Some recreational vehicle dealers here expect sales to rise in 2012 for the third consecutive year, and despite concerns over rising fuel prices that are affecting travel patterns, they say further sales increases will be led by a surge among baby boomers who will hit retirement age in growing numbers for years to come.

Freedom RV Inc., of Liberty Lake, is anticipating revenues of $29.6 million this year, up from $22 million in 2011 and $17 million in 2010, says Mike Stanisich, the general manager there.

Freedom RV operates on a five-acre lot at 19605 E. Cataldo, north of Interstate 90.

The dealership plans to add four service bays to its seven-bay service center this summer, and it recently bought 3 acres of adjacent land where it plans to expand its sales lot, Stanisich says.

Jerry Wagner, general manager at Liberty Lake-based R'nR RV Center, says that dealership's sales increased 8 percent in 2011 compared with the prior year, and he's anticipating a similar rate of increase this year.

During the recession, sales dropped about 30 percent from the prerecession peak, Wagner says. "We're almost back to where sales were at the peak," he says.

R'nR RV operates two Spokane-area sales outlets. Its flagship location is a 15-acre site at 23203 E. Knox in Liberty Lake, and includes sales and service buildings with a combined total of 68,000 square feet of floor space. Its other outlet is at the former Blue Crick RV dealership site, at 13913 W. Sunset Highway. R'nR RV bought the 7-acre West Plains site, which includes a 10,000-square-foot sales and service structure, in 2008 and recently renamed it.

Nationwide, RV shipments to dealers from manufacturers increased 4.1 percent to252,300 units in 2011, up from 242,300 units shipped in 2010, reports the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association Inc., a Reston, Va.-based manufacturers trade group. The RV shipment count includes travel trailers, truck campers, and motorhomes.

At the outset of this year, the association predicted RV shipments would increase another 5.1 percent in 2012. The year has started strong with overall RV shipments up 15.2 percent in the first two months compared with the year-earlier period, although motorhome shipments were flat.

RV shipments bottomed out in the U.S. in 2009, when manufacturers delivered 165,700 units to dealers. Shipments and sales have increased each year since then, RVIA says.

The association also reports that RV ownership is at a record high, with 8.5 percent of U.S. households owning RVs. Where heads of households are 55 or older, 9.3 percent own RVs, up from 8.6 percent in 2005.

Households headed by people in the 35-to-54-year-old age group posted the largest gain in the RV ownership rate, rising to 11.3 percent in 2011 from 9 percent in 2005. That group buys the majority of less expensive, towable RVs, the association says.

Retirement-aged people in the RV market historically have tended to buy the higher-end RVs, including large motorhomes, although their tastes might be changing.

Wagner says he's seeing an increase in the number of retirees who are first-time motorhome buyers. They tend to be somewhat more concerned about rising fuel prices than in years past, meaning a growing proportion of those buyers are willing to sacrifice size for fuel efficiency, he says.

RVers who travel frequently or for short durations are more likely to adjust their traveling habits because of fuel prices, Stanisich says.

"They may not travel as far, but they are still going to RV," he says. "They might go to Montana or someplace closer."

Many seniors engage in seasonal or destination RVing, in which the RV remains in one location for weeks or months at a time.

For them, fuel prices might not be as much of a concern, Stanisich says, adding that with today's gas prices, it will cost at most a few hundred dollars more than it cost five years ago to drive a motorhome from Spokane to San Diego and back again, he says.

Wagner says he expects to see a surge in baby boomer retirees entering the RV market for the next five to 10 years.

People are in better physical condition at 50 to 70 years old than they used to be, Wagner says. "With people living longer, hopefully that will help increase sales also," he says.

Interest rates are running 4 to 7 percent to finance RV purchases, depending on the borrower's credit, which is as low as he's ever seen rates, Wagner says.

Lenders also are allowing 15-year financing for some motorhomes, he says.

R&L RV Inc., in Hayden, Idaho, sells mostly towable RVs, although Rich Morey, the general manager there, says more than half of his customers are retirees.

Sales and profits were up in 2011 at the dealership, which occupies six acres of land on the southwest corner of U.S. 95 and Lacey Avenue, five miles north of Interstate 90. Sales there, however, still haven't returned to prerecession levels, Morey says.

He says retirees have become more fiscally conservative, and are buying in all price ranges rather than dominating the top end, as they had before the recession.

"We've got a ping in business activity, but people aren't confident," he says. "It takes longer to sell to someone now. Older folks' money doesn't go as far as it used to."

He says retirees probably will need to see a period of stability in real estate values, stock market, and other retirement investment to restore their confidence in such buying decisions.

He's also seen local RV habits change, which he attributes mostly to fuel prices.

"People are taking shorter trips," he says. "They're going up the Coeur d'Alene River rather than to the coast."