Where are all the "B's" ?

[terance13]

We just returned from a two trip through Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York. We only saw a hand full of B's. One state part put us with the tent folks...what a nice group of YOUNG people! Us old farts in a small RV was a real curiosity for them...they wanted tours!!! And all the female campers said "It's so cute! I could drive that!"

[coss370]

The high price of the b drive many people away, also they are not great for families. It’s primarily geared for couples and older folks. I know an old couple were starring at my sprinter today

[Telegrapher]

Originally Posted by jrobe

As I recall, Class B's make up less than 1% of all RV sales in the US. Class C's are even several times greater (closer to 6%) and of course, towable trailers are close to 85%. The fact that Class B's probably have some of the highest cost per square foot is a big factor.

I've heard people say that class B's have a high cost per square foot, and I definitely believe it's true, but it seems totally irrelevant as far as I'm concerned. I suspect a circus tent has a cheaper price per square foot than a class B camper, but it doesn't mean I want one.

If you want to buy something to take to a full-hookup RV Park with pull-through sites, where you'll spend a lot of time indoors watching TV, then I get the point of wanting lots of square footage for your dollar.

But if you want something to take you to out-of-the-way sites at the ends of long narrow twisty roads, and if you want to spend your time primarily outdoors, then a better bargain may be to look for the most mobile vehicle you can, as long as it supplies your basic comfort needs.

The guy with a 30ft. 5th wheel with triple slide-outs surely has a more luxurious interior than my van camper, but I guarantee there have been many times that I've had a more luxurious exterior, because the van gets into places that a long trailer can't.

I'll also echo that class B campers are more common in the West. I'm just north of San Francisco, and this past Saturday, I drove about 15 miles to a hiking spot. I counted seven class B's on the trip.

[Davydd]

The go anywhere on narrow twisty roads and out of the way places is a great lure to owning a Class B. That I can agree on. As I mentioned in a previous post I have witnessed many RV friends eventually succumbing to space and comfort. A few have done that and returned to Bs again as they can't adjust to a bigger RV or maybe just missed the advantages of a B.

I've decided that an extended van Sprinter of 24 ft. is now to big for my desires. I related my revelation in looking for a parking spot in downtown Vancouver, BC for an hour because I was absolutely wanted to visit. There were probably many times I abandoned places or didn't go because of the frustration. So, since that time I tracked and noted my frustration and it was in too many places. So, I decided to as a goal to stay below 20 ft. in a B. I will soon know if I am right. I've had large pickup trucks for over 40 years and once owned my DIY converted Chevy van (before what I knew what a Class B was) in the early 70s so hopefully my memory senses are right. Anyone else moved down in size?

I didn't order 4x4. Yeah, the lure of going down a narrow twisty road is there, but it better be a road. I've gone on two jeep rides around Sedona. One was easy and I thought, yeah, I can get here in a B. The other was longer and more adventurous and a challenge for the jeep. No way a van could get where we went and yet they were so called roads. So 4x4 was out for the high cost investment of a Class B and its many fragile contents that you depend on for home. I can handle snow in a 2 WD Sprinter and I am not going foolishly on an unplowed road in Minnesota. The only thing I would maybe miss is parking on a beach and I've read pro and con on the advisability of taking a 5 ton B on sand of any kind. If you don't know what you are doing you can get stuck. And I am not going to drive to Patagonia.

So, the go anywhere is the lure and 99% of that time is going to be on streets, roads and parking. The other aspect of shorter less than 20 ft. is the turning radius it makes a big difference whether a suburban parking lot or turning around on a narrow twisty road. Maybe with a shorter B I won't pull a Crankshaft (a newspaper comic strip character) and back up out of driveway and knock over a neighbor's mailbox. I did that once.

[jrobe]

Totally agree about the 20 ft limit. Beyond this and mobility becomes more difficult. This whole RV experience is better for us if we can get into tight remote spaces but also an occasional restaurant or brew pub parking lot. One factor that improves this is a lot is having full length windows on the passenger side. This makes all the difference in the world backing up, changing lanes, etc..

I am somewhat intrigued by the ARV B box concept if you can create more useable interior space without increasing length much. I would probably lose interest though once I saw the final cost of implementing that concept.

[Davydd]

Ha! I expect my ARV van will cost more than their B-Box. You can easily build in a box than steel curved walls. I don't think you can build a B-Box shorter than 20'-6" with a Sprinter. I haven't investigated Ford Transits but I would think if you can get an Ecoboost gas engine they will be more popular. Eh, water over the dam for me.

Another reason for under 20 ft. I can't pass up a craft brew pub on my travels.

[Slove]

The Winnie B's club (Winnebago B owners) was planning a rally in 2020 at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, FL but was cancelled due to COVID. They had registrations of over 100 units coming in so the East Coast may be catching up with those out West!

[GeorgeRa]

Our experience of having two VW Westfalias, both just under 15’, easily drove the decision to select 144” WB / 19.5’ Sprinter for our conversion. Our Westfalia style layout makes the conversion very spacious and actual 360-degree window visibility adds to van’s openness.

WV bus sales dwarf todays numbers, peaked in 1970 with 73K sales, 1974 which was our first Westfalia 30K sales and our last Westfalia in 1985 at 16K sales. Parking anywhere, very open layout, good sleeping for family made these campervans successful. Market statistics reflect well our experience so we wanted to repeat that short van familiarity. https://carsalesbase.com/us-volkswagen-vanagon/

[Vee and Zeekie]

I am still a Class B wannabe, but here's my observation from recent camping trips: There were next to none at the state park campgrounds I stayed at (Sonoma Coast and Lee Vining areas). But I see LOADS of them driving around where I live: Lake Tahoe. So, as another respondent wrote, the Class Bs are probably boon docking.

[Peder_y2k]

Simple, they're out camping.....the rest are in driveways waiting to go camping. The few that remain are on Craigslist.

[KitsapEra]

My comment on your Vancouver experience is that it can be tough/expensive to find parking space for anything larger than a motor scooter in Vancouver. IMO at some point you are better off just parking on the edge of an urban area and taking public transport, a motorcycle/scooter, or an ebike.

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by KitsapEra

My comment on your Vancouver experience is that it can be tough/expensive to find parking space for anything larger than a motor scooter in Vancouver. IMO at some point you are better off just parking on the edge of an urban area and taking public transport, a motorcycle/scooter, or an ebike.

What ticked me off some besides the time in Victoria, BC was there was plenty of space in some surface parking lots but they would not let me in because they said my van could not fit in one space and I was willing to pay double. Once in Key West, FL I was allowed to park in a surface lot but they charged me double even though I found a spot on the perimeter, backed hanging over the grass and occupied one single space.

When I went to Seattle I camped in a state park right in Bellingham and Ubered to the pier and we caught the ferry. As it turned out I could have driven and parked near the pier. I doubt downtown Seattle.

[sehsteve@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

With all the popularity and recent surge in interest, I still find other "B's" as rare as hen's teeth. Just completed a 6 Day/5 Night trip through central Texas State Parks with only a single sighting of a class b (that includes in the parks and driving on the road). I am not including a couple of DIY vans that were less than full-featured.

We do our trips during the "off-season", but in nearly 3 years of traveling we've only seen multiple B's in Monte-Seno State Park (AL) due to rally being held there.

I like the exclusivity of our rv class, but I still marvel at the rarity of sightings.

My wife and I traveled late August and early September from Southern California through the southwest to Indianapolis and then north to Yellowstone and beyond, 15 states in all over 19 days. I don't recall seeing any CLASS B's in any of the RV park we stayed in; however we did see several on the road. We have 2002 Roadtrek and did see four other older Roadtreks on the road, as well as newer CLASS B's. Someone said CLASS B's represent only 1% of sales which, if accurate, accounts for why we do not see so many of these unique vehicles. We rather "fell into" our purchase less than two years ago having never entertained the idea of an RV. But, to borrow and take out of context C.S Lewis's phrase, we have been "surprised by joy." 15,000 miles in 18 months, and it has enabled us to see family during COVID. Pleasant travels all and stay safe.

[MsNomer]

You wouldn’t have seen much of our 17’ 9” self-build this summer, certainly not in an RV Park. We spent 3 months in Central Colorado and paid for two nights in forest service campgrounds at trailheads. The other nights we were wherever. Why on earth would we want to go to an RV Park?

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by MsNomer

You wouldn’t have seen much of our 17’ 9” self-build this summer, certainly not in an RV Park. We spent 3 months in Central Colorado and paid for two nights in forest service campgrounds at trailheads. The other nights we were wherever. Why on earth would we want to go to an RV Park?

If you were camping back in Oklahoma and the weather was as hot as it was last month in Texas, you'd want electric hookups for sleeping in ac like we had in state parks. Or maybe not. To each their own.

[MsNomer]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

If you were camping back in Oklahoma and the weather was as hot as it was last month in Texas, you'd want electric hookups for sleeping in ac like we had in state parks. Or maybe not. To each their own.

This van has wheels. You’ll never catch it camping in summertime Oklahoma—or anywhere hot and humid, for that matter.

[Jon in AZ]

Well... I now know where one of them is going to be. Due to the rise in COVID cases, we just abandoned plans to use ours as a travel van to visit family in CA and instead scored several nights at one of our favorite socially-distanced, in-state destinations, Lost Dutchman SP. We’ll be there with our silver Roadtrek and Scamp trailer during Thanksgiving week.

[Bud]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

Well... I now know where one of them is going to be. Due to the rise in COVID cases, we just abandoned plans to use ours as a travel van to visit family in CA and instead scored several nights at one of our favorite socially-distanced, in-state destinations, Lost Dutchman SP. We’ll be there with our silver Roadtrek and Scamp trailer during Thanksgiving week.

Good that you scored, but was it the family contact?

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by Bud

Good that you scored, but was it the family contact?

No, nothing like that (if I understood you rightly). Raised COVID alert levels and a new self-isolation recommendation at our destination gave us the hint to (again) postpone family gatherings. We saw it coming, and this was our back-up plan.

[sehsteve@gmail.com]

Isn't this forum fantastic? As to the an earlier question about why we were in RV parks on our trip, simple. We usually needed to run our AC or in a couple of cases we needed to run the heater as it got down to freezing. And we do not have a generator. Of course there is keeping certain folks happy who don't want to boondock! Terrific travels to all and stay safe, your life and mine depend on it.