B+ motorhomes

[Daniel_C_]

I just bought a Trail Lite B+ 211s with 8.1 Chevy
engine. This is my fifth motorhome (others range
from an old 20' Vagabond, and three Winnegagos, from 19 to 32'. This vehicle is fantastic. I am
using it as a mobile office (and sneaking in a fun
journey from time to time). It gets about 9.5mpg
and I believe I could pull a bus behind it if I wanted! I paid low $40's which is about what I had expected to pay for a five or six year old Chinook with a nicer interior, but fewer features
(slide). I am delighted thus far.

[cheeze1]

Wow, 79 days! I don’t know if I could stay away from our home that long! 🙂
I’ve always wanted to do a cross country trip to my sister in Monterey, but there are lots of things along the way to see, and we never liked marathon driving. I figure about a month to do it fairly comfortably, which, when translated into a rental cost, could result in the same amount one might pay for an older used RV.

[Teacher_s_Pet]

Gene in NE

Bought our '04 213 with 8K miles in April 2012 for an Alaska trip in 2013. It did great on that 79 day, 15K plus mile trip. Have used it for short jaunts since in the summer. Plan to use it for a Maritimes trip also, hasn't happened yet.

[Gene_in_NE]

cheeze1 wrote:
Good to hear from you Gene, I must say I do miss our 213, and if I had sufficient indoor storage, (I have none, period) I would love to still have it. My great experience on this forum helped me transition to the Corvette Forum I’m very active in now. It’s very similar in how (most of the time) its an insular group that serves its members.
I hope all is well with everyone and perhaps we will cross our 6 wheels someplace down the road!??

cheeze1 - You must check these posting (nice to hear back from you) or you just happened to see my posting. Yes, our mileage has dropped some as we pull an enclosed trailer with a Moto Guzzi inside to the State Rallies. Have managed to make at least 3 every year.

Oh, Teachers Pet, I remember you as well but you were not on this page when I posted.

Have a Merry Christmas all.

[cheeze1]

Good to hear from you Gene, I must say I do miss our 213, and if I had sufficient indoor storage, (I have none, period) I would love to still have it. My great experience on this forum helped me transition to the Corvette Forum I’m very active in now. It’s very similar in how (most of the time) its an insular group that serves its members.
I hope all is well with everyone and perhaps we will cross our 6 wheels someplace down the road!??

[Teacher_s_Pet]

Still have our 213, it's living in temperature controlled storage, while we winter in the Rio Grande Valley.

[Gene_in_NE]

Hi Gary and Cheez (Chas) - What a pleasant surprise, 2 names I recognize. It has been ages since I visited this forum. Stumbled onto it by trying to clean up my laptop for unneeded links and icons.

We are still driving our Trail-Lite and have over 50,000 miles and still driving like when it was new. I have to believe we got lucky cause we are only on the 3rd engine battery and the 2nd coach battery. It does stay indoors whenever we are not on the road.

[Gary_Swanson]

cheese1, take a look at rvshare.com for your renting. I'm considering listing our 2003 Trail-Lite 211S with them while we carefully consider whether to keep it or sell it. We have an itch but don't quite know what to do about it. Most stuff out there is either too big or too expensive. Or both.

[cheeze1]

Hi guys, I know it’s taking excruciatingly slow, but we are now talking about renting for awhile. Any recommendations? El Monte and CruiseAmerica are the biggest, we have access to either. Seems like pricing is very dependent on chosen dates.
In the time since we last had our rv, there are lots of apps available for travel purposes, was wondering which ones the group prefers.
Thanks!!

[pnichols]

garmp1 wrote:
Even with the Sportsmobile we considered ourselves B'ers, still with a dislike for the C folk and their cab over.
Funny how age has a way of varying one's opinion.

We went the backpacking, to tenting, to homemade-Dodge-van-camper route ... before finally doing it really right by buying a Class C.

We are now non-towing "C folk" in our small but mighty compact 24 footer and love it. We can comfortably dry/boondock camp as we rockhound and explore for days - even off highway out in the middle of nowhere - cloudy or clear due to it's quiet built-in generator fueled off the main tank and it's large batteries, and we don't have to replenish constantly due to it's 29 gal grey, 39 gal black, 45 gal fresh water, 18 gal propane, and 55 gal fuel tanks. It's built on an over-kill E450 Ford van chassis (instead of the usual E350) for additional braking reliability and frame stiffness (to minimize coach structure stress during travel on rough gravel or dirt roads).

My DW has a bad back - so must sleep spread out on her own permanent queen bed while I use the other queen bed in the cabover. How do you do this in a B or B+?

[garmp]

Got our first B+, a 2017 Phoenix Cruiser 2100, in March and currently on our third two week stint.
Never thought we'd become RVer's. We were diehard Campers with a disdain for people that lived in either fiberglass or aluminum boxes on wheels. But as things evolve we grew from ropes & tarps to tents to vans. Our last being a Sportsmobile with a microwave. Felt like a hypocrit, but age and medical issues have a way of forcing us to do certian things. But still won't give up my coolers.
As age and medical issues didn't stop, neither did our desire/need for more comforts. So then came Bob, our Phoenix Cruiser. Not only did I give up my precious coolers I gained a freezer. The wonders of it all. So now we're B+er's.
Even with the Sportsmobile we considered ourselves B'ers, still with a dislike for the C folk and their cab over.
Funny how age has a way of varying one's opinion.

[Teacher_s_Pet]

Put some more Seafoam in the 213 yesterday. I checked her all out, batteries up, ran her for about 3/4 of an hour, checked tires, will need to put new batteries in tire pressure sensors - 2 down, generator will need to be serviced, did not start, turned over well though. Sorry to say no use this year due to surgery on both my and wife's part the past 6 months, but it was needed and planned since last summer. So the 213 in out of the weather, safe and will be warm for another winter. Hope to use her next spring. That said, under 4000 miles on our Phaeton this year since leaving The Rio Grande Valley in mid March.

[cheeze1]

Hi Folks, been a very long time. Seems like we might be returning to the fold in the future. I have lost touch with some of the sources of used coaches, so if anyone has some references I would appreciate it!! Thanks!

[chasingsixty]

I've been part-time vandwelling for the past year. I started full time around six months ago. Middle of January we had an issue with our Toyota Sienna that resulted in an RV Purchase. I'll be full timing in the a 2017 Pleasure Way XLMB now. It's been about two months so far. I absolutely LOVE it - but, if you want to read about some of the hiccups in this fella I've written about them here:

http://chasingsixty.com/vandwelling/rv/Two-Months-In-Pleasure-Way-XLMB-Part-2/

I lived in a forty foot Diesel Pusher about six years ago. I stayed in that fella for about a year. Everyone's experience is their own but I absolutely love having the smaller RV. These things are built very well - I believe the hype surrounding their build quality mentioned in their marketing videos is pretty accurate. The wood work in here is impressive.

[Teacher_s_Pet]

The folding bed ..doesn't impress us at all. Scottiemom feels the tri-fold would be murder on her back after trying the bed in a Dynamax on the Promaster chassis last fall. The Murphy type beds appear to be better for her or we could go to a 25' B+ with a corner bed. We're in the Indy area for back surgery for her this Friday, arrived from the Rio Grande Valley Saturday night. Today was MRI and pre-op appointments. We will be here 1-2 months since we have follow ups in 1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 6 weeks, plus our normal doctor's appointments in the area at the end of April. Hopefully the B+ comes out of storage after mid May, for some summer use.

[Gene_in_NE]

Gary Swanson wrote:
The Pleasure-Way Plateau XLMB is a beautiful and well done B+, and 2' (that's two feet!!) shorter than Leisure Van's Wonder. The deal breaker for us in both units: the inside (driver's side) sleeper has to crawl over the other sleeper in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. Not a problem in our younger years but it is now. Phoenix Cruiser's 2100 and 2400 solve the problem by having a slide with an electric trifold bed that you can walk around.

It has been too long since I checked this thread. That XLMB looks like an excellent size for many individuals.

Here is their website http://pleasureway.com/plateau-xlmb/