Why is the Class B forum so dead?

Too add some life to the discussion, my Sister bit the bullet and is having one of these built. It has a 2 Litre Diesel and can go to Underground shopping car parks . So it is pretty stealthy

It's WINTER!!!!:R:S

Hi 'B' owners! I purchased my new to me classic camper van (a 1977 Bubble top Dodge) to restore over the next three years and travel in when I retire. One of my goals is to drive the Pan American Hwy from Alaska to the bottom of South America in it. I look forward to the projects to make it a Home. I haven't posted much lately because winter weather has slowed my progress and the van was at the shop for a new Master Cylinder and brake work. I will do camping in it and plan to take it to Canada from Idaho this summer for a month long trip.

I wanted a 'B' to be able to use small parking spaces and friend's driveways as I travel as well as smaller boondocking areas.

I look forward to sharing and learning from this forum!

Davydd wrote:

PS. We have no propane or Onan generator.

how do you get AC on road in humid south, like for the pets when in a restaurant?

Great discussion, folks, and what Admin observed as well as most of the rest of you is what I've seen in my own forum (which happens to be 16 today!). Traffic on discussion forums is down all over because so many other folks are using other forms of social media. Having grown up with bulletin boards since the 80's, I prefer this format. As an iPhone user, I do NOT want to do my internet via that device. I can, I just don't like it.

I see my registration date on rv.net was 3/2/01 so I've been here a long time. I sometimes disagreed with Rodger's moderation but as an admin of a large. active site, understood them.

As to this topic drifting, it hasn't really, it's been a discussion of our forum's traffic on rv.net and the variety of reasons it's less busy than it was in the mid-2000's. I was just 50 when I joined here and am 64 now. Through my early 50's, I was a truck camper guy, then a couple 5th wheels (for a growing family), and then a B for, mostly me. I'm looking into getting rid of the 5th wheel for a smaller towable I can pull with the PW Traverse for those times wife and/or kids want to join me.

Like Davydd and most B owners, I suspect, I'm a wanderer rarely staying in one place more than one night. The reason I'll likely get a more self-contained rig is so I can wander longer than my self-imposed limits on using the Traverse (a week at a time or so). Those Advenced B's look awfully good but I think I want to stay with a gasser in spite of all the other benefits of diesel (like a no-propane system).

In any event, I'll be around here for awhile as we're heading into another transitioning phase in our RVing lives.

BTW, I wish I'd said "slow" and not "dead"!

I think the B world is often the entry point into RVing for many newbies. In fact there is the "pre-B" world of converted vans or van conversions for those who cant or wont sink money into an expensive B and/or those who want to DIY and make it their own, the hobby group. As a former camper (now retired) I wanted to once again satisfy my nomad itch, travel, camp with my dogs but not in a tent for safety reasons. I also wanted something to drive and park on my city streets when home. I was obviously attracted to Bs but didnt want to sink money into even an old B. I would rather put my money into the vehicle vehicle part for safety and DIY inside and see how a little roughing it worked. Doing this for 3 years and I love it.

They are younger nomads, the pre-family (1 or 2) and those who are post family (1 or 2). And in the middle are those like the artisans who travel to art shows, competitions, and itinerant workers. Or those who are just on vacation.

B is for nomads, C is for staying put. So the jack of all trades that works on my homes has a large trailer parked year around at a family campground. He has been taking his family there for years. OTOH, big rigs are also for retired folks getting away from the cold or city or whatever. I might be tempted if my DH was interested but that is ahead when he retires. I have only recently lured him from the dark side (flyover) into month long wanderings by getting him his own teardrop that I pull.

My RVan reflects the nomadic part of my life, my independence. Since the day I bought it I have been modifying it to my wandering needs without regard to "resale value". Others may, as someone pointed out, some buy a B as a "toy" but still view it as an investment and dont modify anything. I am amazed in my travels how many Bs and Cs are parked all over the US in peoples side and back yards. And there are the vintage people; the VW, the Shastas etc. who have their own forums and meet ups.

In general there is a difference in what men vs women want in a B. Those that want to Jack Kerouac it, to hunt and fish and boondock. Who need it for work, for independence from a mortgage. There is "Women on the Fly", Women RVing specialized forums for just women with their own meets ups. So the range is very broad, maybe no two people have exactly the same reasons. I suppose if I were to pick an animal that most closely resembles my current stage of life I would say the turtle.

Facebook, Twitter, discussion groups, fora, whatever...they just different interfaces. Each has strengths and weaknesses--all of them are adequate, none of them is great. If you just want to "hang out" and chat, any of them will do.

BUT, there is one function that IMO the discussion groups do far better than any of the au courant social media sites, and that is the accumulation of a referenceable archive of information. Many of the long-standing discussion groups have evolved over the years into treasure troves of valuable and reasonably well-curated information. Every once in awhile one of these venerable groups suddenly disappears for one reason or another. If you have ever experienced this with a group in which you were invested, you know the sense of loss. Stuff does sort of accumulate on Facebook, but it is essentially a medium for ephemera. I don't think anybody really expects stuff submitted there to survive for the long-term.

Davydd wrote:
If you used the Facebook Groups app on an iPhone you could discover how easy it is to read and post to groups of your choice on Facebook and completely ignore the trappings of The rest of Facebook.

I'm just old school. :) I prefer a keyboard (not a touch screen or chicklets) for my input medium. And a photo display rather than a thumbnail display. :) While my grandkids can thumb their messages it unbelievable speed (in another language and with typos), I'll never achieve that dexterity. So phone apps don't do it for me. My tablet is fine for photos, but fails the keyboard test.

Davydd wrote:
Any message board that requires you to reference or link photos in a message or have to use BBC code is antiquated and more user unfriendly.

That's the "quaintness" of it. :)

I have been on this forum since we began toying with getting a class B and used the forum to gain information about Class Bs as we were making our decision. It was very helpful. But I only occasionally view it now since we don't have any buying decisions to make and we have had long experience with our Class B (that we love) so aren't looking for much advice.

Admin wrote:
There are not that many people that want a RV the size of a Class B. I would think that they appeal more to single people rather than the family group.

I think the biggest group of Class B owners has two attributes, retired couples and a desire to "tour" as opposed to "camp."

But I think the answer to the subject of this thread is the "Everything is down" comments. There are many other options for people's attention.

The vast majority of RVing is older people. I'm parked this morning in a large, free BLM land outside Quartzsite dispersed CG that has maybe a 100 RVs. They are all big rigs with one or two people and 9 months of the year that is the rule. I think there is one other B in the place. Everyone is spread out. Our nearest neighbor is a 5th wheeler 100 feet away. Being dispersed I parked so none of his windows could see us.

Class B is an exclusive club. It is not obviously for everyone at 2% of the RVing world and it is expensive if you judge it by cost per sq. ft. of space. On the other hand as I sit in this CG I doubt there is another RV here that has traveled 4,800 miles this month and has camped in the diversity of places and campgrounds we have including some impossible places like a driveway, on the street or a mountain top 24 ft. Maximum campground.

I'm convinced now the future of B'ing will be the self-sustained model Roadtrek is pushing with their Etrek concepts. Advanced RV is there now. We are totally independent of the grid and services campground except for a weekly dump and water replenishment. We have full use of our B with 100% use of 120VAC 24/7. I am also typing this in my lazy boy articulated bed position. I'm thinking we could easily full time in this which I guess we are doing from February to June. By the time we finish this trip we will have been to both coasts and will travel over 12,000 miles, maybe more at the rate we are going. I doubt you you could do this in any other RV.

PS. We have no propane or Onan generator.

Hi everybody. Speaking for myself...This is a very timely post to me, since I'm reading for the first time in years.

I was very active for several years when I first joined, but eventually all my questions were answered and then I was quite busy with a spin-off forum that was extremely active and lively for many years. It was attacked by people of ill will, for no good reason, and we lost all our best posters, so it is now defunct. Maybe a little more moderation would have been in order, for that group at least.

All that said, I'm happy to see that this place is still alive and well, if not as robust as before. One of the reasons for the spin-off (to Campfire Soapbox and then to Gatherings) was that there was just too much going on, so maybe this should work to our advantage.