where are the "B" people?

Changed my profile pic to my 96 Coachmen Saratoga.

I don't get here as often as I used to but stop in front time to time. I absolutely love my B.We still have our old Bounder and should sell it but wife just can't let it go. Kids are in college and we haven't taken it out since Labor day. We haven't been able to take the B out together for a few months but I use it often. As a musician who rarely plays in my own town , I use it to stay in for days at a time. Every time I get in it and drive it I think " Man I love this van. Real freedom ".

Just us two, backpacking was perfect. Two Babies came along, and with them a 22’ travel trailer. Kids got older, my hobby required I pull a trailer for the large RC airplanes, so a 28’ Class C fit the bill. Kids even older, more stuff, a 36’ Class A with slide outs parked itself int eh driveway. Kids off to college, just us two again. Class B is perfect. They were all perfect at different stages in our lives. Currently in a 190P Roadtrek w/generator and absolutely love it.

For traveling, it has everything we need, more than adequate storage, and all the comforts we desire. We tend not to camp for extended periods, or travel and stay a night or two at different places. No need for dragging out a full size grill, party lights, ground matt, 5 chairs around the campfire, outdoor kitchen setup, etc.

For our use, we can’t see any value in what a larger rig would get us, enough so that I paid a premium for the B over a larger and newer C. After 12K miles, and 90 days living out of the B last year (30 of it continuous solo), I still feel its the perfect choice for us.

We tend to live OUT of it, and not IN it, and that helps a lot. When traveling together, its usually a long weekend trip camping with friends, or as a day or overnight vehicle to support our traveling and give us a warm place to sleep, cook, bathroom/shower, and store our gear.

Things I really like;

The isle shower. I didn’t think I would like it, but after using it and now having a routine, its awesome. It only takes me a couple minutes to set it up and put it away. The tradeoff for that minor inconvenience is more useable storage space that would have been used to make a dedicated shower/bathroom. For a space thats only used 10-15 minutes tops in a day, thats a great tradeoff.

The small size and good gas mileage. I don’t feel like I’m driving my house around like I did with the C and A. I fit in nearly all drive thrus being less than 9’ tall and standard car length. Driving through any big cities is just as easy as driving a car, with the exception of covered or underground parking areas. I choose street parking or open air lots and that works well. So city driving is a breeze.

And lastly, the daily utility. I never in the past used my RV (C, A, or trailer) for daily driving. With the B, I tend to do so about every other week. On day trips to the beach, shopping, RC flying, and other similar uses. It gives me a nice retreat to take a break, nap, use the bathroom, or have lunch. Very useful. I’d never take the larger RV’s due to parking and city driving hassles, and 'NO RV' restrictions. With the B, I don’t think about it and just go.

For traveling it kicks ass. For camping, its perfect for one, pretty good for two if they are a close couple. For solo long term traveling, I don’t think there is any other choice for me :)

omjones wrote:
I believe that B's sold in Canaada to Canadiaans usually don't have gennys. I have had 4 of them and none have had one.
john 'I am canadian'

Well, our main use for a generator is to run air conditioning when stopping for lunch or whatever and when camping off the grid. So that may say something about Canadian Class Bs and the need for a generator. :)

I believe that B's sold in Canaada to Canadiaans usually don't have gennys. I have had 4 of them and none have had one. all have had brs though.
john 'I am canadian'

I read this forum nearly daily. I haven't posted lately and never did post frequently, but it does seem a shame that the activity level here is less than in the past.

As for why we like our class B, it's pretty well been covered already, but we like the fact we can drive and park almost anywhere easily. We get relatively good gas mileage, can pull in a campground, plug in (or not), relax, sleep and unplug and go again in the morning with great ease. We have everything we need in a small and easy to care for package. For road trips, spending only a day or two per stop, you just can't beat the convenience. For longer stays we still find a B quite suitable, as we tend to take day trips from the campground most days to explore the area.

As you can see, we love our B. Would love to join in a B rally when I retire. As a farmer, we just can't get away in May.

I guess all things are relative.
I think when I go to town because I cross I-75 the gateway to florida I see more rv's than sombody in the middle of kansas will see.
I see more rv's so I see more "B"? maybe?
a small percentage yes but still enough that I was surprised with the lack of action on this forum about them?

It's relative, the market share for B's is very small compared to A's and C's. you may think you see a lot but it's a very small percentage. B's are also very unique. Most A's, C's and even TT's share a lot of the same components and build methods. B's are in silo as to how they are built and the materials to build them. They are also have less issues due to how they are built and the cost at which to build them lends better support. By comparison, there are a LOT of issues with production C's and A's and most folks come on here to address issues. Probably over 98%. It's pretty rare someone on the A forum gets on to talk about how their coach is flawless. All you see are problems after problems. Fewer B's and fewer problems with them mean exponentially smaller forum activity.

This was, and still could be the best site for B help, and friendship on the internet.
A lot of new and old owners went to FB because they were just too much of a wuss, snowflake, whatever, to post here. Afraid someone might say something that would hurt their feelings. I believe, as forums go, this is one of the least confrontational. I also believe a little argumentation is healthy, and standing up to a bully builds character.
Oh, and PC is unamerican, and sucks. :W

FB is fine for some social stuff, but sucks for real Camper Van/Class B help, and its really a shame that this forum gets so little traffic.
The archives here have 15 years of Class B, and Camper Van information, try and find that on any FB page.

Check out the Rally sticky at the top of the home page, don't be shy if it's your first Rally, because the rally attendees are great people, and will welcome you with open "B" doors. :)

You can see by my information that I have been a member of rv.com since 2002 and that is fifteen years coming up. A few others have been around that long also. Like My Roadtrek for example who posted in this thread. My wife and I have owned a camper van we built ourselves back in 1982, owned an Intervec Horizon in the later 80s, bought a 190P Roadtrek in 1996 and a Roadtrek 210P in 2006. So, we think of ourselves as B People more than our current category of C ownership might suggest.

Back to the original posting in this thread, the question was where are the "B" people? Some like me have bought something else (at least for a short period of time) and also, some have become weary of the fact that the B forum has become an almost continual discussion of what is a True B. The discussions off "B+" not being a valid RIVA designation must fill umpteen jillion posts in the archive.

A question totally germane to a B is often answered by trailer folks, C folks and others that have little knowledge of the uniqueness of Bs. Now, in fairness, some of the questions answered are generic enough that their comments are on target. Back when this forum was populated almost exclusively by true B folks, you could get virtually any answer to any question or solution to any problem addressed by engineers, mechanics and other guys and gals like me that had/have a lot of experience that was B specific. I note that is no longer always true.

I seldom post here but I do read virtually every B post because, like I said in an earlier response, we are starting to seriously think B again. To the extent that we have driven over 200 miles to visit dealers.

This forum, in its heyday, was a marvelous interchange of thoughts, ideas and solutions ONLY on Bs. Drifting away from that may have caused less activity and I know that several long term posters have gone to other B forums.

Paul