24. Or. 30

[Gaetan]

We are looking for a 23 or 24 feet class C to replace our truck camper
Good floor plans are rare in that range we see more in the 28 to 30feet
We like the easyness of our TC and we think 30" is not easily parkable
Just any ware...? I would appreciate your opinions
Gaetan

[lfcjasp]

We have a 24' 11" Four Winds 24C (I'm always saying it's 25' long...simpler and only one inch). We've enjoyed ours, a full bath, nice kitchen and it comes with curtains to provide privacy in the back corner bed (and I can make it up alright...just takes some figuring out how to do it as best you can) and the cabover bunk. It does have a slide for the dinette, wardrobe and pantry.

We'd like a bigger a roomier kitchen (more counter space really), walk around bed and I hate the u-shaped dinette. We've used it with family and it's crowded and the table is too little.

OTOH, this rig is so easy to park, seems to fit anywhere in any park, is usable with the slide in. It's been an emergency bedroom when the S&B house lost A/C, a hunt shack and served as an air-conditioned dressing room for our SIL at the races.

We do sit outside a lot....or did, until this past summer became a state-wide steambath. But we manage okay with the little space. Renting a small
class c for a trip and maybe a little bigger for the next is a good way to see what you like and help you decide.

ETA: Motorhomes are more likely to come with on-board generators and ours came in handy running freezers and fridges for us and a neighbor when Michael knocked out our power. Gotta love owning an RV!!!

[Jack_Spratt]

We traded our AF 811 to get a Leprechaun 260DS
Theater seating recliners and “J lounge “ dinette are our favorite features
Truck camper was fun, but got to be hard on our knees.

[melandme]

We have owned a Minnie Winnie 25B for the last 3 years. We can usually find a place to park it without a problem. The only times I can recall not finding a place to park was in Yellowstone at some of the pullouts that were full and in a college town. In the college town we parked at a big box store and rode the bus. At 26 ft it is not to big, but does offer the sofa seating and sleeping option. DW got a tension rod and curtain to separate the bedroom from the cabin. It stores in the wardrobe. Only used it a couple of times. Not having a slide, we can over night in two parking spaces easily. Do get the E 450 chassis for the extra weight capacity.

[BFL13]

No door to separate the bedroom from the front in either of those. The little one, you can't see the TV from the one comfy chair.(Who gets to sit there?) The big one, ditch the sofa bed and have two comfy chairs there. TV outside? The people in the next site must just love that! 😞

[fugawi]

We are considering this too. While I am still putting more weight on the shorter length, we are planning to rent each length this fall/spring to try before we buy. (We went from an 18' BP to a 26' BP to a 34' FW relatively quickly, and are trying to avoid that in the Class C 😄 )

We have also looked at 25-26'(like below) to get a little more seating/inside space.

[Oldtymeflyr]

We switched from an Outfitter Apex 8 which is on the smaller side to a Thor Four Winds 24 H/L. First, almost any Class C would be bigger. We really like the space. Our mobility off road has been reduced, but we go about anywhere on paved roads and most improved gravel roads. Around town its angle parked and on large city streets it takes two parallel parking spots, yes we regularly pay for two meters.

For us it works, we are about 3 feet longer than our previous camper which was in a 6.5 foot box. We are just a little longer than some of the really big TC.

A camper is a personal matter what you like. We like the mobility and comfort of our Thor Four Winds 24 H/L.

Good Luck and let us know what you choose.

[suprz]

You have to do what feels right to you. PERIOD! We have a 31ft class c with a slide. The other folks that say you can't go everywhere are correct, you can't. It does take more planning. BUT... For us, the space is great, and we love the size. We carry my wifes motorcycle on the back for our toad right now, or rent a car when we get to our destination if the weather is bad, later we will probably get a car for our toad. Our feelings when buying this motorhome was it would be easier to trade down from a larger rig to a smaller one. (trade in allowance). We started with a pop up with a 12ft box and went straight to this class c, and have never looked back. You have to do what works for you.

[D_E_Bishop]

We just looke at a 24 foot Class C Prism, lovely rig but we do a lot of sightseeing and use all sorts of campgrounds from disbursed BLM to RV Resorts and almost as many miles sightseeing as traveling. For us making and breaking camp everyday wouldn't work.

26 to 28 seems best for us, 28 seems to have dinette and sofa and we like that. We also tow a Sidekick for sightseeing. You gotta find what works for you. Rental agencies can be of help.

[T18skyguy]

lhenry8113 wrote:
We recently bought a 2017 used class c-it's under 24ft. The big difference to me is seating areas in the camper. We have only the dinette area to sit in. The driver and passenger seats do not swivel. If you get a bit larger class c there will probably be a small couch as well as the dinette-more seating as well as the front seats might swivel. For my D.W., myself and a small dog the seating inside is adequate and being a shorter class c my D.W. feels ok driving it occasionally. Ours has the drivers side rear slide out for the bed. . It is a Chevy with a gas engine.

This was also my conundrum. The dinette is very uncomfortable to sit in all evening. I couldn't find a rig with both couch and dinette under 30 foot. Maybe I didn't look hard enough. My 22 footer was very nimble and easy to park, but then crowded and uncomfortable once set up. We ended up with a 32 footer. Yes it's a pain to park, but really nice once set up. If comfort at the destination is important, I feel bigger is better. If you can get by with smaller, than all the better.

[whizbang]

We were camper people too.

Get the 24 for sure. Outside, about the same as a big truck/truck camper. Inside, much more space, comfort and storage.

The longer C's are boat anchors. Parking for day trips can be difficult. If you end up with a toad, you are really long. The 24 is a lot more maneuverable and easier to park.

Here's a photo of our 24-1/2 Minnie on the square in Downtown Arcata. Try that in a 29 footer.

[BFL13]

It all depends on how you like things. Going from a truck camper to anything can make the new thing seem really big. Not long after that, the new thing can seem too small.

We had an 11 foot camper on our long box extended cab Chev (22 ft) so the camper stuck out three feet farther back for 25 ft. The camper seemed very cramped to us, being used to our 28ft 5er we also had.

We had a 22 ft 5er at first, thinking it was huge compared with the 8.5 ft camper we started with. Nope. Too small. The 28ft 5er was perfect for us. Main thing is I get up early and she sleeps in, so there needs to be some room. Also we have some dogs and their kennels to keep somewhere.

We now have a 28ft Class C with no slide and it is just right. Almost as much space as the 28ft 5er and a good floor plan. We have looked at lots of smaller Cs and they just don't cut it-too small!

As far as driving it around, there hasn't been an issue. It is longer than the truck with the 11ft camper, but not much, maybe three feet. We park in mall parking lots, any provincial park campsite around here (on the Island) and at home. Goes where the 5er went in our yard. Lot shorter than the truck towing the 5er too!

So for us, no way would we want a 24 ft C, that would be as bad as the 11 ft camper in our minds, but really more like the 22 ft 5er that was too small.

It must depend on how you like to live together all day. If you like to read and she watches TV or do you both do the same things sitting next to each other a lot? Do you need some "space"? DW says she notices that people with smaller Cs bail out and sit outside as much as they can, where with a bigger rig people stay inside more. We think we know why that is.

Bottom line is don't go by your truck camper experience in judging how big the Class C or trailer is. Knowing how it went for us, I think it would be wise (20-20 hindsight) to rent a 24 ft C and get a feel for it for a two week trip. Then go sit in a 28ft C and see if you would like that a lot better or would be fine with the 24.

You take a bath on trading in and buying again, so it is better to get it right the first time. BTDT 😞

[Dusty_R]

We had a 2002 Itasca 24V, with a swivel chair behind cab passenger seat. A pullout sofa, could be made into a bed. Dinette in back left corner. Bath room back left corner.
We slept above the cab, didn't mind climbing up and down, until a few years ago, I had my prostrate removed, now I need to get up a few times during the night, so we swapped for a longer mh with bed down. We really liked that 24 foot mh. It was on the E-350 base.

Dusty

[nightshift]

Newbiecampers wrote:

azdryheat wrote:
It's an extra 4 to 6 feet, not a big deal. Pick the floorplan you like and learn to drive it.

For the OP:

I wholeheartedly disagree that the extra 4 to 6 feet is no big deal. Especially if you value the ability to go anywhere.

We were able to go anywhere we wanted with our 24 foot class C the last two summers. Places where that extra 4 or 6 feet would never have allowed. The size of our RV has never been a consideration when pulling into any campsite, restaurant, gas station, store, making a U-turn on a road, etc. etc..

We have camped in numerous and beautiful camping spots that would not have been possible in anything larger than what we have (24 feet).

We love to see signs when entering a forest service campground, or any campground for that matter, that say "max length 26 feet" (or less). That has usually meant few other people are there except some tents, maybe a couple of other small class C units, or someone pulling a teardrop-type trailer.

We have also gotten many a site in some popular locations (grand canyon south rim for one) driving in at the last minute with no reservations due to our small size when all other larger sites were sold out. Was able to get a walk-up site in Arches NP using one of those small pull-off the side of the main road type of spots. The ultimate was in Glacier NP last summer. No reservations, and scored an absolutely gorgeous spot due to a 25 foot lengh restriction combined with a hard-side unit only restriction due to bear activity.

Newbie is spot on. If you go over 26 ft you're into a different world. We can park anywhere in our 24' Bigfoot. Many times we have boondocked in tight spaces that would have been impossible with a big rig. It all depends on what type of camping you do.

[garmp]

We have a Phoenix Cruiser 2100Phoenix Cruiser 2100. 22' long and room enough for the two of us. The floor plan is great with the dinette and a bed at the same time. No need to tow. Small enough to go most any where and large enough to be comfortable.
But that's us!

[pnichols]

Desert Captain wrote:
"We like the easyness of our TC and we think 30" is not easily parkable
Just any ware...?"

Once you get above 26' in Class C there will be a huge difference vs what you were used to and obviously liked about your TC. There are lots of choices but adding 4 - 6' really does not bring that much benefit if you don't need all the extra interior space.

It depends a lot on how you plan to use the rig. We spend about 13 hours a day outside retreating to the rig just to eat and sleep. For us the drive/parkability of our 24' 6" C is priceless. We can easily shop, sightsee and park just about anywhere we go and we definitely will fit in any site.

Our non slide Nexus is 101" wide and has a full 7' of headroom throughout the coach making it one of the roomiest 24 footers out there. Marry those dimensions to a great floorplan and we have found what for us is the perfect coach. We have far more storage and payload than we can use and the V-10 powers our E-350 chassis without even breathing hard.

After 5+ years and 52K+ miles, we would never go bigger... just no reason to do so.
As always... Opinions and YMMV



:C

Gaetan (the OP),

I completely agree with what Desert Captain is saying above!

Our situation is similar to his ... the wife and myself (and a little dog) have traveled all over the U.S. in our 24 foot Itasca Class C that has no slides and is 101 inches wide with plenty of headroom (I'm 6'2") and storage inside and out. We cannot overload it because it's based on the heavier duty E450 Ford van chassis (small Ford based Class C rigs are usually built on the E350 chassis).

What really makes ours most usable is that the DW - with her bad back - has the entire rear queen bed to herself and I have the entire overhead cab queen bed to myself. (However, I'm blessed in that I can still, at age 76, easily get up into the overhead cab bed.)

We don't tow and don't need to, as we can quickly break camp and go into towns to resupply or visit. We can camp in the older campgrounds with small sites and we can camp without hookups whenever required with it's generous tanks with 12 volt heaters, large double batteries, generous sized propane refrigerator, and built-in Onan generator (we also carry along another small portable generator). We even take ours offroad out in the desert to explore, collect rocks, and sometimes boondock camp.

Here's the brochure on our Class C line - we have the non-slide 24V model with the rear queen corner bed: http://www.winnebagoind.com/resources/brochure/2005/05-Spirit-bro.pdf

P.S. Note that our 24V floorplan has a swivel lounge chair immediately to the right of the side entrance door (it swivels and extends back and forth) - in addition to the dinette - which can easily seat four (it has four seat belts) and also converts into a full sized bed.