Can I Pick Your Brains About Smaller Class C's?

[ol__yeller]

See my sig for what we currently have. Due to some serious health issues we are looking at trading to a Class C. I have been lurking here a lot lately. DW is going to help with the driving and the smaller is the better for her comfort level. A B seems too small for us as we like a somewhat generous bathroom/shower. We do need a queen bed at least. I like the class Cs that have a rear bed. Cabover bunk would be OK for the occasional Grandkid but not for us. I also love my V10 in my TV so I think a Ford chassis is what I'd prefer. Before setting foot on a lot, I'd like to have some knowledge from you experts. We might look new if we can afford one but reality says we are probably looking at a rig 5 years old or less. I really don't want to go over 24-25 feet. I'd also like a sitting chair or sofa besides the dinette. Is there something out there that hits what we want? My budget is probably around $30-50K depending upon condition, year and mileage. I'd really appreciate any knowledge you can share.

[EsoxLucius]

You will wait a while before you can get a used LTV Unity MB for $60,000. You would be hard pressed to find a bathroom like it in most C or B+ MHs.

[jeffcarp]

Some of the better manufacturers don't put any seams in the cabover area of the body. Cheaper builds put a seam right at the vertical corners of the cabover. Also, front facing windows in a cabover are usually a guarantee of a leak at some point.

[ol__yeller]

When I said "queen" I was talking about the size. I've know from my experience with TTs that there are several versions of a "queen" bed, a short queen, a narrow queen, a walk around queen and a corner queen. We are quite comfortable in our current walk-around short queen in our TT. I am OK with a corner queen as long as it is not a narrow one. I don't want to have to make up the bed everyday just so we can use the sofa or dinette. I also use a CPAP machine so I have to figure out how I can use that if I am the one in the corner. I think I can stash it in either an overhead or underbed storage and run the hose and electric to it. All stuff I have to consider.

I'm thinking that an overhead bunk is the best way for us to go.

I'm a little vervious about what I have been reading in other posts here about leakage in the overhead area. Do they all leak at some point or is regular maintence sufficient to keep the bunk area dry? On any prospective RV I plan to check that area very carefully.

[ron_dittmer]

A rear queen main floor bed in any rig under 25 feet in length is difficult to find. If you are fine with a rear corner bed instead of a rear walk-around bed, you'll have much more of a selection.

In your price range & length, with cab-over for grand kids, I'd put a shorter Coachman Freelander on your research list. They are entry level rigs which bring down the purchase price.

If you wanted a rig primarily for the two of you (no cabover bed), I would have suggested a Phoenix Cruiser as the ladies find them very easy to drive. The narrower body, lower roof and associated aerodynamics helps with that. My wife is fairly confident with our PC-2350 even when towing our Jeep Liberty. Our rig with an over-all length of 23'-8", has a small 2-person rear corner bed....surely not a queen size.

We figure one day we might have grand kids to consider. The dinette can sleep two little ones. When that later won't work, one can sleep on the floor.

Click Here for pictures of our rig.

[ol__yeller]

I am pretty sure I sold my TT today, I'll know tomorrow when the cash is in my hand. The truck goes next! I've been looking at Class Cs and I found a few that would work, one is a 2004 Fourwinds at 27 feet and no slides. We're going to look this weekend. Thanks everyone for your advice. I'll keep you posted on further developments and I'm sure I'll have further questions.

[Westronics]

I just trimmed out a few posts that violated this board's rules of use. No personal attacks of any kind allowed. All posts related the the original that spawned some attack-like posts have been removed.

Stay on-topic,please.

[nadsab]

I would suggest taking a look at a Four Winds Five Thousand. We have had ours for 8 years and like it. It is 23.5 feet long and we like it because we can get into tighter spots that larger RV's can not get in to, yet it is a full class C with all the accessories the larger ones have. We were lucky bought it used less than two years old with only 3,000 miles on it paid 35 grand in 2005 it was in mint condition when we bought it.

It can sleep 6 although that is kind of tight, it is perfect for four or maybe 5 adults on a long trip. FOr one couple no problem lots of room. 3 kids can easily fit into the overhaad bunk though lots of room up there, although the dinette and the fold out couch beds would be a little too short for a tall person to fit in to I think maybe a 5'10 or 5'11 max person could sleep on those beds. The newer model Four Winds might have a longer bed so check them out. I think they made a 26 or 28 footers as well.

One note though, I would suggest getting the GMC chassis instead of the Ford for the simple reason that you will have a lot more leg room in the front seats with the GM compared to the Ford. We checked out both the Ford and GM versions and the Ford makes the passenger squinch their feet close together due to the larger engine size. The GM engine is smaller it's a 6 liter V8 but it can still tow up to 5,000 pounds I believe. We found the GMC much more comfortable up front.

[dumboat2]

As far as the bed, we use the 3 inch memory foam from Costco on top of original, best bed in the house.

[dumboat2]

Jayco used to make a 27 foot with two slides, one in the bedroom to give you a walk-around queen. Grayhawk 27 DL I believe was the model. We seriously considered it, but ended up with the Granite Ridge 3100 ss. We had a27 ft Minnie Winnie and it was pretty agile, could get in and out of any place, better than the 31 footer. Everything is a trade off. My wife has driven both, even pulling a boat, she does fine.

[burlmart]

'05 Winnie B+

Same Year and floorplan as our 22', but it's higher quality, larger (23.5'), slide (no interference w/ drivers seat AFAIK), Ford, but alas, 2 separate makedowns, though they each give MORE than half a queen.

[ol__yeller]

OK, I'm willing to be educated. Maybe I am overlooking something by not considering Class B+ RVs. I assumed they were cramped and had either wet baths or tiny baths. I also assumed that they were unable to accomodate a queen bed. It appears that the line may be blurring.

Any RV is going to have to have a separate queen bed. Walkaround would be ideal but probably not likely/practical I am learning. We do not want an RV with a bed we have to make up every night or climb up into. An overcab bunk seems perfect for the grandkids. Am I wrong to assume that B+s don't have this?

At this point I don't have mobility problems, I am trying to avoid the trouble of hitching and unhitching as well as stabilizing that is now what we have with our TT. I am probably going to do most of the driving but my wife is willing to help IF SHE FEELS COMFORTABLE with the new rig. She isn't comfortable driving the current rig at all. Given my health issues, her help would be much appreciated.

You folks have been great with ideas and suggestions. We have been RVing for 12 years now all in TTs. I realize that there are compromises we have to make but there are a few that we aren't willing to make. The 2 things that are a must are the queen bed (60" width)and some comfortable inside seating as we camp in the great Northwet. Everything else is negotiable.

[burlmart]

snowdance wrote:
Lots of good reading here. I agree the big thing is driver and passenger comfort. If you can not recline the two seats you will find little comfort. They become your recliners in a small rig.

A kitchen that really works is a must usless you eat out every meal. Having a kitchen that is not in the middle of the rig is nice. We went with a rear kitchen.

Places to set. A dinette has little setting comfort after a short while so a need for some place else to set. We have a couch which I rebuilt for comfort. I sleep on the couch and its as nice as a bed at home. My wife sleeps on the dinette in comfort after we changed the foam to 7 inch. We do not mind making them up each evening as it only takes a couple min. We use a fleece blanket on the bottom. No need to tuck it in as it stays put. We use very light backpacking sleeping bags unzipped for comforters. Get cold zip them up. To store them we just stuff them in a laundry bag. No folding or rolling just stuff. We keep them in the over head bunk area that we use for storage only.

Our bath fits us well and has a place in the shower for me to set. Some thing about being 75 years young..

We have lots of hanging storage and drawers. We have infact added a couple after finding some areas that could have them so made some.

We like our small rig because of where we like to go. A bigger rig would mean we would have to give up 60% of the back country we love so much.

And yep my wife lets me drive is from time to time.. 🙂

I'm surprised someone from the Class B Camper Van Forum hasn't demanded your post be moved over there!

Small Cs and B+s are functionally Camper Vans for many of us...not too big like long Cs and A-class, not too small like B-class (though some of these are getting very long).

Ol Yeller says he wants bigger than B, but small enough for wife to be comfy driving, as she did not drive when towing the TT. In tight parking lots and narrow streets, a 22' B+ is great.

A 22' B+ with a makedown bigger than king bed, big chevy cab, no slide, full separate dry bath for perhaps $20-28k used seems the ticket to me. for the OP and wife. Martha has been our sole driver for 8 yrs and 40k miles.

Only mechanical deal was a faulty starter.

For that barrel chair, you could always put a swivel on the passenger seat.

[rvten]

We made sure our Aspect was usable closed up also.
Even some class A's are not useable closed up.

[Dakzuki]

mlts22 wrote:


There are times when it is good to run with all slides in. Wallydocking comes to mind.

We use ours as our bedroom when staying at my folks' place. We are parked in the street when we do it so the slide can't be deployed.

[snowdance]

Lots of good reading here. I agree the big thing is driver and passenger comfort. If you can not recline the two seats you will find little comfort. They become your recliners in a small rig.

A kitchen that really works is a must usless you eat out every meal. Having a kitchen that is not in the middle of the rig is nice. We went with a rear kitchen.

Places to set. A dinette has little setting comfort after a short while so a need for some place else to set. We have a couch which I rebuilt for comfort. I sleep on the couch and its as nice as a bed at home. My wife sleeps on the dinette in comfort after we changed the foam to 7 inch. We do not mind making them up each evening as it only takes a couple min. We use a fleece blanket on the bottom. No need to tuck it in as it stays put. We use very light backpacking sleeping bags unzipped for comforters. Get cold zip them up. To store them we just stuff them in a laundry bag. No folding or rolling just stuff. We keep them in the over head bunk area that we use for storage only.

Our bath fits us well and has a place in the shower for me to set. Some thing about being 75 years young..

We have lots of hanging storage and drawers. We have infact added a couple after finding some areas that could have them so made some.

We like our small rig because of where we like to go. A bigger rig would mean we would have to give up 60% of the back country we love so much.

And yep my wife lets me drive is from time to time.. 🙂