Sleepy makes a good point. I should round this report off with some conclusions, summary of places I liked most, etc. So here is some extra information as a sort of summary.
LocationsWhite Sands was probably our favourite location. You've probably guessed that we like deserts :) and this one doesn't disappoint. It would have been nice to get some photos at sunrise (we were there early, but not that early).
We didn't see anything of Tucson itself, but it is surrounded by some very interesting places. You could easily spend several days there and visit the Pima ASM / boneyard, Titan II missile silo, Kitt Peak observatory, Saguaro NP and Biosphere 2.
CampgroundsThat one above the Rio Grande was my favourite. But the real winner here is camping in general in the US. BLM / state parks / etc. Beautiful locations, picnic tables and BBQ facilities provided. The system of posting your payment in an envelope is an ideal one. I guess there are nice private campgrounds, but those we saw from the road looked pretty unappetizing to us.
This class B versus our TCThis class B was similar overall dimensions to our little truck camper, though a bit narrower and lower, so is a good comparison.
The narrowness of the class B was convenient, and the more aerodynamic shape meant I could do 75 on the freeway without too much damage to my cashflow.
It had a back-up camera with a display incorporated into the rear-view mirror – nice (though not something I would spend money on myself).
Having AC seemed a nice idea, but it was noisy and only worked when a 110v supply was available, plus if I can live without it in the Sahara I think I can probably live without it on my TC – it is also another projecting piece of hardware I would probably whack with a tree branch when driving offroad.
I loved the access between the cab and the camper – very useful.
The shower was nice, though it took up a lot of space we don’t have in our camper, at the expense of storage space – once we had stowed food there was no space to store clothes, so they had to stay in travel bags and sit on the seats in the camper and be repeatedly moved about during the day. The very dry air in the high desert meant that using this shower was practical. I do wonder what it would be like in my local climate which is very damp. I suspect the interior of the shower would barely dry out.
The water heater was also nice, however recently we have found that we are completely happy heating up water in a kettle to wash with using a face cloth and soap, meaning the lack of a shower in our TC isn’t too much of a problem for us.
Having the toilet was nice, but it smelled a bit and we tended to try to use the facilities at places we visited during the day rather than use the RV toilet. In our TC we have a porta-potty we can use for emergencies, so I guess we are covered there.
The lack of a fixed over-cab bed was a real pain because it meant having to move all the bags etc. and convert the dinette into a bed every night, and back again in the morning.
This camper is clearly not going off road – it is rear wheel drive only and has a fairly long rear overhang. We take our TC offroad a lot. However, Sportsmobile do some nice 4x4 class Bs you could consider.
There was a TV / DVD player built in which we didn’t use once. In our TC my small netbook serves this purpose if we find ourselves stuck inside the camper in the evening due to the weather.
This camper had no solar panels – a mistake since it has a compressor fridge. It did have a generator, but that was just noisy and stank of exhaust fumes and also didn't seem to charge the batteries very well. I cannot ever see myself buying a generator at home, but then I do have solar.
I really liked the fan in the roof vent – we don’t have one of those and it would be a real benefit.
I did miss having a turbo diesel - this 5.4 gasser just doesn’t have enough grunt, but gets through fuel at a rate all the same – worse performance AND worse gas mileage is difficult to stomach.
Fix listI suspect most people renting an RV won't be either experts at RV maintenance or be bringing the necessary tools with them. To add to that even this little van had a lot of systems that someone without experience would have struggled to use correctly. Here is the list of problems I found or had to fix:
- Slow puncture - had to top up the air.
- Had to re-tighten the side door handle screws.
- Had to re-attach the glass sink cover hinge.
- Water pump barely working.
- Fixed hot water pipe leak under sink.
- Generator exhaust vibrated (mounting may have failed).
- Generator not charging battery properly.
- LPG tank pressure relief valve went off.
- 15 to 30 amp converter missing.
- No plastic bowl supplied, had to buy one.
- Blankets supplied not sufficient - had to buy quilt.
- Grey water tank gauge wrong.
- Fresh water tank gauge wrong.
- LPG tank gauge wrong.
- Cassette toilet flush tank difficult to fill.
- Fantastic fan vent jammed closed.
However, we didn't let any of the above spoil our trip, which we thoroughly enjoyed.
Steve.
