OK, here goes....

[stevekan]

Looking to purchase New Travato next winter. full-time use, new england resident. single occupant most of time. i teach, so summers are free as most weekends throughout school year. not sold on pure 3 yet, cost seems huge.

Any comments and opinion will be a huge help

[rowiebowie]

Welcome to the forum stevekan!

Both Travato models "G" & 'K" are highly regarded. They've come out recently with new lithium "L" versions. But they come at a steep premium in price as you have noted.

Search this forum for previous threads that have "Travato" in the title. Good stuff there to start.

http://www.classbforum.com/forums/se...earchid=826663

.

[stevekan]

appreciate the feedback, starting to cross the T's.

[fruch]

Steve, I have a 2019 K, I have no experience with the KL or the GL but I can tell you that I use the generator way less than I thought I would. I do not full time, we boondock or stay at state and national parks. Our Travato came with a 1000w inverter and 200w of solar panels on the roof (std in 2018-19 Travatos). We found a coffee maker, a hot water boiler and a toaster that all work on 1000w or less, just not at the same time. No need to run the generator to make breakfast. The only thing we can't do without running the generator is run the microwave and roof AC.
Have you decided on a floorplan yet?

[stevekan]

leaning towards the K. i like the amount of natural light and open space. Id love to remove/reconfigure the smaller twin to 2 folding chairs that form a twin

[fruch]

I had the tops off the bunks to check out the insulation, you may want to add some if you plan on winter use. There is a lot of mechanical under the shorter bunk, might make big changes on that side difficult. Not a lot of wasted space there. I do recall seeing some pictures where someone converted the passenger side (longer) bunk into a dinette that folded back down to into a bunk. Good luck!

[markopolo]

Originally Posted by stevekan

Looking to purchase New Travato next winter. full-time use, new england resident. single occupant most of time. i teach, so summers are free as most weekends throughout school year. not sold on pure 3 yet, cost seems huge.

Any comments and opinion will be a huge help

If by full-time use you mean living in the van through a New England winter then that would present some challenges. Find out if any RV parks near you remain open and if they shut off water and if you can empty waste tanks etc. Frozen pipes and tank contents would likely result in damage. High humidity in the van in winter can lead to condensation on windows, walls and in closets etc.

[Leland]

Steve - where in new England are you? I'm a Sportsmobile owner in southern NH. Good luck with your purchase!

[GallenH]

Ditto Markopolo's comments. I live in AZ and in the lower elevations you don't have to worry about freezing. But I'm about to head over to the Colorado river area for a few days. Even though it won't freeze there the heater will cause condensation especially in the bath area. There are some threads on this forum dealing with winter camping. You might want to search for those to get some ideas. I believe the last one I read was something like "4-season RVing."

[AlexJ]

Join the Travato Owners and Wannabes page if you’re on Facebook. Very active, lots of feedback (positive and negative). Someone has converted the long bed to a convertible dinette.

[booster]

Originally Posted by GallenH

Ditto Markopolo's comments. I live in AZ and in the lower elevations you don't have to worry about freezing. But I'm about to head over to the Colorado river area for a few days. Even though it won't freeze there the heater will cause condensation especially in the bath area. There are some threads on this forum dealing with winter camping. You might want to search for those to get some ideas. I believe the last one I read was something like "4-season RVing."

Why would the heater cause condensation in the bathroom unless it was an unvented model? I assume you are talking about the van furnace which would be vented. If you raise the internal temp with a heater, the surface of all inside surfaces of the van should get warmer so there would be less condensation on everything.

[stevekan]

Originally Posted by Leland

Steve - where in new England are you? I'm a Sportsmobile owner in southern NH. Good luck with your purchase!

live in northampton, teach in holyoke. ill prob have the option of renting living quarters a good part of winter if necessary

[stevekan]

thats what i thought. figured space is at a premium. thinking a bit out of the box

[Storysrvwego]

16dec18 -
Hi stevekan,
As noted by someone else, the smaller (shorter) twin bed on the driver side has a lot going on under it. You will not want to mess with that I think. The outstanding TRUMA Combi, combination furnace and water heater takes up a chunk of the space. There are flexible tubes that connect the furnace to vent-ports in the coach including one in the bathroom. Those tubes take up more space under there. The propane vent line from the TRUMA to the exterior wall port, some electrical and a bunch of water line plumbing plus cold water side filter take up the rest of the space. Even if you found a new home for the TRUMA Combi, all of that vent and water line plumbing would be a huge problem to figure where that would go. The only way to do it I can think of is to eliminate the TRUMA and go with either a cranky old school furnace and water heater systems that would require something like a new cabinet to spring up in the interior (where?) or some other new tech stuff that ultimately will stiff your pocket book with maybe mixed results. WB did a great job engineering the contents into the physical constraints of a ProMaster; a van which has probably more useful space than other vans. Nonetheless, your idea could be better-accomplished in a Class C size model than the van-only limits of a Class B. At least within any reasonable cost that I can think of.

I suppose you could always go up if you can figure out a way to put something in the limited spaces up on the roof if you were ok with going that route but again, the changes would be costly to implement and plumb back down in the the coach. That might be an interesting project for a ground up build out where the furnace, hot water joins the AC unit on the roof.

Custom ceiling venting for the furnace might be possible but optimal efficiency of heat-provision would be heated pipes under the floor. A bit slower to initially radiate heat but oh so good. Some RV's already have this kind of heat output system. Water heating from a roof unit would be pretty easy to plumb.

I think the key to doing the furnace and water heater top side would be a well insulated (and ventilated) cover box and special attention to insulating all of the plumbing for all weather operation. Perhaps a small blanket heater installed to raise the temperature of this box for cold weather situations including wind chill while driving. Someone else might comment on the feasability. Best units for this sort of location, etc. Would hgave to keep the overall height in check. For example, the currrent 9'-6" approximate total height of my 59K easily fits into my shop with its exactly 10 ft high opening with the door up. Surely somebody must have already done this?

It would certainly be an interior space saver in a Class B. Ease of maintenance and Winterizing process could really be improved with this equipment top side including drain valves. The WB Travato roof rack w/side placement ladder or something like it would be needed. And work in an easier to access location (inside or out?) for the currently awkward and messy to change cold water filter.

Just dribbling thoughts on the fly.

Gene / StorysRVwego

[Rico52]

Originally Posted by stevekan

Looking to purchase New Travato next winter. full-time use, new england resident. single occupant most of time. i teach, so summers are free as most weekends throughout school year. not sold on pure 3 yet, cost seems huge.

Any comments and opinion will be a huge help

We have a KL and really appreciate the Pure3, but the coach is not considered 4 season. I think that trying to live in it full time might be a stretch if you have to remain in a harsh winter climate. Consider joining the Travato Owners and Wannabes group on Facebook. You might gain some insight there. Most full timers migrate to warm climates in the winter. People who take the rv for winter camping typically keep it winterized which means not using the fresh water system. Good luck with your choice.

[stevekan]

That's some dribbling my original thoughts were just playing around. i can do just fine with the K layout as it is. In an ideal situation I would like the driver side twin to roll out/flip down to a queen. with seat/table on passenger side instead of other twin. visiting the boston/hartford/springfield shows this winter.

I plan on full-time so insulation/heat are 2 of my main concerns. As I mentioned early I have opportunity to bunk at friends/colleagues in winter if necessary, but still able to do 2-3 day trips weekend trips if desired

[stevekan]

i teach full-time so winter escape is not an option, but living with friends/colleagues is

[B-RV]

You might want to take a look at the Coachmen Crossfit. Better Van (Ford Transit with duals) and offers a winter package plus a lithium package. Better quality home on a better van body, about the same price. JMO

[GallenH]

booster: True. But wouldn't warm air hitting a cold surface condense? My bath is not vented. If I'm washing with hot water and the mirror is cold, I get condensation. You are correct in that when I open the door and the hot air from the heater eventually warms the surface of the mirror, the condensation disappears. But until warm, the condensation exists. Still, I'm talking a 97 RV with old tech.

[stevekan]

Originally Posted by B-RV

You might want to take a look at the Coachmen Crossfit. Better Van (Ford Transit with duals) and offers a winter package plus a lithium package. Better quality home on a better van body, about the same price. JMO

Great advise, will take a hard look