Have you thought about downsizing?

[msmith1199]

I have a 35 Foot National DP with three slides. Had it for almost 15 years now. It's been a good motorhome over the years. But, I was thinking about down sizing. Not because of money, but just because of convenience. We are not the type of RVers that set up in one spot for a week or weeks at a time. We just did a Southern Utah through Northern AZ two week trip and never stayed more than 3 days in one spot. That is how we often RV.

One thing I noticed on this last RV trip was a lot, and I mean a lot, of Class C motorhomes on the Mercedes Sprinter chassis. And not just in RV parks. As we were driving through the national parks in our Jeep, the people with the Sprinters were in their motorhome. They really don't take up a lot more room than a large pickup so they got into parking lots and parking spaces and every place they needed to go.

The 35 foot DP is great when set up in a campsite, but when driving down the road with the Jeep in tow, not so easy to navigate all the time, and you can't just park anyplace or make a U-Turn to go back to see something you just passed. Not to mention the 7 MPG!! I think these Sprinters are getting 12 to 15. Would be nice to take complete cross country trips in a smaller motorhome like that. Anybody done it, or thought about it?

[ppine]

After owning 5 RVs I have never thought about upsizing.

[tragusa3]

We just changed from a 25' trailer to a 34' Class A. We're about to embark on our first long trip, so I can't speak to the question for a few months yet. However, we would not be willing to give up towing a Jeep, as one of our favorite activities is exploring back country. Sounds like a Sprinter would be a compromise in that respect too.

[Gjac]

Joatha wrote:
My wife is always making noise about down-sizing. She doesn't feel comfortable even attempting to drive a 40 foot 20+ ton Wanderlodge.

The issue is that to get to something she WILL drive, we have to move down to like a class B or super B. And, she is 5' 6" tall. She will fit in those. I'm 6' 4". I don't fit in the showers of those things at all and the beds are usually shorter.

She doesn't drive anywhere we go on vacation anyhow (even when we don't take the motorhome) so I sure don't get why it is an issue.

My wife feels the same way and never felt comfortable out west on winding mountain roads. She used to drive the Class A when we first got it back east and on highways, but after two front end failures due to the wrong ball joints being installed she does not want to travel in a large Class A anymore. Started looking at smaller MH's and lack of storage and small FW tanks are the two main drawbacks for me. A short 24ft Class C with a full wall slide and Queen bed provides a lot of interior room. I don't know what the ride quality is like. I started looking into truck campers also but to get any equivalent space you need something like a Mammoth camper with several slides and a DRW truck to haul it and the truck alone will cost as much as the small C or more. Looked at several sprinters and without some slides they are very cramped inside. Every option has trade offs to consider based on how you plan to use it.

[D_E_Bishop]

We are in the process of downsizing due to lack of parking at home and due to high cost of fuel. We are looking closest at the Winnie VIA 25T class A. It is on the sprinter H chassis, not the cutaway chassis like a class C. It will be a little over two feet shorter than the Bounder we started with and 8 feet shorter than the Adventurer. I can't wait to reap the benefits.

[TropicalRV]

We had a 36 foot National Tropical and after 15 years decided to trade for a new one. Downsizing was/is the popular thing because folks are brainwashed to think a smaller RV is more energy efficient and we are doing our thing for the environment. To that I say baloney. We looked at those 24 foot (maximum length) Sprinters and they are cute in the showroom. On one of our trips, an owner took us on a tour of theirs. They had stuff piled up to the ceiling inside. There's so little storage in these, that I feel they are highly impractical. Consider that you are going to store a couple of folding chairs, a grill, maybe some tools and the usual cargo. Those teeny-tiny basement compartments are useless. Inside isn't much better. Room for maybe a frying pan and a couple of cans of beans. Further, they cost as much as a larger rig and fuel consumption isn't different enough to make my wallet change thickness. But, you are the RVer. Buy what you want/like and have fun. Oh, did I say where will the dogs sleep?

[Joatha]

My wife is always making noise about down-sizing. She doesn't feel comfortable even attempting to drive a 40 foot 20+ ton Wanderlodge.

The issue is that to get to something she WILL drive, we have to move down to like a class B or super B. And, she is 5' 6" tall. She will fit in those. I'm 6' 4". I don't fit in the showers of those things at all and the beds are usually shorter.

She doesn't drive anywhere we go on vacation anyhow (even when we don't take the motorhome) so I sure don't get why it is an issue.

[Busskipper]

msmith1199 wrote:
I have a 35 Foot National DP with three slides. Had it for almost 15 years now. It's been a good motorhome over the years. But, I was thinking about down sizing. Not because of money, but just because of convenience. We are not the type of RVers that set up in one spot for a week or weeks at a time. We just did a Southern Utah through Northern AZ two week trip and never stayed more than 3 days in one spot. That is how we often RV.

One thing I noticed on this last RV trip was a lot, and I mean a lot, of Class C motorhomes on the Mercedes Sprinter chassis. And not just in RV parks. As we were driving through the national parks in our Jeep, the people with the Sprinters were in their motorhome. They really don't take up a lot more room than a large pickup so they got into parking lots and parking spaces and every place they needed to go.

The 35 foot DP is great when set up in a campsite, but when driving down the road with the Jeep in tow, not so easy to navigate all the time, and you can't just park anyplace or make a U-Turn to go back to see something you just passed. Not to mention the 7 MPG!! I think these Sprinters are getting 12 to 15. Would be nice to take complete cross country trips in a smaller motorhome like that. Anybody done it, or thought about it?

Think you figured it out - they would be a Great Toad. .:)

Really just not enough space for me - started small and have always gotten larger - those things are great..... for Kids,

JMHO

[ncrowley]

gemsworld wrote:
From the Winnebago Navion 24V spec sheet:

GCWR(lbs.) 15,250

GVWR(lbs.) 11,030

4,220 difference


2-Door Jeep Wrangler 3,970 lbs

200 lbs below the max GCWR

I have a 4 door Rubicon and it is 4500 pounds. But also those numbers are better then the model we were looking at a year ago. We were getting around 3700 pounds difference.

[jag73e]

Two years ago we went from a luxurious 40’ Country Coach to a 34’ Super C with 2 slides on a Freightliner M2 chassis. Must haves for us were a queen bed accessible with slides closed, a full size couch and a dinette, large refer, lots of closet and bay storage, 2 A/Cs, and quality solid wood cabinets and furnishings. 34 ft was the minimum size we could find with these features. As a benefit we gained more RV park access, better maneuverability, much better mechanical serviceability with M2 chassis, easier to drive, far better safety in event of collision, etc. and lots of admiringly looks from other RVers. Very happy with the change.

[Cloud_Dancer]

Nope, we're used to the comfort and convenience of our 40 footer (special-ordered floorplan). And, I enjoy driving it on the highway, AND we prefer our GMC 4x4 mid-size Envoy for running around.

[Community Alumni]

From the Winnebago Navion 24V spec sheet:

GCWR(lbs.) 15,250

GVWR(lbs.) 11,030

4,220 difference


2-Door Jeep Wrangler 3,970 lbs

200 lbs below the max GCWR

[ncrowley]

msmith1199 wrote:
That’s exactly why I’m looking at it gemsworld. I want to do more coast to coast travel and it just seems like a much easier way to put on lots of miles on the road. I would also like to have the ability to tow the Jeep Wrangler so I don’t know if the Sprinter is capable of that. I did see several of the Sprinters towing wranglers on this last trip. Are they rated to tow that much?

They cannot tow most Wranglers even though they have a 5K hitch. We have a Rubicon and they definately cannot tow that. Subtract the GVWR from the GCWR and that is what you can tow. You may have a few hundred pounds more if you do not load the RV to the max. When we did the math, we were a LOT less than the Rubicon. The dealer kept telling us there was no problem, so we called Winnebago and they told us that the calculation we were doing was correct and we should not tow the Jeep.

We like the Sprinter and have done the math on that chassis with a number of manufacturers and they all can tow less than 4K pounds so we gave up on that chassis.

[Tradewinds]

Last year we down sized from our 37Ft Tradewinds with slides down to a 30ft. Winnebago Vista 30T with three slides. For us it was the right decision, we had the Tradewinds for 18 years and it was a good rig but just too big. We could not get in many Forest service campgrounds and many state parks. We have all the room we need with the three slides and there is plenty of basement storage. There have also been a lot of improvements made since 1999. It took some getting use to on the road but we have 10K miles on it now and no complaints. Easy to work on and much cheaper to work on. Gas milage is another issue, we went for 9.8 down to 7 to 8 but that's ok. We looked a class Cs and we looked at the Bs, just not enough room for us...

[scbwr]

We went from a popup to a 28' trailer back in 2002 and then in 2012, we thought we'd downsize to a 26' Winnebago that had a great bathroom, one room for kitchen/dinette and a bedroom. After using it for a few years, we decided that we wanted more space and no pickup in the garage. So, that's how we move up to our Bay Star. We considered a class C, but found the class A had more advantages (for us) than a class C. We're very happy with everything right now, but as we get older, downsizing may be required. Who knows?