Newbie

[burkehouse]

Hello!

I am new to the forum and an RV wannabe!? We plan on getting an RV next spring, so for now we are tent campers? :-[? Right now we are looking at the class B's and small class C's.

My husband, our daughter, our two Huskies, and I love to go camping.? We mainly camp at state parks and we also camp at my in-law's cabin.? We are looking forward to getting our RV so we can ditch the tent.? Most of our family has RV's so we have spent a lot of time in them.? Our daughter has grown up caming and would live in the campground if we would let her.? When we go camping with our family we are the only tenters, so an RV will be so nice.

I look forward to all the things I will learn here!

 

[Ron]

Welcome to the RV Forum.  We are glad you found us.  Please join in the ongoing discussions, start new discussions, or ask any questions you might have relating to the RVing lifestyle.
What part of the country are you from?

 

[burkehouse]

I live in Northeast WI near Green Bay.

 

[Jim Dick]

Hello!

I am new to the forum and an RV wannabe!  We plan on getting an RV next spring, so for now we are tent campers  :-[  Right now we are looking at the class B's and small class C's.

My husband, our daughter, our two Huskies, and I love to go camping.  We mainly camp at state parks and we also camp at my in-law's cabin.  We are looking forward to getting our RV so we can ditch the tent.  Most of our family has RV's so we have spent a lot of time in them.  Our daughter has grown up caming and would live in the campground if we would let her.  When we go camping with our family we are the only tenters, so an RV will be so nice.

I look forward to all the things I will learn here!

I would suggest you forget the Class B. With three people and two large dogs you won't be able to move around inside! I do orientation on RVs as a part time job and we sell quite a few Road Trek Class Bs. It's very difficult to do the orientation with three people inside. A Class C will give you much more living and sleeping space along with room for the dogs.

 

[Ron]

I live in Northeast WI near Green Bay.

I suppose that is like Montana Great place to be in the summer and great place to be away from in the snowy winter, ;D ;D

 

[Steve CDN]

I'll second Jim's recommendation about eliminating a Class B from consideration with your crew.  Having owned a so-called "wide body" class B, it was a tight squeeze for two of us.  In addition to space for moving around, you would not have enough storage for 3 people and (gulp!) two Huskies.

Even if you did load everyone in with supplies, you would likely exceed the GVWR of the vehicle.  Class B's are generally built to the limit of their GVWR, so the added body weight would certainly be a factor.

Select your Class C carefully, doing as much research as you can to ensure the vehicle you like has sufficient payload capacity.  Even some Class C's are built close to the margin of the GVWR of the chassis.  When loaded with all your stuff, two big dogs, water, propane and fuel...you want to ensure your vehicle is manageable while driving...particularly in windy conditions.

The wind will quickly determine the handling characteristics of the vehicle you test drive.  If the vehicle is overloaded or has excessive overhang in the rear, the wind will push your coach all over the road, requiring excessive steering correction.  This results in a very difficult and dangerous vehicle to drive.

Ask your questions here as well as doing lots of research and test drives under a variety of road and weather conditions.

 

[BernerGran]

Hey there Burkehouse,

Ask away! And I'm delighted you are here!

BernerGran

 

[burkehouse]

Sadly the Class B is all I can get.  The husband thinks the tent is perfect and doesn't really want one.  We spend all of our time camping outside, so this will be our "tent on wheels".  I am hoping that after having it for a few years, he sees the error of his ways.  We plan on the kid and dogs to keep the tent, so it will just be the 2 of us in the Roadtrek (unless it is raining).  We only do weekend camping, and are looking foward to having the Roadtrek to use when we go home to visit family 4 hours away.  That way we can have a rest area anywhere we need one.

We are going to look at some used ones next week.  Perhaps my husband will realize how small they are.

Thanks!