untamed spirits, my wife and I traveled for many years just as you described in your original post....touring and staying almost exclusively in NF campgrounds. And the clearance problem you identified is very real from our experience. We have had a rig we built ourselves that would go anywhere (Chevy van we customized for our needs), a Intervec Horizon that went most places, a 190 Roadtrek and a 210 Roadtrek. The last rig (2007 Roadtrek 210P) was ideal for us except for the fact that its additional length and width restricted our mobility a bit compared to the other rvs we owned.
The Roadtreks could be a challenge when it came to NF campgrounds and roads, and I don't mean really ragged roads, just the constant watching for something that the few inches of clearance could handle. We didn't go some places we would like to have because of the clearance. It is not only the tanks, but the mounting of the generator and the dump pipes that can cause real concerns. We had to be really careful on driveways with steep approaches, like some gas stations seem to have where we travel.
All this is saying that you are on target in our experience of having owned Bs for most of 30 years. We now have a small C and pull a Jeep because our touring days have been mostly replaced with boondocking for extended periods out in the National Forests, state parks, National Parks. That privilege comes with retirement, but we sure miss the mobility of a B. I suspect we will be back in a B in a few years and tour more, camp several days less.
Given our experiences, we would probably take a look at Tigers or Sportsmobiles if we wanted to do what you suggest as a touring lifestyle.
When you look at Bs, just get down and get dirty: take a ruler and measure from what hangs closest to the grown for clearance. The tanks are a good place to start, but look at every item, not just the tanks. Lots of stuff to hit under there and take it from me, fixing that stuff after it is damaged and you are out in the woods is no picnic with those low clearances to crawl underneath.
Paul
