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.

[Gene_in_NE]

burlmart – I have a 12 volt group 24 battery in my unit and it seems to work just fine. I merely bought the least expensive deep cycle battery at a farm supply store. I find that I can buy 3 of those that will last longer than 2 of the more expensive ones. As to the size needed for the generator, I doubt the generator needs very much CCA.

cheeze1 – The person who converted his 2 seat dinette into a u-shape was Gary Swanson. Page 45 dated 09/23/03. He had pictures posted on a website that no longer has them available. I previously copied them and could send them to you if you PM me. Our model 211 jack knife couch works pretty well as a single bed (a little narrow for 2) with a 2” foam mattress topper. We made a pillow case for the topper and it rolls up nicely - sleeping bag size. I would consider removing the dinette completely and put in another jack knife couch. Ours only moves 8” into the aisle when folded down. Making one would also work.

[cheeze1]

You are right! It would match the depth of the kitchen cabinets better, since we have the center sink!!

[burlmart]

I do right now!

Your idea of the window seat and some fold out was my first vision. But do remember that if you keep the sofa, it is less obtrusive to the floor space/aisle if it is moved to where the dinette is now. This will result in a better sense of 'open space,' which is what you want.

[cheeze1]

You know, we never tried sleeping on the sofa as a dbl. bed, but I think it would be kind of skimpy for us. I was thinking that if I removed the entire dinette, rearranged the fresh tank and electricals, I could make another sofa (like the window seats they are always making on HGTV) that could have a 'double' bottom so a back cushion that was the same size as the seat cushion could be used to make the bed wider.
18 inches is what I was thinking too.
I think I need to see the coach and take a bunch of measurements.
Anyone got their 213 at home?? 🙂

[burlmart]

I clearly recall pictures of the U dinette mod. May have been on a slide model, cuz they took extra steps to make the fold down sofa meet the dinette for the king bed...not sure it would help you, cause it took up more floor space, not less.

If you switch your sofa to where the dinette is now, it no longrt blocks the aisle as it does now. (If you both could sleep on it as a double bed, there would be a huge floor space where the sofa was). With the sofa swapped, you could put nothing, captains chairs, a narrow twin that elevates to watch TV, a second fold down sofa, etc.

I sense you want more floor space to open up like a slide would do. You only need about 18 more inches to open up, as that is about what a slide would give.

This is fun to consider!

[cheeze1]

Does anyone remember who posted a message about converting the 2 seat dinette to a u-shape?

[cheeze1]

Burl, thanks to your ideas, we are not selling the 213. My wife liked the idea of changing the dinette, and if that doesn't do it all, we will then rebuild the sofa area.
My water tank is rectangular and in cross wise position. Tho' I have not measured it, I know I can come up with a decent amount of space just by changing it to longitudinal. There will be plenty of room to relocate the pump and electricals as well.
I'm thinking of changing the dinette to a couch that will easily become a bed, and perhaps changing the table to a free standing on those vertical posts.
While I'm at it, I want to replace the ugly shag carpet in the coach area as well.
Keep that thinking cap on!!;)

[cheeze1]

Burl, we are far from tired of the 213 :). Because of all the 'growing pains' it had and all the mods/fixes I have made, AND 'cause I love that Chevy engine, I don't want to give it up. I like your ideas. I my wife will be upset about giving up the sofa, but it actually is a space waster (now that I think about it, I wonder how far it projects out from the wall in the upright position?). I think it's time to crank up Google SketchUp!!!
I have a single house battery. (12 volt Gene?) I always wanted to add a second, or switch to 2 6 volts, but the problem is room and a stupid access door that doesn't allow much access at all. Adding water is an excercise for a contortionist. I once took the whole thing down to service it.
Keep those ideas cooking!!!

[burlmart]

Cheese1

Not happy to hear you are getting tired of your 213.

For that 46-16= $30k, it would seem like there is incentive to find a way to do a furniture mod that gives a bit more walking room in the 213.

What if you use the fold up sofa as a dining seat with a long narrow (removable) dinette table parallel to the sofa. Remove the dinette seats and table opposite the sofa now and place a thinner but longer water tank along the wall along with moving the water pump and its neighboring electrical stuff. Enclose all this in a long box that hugs the bottom of the wall from kitchen to drivers' seat. "Somehow' fashion a fold-down bed surface that comes to meet the sofa when it is made down. It might be easier to move sofa to where the dinette is and try to place water tank, pump, fuse box,etc. under it.

I will think on this a bit, but something like it might work.

If two narrower twin beds like the Built for two Born Free has would work...

BTW do you know what type house battery you have and/or if you've done anything with it?

[cheeze1]

Hi all, we have decided to stick within the B+ format, but do not want to go up to 25 to 26 feet in length, so we are looking at models like the 235s. We are looking at all the RVision related brands as well as FourWinds, Forest River, Gulfstream and Winnebago. We would appreciate any input.
I got a call from Motorhome Specialists in Texas, they have a Damara on sale for $46K, but he only offered $16,500 for our trade, which is crazy. He said it's not a buyer's market for trades. I am not sure if this will be typical, and selling a MH privately seems to be rough, from my own experience.
I wish I could figure out a way to maximize the space in our 213 when we make up the bed. The slide makes it seem quite livable, as compared to ours which takes up the whole coach, making movement a real PITA. I would appreciate any ideas!!
Thanks Gang!!

[burlmart]

Having trouble getting a reply, and I probably need a house battery. If you look at my recent posts (click on Burlmart), you will see some threads I tried to get info from.

I guess my simple question is does a true Deep Cycle battery, like the Group 24DC Everstart at Walmart have sufficient cranking anps for the Onan Genset? I think it needs 460 CCA (575 MCA?)

[TonyTiger]

Okay, let's see. I don't have leveling jacks on the FW Siesta just use the orange leveling blocks. Works okay. Since my slides are opposed, I have to level the rig for me to feel secure. Past problems with a fridge due to unlevel operation made me paranoid, the TL 235S confirmed it. Level is better. I leveled the rig with a carpenters level then installed two bubbles on the dash and on the drivers door. That way I can find the most level position and then use the marks to decide how many blocks to use.

The Ford has been okay for trips. I still like the Chevy floor space but the FW seats are good in the Ford.

If I can find my link to webshots I'll post it for you all.

Here is a link that I think will work other wise cut and paste it. We were at Wolf's Pond on Staten Island for a dog show. The NY bay is behind us. We had bayfront parking.
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/340791210DhDwUu

[Gene_in_NE]

burlmart wrote:
Tony
Do all slide equipped rigs have leveling jacks? I never thought about that. We often park and remain very unlevel, and I wonder if we could do so if we had a slide.

Burlmart - No, very few slide equipped rigs, in the small Class C size, have leveling jacks. Our unit has a slide and we noticed the same thing as Tony - keep the slide side slightly down from level. When extending the slide, you push out a roof that catches rain. Unless you have a sturdy awning over the slide, the rain water would run up against the body of the motorhome. The seal would have to be in perfect shape to keep 100% of the water out. Only happened to us once; we were fortunate. When you have a slide on each side, leveling from left to right becomes more critical in case of rain.

Our slide only moves out about 18-24" so the mechanism is not strained very much when out of level. That small amount does make quite a bit of difference in the interior width.

[cheeze1]

We are thinking about moving up to a slide equipped model next year. We love our 213, and if it had a slide, I would not consider changing it. Love my Chevy cab! I was also curious about the leveling needs of a slide rv.
We purposely did not want the Ford cab because of the room/comfort. How is that part going for long trips, Tony?
We liked the FW vehicles when we were buying ours. In particular the Dutchmen Dorado. But all the FW models are very similar.
ADDENDUM!!! We are also considering a regular Class C. Some of the floorplans with permanant rear beds seem like they don't need a slide. We would appreciate any input!!

[TrueLarry]

Tony,

We have a Lexington 255 that we just bought with two smallish slides (one bed, one sofa) with no leveling jacks. We were told by the dealer that as long as it wasn't way of of alignment we should have no problem. As an engineer, my instincts tell me that the more level you make it the less strain there is on the framing and, therefore, the motors. Most of the units with electric slides do not come with jacks because there is no built-in hydraulic system like there is on the bigger rigs. They can be added but I didn't feel that spending $4,000 or so for jacks was a good idea on a B+ rig. The larger rigs - class A units - typically have much larger slideouts and need to be leveled before the slides are used. I know a man who has a big Monaco, for example, and it comes with instructions that tell him to set the jacks and level the rig before moving the slides.