"Maximum 24 ft or longer" question
I'm looking now since quite a while for a used RV and I noticed that Class C's that are 26 ft long (or longer) are significantly less expensive that the shorter ones that are no longer than 24 ft. ...
Forum Discussion
We have had a non-slide 24 foot Itasca (Winnebago) Class C for almost 11 years now. It's on the E450 chassis and we have no issues with a rough ride since I installed Frequency Selective Damping Koni shocks in the rear to take out the harshness of it's heavy duty leaf springs in the rear. The ride in the cab is just fine ... not rough at all due to the springs in the front being coil springs. Brake wear with an E450 chassis and it's TorqShift Tow/Haul mode transmission (for engine braking on downhill grades) under a light coach is minimum because E450 brakes are larger than E350 brakes. The model year for our E450 chassis came stock with front and rear sway bars, so it provides rock solid handling under a small Class C.
We have the full space under each dinette seat available for storage (Winnebago's design requires no appliances underneath) and we can load this storage area - plus it's other 7 outside storage cabinets - to the hilt because the E450 chassis has so much weigh carrying capacity over what the coach requires. We also have a stock swivel-and-slide lounge seat in addition to the dinette. The dinette is great for dining with 2 to 4 people, 2 to 4 people playing board games, or 2 people struggling to hold and groom a wiggly long-haired puppy. ;)
Another nice attribute of a small Class C is the smaller volume to keep comfortably warm. We just spent 8 days drycamping and used the propane furnace all night every night. Propane use was around only 4 1/2 gallons (out of our 18 gallon tank) to run the furnace, water heater, and refrigerator for these days. 5 of those days were in a heavily shaded camp site in the bottom of a small canyon in which solar was of very little use. For the whole trip we were able to keep the batteries charged with only 2 one-hour V10 engine idling sessions (about 1 1/2 gallons of fuel total), an 85 mile drive between camping sites, and 1 three-and-a-half-hour run (about 1/2 gallon of fuel total) of our tiny 650 watt Honda portable generator. The built-in Onan generator was only used for the microwave and the hair dryer.
Sometimes small can be mighty, with or without hookups!
We have the full space under each dinette seat available for storage (Winnebago's design requires no appliances underneath) and we can load this storage area - plus it's other 7 outside storage cabinets - to the hilt because the E450 chassis has so much weigh carrying capacity over what the coach requires. We also have a stock swivel-and-slide lounge seat in addition to the dinette. The dinette is great for dining with 2 to 4 people, 2 to 4 people playing board games, or 2 people struggling to hold and groom a wiggly long-haired puppy. ;)
Another nice attribute of a small Class C is the smaller volume to keep comfortably warm. We just spent 8 days drycamping and used the propane furnace all night every night. Propane use was around only 4 1/2 gallons (out of our 18 gallon tank) to run the furnace, water heater, and refrigerator for these days. 5 of those days were in a heavily shaded camp site in the bottom of a small canyon in which solar was of very little use. For the whole trip we were able to keep the batteries charged with only 2 one-hour V10 engine idling sessions (about 1 1/2 gallons of fuel total), an 85 mile drive between camping sites, and 1 three-and-a-half-hour run (about 1/2 gallon of fuel total) of our tiny 650 watt Honda portable generator. The built-in Onan generator was only used for the microwave and the hair dryer.
Sometimes small can be mighty, with or without hookups!
