Shortest Class C Recommendations

[wanderlust1966]

Hi,

I am hoping to buy a used Class C to full time in, and need recommendations. I feel like a Class B would be too cramped for me plus they are too expensive 😕

I want a short Class C (nothing over 24') so I will be able to park it easily. I am hoping for nothing older than 2004 but need it to be relatively inexpensive but with lower miles and reliable (I realize I maybe asking for too much lol). If I have to take out a small loan, I'm OK with that too. I want an oven and both a couch and dinette. I don't necessarily need a bedroom as I'm fine with sleeping in an overhead bunk.

I want to boondock a lot, so am hoping to outfit it with solar panels and a composting toilet (or even a portable toilet) and am assuming I'd need a generator and inverter?

Can anyone give me any suggestions? TIA!

[cbigham]

Run! That Mirage, that there is funky I don't care who you are! Interesting...

[ron_dittmer]

Dusty R wrote:
.....but got to the point of climbing up to the crow's nest for the bed got to be more of a chore, because of our age.

That was pretty much our story right from the start with our first motor home HERE, a 17 foot Toyota/Mirage that we owned for 24 years. We tried sleeping up top but it was just too confining for us. We slept on the dinette conversion bed for nearly the entire 24 years. The kids slept up top. Later when we traveled alone, we still slept down below.

[Dusty_R]

We had a 2003 Itasca 24V that was basically just what you are looking for. We liked it real well but got to the point of climbing up to the crow's nest for the bed got to be more of a chore, because of our age.

Dusty

[ron_dittmer]

My brother's Starflyte has an Onan generator, either a 2000 or 3000, I can't recall.

About his Starflyte in Alaska.

I am sure this will apply to any motor home. They took ferries often and highly recommend it. They attached a rear outdoor storage rack on their trailer hitch. They took it off on ferries to save cost paid by the inch.

Pending the tide, entry on and off ferries sometimes had very steep angles. His steel protector/sleds hanging under the rear would get bent, once a little damage to a drain pipe on the ferry ramps. He carried a 2 lb sledge hammer to straighten the sleds.

[cbigham]

Mine does have a generator, but I rarely use the ac...my taken is if it's too hot, I'm camped at the wrong place!

My wife's plan is to put this on the ferry for Alaska next summer. Interesting you mentioned it. Only a few things,I need to figure out are 1. A decent 12 v vacuum, 2. If I could get and install a Wilson cell phone amplifier, and 3. Place to stash my sea eagle kayak and poles out of the way. Squeak patrol also .. got it locked down now, screw here, there, 57k miles.

[pnichols]

Yep ... little units like that Starflyte are a real sweet combination for two people to camp anywhere, anytime, without having to tow anything.

Did they have a built-in generator for hot weather camping?

Add 4WD and what an RV it would be for use about one step down from a full-on expedition RV.

[ron_dittmer]

cbigham wrote:


Lot of talk about Starflytes. Here's mine I bought it for shorter trips on a dirt bike or dual sport riding. We have a large diesel fun mover for longer ride trips. Longest I've been in the Starflyte is 9 days. Mine has the couch bed in back makes into a corner, little dinette up front as well. For a single person who doesn't mnd a wet bath, works great, and what a tuff, decently made rig, drives real nice v10, 10.5 mpg to 11 is common. I took out the old skool tube tv, has a flat panel now which I never use. Put a hing and door with that tv so there's HUGE storage above cab. Also added 100 watts solar. Big difference.

My brother and his wife have a Starflyte built on a 1998 E350 chassis with the exact same floor plan as yours. They've had it quite a few years now. They too replaced their tube TV with a flat panel on a hinged door, since with piles of extra storage in the front tumor. They love their Starflyte. They had traveled in it for 10 weeks one year up to Alaska and Canada with not one complaint. They manage well with the limited fresh water and waste tank sizes. The Starflyte was a big step up for them coming from a make-shift setup in a regular window van. It serves them extremely well. It is a very solid unit, built like a tank compared to most other motor homes. It's compact size and shape, and the roof design help to make it so very solid.

[cbigham]

Just figured out how to cut a flickr link. Should be good now.

[Snowman9000]

The link you tried to create as an image here, is not an image on the net. It is a URL for a page that shows your image. I can't see how to get the image file address itself.

cbigham wrote:

Lot of talk about Starflytes. Here's mine I bought it for shorter trips on a dirt bike or dual sport riding. We have a large diesel fun mover for longer ride trips. Longest I've been in the Starflyte is 9 days. Mine has the couch bed in back makes into a corner, little dinette up front as well. For a single person who doesn't mnd a wet bath, works great, and what a tuff, decently made rig, drives real nice v10, 10.5 mpg to 11 is common. I took out the old skool tube tv, has a flat panel now which I never use. Put a hing and door with that tv so there's HUGE storage above cab. Also added 100 watts solar. Bog difference.

[cbigham]

Lot of talk about Starflytes. Here's mine I bought it for shorter trips on a dirt bike or dual sport riding. We have a large diesel fun mover for longer ride trips. Longest I've been in the Starflyte is 9 days. Mine has the couch bed in back makes into a corner, little dinette up front as well. For a single person who doesn't mnd a wet bath, works great, and what a tuff, decently made rig, drives real nice v10, 10.5 mpg to 11 is common. I took out the old skool tube tv, has a flat panel now which I never use. Put a hing and door with that tv so there's HUGE storage above cab. Also added 100 watts solar. Big difference.

[Photomike]

ron.dittmer wrote:
That Majestic 19 footer is about as space efficient as I have ever seen in such a short length. I would have thought there is enough of a market demand to sell them direct to the general public. Maybe one day.

From my previous post.....

Re Majestic RVs

I hear the comment a lot that it is surprising that Majestic does not sell their units to the public and here is what I have found out.

Cruise America, Cruise Canada and some smaller rental places have an agreement with Majestic that they will buy a set number of units per year to replace the units that have run up the required mileage (and they know this number down to a science). With this agreement Majestic has a guarantee each year to sell X number of units all without retailing anything. This also builds a demand for the units and Majestic is not completing with the rental companies to sell and lowering the ability of them to sell to finance new purchases.

When you think about it this is a really smart business idea as Majestic cuts out all the middle men, they are able to schedule production based on a set demand that they know years before and they will never be stuck with surplus stock. The only thing that could change this is if the rental companies switched suppliers but I have heard that there is a ownership tie in between two of the rental companies and Majestic.

Once in awhile low mileage units come on the market because of an accident or a close out sale but that is all I have ever seen.

[IAMICHABOD]

How bout that!

Well maybe signup for their alerts,I used a site like this when I was looking for mine and they would E mail me when something I wanted came on the market.

[wanderlust1966]

Iamichabod---these are all old, outdated listings 😞

[IAMICHABOD]

wanderlust1966 wrote:
Yup Photomike is correct---Cruise America told me they *might* have some in September but there are no guarantees 😞 El Monte had one 2017 19' but it was out of my price range and is now gone.....

There seem to be at least 15 listed here Smart RV Guide

You can signup to get alerts when more come on the market,