Doing research on Class C

My husband and I plan to travel for 2 to 3 months this summer with our 85 lb. dog. We're interested in Class C RVs that sleep up to 4 people. What are your thoughts for best value?

Welcome to the forum.
How much experience you have with camping?  Is this a one time event?
Buying a class C is a significant investment.  I would suggest you rent one that is close to meeting your needs before buying one.  That is what we did.  Then you can decide how to proceed before spending thousands of $$.  My two cents.

More information is also needed to help us help you. Who are the other two people? Your children, two other adults, hypothetical people, etc.? Children, consider a bunkhouse model, or one or more of them can sleep overhead of the cab. Two more adults, that gets complicated in my opinion.

Good points about who the four people are.  A bunkhouse is good for two kids because they can put all their junk and lay in their bunks on pillows during the day, if they choose to.  (That keeps them out of the way of adults.)  They can also use sleeping bags and just roll them up during the day, but still use the bunks.

However, maybe not as good for adults. 

Be forewarned that some RV parks that allow dogs will have a size limit.  If they do 85lbs seems like it's on the high side.

If your going to boondock then that won't matter as much. 

4 people in a Class C is going to get small fairly quickly for most people especially for 3 months at a time.
Even if it was only 2 people and a dog - depending on what size RV could be small after awhile.

A Class A might be worth looking into as a large Class C and a Small Class A can be very close in size.
Each have there pros and cons.  But again it can't hurt to look at them.
IMO you would need a very large Class C at the minimum for the kind of travel you expect to do.

Please report back if and when you make a decision and preferably before you purchase anything as someone
here might very well have or had a model like your serious about and can tell you what to check for or it's pros and cons.

I've found more parks that don't allow certain breeds as opposed to over so many pounds.  I travel with a 100 pound lab and also have caravanned with a friend who brings along a greyhound.  So far, no one has questioned either.

All good suggestions so far.

I'm curious as to your approximate budget.  $25,000, $50,000, $75,000, $100,000?

Do you want new or used?

Thanks for all of the great replies. There is a possibility that our grandchildren will join us for a few days so it sounds like the bunks would work. When they aren't around, I think I could use them for storage. Our budget is $75,000 and no decision yet on new or used. What do you suggest? Are the warranties worth the money? Are they available for used RVs? Good to know about dog restrictions. We'll definitely have to plan ahead since there's no question she'll be traveling with us. We do plan to rent a Class C for a week once we narrow down our options. If you can tell us which manufacturers and models you like, that will be very helpful. This Spring we plan to go on a trip a couple hours from home so we can identify what adjustments we need to make before we go on the longer adventure.

I have a low mileage 2014 Winnebago Aspect 30J which is as good a unit as you can get in the Class C designed for a couple and occasional guests. And it's up for sale, and exactly in your budget.

We tried on a couple RV's years ago to buy used but everything we looked at smelled bad or was pretty beatup so we bought new.

I don't buy extended warranties.

Brand?  Just go look at as many RV's as you can and you may start to see a pattern. 

Welcome to the forum Joana!

Your budget will get you nearly anything you want in the used market.

The best value for your $$ will be the one with a floorplan that makes you happy. Go to the RV show, visit dealers, ect and see what suits your fancy.

Why do you limit your choice to a class C?

Perhaps just ignorance, but I'm thinking Class A is too big for us and that we'll get better gas mileage with Class C. We had considered a travel trailer as we can pull 4000 pounds with our current V6 vehicle although it's old. Class B is too small.  Do I need to rethink this?

There are class C's out there 33' bumper to bumper, mine is. I am rated to tow 7500#. There are class A's out there that are actually shorter. Tank sizes are probably comparable. Some of those class A's have a lower tow rating. These are things that need to be considered. Class A's normally do have larger tanks though. The class A's may be better adapted for below freezing weather due to the tanks being located in a somewhat heated area. Gas mileage will probably be within a mile or two per gallon. If gas mileage is a major concern, RV'ing may not be for you. Gas mileage is just something we don't think much about, and deal with. We just use the number for budgeting and distance.

Joana,

My husband & I rented a 29-foot Coachman Freelander 27QB last summer and we had a wonderful trip. It has a real queen-sized bed (60" x 80") and you could walk around the entire bed. Easy to put on linens. Plenty of storage, too. The cab-over was huge and could easily fit 2 kids. The booth dinette also made into a full sized bed. The jack-knife sofa turned into a twin size bed. So, it would easily accommodate 2 adults, 2 kids and a large dog. We had 3 adults and a dog on our trip. We have a Belgian Shepard (67 lbs) and I just kept the booth dinette in bed mode the entire trip and that's where she rode for the entire trip. She loved it. She could lay on the bed and look out the window It also had a split bath, which I like. One person could take a shower and another could use the bathroom, without being intrusive. My only complaint was the faucet in the bathroom was so short, it was right up against the back of the basin. Design flaw, in my opinion.

One of the things we liked about the 27QB is that it did not have any slide-outs. Some people love slides, some don't. It would be up to your own personal preference. We don't like slides because it's more difficult to access your outside storage when the slides are out. If you don't have slide covers, then you have to be very careful about making sure no debris from tress are in there before putting the slides back in. It can easily damage the slides. We have friends who had an RV slide ruined by debris and it was an expensive item to fix. On the positive side, slides really make your RV roomy when they're open.

As stated above, you really need to figure out what kind of floor plan works for you. Go to a few RV shows or dealers and actually sit in the RV. Sit on the toilet....is there enough room for your knees? Is the toilet up high enough or so low that you need grab bars to stand up? Is there enough height & width in the shower that you can comfortably wash your hair without knocking your elbows on the walls? Is there a real shower door or just a curtain? You have to think about where that water is going to drip off the door or curtain, which can cause damage after a while.

As far as gas mileage, most class C's that we've look at get about 8 to 10 miles per gallon. You can find some of the smaller ones on van chassis like the Winnebago Trend (Dodge Ram chassis) or the Itasca Navion (Mercedes diesel) that can get 16 to 18 miles per gallon. But then you're going to pay a lot more for them.

In all the research we've done, we've found that used RVs are a much better bargain, as someone else has already taken the depreciation hit and they've already worked out the kinks in the RV. Our dear friends who are full-time RVers and live in a 41-foot Class A also recommend buying used. Their first RV was a Class C and they said it was great for road trips, but if you're going to take trips often, they loved the Class A. They felt the engine in the Class A was more powerful, had a larger gas tank, and was a smoother ride.

We're going to be renting a smaller Class C this summer, a Coachman Freelander 23CB, since it will just be the 2 of us and the dog this year. We tried to find a Winnebago Trend or Itasca Navion to rent, but couldn't find one for a reasonable price. We definitely liked renting because we got a sense of what we liked and didn't like.

Good luck with your search & happy travels

I can't imagine not having at least one slide. While anything could happen, the odds are certainly slim and very much overstated in the above post.

Spend a rainy week with kids and dogs without that additional interior space? No thanks.

I agree. Even a shallow depth slide makes a world of difference. People read about a lot of slide problems, but need to realize how many are out there, and how many times they get run in and out. Truth be known, the failure rate is pretty low percentage wise, and in the case if the OP's friend, many problems are self inflicted.

FWIW, our 27ft class C, 33' class C, and a 38' class A all got same mileage on average (lengths approx.).  All gas units.  I don't know that I would choose based on that criteria.  Renting is a good idea...you will learn a lot about likes/dislikes.

Thanks everyone for all of this great information. Still thinking......

RedandSilver said:

Be forewarned that some RV parks that allow dogs will have a size limit.  If they do 85lbs seems like it's on the high side.

If your going to boondock then that won't matter as much. 

4 people in a Class C is going to get small fairly quickly for most people especially for 3 months at a time.
Even if it was only 2 people and a dog - depending on what size RV could be small after awhile.

A Class A might be worth looking into as a large Class C and a Small Class A can be very close in size.
Each have there pros and cons.  But again it can't hurt to look at them.
IMO you would need a very large Class C at the minimum for the kind of travel you expect to do.

Please report back if and when you make a decision and preferably before you purchase anything as someone
here might very well have or had a model like your serious about and can tell you what to check for or it's pros and cons.

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Our first was a 27ft C class, no slides. At the time we had 2 great danes (1 was 190 lbs, other 130)and a lab of about 80 lbs. Never got turned away from campgrounds (they all said "we'll make an exception on dog size here"). They would sometimes ask us to keep them on a leash which we always do anyway. Thinking back, I don't know how we did it but we had a great time every trip.
Now we have a 165 lb great dane, a 65 lb lab and a yorkie of maybe 10 lbs., driving a 33ft class C, 2 slides, still fun.

Joana said:

Perhaps just ignorance, but I'm thinking Class A is too big for us and that we'll get better gas mileage with Class C. We had considered a travel trailer as we can pull 4000 pounds with our current V6 vehicle although it's old. Class B is too small.  Do I need to rethink this?

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Yes you do need to rethink this. It is a typical mistake made by beginners that a C gets better gas mileage and is easier to drive than an A. I have owned several of both types and those urban myths are false. An A is easier to drive because it has a much larger field of view and the driver sits up higher. Gas mileage is not determined by weigh, it is determined by wind resistance and the weight of your right foot. As and Cs both have the blunt front end. People who tow cars report that towing a car only reduced gas mileage by about a half a mile per gallon. Most RVers spend about 95% of their time living in the RV and only 5% of the time driving. So in my book it is much more logical to maximize the house over the driving. A Travel Trailer will not work for you at all. 4000 pounds is horribly low for towing anything.