Trip Report : Quebec and New England
It's March 2012 and Silversand (AKA Derek) and Silverdunes (AKA Nikki) are sharing a beer with me in a heatwave in Bromont, Quebec. It's 24 celcius and I'm starting to doubt Derek's descriptions of ic...
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Saturday 5th September : Montreal to Bromont
I booked a taxi for 8am - pessimistic really because it meant we got to the RV rental company across town 30 minutes before the first employee.
One of these must be our RV. I was hoping it was the small 19ft one - I really didn't want a "free upgrade" to a 27ft RV because they didn't have the requested one available:
By now you may have noticed that none of the above are truck campers :( - Once again we had failed to find a truck camper for rent, but at least on this journey we would have Derek's outfitter in convoy with us, and we could compare this compact class C against our truck camper that is only slightly shorter.
The first thing we noticed was the RV hadn't been washed and the gas tank wasn't full. The interior was clean, the water tank full and the grey and black tanks empty, but as part of the deal the renter has to return the RV like that anyway, so there was the possibility that the rental station hadn't done anything to this RV since it was returned by the last renters. Note that the rules regarding gasoline are - if you return it with more gas in than when you rented it - they don't refund you, but if you return it with less - they charge you for the difference. But clearly just pocket that money without filling the gas tank back up!
Rental guy gives us a very quick exterior tour. Hopefully we got the shortened tour because we are experienced RV owners - because if not there will be a lot of renters driving out not having a clue how to dump tanks or do other essentials. They seem to rely on you having watched all their introductory videos.
The RV is a Ford E350, like the class B we rented in Denver. Same 5.4 Triton V8, but at these low altitudes it performed more acceptably than in the Rockies. on start-up the transmission defaults to tow-haul mode; which I disable each time, enabling it temporarily for down-grades and to improve compression braking coming up to junctions.
For those of a technical nature, here are the maker's plates:
Inside the first big difference compared to a truck camper is the walk-through cab:
The overcab bed is cut away to make walking down into the cab easier. One of the cushions is then placed over the gap and has a ply insert to support you. However, that 3/4" less padding makes a big difference to comfort for whoever sleeps on that side (it being east-west configuration).
Note also there is a full dinette. Many of the European class Cs save a couple of foot of internal space by making the driver and passenger seats swivelling captains chairs and doing away with one of the dinette couches.
Looking rearwards you can see the central side-door, another departure from a truck camper:
Behind the door is the fridge and wardrobe, and on the other side a wet bath. At the far end is a galley. However that is a cul-de-sac that gets really hot when you cook and is too far away from the dinette table meaning there is very little space to work and prepare food - a real drawback of this design.
The side door does not have a window - it has a fake window:
OK, enough talking about the RV for now - time to set off for Bromont, to the east of Montreal across the Champlain river.
Derek and Nikki live on the side of a small mountain outside Bromont. They are gardening when I turn in their drive, and to Nikki's surprise (since it is quite steep) drive all the way to the top:
It is great to catch up again, and many hours pass discussing all manor of subjects. Soon we are exhausted though and take up the kind offer of their spare bedroom.
Stay tuned for some local Quebec camping...
I booked a taxi for 8am - pessimistic really because it meant we got to the RV rental company across town 30 minutes before the first employee.
One of these must be our RV. I was hoping it was the small 19ft one - I really didn't want a "free upgrade" to a 27ft RV because they didn't have the requested one available:
By now you may have noticed that none of the above are truck campers :( - Once again we had failed to find a truck camper for rent, but at least on this journey we would have Derek's outfitter in convoy with us, and we could compare this compact class C against our truck camper that is only slightly shorter.
The first thing we noticed was the RV hadn't been washed and the gas tank wasn't full. The interior was clean, the water tank full and the grey and black tanks empty, but as part of the deal the renter has to return the RV like that anyway, so there was the possibility that the rental station hadn't done anything to this RV since it was returned by the last renters. Note that the rules regarding gasoline are - if you return it with more gas in than when you rented it - they don't refund you, but if you return it with less - they charge you for the difference. But clearly just pocket that money without filling the gas tank back up!
Rental guy gives us a very quick exterior tour. Hopefully we got the shortened tour because we are experienced RV owners - because if not there will be a lot of renters driving out not having a clue how to dump tanks or do other essentials. They seem to rely on you having watched all their introductory videos.
The RV is a Ford E350, like the class B we rented in Denver. Same 5.4 Triton V8, but at these low altitudes it performed more acceptably than in the Rockies. on start-up the transmission defaults to tow-haul mode; which I disable each time, enabling it temporarily for down-grades and to improve compression braking coming up to junctions.
For those of a technical nature, here are the maker's plates:
Inside the first big difference compared to a truck camper is the walk-through cab:
The overcab bed is cut away to make walking down into the cab easier. One of the cushions is then placed over the gap and has a ply insert to support you. However, that 3/4" less padding makes a big difference to comfort for whoever sleeps on that side (it being east-west configuration).
Note also there is a full dinette. Many of the European class Cs save a couple of foot of internal space by making the driver and passenger seats swivelling captains chairs and doing away with one of the dinette couches.
Looking rearwards you can see the central side-door, another departure from a truck camper:
Behind the door is the fridge and wardrobe, and on the other side a wet bath. At the far end is a galley. However that is a cul-de-sac that gets really hot when you cook and is too far away from the dinette table meaning there is very little space to work and prepare food - a real drawback of this design.
The side door does not have a window - it has a fake window:
OK, enough talking about the RV for now - time to set off for Bromont, to the east of Montreal across the Champlain river.
Derek and Nikki live on the side of a small mountain outside Bromont. They are gardening when I turn in their drive, and to Nikki's surprise (since it is quite steep) drive all the way to the top:
It is great to catch up again, and many hours pass discussing all manor of subjects. Soon we are exhausted though and take up the kind offer of their spare bedroom.
Stay tuned for some local Quebec camping...
