24 feet versus 26' dilemma, have to decide fast

[mountaintravele]

Hello! I'm a complete newbie to RVs.
I'm buying a motorhome to travel the country for a year or two.
I have no pets.
(I had extensively traveled America and camped all over for 20 years without an RV and I love tent camping)

I found that my favorite places (in National Forests and parks) allow 24 feet max motorhome max.
Sometimes even the road to the place has this length limit
(windy mountain roads).
Upon viewing 24' units I feel tehre's too little space to fulltime in for 1-2 years. I guess I feel the fatigue from my extensive tent camping and all the tiny houses I stayed in, as I've been a full time traveler for quite a while
26' seems like a very good compromise size-wise (ideally I'd want a 31 but this won't get me into placdes)
Gas mileage on those seems to be the same, prices too.
The problem is the size limits.

Do you think I can get away with 26' in 24' spaces?
I see some indications people had been doing it but not sure if it's for real.

[klutchdust]

before you purchase whatever unit you decide on, be sure and have it inspected by someone who has experience with RV'S. One of the most important inspections needs to be for water damage, especially around the front above cab area. Appliances and systems, air conditioner, heater need to be checked. How about the service/maintenance on the chassis. Money well spent before you purchase.
There hasn't been one trip made where I haven't had something require attention. I keep a note pad and write down what to take care of before the next trip. Appliances are easy to replace and the builders use
the same brands. I have used mobile mechanics when out and about and you can get a quicker response than a brick and mortar repair shop. If you get a Ford V-10 buy a few spare ignition coils and carry them with you.
Best of luck in your adventure, see you in the Sierras!

[bobndot]

Mountaintraveler wrote:
I came up with the idea of gutting the sofa and any seats if I get 24' one. I can put them in storage and later reistall them when it's time to sell the RV. I only use my camping cot and camping chair recliner in the house, don't want anything else, so RV furniture is of no use for me. If I gut some furniture I can free space. My recliner folds, might even fold the camping cot for the day if I need to freeing space.

A sleeping option :
you could use 1/2 the cabover space as storage and use the other 1/2 as your bed.

Removing rv furniture:
You’re probably not going to find total flat floor space for storage.

Under the rv bed is usually a large freshwater tank and maybe the water heater plus other rv related components.
You would need to fabricate secure storage on top of the beds raised plywood platform. You need to make sure your stored items will not crash thru the windows. They can easily break.

The same applies to the dinette area. Under the dinette are the wheel wells, maybe the furnace and other things can take up that space .

If you’re lucky, some slide-outs will offer you flat floor space when the rv furniture is removed, maybe ! Be careful fabricating in a slide-out. They are very thin walled, less than the rv sidewalls. Watch the length of your bolts, it must be clear in order to slide. Slide tolerances are tight.
By removing rv beds and dinettes , I’m not so sure you will accomplish as much of your goal for extra storage . Just something to think about.

*Remember you are driving in the same space that you are storing things. Whatever you fabricate, make sure your equipment is secured in a solid manner. If not, it becomes projectiles in the event of an accident. Bolt the framing you use through solid foundations.
Protect yourself ! That doesn’t mean to wear a helmet when driving. 🙂

[bobndot]

Also the sideview. Its fine when going straight. In a class c the cab portion is narrower than the coach portion. You have take intersections at more of a right angle otherwise the coach will block your side vision.

[toedtoes]

mountaintraveler wrote:

I have bad eyes.
Also, my eyeglasses' plastic frames limit my field of vision. No one to help parking. I get very tired on long drives, become no good at parking from fatique. Had adventures with my Camry's bumper meeting pine trees and boulders, definitely and a 20' campsite can be hard to back even a Camry into when you're tired. Can't imagine what happens with long vehicle. Shorter RV is definitely safer bet in terms of not hitting things and not scraping.

Remember that with ANY motorhome, your visibility is much more limited than in a car. If you already have difficulty backing in to spaces in your camry, you're going to be miserable with the motorhome.

You can't see out the back of the motorhome. The only way to see behind the MH is with a backup camera and that's going to be a small view. In addition, it's not just what's behind you, it is what's above you. Tree branches hanging over the site in particular.

Trying to back in and park a motorhome, especially by yourself, when you are tired is not fun. Doing so with bad vision, etc, - well don't camp near me. 😉

In addition, the body of the motorhome is not as sturdy as the body of a car. That slight dent you got in the camry when you backed into a boulder is going to do a lot nore damage to the motorhome.

[mountaintravele]

Thanks for all the replies.

Very good points had been made about Sierra Nevada campgrounds, how tight the spaces can be, and about the length of the tail overhang part that might limit things.
May be good to start with smaller 24' unit and see if there's room for upgrade.

[Grit_dog]

mountaintraveler wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
If the length “limit” you’re targeting is due to actual physical access limitations rather than mainstream public campground “rules” then I would think a Class C would be VERY limiting due to the long rear overhang poor departure angle and lowish ground clearance.
In other words I could hypothetically take your Corolla more places than a 25’ long Moho. Realistically as well.
Everything RV related is a compromise.
If you don’t like the lack of space in a 24’ then you may not like a TC but I don’t see either being limiting for one person to full time and explore in.
However if exploring is the priority like it appears, then a dually pickup with a 10’ ish single or double slide out camper on it will check the “exploring” box much better. Greater ground clearance, much better departure angle if you get the right camper, lots of extra storage if you get a crew cab and the ability to live in the camper for an extended period off the truck and have a passenger vehicle for getting out without folding up camp anytime you want or need to go somewhere.

Interesting that class C might be able to go to less places than Toyota sedan. It's not Corolla, it's Camry, which has quite a low clearance but it got me to a few places over rough roads. Class C RVs have higher clearance than Camry, normally, also one can install bigger tires, do some other stuff with suspension but I don't plan to.
I don't plan to go anywhere too wild in terms of road clearance.
I think class C without too much overhang should at least go where Camry can go - ?
(I know that TC with pickup would give me a lot more options as to where to go, but I mentioned I already considered this option and for many reasons it's not something I can go with)

This response shows that you can’t even conceptualize one of the most obvious limitations of a C. Now imagine your Car is twice as long, twice as wide and over twice as tall with an 8’ tail swing and you can’t see out the back windows.
Being brutally honest here, a vehicle that would require a DOT registration and drivers file to drive commercially is not in your wheelhouse. Save yourself and whomever you forget is next to you when you make that last turn into the campground some money

[Grit_dog]

I’m going to respectfully say that driving a large RV is not the best idea. Hopefully you keep the mishaps and whiskey dents to yourself and things like boulders and trees…
Not to sound crass, but we don’t get to camp a lot and my truck/camper been hit twice by inexperienced camper jockeys likely half your age or less who likely had about the same level of experience and aptitude without any of the impediments…. (Both were rentals hence my inexperience deduction and both couldn’t come to terms with the fact that their Prius driving butts didn’t have the spacial awareness to safely pilot a 10’ wide 30’ long vehicle.)
At least I only lost a mirror and thankfully the other hit the rear step bumper on my TC.
Neither had any interest in owning up to their mistakes.
Not a fan of folks who are consciously working to raise MY insurance rates!
I’d suggest a pop top short wheelbase B for your best bet at not hitting anything….even though it sounds like you shouldn’t be driving at all.

Just because your license hasn’t been revoked doesn’t mean you’re ok to drive.

[mountaintravele]

I think I should go with 24'. Looked at 26' more closely and oh my those tail ends are long.
It's not if, it's when they'd be scraping the ground in places I need to go to. And parking that....makes me wonder. Again it's not if, it's when I hit another pine tree.
I have no use for queen beds in the back, only for luggage storage, and it's too hard to remove them, seems like would be dragging huge queen bed I won't even sleep on while risking things because of long tail overhang.
Don't think I can correctly guess where 26' long tail can safely drive to, would need more experience. May be see with 24' and learn these things, and trade up later if it's too small.

[pianotuna]

mountaintraveler,

What is your price range?

[mountaintravele]

pnichols wrote:
Ann ... are you going to be traveling/camping alone or will there be two of you?

The length you get should not be determined only by what's allowed in the campsites you may want to use. It should also - and probably more importantly for safety and emergencies - be determined by the type of roads you need to use to get to the campsites.

Myself and my wife have RV'd for 17 years in a 24 ft. Class C with no slides, and have been completely satisfied with it. We take it carefully on dirt/gravel roads to explore and camp as needed.

If it's just a small Class C for yourself, here's what I would recommend:

- Choose a slideless model to maximize overall coach reliability.
- Choose a model with high stock ground clearance ... this probably means being built on the Ford or Chevy full size van cutaway chassis instead of the various smaller van chassis such as the Ford Transit, RAM ProMaster, Mercedes Sprinter, etc.. These smaller chassis can be "lifted" of course, but their ground clearance is not very good when left in stock form.
- For a good feeling of "room/comfort" in a small Class C, get a model with BOTH ... either a separate lounge chair from the dinette and/or cab chairs that can be retrofitted to swivel arond to face the coach, PLUS coming stock with a standard dinette seating/table area.
- After purchase have the dinette seating area retrofitted with two full sized tilt-back/foot rest lounge chairs with a small table between them.
- Finally, if it's only yourself living in this small Class C ... sleep in the rear bed and use the overhead cab bed for a whole bunch of storage space.

When combineed with a built-in generator fueled by the main chassis fuel tank, a large-as-possible solar panel array on the roof combined with lithium coach batteries, a good heating system, a large enough air conditioning system, and a satellite based Internet access system ... you have a small enough Class C to access most campsites in the U.S. while at the same time having all the comforts of home out in the middle of nowhere.

There's very little choice as to units, most units in my price range sell like hot cakes, small units are a hot item these days. Everything is sold out.
I don't have much choice really, the only choice is length, I found only few units, that a win already considering insane prices and demand these days. I'm not a rich person and yes I'm traveling alone.

As I mentioned above, I'm thinking of gutting some useless to me furniture out and putting it in storage, to use my small folding camping furniture instead and even folding it up, as needed, to make space.

[mountaintravele]

It seems like a lot of things point to getting a 24'.

- poor campsite and boondocking spot availability these days, places are very popular and longer spurs are taken first. Favorite campgrounds have 19'-21' site limits.

- I looked up online and seems like there're a lot more affordable options to put RV < 25' length in storage. Longer storage is harder to find/more expensive and I'll be moving back to Europe in a couple of years, but want to leave the motorhome in storage first

- maneuverability might be an issue with longer motorhome because of my inexperience, mountainous nature of places I need to go to, me having bad eyes and eyeglasses plastic frames limiting the field of vision, not having anyone with me to help parking, not having a toad to scout the road (but I guess I can carry a bicycle). Needing to do shopping in town, parking there, and to have more options than Walmart for that.

- longer tail alone can create problems, not all the above mentioned stuff related to parking, but also it can scrape more and I want to be one some rough roads (not 4wd kind of rough but still)

- 26' will likely fit where the limits are much smaller. At the same time not always and I'd be stressing out driving to places, wondering if I could fit it in or not. Some places I camp in, even a Camry isn't easy to park, that's how small the spurs are. I get tired from long drives and become lousy at parking.



I came up with the idea to gut some furniture out and put it in storage if I get 24'. My camping furinture I use in the house (I never use regular furniture, only camping cot and chairs) is small/narrow. I can free space by removing RV furniture that isn't of any use to me anyway. I have no use for sofa, swiwel chair, or table seats.

[pnichols]

Ann ... are you going to be traveling/camping alone or will there be two of you?

The length you get should not be determined only by what's allowed in the campsites you may want to use. It should also - and probably more importantly for safety and emergencies - be determined by the type of roads you need to use to get to the campsites.

Myself and my wife have RV'd for 17 years in a 24 ft. Class C with no slides, and have been completely satisfied with it. We take it carefully on dirt/gravel roads to explore and camp as needed.

If it's just a small Class C for yourself, here's what I would recommend:

- Choose a slideless model to maximize overall coach reliability.
- Choose a model with high stock ground clearance ... this probably means being built on the Ford or Chevy full size van cutaway chassis instead of the various smaller van chassis such as the Ford Transit, RAM ProMaster, Mercedes Sprinter, etc.. These smaller chassis can be "lifted" of course, but their ground clearance is not very good when left in stock form.
- For a good feeling of "room/comfort" in a small Class C, get a model with BOTH ... either a separate lounge chair from the dinette and/or cab chairs that can be retrofitted to swivel arond to face the coach, PLUS coming stock with a standard dinette seating/table area.
- After purchase have the dinette seating area retrofitted with two full sized tilt-back/foot rest lounge chairs with a small table between them.
- Finally, if it's only yourself living in this small Class C ... sleep in the rear bed and use the overhead cab bed for a whole bunch of storage space.

When combineed with a built-in generator fueled by the main chassis fuel tank, a large-as-possible solar panel array on the roof combined with lithium coach batteries, a good heating system, a large enough air conditioning system, and a satellite based Internet access system ... you have a small enough Class C to access most campsites in the U.S. while at the same time having all the comforts of home out in the middle of nowhere.

P.S. For improved access to even more small/intimate/remote camping areas in a larger variety of weather conditions ... after purchase you can have a four wheel drive system added to it.

[mountaintravele]

time2roll wrote:

mountaintraveler wrote:
Do you think I can get away with 26' in 24' spaces?

Mostly yes. My 26' trailer has fit in a 18 to 24' spot plenty of times. Never seen a tape measure come out.

That's very good to know.

Another question would be about road curves, like in Wheeler Peak road with 24' road limit.

[mountaintravele]

Grit dog wrote:
If the length “limit” you’re targeting is due to actual physical access limitations rather than mainstream public campground “rules” then I would think a Class C would be VERY limiting due to the long rear overhang poor departure angle and lowish ground clearance.
In other words I could hypothetically take your Corolla more places than a 25’ long Moho. Realistically as well.
Everything RV related is a compromise.
If you don’t like the lack of space in a 24’ then you may not like a TC but I don’t see either being limiting for one person to full time and explore in.
However if exploring is the priority like it appears, then a dually pickup with a 10’ ish single or double slide out camper on it will check the “exploring” box much better. Greater ground clearance, much better departure angle if you get the right camper, lots of extra storage if you get a crew cab and the ability to live in the camper for an extended period off the truck and have a passenger vehicle for getting out without folding up camp anytime you want or need to go somewhere.

Interesting that class C might be able to go to less places than Toyota sedan. It's not Corolla, it's Camry, which has quite a low clearance but it got me to a few places over rough roads. Class C RVs have higher clearance than Camry, normally, also one can install bigger tires, do some other stuff with suspension but I don't plan to.
I don't plan to go anywhere too wild in terms of road clearance.
I think class C without too much overhang should at least go where Camry can go - ?
(I know that TC with pickup would give me a lot more options as to where to go, but I mentioned I already considered this option and for many reasons it's not something I can go with)

[mountaintravele]

toedtoes wrote:
As you are particular about the campgrounds where you will stay, I suggest going with the 24ft and buy a popup gazebo that you can put up for extra living space.

Here in Northern California, the foothills and desert areas you can usually fit a 26ft in a 24ft foot space as there are rarely trees, etc preventing you from backing in further. During the winter, these are often nice places to stay as there is no snow and few campers.

In the Sierras, you will have a much harder time trying to fit a 26ft in a 24ft space. the campgrounds that fit your description the best don't fit larger than 20ft and are first come first serve. The next closest (my usual category) will have boulders and/or trees directly behind the parking pad so you cannot back further into the site to fit. Some of the 24ft sites will barely fit a 24ft rig - the front end will be within a foot of the road. And most of my favorite campgrounds in the Sierras don't have any longer sites, the rest at most have 3 or 4 sites for over 24ft and those go very fast.

I see. I'm very familiar with the Sierra, spent years camping with my car and a tent in it - never gave much thought to the length of parking areas as with a sedan car it's never an issue.
Some campgrounds or sites I like have 20' limit. 24' should fit in with overhang going over spur sometimes, I've seen it done.
26'? I'm not so sure.
One thing I do not want to be stressing out driving for hours somewhere wondering if I fit in or drive long time only to find I can't fit in there. I found that even with a tent I've been stressing out a lot heading to remote camps, not knowing if good spots would be taken up or not.

And yes, longer spur campsites will go first.
Some National Forests outside the Sierra are full of RVs now, literally swarming with them, and every boondocking spot is taken (in the mountains there're not going to be many spots) - the bigger spots go first.
Van is really what has the advantage. But I considered that and won't be comfortable with class B. Even B+ (say, 22') seems too small, especially since usually no slide.