Help! Newbie (sort of) What to buy

garmp1 wrote:
We have a van conversion and are looking for something more self contained with a full time double bed. We are Ford people. We are looking for the smallest unit available with a full time bed that is easily accessible. No ladder, no crawling over each other, no scotching, just turn and stand. Something small enough to park in our driveway and use as a second vehicle would be ideal.

I don't believe there is such a motor home out there, especially the "no crawling over" part for a full size bed in such a small motor home.

You sound like my wife and me back in 2006/2007 when we were replacing our 24 year old motor home HERE. It was not self contained, but it was only 17.5 feet long of which we did use it as our second car for many years. It served us well when we were younger, but the last 4 years were getting "testy". Our 4 week trip in the summer of 2006 was the year of the "Last Straw" moment which got me on a mission to find something to meet our needs for our later years.

Our replacement had to meet big-rig requirements in a small package.
- had to fit in our garage with a 10 foot tall opening & 25' deep
- full size bed (for two) on the main floor
- dinette that we can leave setup as a dinette all the time
- a practical bathroom (preferably a dry bath)
- all things practical, no "novelty" features
- preferably no slide out

Back in 2007 there were only a select few choices of which ended up offering very similar floor plans with a rear corner double bed. We decided on a new Phoenix Cruiser 2350 after seeing one at the local RV show, but only because Don Keller of East Acres brought the price down to $67,000 which was what we could afford at the time.

Our rig is 23'-8" long and 93" wide. I would NOT consider it a second car to get around town in, except in an emergency. For one thing, the fuel economy being around 8 mpg in urban driving would surely stink. Another point is that easy parking requires two parking spots length-wise. It is a rare opportunity to back into a spot and have the rear end overhang grass.

A very short rig for easy entry and exit from the bed for both people will offer twin beds, not a full size bed. Another member here burlmart has been on the search for a short twin bed. His discussion HERE is especially applicable on the second page. The shortest walk-around full size bed will be in a rear slide out and will be 25.5 feet long like the Winnebago View 24G HERE. Add 2 feet if you can find anything today without the rear slide out. Most popular is the full size bed in a side-protruding slide out but are still very long rigs.