Sportsmobile Factory Tour

[BBQ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3X9UjNx9g0

[BBQ]

.

QUOTE


. . . we already have a year's backlog of these sold so
everybody's telling us you know hey your backlog so long
and everything but you know if you have a really good product
and we have extremely good craftsmens, plumbers, electricians, upholsterers,
and you use the best materials and you have a competitive price
that's what drives the demand . . .


/QUOTE


note: my highlight

[GeorgeRa]

Interesting comment starting at 18:40 about Van Motorhomes versus Van Campers.

[mumkin]

Surprised that they let her wear sandals. Most factories require closed toe shoes.

Fascinating video...

[avanti]

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

Interesting comment starting at 18:40 about Van Motorhomes versus Van Campers.

My favorite term for "Van Motorhome" is "Touring Coach". I honestly believe that if the industry were to consistently adopt this term, B-vans would be a lot more popular. I believe that a great many people who would otherwise be attracted to these vehicles are turned off both by "B-van" (which evokes "...living in a van down by the river") and "Motorhome" (which evokes National Lampoon Christmas Vacation). "Touring Coach" OTOH evokes celebrity and the lure of the open road.

[Bud]

Originally Posted by avanti

My favorite term for "Van Motorhome" is "Touring Coach". I honestly believe that if the industry were to consistently adopt this term, B-vans would be a lot more popular. I believe that a great many people who would otherwise be attracted to these vehicles are turned off both by "B-van" (which evokes "...living in a van down by the river") and "Motorhome" (which evokes National Lampoon Christmas Vacation). "Touring Coach" OTOH evokes celebrity and the lure of the open road.

Tend to agree except for 'a lot more popular', but you made the point and I agree. Example: Honda Accord Touring works better than lx, ex, etc.

Bud

[BBQ]

.

It is interesting how they convert a cutaway chassis back to a "van".

What would you call that?

-- It is a Class C that looks like a Class B

[jon]

Originally Posted by BBQ

.

It is interesting how they convert a cutaway chassis back to a "van".

What would you call that?

-- It is a Class C that looks like a Class B

I would all it a Class C-

[GeorgeRa]

Originally Posted by avanti

My favorite term for "Van Motorhome" is "Touring Coach". I honestly believe that if the industry were to consistently adopt this term, B-vans would be a lot more popular. I believe that a great many people who would otherwise be attracted to these vehicles are turned off both by "B-van" (which evokes "...living in a van down by the river") and "Motorhome" (which evokes National Lampoon Christmas Vacation). "Touring Coach" OTOH evokes celebrity and the lure of the open road.

I believe there are 2 distinct populations of B-class users, one focused on camping and the other one on touring/cruising but we have only one name – B-class. I am in the camping crowd so for me the sales speech by the Airstream sales lady to take the van for a spin to Seattle didn’t work, in fact we found it ridiculous.

This forum exposes with a lot of topics what seems to be 180 degree opposed views, where in fact these could be perspectives of these 2 different populations.

The shower question on the Sportsmobile video shows the difference, being in the Camper Van group we don’t need an inside shower, especially in a less than 20’ camper. But I understand that Touring Coach group would prefer a shower.

[jon]

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

The shower question on the Sportsmobile video shows the difference, being in the Camper Van group we don’t need an inside shower, especially in a less than 20’ camper. But I understand that Touring Coach group would prefer a shower.

Funny how when I got my 20 ft van converted into pass van/camper that we thought we would use for camping mostly. No shower. Just a privacy door for the cassette and cold water to the sink......But we seem to do more Touring in the coach so for the second conversion I'm adding hot water and a shower. I don't know why the shower. Maybe to make our Touring coach seem more upscale.

[booster]

I think we could use some definitions of the "camping" and "touring" vans, as the shower need seems backwards to me. I would say camping would be staying more than a day or two in relatively one place with side trips, and in the middle of a longer trip. Touring would be to go off for a weekend, or day, and be home in a very short time.

[jon]

Originally Posted by booster

I think we could use some definitions of the "camping" and "touring" vans, as the shower need seems backwards to me. I would say camping would be staying more than a day or two in relatively one place with side trips, and in the middle of a longer trip. Touring would be to go off for a weekend, or day, and be home in a very short time.

I count touring as traveling and I've toured from Seattle to MS a couple of times. I usually camp for 1-2 days, but I would only use the shower while camping.
But, with that being said a touring coach with a full bath and shower sounds more upscale than a campervan with a shower.

[booster]

Midwest Automotive Designs may have gotten it right on their naming with "Daycruiser" and "Weekender" along with more mainstream normal class b vans.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by booster

I think we could use some definitions of the "camping" and "touring" vans, as the shower need seems backwards to me. I would say camping would be staying more than a day or two in relatively one place with side trips, and in the middle of a longer trip. Touring would be to go off for a weekend, or day, and be home in a very short time.

Seems to me that the distinction has to do with the percentage of the trip spent on the road. To me, "touring" implies long (weeks or months) road trips. You definitely want a shower in that mode because (a) you spend more time among other people ; and (b) there are often no campground showers at "last minute" stopping places. While touring, the van takes the place of motel rooms.

Of course, "camping" must be sub-divided between campground camping and boondocking. The folks who never use their showers are mostly in the former category, I think.

[GeorgeRa]

To precisely identify the difference between camping versus touring could require some in depth analysis, but here are just a few points of how we use our camper van:

1. Primarily we camp in state, national parks or national forests. After arrival, we set up camp, awning, chairs, stove, grill, often screen tent etc. So, the specific objective often associated with Touring Coaches – being stealth wouldn’t work for camping, can’t hide with an awning out.

2. Most of mentioned above parks have shower facilities with the exception of national forests. Having RV’s with showers and without since seventies we practically at all times used campground shower facilities, so for our camping needs an inside shower just takes a lot of space. Justification by double duty for being used for storage is not sufficient for us. We prefer any storage to be below the windows.

3. We tend to plan our trips reasonably well, so staying outside of a chosen campground for a night rest is a last resort for us. Over decades of camping I remember when we slept in rest stops on very rare occasions.

4. During camping, we tend to stay a few days and like reasonable comfort - rain or shine. Open space in the van, a lot of windows, rain protection, good shade, practically all cooking outside but protected meets our needs.
The explanation provided by Allen Felt from Sportsmobile:
“People live in these (Motorhomes/Touring Vans) versus living out of those (Camper Vans)”
is succinct and the best I heard.

Certainly, there is more than one way to bake a cake and the boundary between Touring Coaches and Camper Vans will never be clear cut. We didn’t find a camper van on the market meeting our needs, which led to the decision to design and build our own, and we love it.

[Bud]

The Upcoming Dallas RV Show website in one place lists motor homes as:

Class A Motor Home

Class C Motor Home

Compact Motor Home

Maybe one of the class C manufacturers will start calling their 30 foot class B motor home a 'Compact Motor Home'. Why not, if they park it next to a 40+ foot Class A?

Bud

[Mfturner]

That is a great interview and tour video. To me, camping is sleeping on the ground eating food I carry on my back with critters waking me at early dawn, so nothing I do in the van feels much like camping. I suppose I fall into the group that wants to be able to live in the van when I need to, so I want it to contain everything I might need for that. And realistically I drive some probably every day, so that sounds more like touring than camping, even if it's all in the same national park.

Funny thing, the backpacking community has similar conversations about hikers vs campers, I guess I tend toward hiking rather than camping too. In sort of an opposite fashion, hikers tend to drive the ultralight crowd, because why carry around a bunch of weight when you are on your feet most of the day?

[rvsprinterguy]

I really enjoyed that video. I've admired Sportsmobile vans before, but had no idea where they were made, or of their long history. When it's time for a new RV, they'll be at the top of my list.

It's fascinating that they re-create Econoline vans out of cutaways.

Something that really resonates for me is the question of living in vs. living out of a Class B RV. We're definitely in the second classification. Our Class B is just too small for the two of us and two dogs, if we have to spend much time in it. We absolutely live out of it. We sit outside, we cook outside. We only sleep in the van.

[mumkin]

Originally Posted by rvsprinterguy

I really enjoyed that video. I've admired Sportsmobile vans before, but had no idea where they were made, or of their long history. When it's time for a new RV, they'll be at the top of my list.

They have 3 factories. This one in California and also one in Austin, Texas, and Huntington, Indiana.

[mlts22]

I have toured the Austin site more than once. Was definitely impressed by the little things they did, and did right.