B or B+ (or even a small C?)

[Acei]

I realize this question has been asked many times and I spent hours going through different posts but I still can't seem to determine what is the best solution for us.

Here's our situation:
- We are a retiring couple, both pretty small (5'5" and 5'2")
- We plan to spend many months traveling to national parks in US and Canada. We are currently based in Toronto but we do plan to visit most national parks before we give up our RV life. This also means some mountain driving.
- We love hiking in the parks with scenic views. This means for a good part of the day, we will NOT be in the site.
- We plan to equip the RV with probably 4 batteries and appropriate levels of solar panels. We plan to use a lot of laptop power. But we don't want to limit ourselves only in the sites with hydro, hence more batteries and solar panels.
- Although this will not be our daily driver, we do NOT want to tow while traveling. We don't plan to go into cities often, we may do in some cases.
- We highly prefer to have a permanent bed and a separate dining area.

Given this, what is the best choice for me? Perhaps some of you have gone through some experience to share your wisdom?

I've been studying models like:
- Roadtrek CS Adventurous with 4 battery + 300w solar option
- LTV Unity CB (didn't see any 4 battery option so I'll need to mod)
- Winnebago Trend 23L which is based on Ram Van chasis

First one is B, the other two are B+ hence somewhat larger frontal area.

Am I on the right path for the type of RVing I want?

[RayUSMC]

Davydd wrote:

1775 wrote:

RayUSMC wrote:
Is anyone aware of a B class that's under 10 feet in height?

My Roadtrek 190 Class B is 8'10" in height.

Which will get you a cup of coffee at a McDonald's drive through and a meal sitting at a Sonic. Both have 9 foot canopy restrictions as standard.

I've yet to stop at a Sonic with our Sprinter. I don't know if that is 🙂 or 😞

I'm liking the lower heights. Mentioning Sonic gives me the hungries for Coneys and limeades.

[Davydd]

1775 wrote:

RayUSMC wrote:
Is anyone aware of a B class that's under 10 feet in height?

My Roadtrek 190 Class B is 8'10" in height.

Which will get you a cup of coffee at a McDonald's drive through and a meal sitting at a Sonic. Both have 9 foot canopy restrictions as standard.

I've yet to stop at a Sonic with our Sprinter. I don't know if that is 🙂 or 😞

[1775]

RayUSMC wrote:
Is anyone aware of a B class that's under 10 feet in height?

My Roadtrek 190 Class B is 8'10" in height.

[bobojay5]

RayUSMC wrote:
Great info guys. I'm not a diesel man either so gas is the preference for me. Leisure Travel and Road Treks have my interest at the moment. Comments before we go see them?

Leisure Travel. Way better quality interiors.

[bobojay5]

Davydd wrote:

bobojay5 wrote:

Davydd wrote:

obgraham wrote:
Perhaps a little off topic, but from another forum: Mercedes (Sprinters now) and others are advising that use of Biodiesel above 5% risks engine damage and voids the warranty. Some folks are finding almost all the diesel in some areas, mostly East Coast, is 20%, and are having to run around looking for B5.

I've never had that problem running a big Caterpillar, but are B-folks, with smaller tanks, running into this issue?

First, I haven't seen anything greater than 5% biodiesel with extensive traveling yet and secondly, I don't know how true that advice is.

David & obgraham, Mercedes recommends nothing over 5%, but the key there is burning nothing over 5%. I see pumps that say contains up 5 to 20% biodiesel all the time around here and in Oklahoma and north Texas, mostly at Loves & Pilot/Flying J.
My way around that is not to go below 1/2 tank, (which is my bladder limit nowadays), and never fill up at those bio locations more than once in a row.

Mercedes is going to have to make some changes to their specs soon because all the other light duty diesel makers, (Ford Transit, Promaster and GM Duramax), are now okaying up to 20% usage in their diesels

Do you suppose M-B policy is just a line in the sand, foot in the mouth liability issue or would they have to physically modify their diesel engines? I'm thinking they recently went from a 10,000 mile service interval to a 15,000 mile service interval. That's a big leap and I doubt they did much or anything to make that possible.

My personal opinion is it's a line in the sand. This relieves them from any liability when a driver brings in a vehicle with fuel system issues caused by the bio. It's not going to do any engine damage per se, but could cause fuel system, i.e. injector, clogged filter issues.

I believe?? the 2014's have the 15k oil change interval. The '13's do not

[Davydd]

bobojay5 wrote:

Davydd wrote:

obgraham wrote:
Perhaps a little off topic, but from another forum: Mercedes (Sprinters now) and others are advising that use of Biodiesel above 5% risks engine damage and voids the warranty. Some folks are finding almost all the diesel in some areas, mostly East Coast, is 20%, and are having to run around looking for B5.

I've never had that problem running a big Caterpillar, but are B-folks, with smaller tanks, running into this issue?

First, I haven't seen anything greater than 5% biodiesel with extensive traveling yet and secondly, I don't know how true that advice is.

David & obgraham, Mercedes recommends nothing over 5%, but the key there is burning nothing over 5%. I see pumps that say contains up 5 to 20% biodiesel all the time around here and in Oklahoma and north Texas, mostly at Loves & Pilot/Flying J.
My way around that is not to go below 1/2 tank, (which is my bladder limit nowadays), and never fill up at those bio locations more than once in a row.

Mercedes is going to have to make some changes to their specs soon because all the other light duty diesel makers, (Ford Transit, Promaster and GM Duramax), are now okaying up to 20% usage in their diesels

Do you suppose M-B policy is just a line in the sand, foot in the mouth liability issue or would they have to physically modify their diesel engines? I'm thinking they recently went from a 10,000 mile service interval to a 15,000 mile service interval. That's a big leap and I doubt they did much or anything to make that possible.

[RayUSMC]

Great info guys. I'm not a diesel man either so gas is the preference for me. Leisure Travel and Road Treks have my interest at the moment. Comments before we go see them?

[bobojay5]

Davydd wrote:

obgraham wrote:
Perhaps a little off topic, but from another forum: Mercedes (Sprinters now) and others are advising that use of Biodiesel above 5% risks engine damage and voids the warranty. Some folks are finding almost all the diesel in some areas, mostly East Coast, is 20%, and are having to run around looking for B5.

I've never had that problem running a big Caterpillar, but are B-folks, with smaller tanks, running into this issue?

First, I haven't seen anything greater than 5% biodiesel with extensive traveling yet and secondly, I don't know how true that advice is.

David & obgraham, Mercedes recommends nothing over 5%, but the key there is burning nothing over 5%. I see pumps that say contains up 5 to 20% biodiesel all the time around here and in Oklahoma and north Texas, mostly at Loves & Pilot/Flying J.
My way around that is not to go below 1/2 tank, (which is my bladder limit nowadays), and never fill up at those bio locations more than once in a row.

Mercedes is going to have to make some changes to their specs soon because all the other light duty diesel makers, (Ford Transit, Promaster and GM Duramax), are now okaying up to 20% usage in their diesels

[jjson775]

Gas vs. diesel is a continuing topic. Our PW Excel had a 5.4L V-8 and we went everywhere in it including the Rockies and Sierras without a problem We got 13 - 15 mpg. In my reckoning it takes 100,000 miles for the extra cost of a diesel to pay out. We have ordered a new PW Pursuit B+ with a 6.8 L Ford gas engine to replace our Excel that we enjoyed tremendously.

[Davydd]

obgraham wrote:
Perhaps a little off topic, but from another forum: Mercedes (Sprinters now) and others are advising that use of Biodiesel above 5% risks engine damage and voids the warranty. Some folks are finding almost all the diesel in some areas, mostly East Coast, is 20%, and are having to run around looking for B5.

I've never had that problem running a big Caterpillar, but are B-folks, with smaller tanks, running into this issue?

First, I haven't seen anything greater than 5% biodiesel with extensive traveling yet and secondly, I don't know how true that advice is.

[obgraham]

Perhaps a little off topic, but from another forum: Mercedes (Sprinters now) and others are advising that use of Biodiesel above 5% risks engine damage and voids the warranty. Some folks are finding almost all the diesel in some areas, mostly East Coast, is 20%, and are having to run around looking for B5.

I've never had that problem running a big Caterpillar, but are B-folks, with smaller tanks, running into this issue?

[obgraham]

oops, dblpost

[Acei]

That Advanced RV stuff looks very interesting, starting off with big tanks and possibilities of customization (in my case, needs for more quiet electrical power). One of the model was listed at $166kUS though, which is high even by Sprinter B-class standard...

[bobojay5]

Davydd wrote:
In regard to diesel there are a couple of debits. I carry disposable plastic gloves in case I encounter a filthy fill handle and I grouch at that inconvenience under my breath every time I fill up. The other is at a service station you might be relegated to a truck lane without a credit card payment at pump or you'll be limited to a couple of end pumps at the main auto bank. I did notice in Canada that diesel was much more universally integrated with the pump banks and two years ago was cheaper than regular in the western provinces.

In regard to tank capacities. I have been doing a little bit of research and noticed for 2014 that Advanced RV has increased the size of their tanks to 40 gallons fresh water, 26 gallons grey water and 18 black water. That's getting up to Class C size and surpassing in some cases. I understand that is a true 40 gallon tank as Advanced RV does not use a 6 gallon Suburban hot water heater but an on demand Espar diesel powered heating system heat exchanger. So you have hot water all the time because when on shore power the electric heating takes over.

Hadn't noticed the water tank size adjustment on the Advanced units. That's great!