New to RV world
I am new to the forum, having just purchased a 2019 CrossFit 22D. I drove it on a short 2,000-mile trip to see family, and here are my first impressions.
The driver’s seat is very comfortable. I am 6’. I looked at Promaster chassis, and the seat was very cramped. I looked at Mercedes chassis, and the seat was almost as good as the Transit, but I do not want a Mercedes.
I got the 3.7L V-6. It has plenty of power. My first tank delivered 13mpg, but the time I had 2,000 miles on it that was up to 16.2mpg. This was while crossing the Blue Mountains here in Oregon, so I am happy with the power and fuel economy.
I did not pay for the lithium battery. The AGM’s seem to have plenty of capacity, but I did get the 200W solar, and on a sunny day the batteries will recharge faster than the lights and TV deplete, them, so no issues for me.
If I had depleted the batteries, I could use the generator, but this is my first time owning an Onan, and holy cow, what a piece of junk. Just to be clear, I am not talking about the generator part of this system, but the gas engine that drives the generator.
Loud, loud, and to top it off, it is loud. As a former motorcycle tech, and now an engineer, I wonder why Onan cannot put fuel injection, a real muffler, sound insulation, better mechanical tolerances, ect. I now it’s a money issue, but not that much. Honda does this regularly.
There is a good amount of storage and the bed and bath are plenty big. The heating system is wonderful. I was in Texas and it was cold. I turned on the furnace and set it to 70, and the RV was warm and toasty in less than 30 minutes. The thing is near silent, and it as far as I can tell it uses almost no propane. I ran it for 6 nights and level dropped by ¼ tank.
The TV is not so good. Unless you are looking directly at it, the picture quality is very bad. I have done some research and this seems to be an issue with all LCD TV’s under 22”. So, I will probably replace it with a 22”” of better quality.
I added a Verizon WiFi hotspot and a Fire TV stick. Works great, no need to for satellite, and it takes up no room.
As many have said, the driver’s seat will not swivel due to the placement of the E-brake. Nomad Vanz in Vancouver, BC, sells a kit made by Scopema that relocates the brake handle and has a seat swivel of higher quality than the standard passenger seat swivel . It is not cheap, but it is not unreasonable at $800 for both seats and the brake relocator kit. I have ordered new swivels for both driver and passenger seats and I will post on how that goes when they arrive. Of course, the question is, why didn’t it come this way? Coachmen could buy these in bulk for much less than a one off cost me.
Counter space is very limited. But the side door opening is fully open. A Revel, and maybe some other class B vans, have the side door opening partially filled by a kitchen cabinet and counter top. I see no reason why I cannot build a small cabinet mounted by the existing one and have it partially fill the side door opening. I will need to relocate the light control switches, but that is not difficult.
I would like to have some sort of ladder so I can clean the solar panels.
I guess that’s it for now. I have been road tripping for 45 years and am used to living out of a Jeep, truck, etc., for weeks at a time. I am looking forward to traveling in this thing as it will be a vast improvement.