2011 Great West Van Legend Mercedes Benz Sprinter

[Davydd]

Mike, M-B doesn't make them 26, 28 or 30 foot long so asking is kind of moot, IMO. The Sprinter is a true van by definition and everything is built inside a steel unitized and engineered shell. Can the same be said of a van that has had its roof and back end ripped off and rebuilt with a fiber glass shell not engineered by the chassis manufacturer? That in itself is closer to a Class C definition of building on a cutaway instead of inside a van shell. The Sprinter, in a sense, is a truer Class B by definition of the RVIA.

[booster]

Originally Posted by Davydd

Mike, M-B doesn't make them 26, 28 or 30 foot long so asking is kind of moot, IMO. The Sprinter is a true van by definition and everything is built inside a steel unitized and engineered shell. Can the same be said of a van that has had its roof and back end ripped off and rebuilt with a fiber glass shell not engineered by the chassis manufacturer? That in itself is closer to a Class C definition of building on a cutaway instead of inside a van shell. The Sprinter, in a sense, is a truer Class B by definition of the RVIA.

I don't want to speak for Mike, but I don't think he said, or meant, that it wasn't a B. I do have to agree, that when you get to 24+ feet, you are starting to pick up many of the disadvantages of a B+ or C, that you don't have with the shorter B's. In my mind, usability takes precedence over technical definition every time.

If I were going to get something that long, and live with the length issue, I would certainly think about getting one of the Sprinter (or other chassis) B+ or small C. The added width wouldn't have much affect on the downside, but certainly would have benefits on the upside. Leisure makes some very nice B+/small C units. Not cheap though.

[Davydd]

The B+s and Cs under 25 ft. in length are actually cheaper than Bs for the most part. I had a discussion with a lady at the RV show who was looking to downsize from a small B+/C (forget what she had). Her downsizing was not because of length but because of width and driveability. She was dreading the shoulderless roads she was encountering in New England and most of the east. We here in Minnesota are kind of spoiled with most roads having shoulders simply to push the snow aside and find it kind of shocking from Indiana on east.

Any thing over 20 foot technically might not fit in a standard parking stall but anything over 7 feet in width definitely should not be parking in side by side stalls or curbs. You can easily park up against curb and grass with a van over 20 foot with overhang but if you park with a wide B+/C you kill the stalls next to you on both sides and if you are over 20 feet you can kill 4 stalls let alone trying to find a place to park other than a Walmart or Target like parking lots way out. Also the turning radius gets more difficult despite the capable diameter. This is a subject I am intimately familiar with being directly involved in the design of over 1,000 Target Stores, the Mall of America parking ramps, and several restaurants. Narrow is more important than length.

The Great West Legend EX is still shorter than our Legend and our former Pleasure-way Plateau with a hitch cargo carrier or bike racks that many B owners resort to. The storage, B wise, is humongous in that Legend EX. It has 55 cubic feet of added storage and the largest hitch cargo carrier is about 20 cubic feet. Most are around 12 to 15 cubic feet. I look at it this way. I would still have no fear of driving through the Needles Highway in the South Dakota Black Hills.

[booster]

Originally Posted by Davydd

The B+s and Cs under 25 ft. in length are actually cheaper than Bs for the most part. I had a discussion with a lady at the RV show who was looking to downsize from a small B+/C (forget what she had). Her downsizing was not because of length but because of width and driveability. She was dreading the shoulderless roads she was encountering in New England and most of the east. We here in Minnesota are kind of spoiled with most roads having shoulders simply to push the snow aside and find it kind of shocking from Indiana on east.

Any thing over 20 foot technically might not fit in a standard parking stall but anything over 7 feet in width definitely should not be parking in side by side stalls or curbs. You can easily park up against curb and grass with a van over 20 foot with overhang but if you park with a wide B+/C you kill the stalls next to you on both sides and if you are over 20 feet you can kill 4 stalls let alone trying to find a place to park other than a Walmart or Target like parking lots way out. Also the turning radius gets more difficult despite the capable diameter. This is a subject I am intimately familiar with being directly involved in the design of over 1,000 Target Stores, the Mall of America parking ramps, and several restaurants. Narrow is more important than length.

The Great West Legend EX is still shorter than our Legend and our former Pleasure-way Plateau with a hitch cargo carrier or bike racks that many B owners resort to. The storage, B wise, is humongous in that Legend EX. It has 55 cubic feet of added storage and the largest hitch cargo carrier is about 20 cubic feet. Most are around 12 to 15 cubic feet. I look at it this way. I would still have no fear of driving through the Needles Highway in the South Dakota Black Hills.

From a previous thread,

"Lastly, we own a 20 cubic foot hitch receiver cargo carrier in order to carry two inflatable kayaks and various other items. After a couple of lengthy trips including one six week trip where we used our kayaks in only one place we decided a cargo carrier that extends the B length another 3 feet just wasn't worth the aggravation. It completely changed where we drove and where we parked."

So you have changed your mind about length making a difference? I think you PW with carrier was just about at the same 24' as the new Great West.

[Davydd]

Yes, length does become a problem. I don't deny that. That hitch cargo carrier was worse I think than van length because it was difficult to keep that extra length in your mindset because you can't gauge it in your rear view mirrors. The overall depth of the cargo carrier since it sat out nearly a foot from the van was over 3 feet putting the overall length in the 25 foot range. Width is still a bigger problem probably up to 24 feet. The wheelbase on the Legend EX is the same as the Legend at 170". The difference is the back overhang of an additional 16". If I backed up to a curb with grass the front would stick out the same in the parking stall and would not extend beyond the normal 20 ft. stall. Same if I park front in over the curb I can still park in a normal 20 ft. stall. Any B over 20 feet is going intrude on a parking stall where they are facing each other. With either the Legend EX or Legend that is going to happen yet there will still be space for a compact car in front of me and a car will park there. Happens every time if I try to park close with all the other cars. You can't do that with a wider B like the Pleasure-way Excel Ford with the wide fiber glass body or any of the B+ or Cs unless you want to do some serious door bumping.

I think the Legend EX could easily fulfill my needs. It will carry more than I carry now including those two inflatable kayaks and I would even consider carrying two bicycles inside the van. BTW, I looked at the Roadtrek RS Adventurous Sprinter, the Chevy 190 and 210 today and there is no way I can carry what I currently carry in any of those. Best cabinetry design goes to Leisure Travel Vans, IMO. Great West Vans probably has the most capacity but I still have some issues with them that they will be looking into to make them even better.

[Davydd]

I've updated my Flickr photos of the 2012 Great West Van Legend EX, the 24 ft. extended body model. I added 73 photos I took at Lake Region RVs in Ramsey, MN (Twin Cities). The B is a similar to the one that was previously photographed at the Minneapolis RV & Camping Show in February. I photographed just about everything possible to look at.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davydd/set ... 259831539/

[Rok]

Hi Davydd,

Thanks for pointing me to this thread. I agree that the "tri-fold sofa bed" is a deal especially when one is going to use it for Costco runs, etc. That extra storage space is a real bonus. I thought we went to GWVans website in our search, but I don't remember seeing this feature. It warrants another look.

...........Rocky

[Davydd]

Finding comfortable chairs and a place to store them is one of the Holy Grails of Class B RVing. I've gone through at least four sets of chairs of all kind. Currently we have been traveling with the very compact Xpress lounger chairs that fold up to the size of a pizza box and can be conveniently stored just about anywhere. The problem is they are not that large and you can only sit upright in them. In other words you can't relax. I had always been envious of the larger RVs when they got their bulky comfortable chairs out like the zero gravity loungers. Where to store them? Then in a Cabelas I saw one on sale for $39. I succumbed. I assumed I would be able to carry only one inconveniently inside the B and it would be in the way on rainy inside days. I bought it anyway.

I got to experimenting and discovered in my Great West Van Legend that there was just enough gap space between the sofa and rear doors to store it upright without taking out any existing storage space I was using. I realized that when the sofa was lowered into a bed that the chair acted as a bed headboard. My pillow previously had tended to slip over the edge into that gap. The bonus. Two will fit so I am going to buy a second one.

Zero gravity lounger chair - 20" wide Timber Crest model from Cabelas.


Zero gravity chair stored as a headboard when sofa is in bed position.


Zero gravity chair stored behind sofa where you barely see it.

[gordonhks]

Ah Ha! I was wondering how you stowed that.....

[Davydd]

Warning! I almost bought another zero gravity lounger at Target then thought I better check the fold up thickness. The Cabelas Timber Ridge model folds to a shade over 4" and just fits in the gap. The target model folded to 5-1/2" and would be too thick. More expensive and/or better quality models probably are thicker as well.

[Rok]

Hi Davydd,

I just noticed that Grocery Outlet has them on sale this week for $30. Considering the store and the price, I would imagine that those might be the thinner ones. I cliped the ad for my wife Maggie since she was looking for something that would fit in our van while we were traveling on our initial (maiden) trip.

Don't know if you have a GO in your area, but it might be a source for another one for you.

..........Rocky

[Davydd]

Grocery Outlet looks like a west coast deal only.

[stanw909]

Have you considered my Ultra leather slip cover idea? It would make a nice headboard for you.

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by stanw909

Have you considered my Ultra leather slip cover idea? It would make a nice headboard for you.

Why? I guess I see little need for slip covers when chairs are stored inside the B.

BTW, we now have two zero gravity loungers from Cabela's stored in the gap space between the rear doors and the bed/sofa. Raising the sofa or lowering the bed are not affected by the chairs. Two chairs side by side fit exactly with not wiggle room to spare both in the width and depth of the space. Like I said, this was strictly an after the fact purchase discovery and not pre-planned. Now in hindsight I realize we have better director chairs that I gave up carrying because they took up too much room laying flat under the sofa. I could have used them all along in this gap space if I had thought of it.

[Davydd]

My latest project today was to modify our table. we started out with two tables as standard that came with the B but decided to only carry one since we seldom if ever had two tables out at the same time. The table is a rectangular table that centers over a removable post.

Here is the original setup at our front cab seats turned around. It worked fairly well for two people but had its drawbacks that I will explain.


This is the original setup with one table in place at the back sofa. The idea is we would each have a table in the back if desired and there would be room to squeeze in and sit down between the two.


With the unused table I offset the post receptor 4 inches. It is still stable in this unbalanced position and gives us some flexibility. In the front I can now slip into the driver's seat without first having to slide in from the passenger seat side. I can also open the armoire door now with the table in place. Finally, it actually is in a better position for using it as a computer desk for both seats as you can turn it centered to the seat with the edge closer to you..

Here is the unbalanced setup at the front.


In the back we can share the one table easier. It too brings the edge of the table closer for computer work when you twist it around.


I had tried putting a post receptor right in the center but found it interfered with putting and pulling stored stuff under the sofa, so I removed it. After that experiment I decided to try this unbalanced approach. If we decide to go back, the holes are still there in the original position or I can use the unused table.

[Dhowie]

Cool idea with the tables!

[Davydd]

I think I may have mentioned earlier or in the Sprinter Forum that my table in the back on the driver's side was interfered with when the bathroom lavatory was pushed closed. I figured out why. The receptor is an inch forward more than the passenger side. Someone mismeasured when they installed it. Now that I figured it out I could easily fix it but we are not carrying two tables anymore.

[Dhowie]

Any other cool mods you've done worth sharing?

[Davydd]

I'm pretty sure I've posted just about everything in this thread 2011 Great West Van Legend in this Sprinter specific forum here in this Class B Forum as well. The only difference is I posted many things in thread specific topics scattered about rather than in one thread. I couldn't as easily chase them all down here. So, you may have already read it all. I've pretty much covered everything I've done.

[Dhowie]

Thanks, Davydd.