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.

[B_rvwantabe]

I don't know if the B+ crowd is going to come back here, but I have spent the last four evenings reading all 166 pages. I have learned a lot, however I still don't know if the 25 foot Trail-Lites can be driven like a car. Is it only the 21 and 23? We don't have any of the MH's in our area and all I know for sure is that I do not want a slide and I do want a Chevy engine. I want to be able to drive it like a Van and I would like twin beds separate from the front with some kind of swivel seats in front or some kind of seating for up front for leisure time. I do want a dry bath. It may be impossible to find this in the small size and without a slide, but I thought I would see if anyone has a suggestion. Are the slides still as hard to deal with as the posts from 02, 03, and 04 suggest? Thanks for your help.

[burlmart]

Really, it seems maybe like I should start posting in the Class B forum!!!!

[burlmart]

I am not much on the mechanics, but it seems lika a lot of power in a smaller pack has evolved. Also, someone posted that a normal 4 wheel drive tranny with no rear wheel drivers could possibly be used. What, too, of electric hybrids?

What I wonder is what a totally sweet sleek RV could be. Something crossing the Rialta but more hefty (ala LTV Freedom Serenity, but lower with FWD), 8 ft height, 22-24 ft. long, 7.5 ft wide, 24 mpg, $60k (once every boomer catches on!!)...things like that.

The new LCD TVs show how a lot of extra space is available with modern technical changes, and I am sure there are more. Just an innovative wet bath that requires half the floorspace, but is still a good stand-up shower. Broad, thin, flat water/wastewater tanks like some small travel trailers use. Mascerator pumps that might allow more blackwater capacity from less tank, etc.

On Edit: I've got it!! The New RV will be called

"The Two-Four"

240 hp
24 ft long
24 mpg
2.4 meters high (almost 8 ft)
2.4 meters wide
24 gallon tanks all around

Best of all, only $24,000!

[happyjack2]

Burl- How about the higher GVW requires lower gear ratios ( bigger gears ?) which fit under the rear of truck chassis but would be to big to fit in the space a transaxle has in a FWD. Just a guess. The differentials in heavy box trucks and semis are huge. In my experience overseas, the trucks had RWD and only cars were FWD which spread to the US in the invasion of small cars in the 70's. Maybe it's simple physics.
-My cousin in NC just picked up one of those old GMC FWD RVs this summer from Ebay. Has the running gear of a Olds Toranada with a 455 CID and TurboHydramatic 400 tranny. I guess when GM produced thousands of FWD Toranadas back then the unit costs for a bare drivetrain would have compared favorably to the cutaway van chassis, but now a big FWD would have to be scratch built and the R&D costs would break the bank.

[burlmart]

Thought some of the B+ group would especially be interested in a light discussion:

If I were a mechanical engineer then my RV experiences would be simpler…

In a conversation with a fellow dog enthusiast with an automatic RV interest as well (their RV was described as a portable air-conditioned doghouse), we remembered the old GMC motorhome of the 70s, with its sleek lines and low height afforded by its front wheel drive. We talked about the Rialta, a miniature version of the GMC, again, a front drive vehicle.

Both of these RVs are, I assume, Class A by definition, but my question is for any any motorhome owner: since a front wheel drive eliminates the driveshaft that allowse the radically lowered height of these vehicles and also a big side benefit of lowered profile is reduced wind drag that hurts gas mileage, what are the reasons for not using a front-wheel drive for RVs?

[WAGM]

Hey, Good to see you guys still kicking around. Well we went from being SINKS to DINKS after sweetie turned into a senior citizen. Man-O-Man that really helped out a lot until the Ellaphunt started taking out for this and that. Looks like after the place here in Okieland dries out from the hurricane we may get to go camping in the CHUCK WAGON.

Warren: FASTER HORSES, YOUNGER WOMEN, OLDER WHISKEY AND MORE MONEY

[Gene_in_NE]

The new sub-category made it very easy to find this topic - Thank You moderators.

gkreutzer - I had thought about doing exactly what you did, but I also was skeptical about it doing any good. One investment I recently made was to buy a folding step ladder on eBay similar to this one Compact Folding Ladders. I then purchased a vinyl "Vecor" 4" x 4" fence post and cap from Menards (Home Depot and Lowes likely have them also). The ladder fits perfectly inside the PVC post. I plan on using large hose clamps and attaching it to the frame under my unit. Hope to be able to use it to get to the bugs on that wonderful nose piece above the windshield. Often we are camped for the night and I would like to do a little cleaning before the bug splats get old.

[gkreutzer]

happyjack2:

I did add a bug shield/deflector to the front edge of the hood. It's a DrawTite 3" plastic strip that snaps on to the hood. I haven't noticed much difference in the amount of bugs on my windshield much less up top on that "hard to reach" area. I do like the way it looks, however. :W
Gary

[happyjack2]

As Monty Python said, now for something completely different. (1)Has anybody installed a bug shield on their B+ and if installed did it help keep some of the bugs off the top front. I would put one on it if would keep the critters off that hard to reach spot. (2) When I started the T/L after sitting for a few days in KY it blew some tranny fluid out the dipstick. Never had a car do that to me before. The fluid is not burnt and it ran fine back to WV and then VA the next day. I plan to drop the pan and change the fluid and filter before next trip but wondered if anybody else had seen that.

[cheeze1]

I agree with your assessment, HappyJack. I also see Burl's point. Lets see what the moderators do.

[happyjack2]

I've been thinking ( I know, a dangerous pratice ) and I've decided that some of the common bond in the B+ thread is older couples (DINKs) using a slightly smaller RV for touring and visiting interesting places and special people instead of the " haul the kids to a RV fun park routine of the younger couples." In that respect we have less in common with a C crowd than we do with an A in RV usage, however we are very similar the C crowd is appearance and features. I could afford to own and drive an small A but then I would have to pay to store it away from the house and would be limited to the places I would go plus a toad etc. When Charles moved to an A, he regretfully admitted he was changing his touring style and the B+ was no longer the best fit. Perhaps the extended B+ thread driven by people of common interest in T/Ls, BTCs, Chinooks' is better than a B+ forum with a multitude of postings concerning items that are similar to every C out there. Just thinking.

[cheeze1]

Exactly GK, and as I said before, it seems to matter the most to those who don't even own a B+. Sometimes a tradename sticks. I'm sure there are still plenty of people who refer to a refrigerator as a "Frigidaire", and I KNOW lots who refer to tissues as Kleenex. Trail Lite attached the name to their unit, and now all of that configuration are called that. So what if it's technically a C? What is a PleasureWay Excel? The only part of the van body they use are the rear doors. How about Leisure's Sprinter Serenity with the duallies? We can split hairs ad nauseum. Trouble is we take the abuse and yet would rather be left alone in our little B+ world.

[burlmart]

Let's step back a bit.

I recall a vindictiveness on the part of a small few as we were booted from the Class B Forum by its moderator, and now it feels a little chilly with our neighbors. This move actually worked well until now.

Let's just keep the B+ thread going as it has, and when there is a critical mass of demand for a broader discussion, then we can revisit the need for a separate forum.

OK?

[gkreutzer]

Amen to that cheeze1! I guess we've survived our other moves and found each other. I'm getting tired of the "whose a C" babble, if you gotta ask ... :Z

[cheeze1]

Hi Gang, following the instructions of Westronics, I have been spending time where he said we should voice our opinions of whether there should be a B+ forum. You can check my responses. What I don't understand is that this type of discussion, when visited by whom I consider outsiders, devolves into semantics of whether a B+ is really a C, and on and on. Perhaps it should have been called Trail Lite, I don't know. I'm just tired of certain types telling us what we are, while we have supported a THREAD for 5 years with none of their help except the moderators. If it ends up that we get lost on the C Forum, I will confine my activity to the B+ thread like I have in the past.