Introduce Yourself

[locoqueso]

Hi, I found this forum a few days ago after looking for info on my newly acquired class B. I live in northeastern Illinois and just purchased a 1993 Dodge Intervec Falcon 190SLF. It has about 47,000 miles and almost no rust. The original owners really took care of it and left everything stock, except for the new fridge. They kept all of the original paperwork and brochures from the manufacturer. I'll try to post pictures of that soon. There is a little work to done on it, but I am looking forward to our 3,000 mile road trip this winter.

Here's a photo of La Bestia!



I also own a 1978 VW Westfalia Campmobile that I purchased from the original owner in Michigan about five years ago. They would drive around with the interior covered with blankets to keep it clean. It's been left stock and almost all original with 148,000 miles.

Here's a photo of Wilson, the 1978 VW Campmobile.



I'm looking forward to sharing info with others on this site and reading up on the old posts. I have a lot to learn before the first trip!

[markopolo]

Both of your vans look to be in really good shape. Welcome to the forum.

[Cherry]

Hi folks. I'm Cherry and I'm preparing to live full time in my newly purchased 1987 Ford E250 Starcraft Turtle Top Camper Van. Earlier this year I had a medical crisis that cost me my job and I am in the process of losing my house so my 6 cats and I will be roaming the country doing work camping and volunteer work. In my former life I was a veterinary technician and a few of my cats are pets on wheels certified. I'm a good source of information for van dwellers and their pets so I encourage you to take full advantage of my knowledge in that area while I pick your brain on van dwelling.

My biggest challenge right now is that I can not find another model van like mine. I'm searching for an owners manual desperately.

Here's a pic of the currently named Hootie (soon to be PITA I think)

[markopolo]

Originally Posted by Cherry

Here's a pic of the currently named Hootie (soon to be PITA I think)

Welcome to the forum Cherry.
Your van looks like the Turtle Top Classic II shown in this eBay ad for a brochure:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1987-Turtle-...-/350167316068

Might be worth contacting them to see if they also have an Owner Manual.

[Cherry]

Good grief now I can add another manufacturer to the list. I thought turtle top was the style that explained the cab over bed. My conversion is by Starcraft By the way - not sure if you need this for your owners manual collection but this is the closest I could find for my camper.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&p...y12Tp&hl=en_US

[markopolo]

Yes, I will add that manual to the public section of the forum - thanks.

[Cherry]

I'm amused to see that some of the 1991 Starcraft conversions came with Nintendo built in.

[Kiwi]

Hi,

I'm Colin and I live in Auckland, New Zealand. I have 3 grown children and 2 grandchildren. I hope to retire, from an engineering business soon. My better half is originally from Korea, but after 16 years here, is now a Kiwi. I have a 42 foot sailing Catamaran, which I hope to get lots of use out of, in retirement.

I joined here, because I am hoping to spend 4 months of our next winter, your summer, touring the Northern States. I originally intended to get a car and stay in motels, but on seeing the 'B' class vans, I thought they might be the best of both worlds.

3 years ago, I bought a motor home in Europe, and toured there for 6 months, and loved taking our house with us, from place to place. Many years ago, I bought an old Mercury Cougar, and toured the Southern States. That was when my kids were small.

I am thinking of starting near Chicago, where I have an internet-business friend, who I have not yet met, but who has offered lodgings, and help on arrival. My budget is limited, so I am looking at an older, but good condition van. I am hoping to keep the purchase at between $8k to $15k. I am an engineer and the older style (without a computer to run everything), is something I can maintain, and tell when to get things looked at.

The problems I need to overcome are; Where to purchase said 'B' Class, how to insure it (what address can I give that will satisfy the insurance company), what other things do I need to look out for. All comments and suggestions will be keenly looked over.

Cheers, Colin

[Flashman]

Hi all,

Just found this thread, so guess I'd better say a bit about myself. I was raised in the UK and came to Canada to be with my wife 14 years ago. We live quietly and modestly in the Niagara region of Ontario.

I kind of grew up around and in "Class B" campers, the first vacations I took as a kid were in my Dad's Ford Thames Dormobile conversion, which I don't remember allll that clearly, being very young. After that we had a small hardtop travel trailer, which was pulled by the family sedan for a couple of years, then we got a VW Transporter (T2 bay window) Devon conversion, of 1972ish vintage, that we had several seasons of vacations and weekends with, which we also pulled the small camper with, and brought my Grandparents along a couple of times. It wasn't the pop top moonraker, but only had a double bed, folding down from a center dinette, I would sleep across the front seats, my sister curled up in the hatch. Maybe because us kids were getting too tall, but also I think the VW passed out of favor when it developed some structural rust spots, and we downsized to a "tent trailer" which wasn't really the popup type, opened up large, but was draughty as hell, no camping at Easter in that one. Then we were back to a different small hardtop camper again.

While I was learning to drive, I was dreaming of getting a VW "bus" of my own, at this time in the UK they were still rather affordable, it was the early years of the classic car boom and the focus was on the more upmarket and enthusiast type cars at that point, however, by the time I passed my test, the insurance industry had had a meltdown, with pricing by engine size and number of seats making premiums astronomical for a young driver... I ended up with a tiny hatchback... I went through university, was temping when I met my wife, moved to Canada, settled down...

We've been tent campers the last dozen years or so, and the first half, we were scrimping and saving to get a home of our own. I missed the "bus" there again so to speak, back then there were still enough VWs around in the wild that they were reasonably priced, but it's been more a case of liking the package rather than being such an ardent VW fan, so I now regard them as somewhat unreasonably priced for what you get, as a practical RV these days, in this area. (Parts availability has gone very poor, probably better out west where more of them survive) If I'd bought one back then, I'd probably still be running it, but cursing the 2 week delay in shipping for the most basic items. Anyway, tent camping is beginning to pall, it seems like too much effort to pack up for weekends, and then we don't wanna pack up wet and spend the next week trying to get the tent dry, so don't go if there's rain in the forecast. Also off peak opportunities are limited. Then on-peak as it were, the sun can be brutal, still feel it burning through tarp and canvas unless you get real shade. Then enjoyment is pretty much determined by which particular site you get, some are lumpy and uneven as hell, some have no shade, some are dustbowls, which instantly become mudbowls in a thunder shower. That and we're getting older, and the damp in the mornings has us aching like hell.

So we've been wanting an RV that can be left "Ready to go" mostly, grab some clothes, food, take off and that gets us off the ground, and keeps us drier. Also something with more of a "3 season" ability would be ideal so we can take off more often, not worrying that it's gonna be a bit cool or might rain. We've been fall camping quite a few times anyway though, so don't need arctic standard insulation and high capacity furnace. Mostly we want to go weekending, but also to take some of our expanding tribe of grandkids with us in the summer so it would be the base camp mothership, and bring extra tents if necessary for sleeping. (Wife had her kids very young, when I arrived they were teens, so we're rather young grandparents.) Anyway, for a few years I'd been looking for the "perfect" towable, but it's been dawning that a DD that can tow anything decent is gonna drink a fortune in gas on a day to day basis. Having a tow vehicle, solely for towing does not make sense due to high insurance costs, however, I discovered that small motorhomes, Class Bs, small Cs, etc appear to be MUCH cheaper on insurance, purely because they are dedicated RVs, that you're not going to daily drive. Thus the Class B and B+ and small C type vans began to make a helluva lot of sense. Can't get much more "ready to go".

I'd consider myself "handy" I do all my own vehicle maintenance and repairs, even major repairs, pretty self reliant in that respect. I wouldn't say I hate "these danged newfangled computers" on vehicles, just that the diagnostic stuff is inordinately expensive in the first 10 years or so of the vehicles life, and troubleshooting info is scarce, so for that and emissions testing reasons, I'm hoping to find something '97 or older. I'm kind of undecided whether I want to do my own conversion or not. Undoubtedly there will be work to do on an older RV anyway, and I am sort of hoping to work toward a fully "dry campable" "boondockable" setup with reasonable mod cons, so we can try camping on govt land. (Most campsites in the immediate locale run at $40 a night!!) I have a notion that I might wanna specifically aim for even older than 90s units though, more like 70s or 80s, because I have alternative fuel ideas that are far easier to implement on carbed motors.

Other things I'm interested in are computers, electronics, astronomy, innovating and gadgeteering, I'd call it inventing , but mostly it's cheaper ways for me to achieve some end, not necessarily a marketable one I try to live frugally, and never buy new where used will do, in some instances it's not a case of not affording something, it's a case of being more self reliant, less wasteful (retasking someone elses junk) or just because I want to know how. I suppose also I have a decreasing degree of trust in "professionals" of all fields, and also in new products being better than older ones. I think the final straw for that was going through a coffee pot every 6 months for a couple of years, all of which were unfixable trash, I deliberately sought out a clean 80s vintage one, we've been using it 6 or 7 years... Call it also the "do more with less" approach. So when I get the "But why?? they only cost $150" type of responses, I'll be all

My username, for those wondering, is an anti-hero, Flashman, from the novels of George McDonald Fraser, a cad and a coward, who somehow comes out ahead, call it inverse snobbery in username selection

So that's me, hi to all,

Flashman

[markopolo]

I've seen your recent posts but have not had the time to respond. I just got back from a trip to Maine and suddenly it has turned to Summer here in New Brunswick. Welcome to the forum. I look forward to reading more of your posts.

[benfrench]

Good evening everyone,

I am Ben from Massachusetts and my wife and I just (I mean just, like arrived in our driveway tonight) bought a 1992 Intervec Falcon 190. Looking for anyone that can guide us into the B world. We are coming from a pop-up that we loved but hated the set-up process. Anyways, looking forward to chatting around the forum.

[Photog]

Originally Posted by benfrench

Good evening everyone,

I am Ben from Massachusetts and my wife and I just (I mean just, like arrived in our driveway tonight) bought a 1992 Intervec Falcon 190. Looking for anyone that can guide us into the B world. We are coming from a pop-up that we loved but hated the set-up process. Anyways, looking forward to chatting around the forum.

Welcome to the Class B Forum

Search for answers to some of your key questions. This will take you to some threads where you can ask questions and get answers, if they were not already answered in that thread.

[AmCruiser]

Hi all. My wife and just upgraded from a 98 Ford E150 Sherrod hi-top conversion to a 99 American Cruiser Class B on a Dodge B3500. We live in southern Maine and I plan to retire in 3 - 1/2 years after 35 years as a marine/mechanical engineer and plan to spend a lot of time travelling. We love the American Cruiser, particularly the elimination of the side door in favor of a rear entry. It free's up that space for the dinnette. I also have a 1992 27 ft Coachmen Capri Class A that I picked up during a 2 year stint in Mississippi in 1999. Unfortunately, my wife never took to the Class A so aside from a handful of excursions, it hasn't had much use in the 10+ years we've had it. Different story when I bought the used Sherrod off Craigs List a year and half ago. We've made a number of trips in that. Then in June coming back from Acadia Nat Park, we spotted the American Cruiser and bought it. We've used about every other weekend since. I'm looking forward to taking it for a longer trip, hopefully this fall. I love the forum. I log in about every evening an read through various posts. Its a great resource.

[markopolo]

Welcome to the forum. Not too many members find this private members-only area. I'm glad you did.
I'm nearby up in New Brunswick. I'd hoped to get to Acadia this year but it is looking like next year now.

[SAMGEORGEJR]

Hello everyone. My name is Sam and my wife is Judy. We live in the foothills of North Carolina. We are both semi-retired (whatever that means) and long to travel. I have been wanting an RV for years and we decided "now is the time" We are total newbies. The only time I have done anything related to this was with the Boy Scouts years ago. We just bought our first RV, a 2000 American Cruiser. Dodge 2500 with a 360. We haven't used it yet but are planning a night or two out in the next week or so.

I have been reading the forum for the last 4 or 5 months and can't tell you how much I have learned and what a joy it is to know that there is a place to go for info. I have a few questions about TVs that I will post later.

Thanks again for being here for us,
Sam & Judy

[AmCruiser]

Hi Sam and Judy,
Welcome to the forum - if your like me you may find it addictive. I log in and review the new posts nearly every evening. My wife and I have a 1999 American Cruiser that we picked up this past June. We love it and have done something with it every other weekend since we got it. We call them retirement test drives as I'm planning to retire in about 3 years. We spent last weekend at Abol Bridge Campground just outside Baxter State Park here in Maine. The leaves are starting to change color.
Hope you enjoy your American Cruiser as much as we do ours!
Randy

[TarheelBornGal]

Hello! I'm new here and don't have a van yet, but hope to in the future. My husband and I (both 50-somethings) currently live in Belize but are planning to move back to the US as soon as we can sell our condo. It's nice here, but it's a very small country, and we want to do a lot more traveling. We've managed to see almost the entire country in just a year here. Domestic travel is easier for us now than international, since we have a dog.

Our current plans for when we return to the US are to take on a DIY van conversion (my husband is very handy). We are looking seriously at the new Nissan NV2500 with high-top roof. We want to carry four bikes (2 road, 2 mountain) inside, a take-apart tandem kayak, plus other gear. We're planning a platform bed (above the bikes), as well as an outdoor screen room where we'll spend much of our time. Our future plans include touring all over the US and camping, hiking, bicycling, and kayaking where possible. We love the outdoors and birding.

Glad to find this forum as we have much to learn!

[PatDarrah]

Greetings everyone,

I'm from Wichita, Kansas. and no I don't own a Class B as of yet.
But when I move up from my teardrop someday I'll be looking really hard at the B's.
Just wanted to say hi.

[RSchleder]

Greetings everyone. We are long time rv'ers that started out in 1970 with 4 kids, a dog, and a Jayco fold down. Since that time, we've owned 3 class A diesel pushers, a Scamp 13' travel trailer, a motorcycle popup, a teardrop we pulled behind our 1929 street rod, and currently a 2012 Winnebago ERA class B. A few yeas ago we went to Alaska in our Dodge 4X4 pickup with a Leer tall topper. It's amazing what you can see on the back roads of Alaska in a 4X4 pickup. We've been into classic cars/street rods/Corvettes for many years. Kinda given that up and have a Mini Cooper S as a toad that we occasional tow behind the ERA when we feel the need. We spend 4-6 months on the road and really enjoy the flexibility of the Class B as we don't miss "herding" a 40' coach with a toad everywhere we go.
I'm a retired electronics plant manager (15 years ago) and my wife and I have been married for 52 years. We're blessed with 4 wonderful children and 6 grand kids.
Well, that's enough info I guess, glad to be here to learn and contribute whenever I can. Have a great day and happy camping to all!

[Karsty]

Greetings from the Honeymoon Capital of the World, Niagara Falls, Ontario. I am a retired police officer, having served for 35 years in the Niagara Region. I am looking forward to travelling and exploring as much of North America as time and money permit. And I plan to document my travels through my passion for photography. I am what I consider a novice RVer, having purchased my 2012 Winnebago ERA last November.

I am not a destination person. I am not a camper. You won’t find me in a campground sitting in front of a campfire roasting marshmallows. I like to get out and drive and explore. During the past year I have made several shake down trips in preparation for three major retirement trips I have planned over the next few years.

The Maritime Provinces and Newfoundland Adventure
The Alaska Road Trip Adventure
Route 66 from Niagara to Chicago and then on to California.

Each of these trips will be from 3-6 months. There will be plenty of smaller trips in between.

Having never owned an RV or trailer until recently I have to admit that it has been a bit of a challenge to learn about the various features and mechanics of RV living and travelling. Slowly, but surely I am getting there.

Looking forward to learning and sharing information about the Class B experience with members of this forum.