Six months full-timing in the Winnebago Travato

[bspurling]

We bought our Winnebago Travato right at the start of 2014 when it was fresh off the production line... and we've been full-timing in it ever since.

At the six month mark we'd clocked up over 20,000 miles, covering most of the Deep South, South West, and the Pacific Northwest.

If you’re looking for a great combination of small and self-sufficient, the Travato is brilliant. But it’s aimed at a specific type of RVer - one who prefers mobility over space! It has its fair share of design flaws and issues too, as a number of other topics on this forum have discussed.

We have loads more details - the good and the bad - on our website: travato2014.wordpress.com

With the Travato’s floor plan Winnebago have done something wonderful. They’ve taken a floor plan only found in the class C View 24J (aka Navion, if it’s an Itasca) or the class B+ Via 25P (Itasca: Reyo), and ingeniously crammed it into a Ram ProMaster chassis. This floor plan has four great features:

1. Self-sufficient — We wanted to be able to go at least a few days without hooking up, and not by relying on campsite showers either.
2. Mobile and discreet (relatively!) — We didn’t want to look too much like an RV. Big white curvy lines scream “RV”; the extra width of a class C’s coach makes tight parking impossible.
3. Permanent bed — We’re full-timing, so we couldn’t be doing with turning our table into a bed every time we wanted to sleep.
4. Booth-style dinette — We’re not just travelling, we have things we want to do. Things that require laptops, or pen and paper. Tiny little removable tables perched uncomfortably far from leather sofas… Not going to cut it. We wanted a permanent table, with the extra space afforded by the booth-style.
5. Corner shower and corner bed — We prioritise mobility and style over queen-size beds with a foot of space around it. Anything other than a corner bed with a corner shower room squeezed in beside it is a colossal waste of space by our reckoning.

There's loads of other great features, and HUGE design flaws too! As mentioned, it's all on our website. Would be happy to answer any questions from anybody considering the Travato, or pick up any feedback from others already using the van.

Brian

[mlts22]

There have been some Sportsmobile people who have even gone as far as having a fresh water recirculation line that came out of the water heater, followed the pipes, circled around the tanks, then emptied back in the FW tank. Of course, I would bet it would be a PITA to drain for winterization, but it is an innovative concept.

I also have seen European hydronic systems from Espar and Truma that can heat water, coolant (so one can have that circulate near the tanks and not worry about that closed loop freezing when the van isn't used), and air at the same time.

[Davydd]

I would guess if your fresh water tank is inside your Travato that most all your water lines would be as well. So if you can keep your inside above freezing you will be OK. About the only thing you would have to do is periodically put pink anti-freeze in your floor waste trap (after use) and maybe add some in your grey and black water tank. If your daytime temperatures go above freezing I would think you would have no problem with dumping. Of course, staying ahead of the cold weather seeking warm climes is what full-timing would be about I would think. 🙂

I wouldn't winterize the traditional way such as emptying tanks unless you plan to deliberately stay in or travel through all day below freezing weather. If you want to see how one couple remodeled their B for cold weather camping and get their ideas, read the blog, The Fit RV. They insulated water lines, routed heat next to them, put heating pads on under floor waste tanks and heating on the discharge waste pipes to keep them from freezing up.

We don't heat our B overnight other than to keep it above freezing. Then we open cabinet and bathroom doors to put what little heat we have in those areas. We use sleeping bags good down to 20F. We have camped in overnight temps as low as 18F but would plan to avoid anything colder. It is hard not to avoid that situation in the high elevation Rocky Mountains in September.

[stan909]

Buy a Coleman Black Cat heater. It is a catalytic heater and runs all night giving off even heat using half of a one pound cylinder of propane. Set it on your stove top and crack a window and your roof vent. Costs about $55 at Wal-Mart Com.

[bspurling]

We've not had any freezing weather since February in Mississippi, which the Travato survived admirably (although I have no idea how - we were newbies back then and had NO clue what we were doing!).

We have every intention of staying ahead of the cold weather as we drive south down the Atlantic seaboard, but I'm sure it'll catch up with us sooner or later. It's certainly not that warm where we are now!

I'd have to read the manuals again to fully winterize, but there are three easy-access drains under the slide door that empty different parts of the water system. They allow you to empty the pipes without emptying the tanks as well. We used them once up in northern Minnesota - useful when you think it might drop a bit below freezing but not enough to freeze the tanks.

The biggest problem is the fan heater: it's either on or off and the van isn't very well insulated. Consequently you get big undulations in temperature. Not ideal, but we just wrap up warm and wait for the sun to come back out 🙂

[mlts22]

I'm curious how the Travato use is coming along. This is pretty much the first year that this model is seeing winter conditions, so I wonder how well it will be able to deal with below freezing conditions.

The one good thing is that the FW tank sits inside, so winterizing it is not too difficult, and the Winnebago manual shows that one can use compressed air (under 30 PSI) or go for the RV antifreeze method (better in colder climates.)

Reason I ask this is that most of my camping is done in the winter, and even though Texas doesn't tend to stay cold, weather is unpredictable and a freeze (up to about seven days or so) can happen which will definitely break any pipes not protected.

[rockymtnb]

cjscotty wrote:
Do you have a Sportsmobile, those things are so cool!!! Sorry to go off topic, but my husband and I think they are the coolest things we ever saw, the 4WD except those don't have an enclosed toilet.

Sportsmobile 4WD (and 2WD) units are available with enclosed toilet/shower compartments. See the pop-top example below (click on the Shower subheading):

Sportsmobile low-top shower compartment

[Sebtown]

I too have a portable solar suitcase to help keep my single battery charged while boondocking. We only sit still for a few days at a time and it has worked well so far. It stores under the couch along with the camp chairs and other gear. I prefer using the solar option over the generator in most situations.

[Davydd]

You are right. Solar just charges batteries. What I meant by run much of anything is charge the batteries enough to run anything especially air conditioning. By that simple rule of thumb I cited from AM Solar, a company interested in selling solar, there would be physically no way to have enough solar let alone a battery bank replenished by solar to run air conditioning in a Class B.

[Arizona_Kid]

Davydd wrote:

cjscotty wrote:

wincrasher65 wrote:
There is plenty of space on the roof. The wiring would be a snap as you could go down the back of the closet cabinet. Problem is you have to drill a hole in the roof of your van.

Right now I've got a portable 120 watt panel that works pretty well.

Considering this van is pointed towards the sports-active types, and not necessarily full-timers or long term campers, solar may be seen as unnecessary. If you are just over-nighting in non-cold weather, the single battery will easily last 24 hours until you start up and drive the van. Also, since it has a generator, you have that charging option too.

Is the 120 able to run your air conditioning? We would probably get the portable then, they look to fold up fairly small. We are not full timers, always out for 2-4 day weekends, day trips and a couple week long, but really would like to have this, as I believe the Travato only has one battery?Also looking to go out now for cross country skiing. We have 2 on our current, and even short timing if the battery dies or we use it up for some reason not going to be too good. We have 2 small dogs also we take everywhere. May open up more options for us also. I know we dry camp in state parks a lot and they have limited generator times, and we have gotten banged on our door by angry campers. 😮

A 120 W solar panel is not going to run much of anything. A rule of thumb I've read says, a 100 watt solar panel produces an average of about 6 amps per peak sun hour, or about 30 amp-hours per day. So a 120 watt panel might be good for maybe 36 amp-hours per day. When I quoted that on another board some experienced rooftop solar panel Class B owners suggested the rule of thumb might have been generous. Air conditioners are going to use anywhere from 85 to 125 amps per HOUR of use. An aimed portable solar panel might exceed that rule but still would not be remotely close enough to run an air conditioner. Then a portable solar panel is one more thing you have to carry, pack away and take up valuable space.

"Solar doesn't run anything, it just charges the batteries. At least in RV installations." Is this true, or do some setups allow you to run 12v appliances directly from the panels during the day?

[Davydd]

I just posted my analysis for electrical and solar for the upcoming Class B we are having built here:

Calculating RV Electrical Use

I go into great detail in a liberal way of calculating to come up with an electrical/battery/solar RV system for total off the grid independence. Right or wrong, I came up with 600ah of lithium-ion batteries and 450 watts of solar and I almost concluded solar was just cake frosting but I am getting it anyway. You could take the information, adopt and use it to create your own goals.

[cjscotty]

stan909 wrote:
Cjscotty. No.Panel is on my Sportsmobile poptop. My point is how cheap solar can be had.

Do you have a Sportsmobile, those things are so cool!!! Sorry to go off topic, but my husband and I think they are the coolest things we ever saw, the 4WD except those don't have an enclosed toilet. So right now we're looking at Travato.

[stan909]

Cjscotty. No.Panel is on my Sportsmobile poptop. My point is how cheap solar can be had.

[wincrasher65]

Davydd is correct in that no panel is going to run AC.

I'm getting 7-8 amps out of my panel on a bright sunny day, aimed toward the sun. That is generally enough to recharge a 1/4 to 1/2 depleted battery, but it will take all day. It's a fairly good match-up to a single battery system. Two batteries may be tough to recharge with a portable, unless of course, you don't draw them down very far.

The panel is fairly large, even folded up. It comes in a soft-sided case. I store it upright (on edge) along with my other gear. It could be stored flat on the floor of the Travato, but you don't want to set anything on top of it. It could possibly fit under the rear couch in a Sprinter Van, but I believe it would monopolize that space and keep you from storing other items there.

In my van, it has to come out if I fold down the bed. It definitely has some convenience issues. So think carefully about where you will keep it before you go out and buy one.

[cjscotty]

Thanks for the interesting info. 😉