To B or not to B

We are totally satisfied with our B although the most we have used it has been 14 nights at a time. We have rented C's and my brother has an A but the B does it for me. I recommend everyone rent one first as they certainly don't work for all styles of travel and camping.

It's a legitimate concern. If we had rented a class B, we wouldn't have bought one, especially a new unit. Short trips are good but a coast to coast vacation feels like coexisting in a space the size of a bathroom. It's all about the individuals' space requirement.

This is SO us. We're trying to trade in our older 25 ft Trail-Lite B+ for either another B+ and now are looking at B's. Our brains are in total lock down, overloaded with decisions. Going down from the bigger tanks is an issue. There have been times that 25 ft is slightly too large. BUT find that the B+s even on Mercedes are less expensive. We really like trying to go into a smaller B. If this helps in any way, we drove a 22 foot B+ Pursuit on a Ford, 25 ft Winnebago View B+, 22 foot B Pleasure-Way FL, and 22 ft B Travato all on the same day just recently at a Very nice dealership Flagg RV. This did help at least weed out the Pursuit bc it blew all over the road compared to the other 3, I really like the inside of the Pursuit so this was a disappointment. There was some wind that day. The Travato also drove nice but not quite as nice as the MB's, the bathroom door slide was rattling, was also hard to open and close. I asked my husband the driver which drove/liked better MB B or B+, and he said he liked both very much, but leaned slightly towards B. I suggest going to a dealership that will let you drive a B and B+ on the same day hopefully with some wind, to see how they feel. Pay attention to noise and rattles, they will eventually drive u crazy, particularly my husband lol. Pay attention to where you travel mostly. We travel in the northeast and east coast a lot where there are many smaller older towns that can be tight, come across low trees, cables and low bridges all the time. They used to make 21 and 23 ft Trail-Lite B+s with slides, would probably get that if they were still in business bc they were affordable and decent.

Shearwater,

I realize that in this forum there will naturally be a "B bias". However, it is a bias I share. This is a fantastic opportunity to understand what the reasons are for the bias and to learn if the expectations of like minded people were met. If so, why, and if not, why not.

Thanks again.

Just a cautionary note - if you post this in the B forum, you will find that most respondents favor B's.

There is one simple thing that makes "B"s quite attractive. I read about catastrophic damage due to water leaks left and right with "C"s, "A"a, and towables. With "B"s, usually the worst I read is some stained fabric. I have never read a horror story about mushrooms growing in a "B"'s carpet, but I have read about this with other types of RVs. "B"s seem to have far better protection against water intrusion than virtually anything else out there. Especially with the fact that the roof is NTSHA-approved steel, while most rigs, it might be a thin piece of fiberglass... or even a garbage-bag thin layer of rubber that is supposed protects your expensive stuff from getting wet and full of mold growth... but usually fails in a few years (small twig puncturing it, caulk drying up, wind driving water through the caulk, etc.)

The winnebago View & itasca Navion are similar in size to the serenity but has the over cab bunk. It's also on the sprinter chassis. Why not check those out too? Heck, you can buy a low mileage gently used one for around $50k... if you don't feel like paying over $140k for a new 2015 rv. I owned a 2008 View and loved it.

My class b has a fiberglass top but would deffinitely do better in a catastrophic crash than a c or my class a. Promasters and Sprinters are all steel and would fair the best in my estimation.

avanti wrote:
It is the fact that B vans, and only B vans, are (by definition) built totally inside of a highly-engineered, robot-built steel shell.

This is a point that is not mentioned much but it was a definite factor in our decision to buy a class B, a decision that we have been quite happy with. Basically we are travelers though and not campers. I've done plenty of tent camping, backpacking, etc. but when we were ready to look for an RV we wanted to see the country.

I am so impressed with the vast amount of knowledge and experience all of this input is based on. Thank God for the Internet!