be a learning curve associated with the 45 foot length.

When we sold our boat and decided to get an RV, we had a limited budget and were not sure if we were going to like it. So we bought a used 40 foot 2000 Winnebago Ultimate Freedom ... top of their line. We had a great time but like you always dreamed of a riveted Prevost. Our budget changed and one day we ran across a 1998 Country Coach. Once we drove that, it was all over. The difference between the Spartan independent front "truck" suspension and the Prevost passenger bus suspension was night and day. The difference in materials and equipment used in the finish out were significant. My sister had a new Top of the line Tiffin and even that interior finish and system build out could not compete with the 1998 CC or our current 1998 Parliament.

Since this is all new to you, I would recommend going to see a few fiberglass coaches and pay attention to the quality of the build. Most will use "RV" specific components that are a step below residential. They can look great but they are not that robust. Then drive one or two or three. Then go find a good used dealer familiar with Prevost and go look and drive one of those. If you feel that there is a difference, then you are hooked. Also remember that these are DOT rated commercial passenger platforms that are capable of surviving a roll over. No fiberglass coach can do that. So if safety is an issue, then one more point for the Prevost.

Assuming that you feel the Prevost is worth it, then you need to figure out your budget for purchase, budget for initial required repairs and maintenance AND your annual budget for maintenance. They are commercial vehicles and by mid 2000 and beyond, many of the interior systems are commercial grade. So at least in our experience, maintenance is more costly than the fiberglass coach. The responses so far are from those of us that have older coaches. In my experience, you buy the coach, keep $20 or $30K in reserve for initial unknowns and problems, then have at least $10K per year for a maintenance budget. In our case, some years we have money left over and then there are those years that we don't talk about. If you are thinking of upgrading systems or interiors, then that needs to be included as well.

Next up is trying to get some idea of how you will use the coach. For example, some people only stay in RV parks. So battery capacity, tank capacity, etc. are not high priority. Others love to stay remote or stay in rest areas, harvest hosts, etc. while traveling. They need battery and tank capacity. Some love to entertain, some like to stay to themselves, some love to cook and need a lot of galley storage some just use the microwave. How many toys do you want to bring, will the basement storage support that ... I could go on and on.

With that research and decision making done, you can begin to review the various Prevost Converters, XL vs H, slides / no slide, etc. All of the converters have or had different priorities and different business models in their conversions. Most likely you will find that some will work for you and some simply will not. There are some conversions that I would love to own and some that you could not give me.

As others have said, we would love to help you sort this out. Go have FUN looking and post anything and everything here and you will get more than enough opinions / suggestions.

Looking forward to hearing what you purchase.