Tenter2RVr
New Member
Hello to all!
I’ve finally happily registered here, after several weeks of following many threads that have been invaluable in providing a newbie like me so much helpful info. This forum has been like stumbling upon a gold mine for me, after months of online time spent searching for what I'm after.
A little background: A life-long avid backpacker, traveller, and tent camper, I'm now trying to find my way to adapting to (and adopting) the Class B RV approach to extending/prolonging my adventures in a way that can accommodate both my aging self, and my recently disabled wife. I'm actually still in pretty decent, active physical shape, and both my wife and I would still be enjoying tent camping if it weren't for the limitations of her disability. After doing without any camping or much outdoor travel for the past few years, and painfully missing it, it finally hit me that a small RV (Class B, as I came to understand) could put us back on the road.
Since that light bulb went off, I've devoted the past few months to researching the idea and trying to determine what models and features most appeal to me. The more modestly priced Roadtreks (Zion, Simplicity) and Winnebagos (Travato, G or K) have held most of my attention. I recently checked out a multi-dealer RV show in Sacramento, although I was disappointed in the small number of Class Bs on display there. I'm also determined not to exceed a total length of 21' (more preferably around 20’), as both ease of driving and fuel economy are high priorities for me.
Also, just like a few others have expressed here, I’ve been concerned and intimidated by the potential for the myriad technical problems, breakdowns, failures, etc. inherent in the complexity of most modern RV systems.
Then in the past week or so, another light bulb went off for me which has entirely redirected my thoughts toward a minimized RV style that I think could both appeal to my sense of “camping aesthetics” and avoid most, if not all, of the common technical complexity and associated challenges of modern “luxury” RVs. My purpose now is to seek the thoughts or advice of any other members who may have had experience with such an approach to RV-ing.
My line of thinking has gone something like this:
What if we did away with nearly all of the standard RV luxuries? - onboard propane, cooking, plumbing, heating, air conditioning, fresh, gray, and black water tanks, and reduced the RV to something closer to a tent-like camping experience.
Refrigerator - replaced by the use of a large ice chest, as I’m so used to doing while tent camping. Ice is easily replaced as frequently as needed and has no power requirements.
Fresh water supply - can be carried and stored in the same refillable 5 gal. containers I’m used to camping with. No pump/power or onboard storage tank requirement.
Cooking - on the same portable propane cartridge camp stove I’m used to using in tent camping. I enjoy cooking outdoors on campsite picnic tables or my roll-up camp table, but the option of doing so on a counter in the RV would be great in bad weather.
For camp bathing, we’ve used wet-wipes and sponge baths to get us through until we can grab a motel once or twice a week while travel-camping. An onboard shower we could easily do without.
A toilet is one of the essentials that I would require, with regard to our particular needs. I’ve just recently found info on the newer porta-potty and cassette toilet systems that sound very simple and convenient to me, especially considering that it might only need to serve the needs of one person (my disabled wife), as I am happy to use the facilities available in any campground.
Heating/air conditioning - we’re used to tent camping, where we accept whatever the weather brings. We have great warm down sleeping bags for the coldest nights, and open screened windows should provide as much natural cooling/ventilation as we can get. A fan might be helpful. I don’t expect to do much camping in seasons or locales of climate extremes.
Beyond all of the preceding ideas, the most necessary and useful features would be a sofa/bed for my wife to rest on when needed, a table for dining use, etc., storage space, and LED lighting for night time convenience. And my hope is that eliminating so many of the standard features and “luxuries” of typical RVs on the market might also help lighten the vehicle, improve fuel economy, and provide added space for other simple gear we might want to carry.
I’ve recently contacted the people at sportsmobile.com about having such an RV built for us, but if anyone here has any other suggestions, ideas, experiences, products or manufacturers to share with me, I’d be most grateful to hear anything you have to share.
Thanks so much!
I’ve finally happily registered here, after several weeks of following many threads that have been invaluable in providing a newbie like me so much helpful info. This forum has been like stumbling upon a gold mine for me, after months of online time spent searching for what I'm after.
A little background: A life-long avid backpacker, traveller, and tent camper, I'm now trying to find my way to adapting to (and adopting) the Class B RV approach to extending/prolonging my adventures in a way that can accommodate both my aging self, and my recently disabled wife. I'm actually still in pretty decent, active physical shape, and both my wife and I would still be enjoying tent camping if it weren't for the limitations of her disability. After doing without any camping or much outdoor travel for the past few years, and painfully missing it, it finally hit me that a small RV (Class B, as I came to understand) could put us back on the road.
Since that light bulb went off, I've devoted the past few months to researching the idea and trying to determine what models and features most appeal to me. The more modestly priced Roadtreks (Zion, Simplicity) and Winnebagos (Travato, G or K) have held most of my attention. I recently checked out a multi-dealer RV show in Sacramento, although I was disappointed in the small number of Class Bs on display there. I'm also determined not to exceed a total length of 21' (more preferably around 20’), as both ease of driving and fuel economy are high priorities for me.
Also, just like a few others have expressed here, I’ve been concerned and intimidated by the potential for the myriad technical problems, breakdowns, failures, etc. inherent in the complexity of most modern RV systems.
Then in the past week or so, another light bulb went off for me which has entirely redirected my thoughts toward a minimized RV style that I think could both appeal to my sense of “camping aesthetics” and avoid most, if not all, of the common technical complexity and associated challenges of modern “luxury” RVs. My purpose now is to seek the thoughts or advice of any other members who may have had experience with such an approach to RV-ing.
My line of thinking has gone something like this:
What if we did away with nearly all of the standard RV luxuries? - onboard propane, cooking, plumbing, heating, air conditioning, fresh, gray, and black water tanks, and reduced the RV to something closer to a tent-like camping experience.
Refrigerator - replaced by the use of a large ice chest, as I’m so used to doing while tent camping. Ice is easily replaced as frequently as needed and has no power requirements.
Fresh water supply - can be carried and stored in the same refillable 5 gal. containers I’m used to camping with. No pump/power or onboard storage tank requirement.
Cooking - on the same portable propane cartridge camp stove I’m used to using in tent camping. I enjoy cooking outdoors on campsite picnic tables or my roll-up camp table, but the option of doing so on a counter in the RV would be great in bad weather.
For camp bathing, we’ve used wet-wipes and sponge baths to get us through until we can grab a motel once or twice a week while travel-camping. An onboard shower we could easily do without.
A toilet is one of the essentials that I would require, with regard to our particular needs. I’ve just recently found info on the newer porta-potty and cassette toilet systems that sound very simple and convenient to me, especially considering that it might only need to serve the needs of one person (my disabled wife), as I am happy to use the facilities available in any campground.
Heating/air conditioning - we’re used to tent camping, where we accept whatever the weather brings. We have great warm down sleeping bags for the coldest nights, and open screened windows should provide as much natural cooling/ventilation as we can get. A fan might be helpful. I don’t expect to do much camping in seasons or locales of climate extremes.
Beyond all of the preceding ideas, the most necessary and useful features would be a sofa/bed for my wife to rest on when needed, a table for dining use, etc., storage space, and LED lighting for night time convenience. And my hope is that eliminating so many of the standard features and “luxuries” of typical RVs on the market might also help lighten the vehicle, improve fuel economy, and provide added space for other simple gear we might want to carry.
I’ve recently contacted the people at sportsmobile.com about having such an RV built for us, but if anyone here has any other suggestions, ideas, experiences, products or manufacturers to share with me, I’d be most grateful to hear anything you have to share.
Thanks so much!