With or w/o wet bath ?

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

If I had desires for a big RV it would buy a bus with dry shower with plenty of elbow room, big water tanks, a nice toilette, and a bidet.

Regarding the bidet, we were building a custom house in the small town in Oregon. Our master bathroom had a separate room for the toilet on one side and the bidet in the other one. Electrician did his scouting tour with us to understand our needs. Raw plumbing was done. He sticks his head into the toilette/bidet room with 2 look alike holes in the floor and gives us a startling look, so I explained, yes, we like to go together.

George.. funny you mentioned the "bidet"..... you know that the wet bath with the shower toilet combination and the long shower hose could actually be used for this purpose if someone wanted to do that......

We have NOT used our shower yet... but, it's an OPTION and one day we'll try this.....

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Originally Posted by GallenH

Remember, these are all individual preferences. In 1974 I camped in the Catskills. Pouring rain. My wife and I had a true army puptent. Canvas A tent that couldn't have been more than 3 feet at the peak. I remember a VW van (not a camper) pulling in and the guy opened the sliding door and sat playing the guitar on his mattress. Ah, to sleep on that, I thought. Flash forward 40+ years (yeah, we're all thinking it: @#$#, am I that old). It's all about perspective. Bs are these efficient, self-contained, agile wonders. We can go (almost) anywhere. The "wonder" is that we have hot water, a furnace, a bath, a fridge (forget my recent threads!) and a cooking area....ANY of which can be used when it's hailing outside (been there). That combination is the draw for many of us. But to each his/her own. BTW: As someone who does a complete body wash EVERY morning in the tiny bath of a 97 PW, avanti is correct: a good squeegee gets the surfaces almost dry within 1-2 min. Cheers!

I grew up in the 60s....got my first car in 68 and my first brand new car in 1970...a VW Beetle... but, I knew plenty of guys in high school with a VW Bus ... very popular ...air cooled engines...they were horribly SLOW..... austere seats.... we're really spoiled by all the improvements ....

VW just came out with a new camper called the California... although you can't purchase it in USA... And, from the price and features... not sure you would want to...more than $80,000 and no bathroom....

We normally stay in campgrounds with showers......I like that.... not always perfect though... It's camping.....

My rig has a very nice bathroom for the size of the vehicle, but, water is very limited due to the size of the tanks... quick soap and rinse....hey, we could even do an outside shower in nice weather...we have hot and cold water outside as well.... great for washing yourself off after being at the beach!

I agree...it's all perspective..... when I'm done with camping...I just come home... can't be on the road constantly....at least NOT my cup of tea.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Roadtrek Adventuous RS1

See answers below;

Could you provide a citation to where RT makes this claim?

I was at a Roadtrek RV show and the sales representative from Roadtrek told me this... I had absolutely "no reason" not to believe him...

Ah. That explains it. There is a bit of a difference between "Roadtrek" and a "sales representative".

Invest in a squeegee and a roll of paper towels. The shower can be dried in 90 seconds.


OK... I'll give it try.... really 90 seconds???

Yes. Easily.

How fragile is the shower curtain? It looks harder to wipe down all the surfaces... maybe the exhaust fan works well??

The curtain will drip dry. Just don't let the bottom of the curtain touch the floor while drying. It will grow mold.

But, why one would prefer a public restroom to one's own toilet seems just crackers. And, why the willingness to use it for one thing but not the other?



OK.... I've heard many things about the smell... and how hard it is to remove... I do have a macerator and while I don't think it's a problem with the plumbing system.. I'd rather transfer that to another place... there's plenty of clean public restrooms if you look... not a problem.

If your bathroom smells, then there is a plumbing problem. Period. A proper plumbing system is COMPLETELY SEALED, except for the roof vent. It cannot smell any more than your bathroom at home smells. You do not need chemicals, either.
Smelly RV bathrooms are defective.

As far as resale value... YES... I think it's a big sales point...

Why do you disagree?? After all, people love extra baths in their homes.. and the convenience of having the bathroom on board is "obvious" to me..

I do not understand what you are saying here.

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Originally Posted by avanti

Ah. That explains it. There is a bit of a difference between "Roadtrek" and a "sales representative".


Yes. Easily.

The curtain will drip dry. Just don't let the bottom of the curtain touch the floor while drying. It will grow mold.

If your bathroom smells, then there is a plumbing problem. Period. A proper plumbing system is COMPLETELY SEALED, except for the roof vent. It cannot smell any more than your bathroom at home smells. You do not need chemicals, either.
Smelly RV bathrooms are defective.

I do not understand what you are saying here.

The sales guy called over the Roadtrek representative who was right there from Ontario... nice guy knew tons more than the sales guy ever did... actually I knew more than the sales guy.


I absolutely LOVE the E-Trek... it's the RS with all the fancy electrics and electronics. same floor plan as my rig. I just don't want to spend an extra $60,000 for that right now...


OK... here's the thing, we don't have a "smelly bathroom", but, I'm very aware that anytime there's water … you could have the "chance" for mold... would not want that...


I would want to ensure that it would be as easy as you said to just "wipe it down"... that would be fantastic .. really. Maybe it's that easy, I'm going to try it..


There's probably a reason WHY.. a lot of people complain about "wet baths" don't you think??


Finally, the curtain has to fold up or get pushed into the corner... it would be better to do that once it's dry or close to being dry...


We do have a large exhaust fan in the bathroom, we don't have a window in our bath it's like a closet, 30 inches long and maybe 20 inches wide... a rectangle. Fortunately, our drain is inside the room … NOT in the aisle like the Roadtrek 190 or 210 on the Chevy Van... so, at least that makes it a little nicer.


Also, the doors can pivot to give you a little more space and the shower curtain does extend beyond the point where the doors are normally closed, kind of an arc in the ceiling above.


If I take a shower I presume that it's perfectly fine to run the exhaust fan while we're in the shower bathing. We can either shower sitting down on the toilet or standing. A sort of built in shower chair.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by avanti

...
The curtain will drip dry. Just don't let the bottom of the curtain touch the floor while drying. It will grow mold.....

Or you could do something like this below. I got sick of that thing trailing on the floor, so for around five bucks, I sewed a mesh curtain keeper which sticks onto the wall with suction cups (the large ones available at Joann Crafts work well). I can insert the curtain loosely into the mesh such that it can air dry in situ without growing mold.

And yes, it only takes a couple of minutes to wipe down the wet bath. This has never bothered us. We squeegee our stick-and-brick shower every time we use it, due to Houston's legendary humidity and capacity for microorganisms to flourish. So why would we mind doing it in the van? The van shower is actually easier due to its smaller size.

If one preferred less visual contrast, a mesh bag could be made in white. But I kind of have a black and white theme going on in the wet bath (I have a black rubber restaurant mat cut to fit the floor, rather than having teak).

#vansizedsewing

[avanti]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Or you could do something like this..

Nice solution.

Our van came with a little strap with a snap on the end that fits tightly around the curtain. It was intended to secure the curtain out of the way, but it can be used to form an "s" curve that keeps the curtain off the floor. Similar idea.

[<<B-Guy>>]

With our larger trailer, we always preferred using our separate shower and toilet facilities rather than the campground facilities.

The exception was if we were camped with no sewer hookups - then we would use campground showers unless they were particularly grungy!

The model PW we have ordered has one of their smallest bathrooms. We still went with this model as it has the front lounge, a feature we really wanted, so it was a trade-off.

I suspect we will be much more inclined to shower in campground facilities now but we will certainly give the wet bath a try and maybe it will be better than we anticipate. Luckily we are both pretty small people!

I have heard microfibre cloths are good to wipe down the wet surfaces.

As for the toilet - ever since we have had RV's, (since the late sevenies!) I have had a house rule that we only "pee" in the RV toilet unless absolutely necessary!

I think I based this on the fact that I did not want to be the one messing with the toilet if
things went badly wrong with it! Pee is one thing to deal with but ....... !

Probably there is no reason for my concern and maybe I should re-think it when we get our van - but old habits die hard! It really has not been a problem to adhere to this house rule over the years though!

Brian.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by avanti

Nice solution.

Our van came with a little strap with a snap on the end that fits tightly around the curtain. It was intended to secure the curtain out of the way, but it can be used to form an "s" curve that keeps the curtain off the floor. Similar idea.

I wanted to instead use that strap 'n' snap to instead secure my foldable aluminum table in the wet bath, where the shower curtain would normally hang. Domino effect:

--Lagun table mount got installed so that the passenger seat could swivel to create an up-front mobile office

-- Telesteps 1400E had to be moved from behind the passenger seat to behind the driver's seat so that the swiveling could occur far more frequently than before.

-- Aluminum table initially stored behind the driver's seat had to move to the wet bath to make way for the Telesteps.

Some people might not like the thought of an aluminum table in the head, but it can easily be hosed or wiped down.

[Bienbien]

When it is 40 degrees outside and raining, it feels very luxurious to slip into the bathroom and pee at 3am without getting dressed. As a former VW camper guy I would never go back. I use the bath more as a sponge bath when there is no other alternative. Don’t want to use up the fresh water and fill the gray water tank any faster than necessary

[Pam G]

Originally Posted by dhuff

OK, I'm not trying to "start anything" here - really But does anyone have any experiences pro or con concerning Class B vans w/o the typical enclosed wet bath setup ? The enclosed room itself seems to take up a lot of space, plus there's the added complexity of the extra plumbing, black tank & associated dumping thereof, etc... After all, the old VW Westfalias, the grandfather of all Class Bs, didn't incl. this feature.

Practically, how much of an issue was it to just find a shower at a campground, truck stop, etc... ? What, if anything, did you do about a toilet ? (portable one hidden away somewhere ? if so, what kind ?)

Again, not trying to start a thread bashing those #vanlife kids on Youtube with their very minimalist, homemade setups or anything - that's not what I'm after. Just pondering a professional build, but simplifying some of the systems in it to save complexity, cost, and weight.

I've owned 3 Class B's - two with aisle showers and one with the enclosed wet bath. The first Class B was a 1998 Coach House with an aisle shower. Of course, having the aisle shower and a toilet in a closet does mean having the plumbing and black tank, etc. But I did use the toilet on most of my trips, and I also used the shower on several trips. Most of my traveling has been to dog shows, and I've camped anywhere from small county fairgrounds to beagle club properties to Walmart parking lots (while traveling). So, I've often been in places where there was no other shower or the facilities were pretty primitive. Plus, at night, and as a woman traveling alone, it's just much easier to be able to use my own toilet instead of having to walk somewhere else. My next Class B was a 2001 Coach House with the enclosed wet bath. I actually decided I didn't care for this setup because I liked having a wardrobe (previous owner had used the enclosed bath for the wardrobe), and this one didn't seem to have as much storage space as my first one. I didn't keep this one long enough to try out the shower. My current Class B is a 1999 Roadtrek with the aisle shower. Unfortunately, this RV apparently sat a lot more than it was used, and the water always comes out looking a bit rusty colored, even after flushing the tanks a few times. I've only used the shower a couple of times because I don't like how the water goes all over the floor (the Coach House had a contained, lowered floor space within which to stand while showering). I have a wardrobe and a toilet , however, and I do use both of those. I eventually plan to spend more time using the Roadtrek, so I will need to do something so I can use the shower. Personally I prefer having the toilet with the tanks as compared to having a portable camping toilet.

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

If I had desires for a big RV it would buy a bus with dry shower with plenty of elbow room, big water tanks, a nice toilette, and a bidet.

Regarding the bidet, we were building a custom house in the small town in Oregon. Our master bathroom had a separate room for the toilet on one side and the bidet in the other one. Electrician did his scouting tour with us to understand our needs. Raw plumbing was done. He sticks his head into the toilette/bidet room with 2 look alike holes in the floor and gives us a startling look, so I explained, yes, we like to go together.

A bidet (like a compressor) is one of those things you were sure you never needed until you got one, at which point you began to wonder how you ever survived without it.

During the upbuild, a warm water bidet would be a simple addition to the plumbing, that would satisfy a substantial part of personal hygiene while on the road, and would probably require substantially less water than a full shower.

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Originally Posted by Bienbien

When it is 40 degrees outside and raining, it feels very luxurious to slip into the bathroom and pee at 3am without getting dressed. As a former VW camper guy I would never go back. I use the bath more as a sponge bath when there is no other alternative. Don’t want to use up the fresh water and fill the gray water tank any faster than necessary

Agree 100 percent ..... We use the bathroom during the night .... often .. that's why I purchased my rig, we hated to get up and run in the middle of the night to a public campground toilet.

Also, it's extremely convenient when we go to places where there's no facility. We have our bathroom with us everywhere we go.


And, we conserve water on board the rig, don't have to do that at home.

[Weroadtrip]

Currently we have Rialta which has an interior shower/toilet with grey and black tanks. We love the inside toilet for night visits but prefer to use campground toilets for more serious visits. Tried using the shower once and it was a LOT of work and messy - water everywhere. However we do a lot of camping in places where there are no showers so we use the exterior shower on those occasions. The exterior shower head is built in so we just installed hooks above it that hold what is actually a clothes-drying rack. Onto this we clip a shower curtain. It works GREAT.
Prior to owning the Rialta we had a Ford E250 that we had custom fitted out as a camper. For that we had a shower hose and head coming out of the back of the van. When we backed into the forest and then opened both back doors we had a fair amount of privacy. In that van we had a cassette porta pottie for night visits. That worked well too.

[webminer2]

I have a 1999 Roadtrek with a shower and toilet. I don’t use them all the time but when I boondocks it’s great to have them. Yes I use campgrounds and the facilities. Would not be without them. My first camper was a VW without either. I used a solar shower an portipottie. My most used item is the Onan generator. I would not like to be without all over the above. Just came back from a 4 week trip to New England and it was fantastic to use both the shower, toilet and generator when I stayed in state forests and stealth camped. Even parked in downtowns and never had a problem. I don’t mind using them all and having to empty the tanks when I return home. I love my Roadtrek an all it has.

[RED]

I so agree. When I gotta I gotta go..I’m 70 maybe that is why.i love having my potty right there. It is a storage place and I expect in time it will even be my shower, still trying to understand the Webasto hot water and heating system. Just got my Roadtrek etrek May 1!!!

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Originally Posted by Weroadtrip

Currently we have Rialta which has an interior shower/toilet with grey and black tanks. We love the inside toilet for night visits but prefer to use campground toilets for more serious visits. Tried using the shower once and it was a LOT of work and messy - water everywhere. However we do a lot of camping in places where there are no showers so we use the exterior shower on those occasions. The exterior shower head is built in so we just installed hooks above it that hold what is actually a clothes-drying rack. Onto this we clip a shower curtain. It works GREAT.
Prior to owning the Rialta we had a Ford E250 that we had custom fitted out as a camper. For that we had a shower hose and head coming out of the back of the van. When we backed into the forest and then opened both back doors we had a fair amount of privacy. In that van we had a cassette porta pottie for night visits. That worked well too.

Hey, how's that Rialta working for you... I was very impressed with the fact that it got about 20 MPG...... is that what you get...

How is it on hills ... I know it has a special VR6 ... that got great reviews back in the day. Is it really enough to say go over the Eisenhower pass ( 11,000 feet ) in Colorado???

YES, the shower is even smaller than my RS... like a closet. It's nice to have that, but, is the floor drain outside of the room in the aisle like some Roadtrek 190s and 210s?

We too have an outdoor shower.... I suppose it's fine in warm enough weather.....

When you said the water went everywhere... how bad was it. ??

We've yet tried to use the shower.. we will ... but, as long as we have showers available in the campground or RV park with unlimited water.. we would probably use those. Less cleanup afterwards too.

What was your experience drying the walls and shower curtain? I'm sure you have a shower curtain in the closet?

What year and model is your Rialta ? How many miles on that?

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Originally Posted by RED

I so agree. When I gotta I gotta go..I’m 70 maybe that is why.i love having my potty right there. It is a storage place and I expect in time it will even be my shower, still trying to understand the Webasto hot water and heating system. Just got my Roadtrek etrek May 1!!!

We looked at one at a recent RV show.... they were willing to sell us the model at the discount price of $143,000... beautiful.

I'm 66 so I get it on the bathroom issues.

But, my rig is pretty nice and was not ready for this upgrade. Here's my rig below, see link.

https://www.conejowholesaleauto.com/...beffb59e9eb708

[Camoman]

I have camped every possible way and in every weather from tents and cars to conversion vans, to mini popups behind motorcycles, to pick up truck slide ins ,to class B's, b plusses, C's, A's, 38ft rear diesel pushers, and 35' 5th wheel w 2 slides.
I've owned them all and I'll tell you what. There is nothing nicer than having a toilet whenever and wherever you might need one(including when u have a codriver and can keep knocking down miles without stopping) and a shower(even an un-ideal small one) when you might really want one.
One thing I haven't heard mentioned is the filthyness of many public type rest rooms. When you have your own toilet you don't have to worry about rest areas, McDonald's bathrooms, etc and what may crawl up on you or what you are touching.
Google "s hit on sidewalks in San Francisco" and you'll get an idea.
I currently have my popup motorcycle trailer, a class b 1987 Coachman(high roof with toilet and separate TINY sit-down shower), a 32 class A gas, and the 35' 5th wheel mentioned above.
My class B is the oldest and yet I use it the most.
The shower is at the rear and if it's nice outside I just open the rear doors and stand up outside to shower, but a few times in cold weather when I'm boondocking or have gotten all nasty sweaty while out biking whatever, I've hopped in and taken a quick nice sit-down shower.
It's no Hilton, BUT ITS A HELL OF A NICE OPTION TO HAVE.
In fact, my pickup slide in camper had 2 showers, 1 inside and 1 out, which was awesome.
I'll even go as far as to say that I prefered my pickup with the slide in over the class B for everything except parking in small parking lots.
Slideins are much bigger inside, are better insulated, and are easier to work on generally, whether the engine or the systems in the back and can be quickly removed at a campsite and free up the truck without pulling a car and you have full use of your truck when you're not camping
The ONLY drawback is that when you are driving with additional people, the driver is separated from everyone who is not in the truck.
For a single person full time or for longer vacations they are WAYYY better and WAYYY cheaper(even if you have to buy a used truck), and maintenance on any American truck is far easier to get.
Don't get me wrong I like my class b, but a 1994 Dodge cummins (mechanical diesel or a v10 gas like mine) 4x4 extended cab with a big slide in with a real shower and an outside shower too is a lot more room and amenities for the money.
Go look at a few larger ones with showers and compare.
However, if your heart is set on a class b then still get the shower, even if it's without hot water and you just have the stall, pump and some jugs that you can dump cold water and stove heated water into for the rare shower of desperation.
If you really camp or boondocking or tailgate overnight, TRUST ME, some night you will thank me !!
As I said mine is just a tiny sit down shower pan, and it's usually just storage(its a big open drawer basically), but when I really need or want it, I am VERY HAPPY that I have it as I unload all the stuff that normally rides there !!!

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Originally Posted by Camoman

I have camped every possible way and in every weather from tents and cars to conversion vans, to mini popups behind motorcycles, to pick up truck slide ins ,to class B's, b plusses, C's, A's, 38ft rear diesel pushers, and 35' 5th wheel w 2 slides.
I've owned them all and I'll tell you what. There is nothing nicer than having a toilet whenever and wherever you might need one(including when u have a codriver and can keep knocking down miles without stopping) and a shower(even an un-ideal small one) when you might really want one.
One thing I haven't heard mentioned is the filthyness of many public type rest rooms. When you have your own toilet you don't have to worry about rest areas, McDonald's bathrooms, etc and what may crawl up on you or what you are touching.
Google "s hit on sidewalks in San Francisco" and you'll get an idea.
I currently have my popup motorcycle trailer, a class b 1987 Coachman(high roof with toilet and separate TINY sit-down shower), a 32 class A gas, and the 35' 5th wheel mentioned above.
My class B is the oldest and yet I use it the most.
The shower is at the rear and if it's nice outside I just open the rear doors and stand up outside to shower, but a few times in cold weather when I'm boondocking or have gotten all nasty sweaty while out biking whatever, I've hopped in and taken a quick nice sit-down shower.
It's no Hilton, BUT ITS A HELL OF A NICE OPTION TO HAVE.
In fact, my pickup slide in camper had 2 showers, 1 inside and 1 out, which was awesome.
I'll even go as far as to say that I prefered my pickup with the slide in over the class B for everything except parking in small parking lots.
Slideins are much bigger inside, are better insulated, and are easier to work on generally, whether the engine or the systems in the back and can be quickly removed at a campsite and free up the truck without pulling a car and you have full use of your truck when you're not camping
The ONLY drawback is that when you are driving with additional people, the driver is separated from everyone who is not in the truck.
For a single person full time or for longer vacations they are WAYYY better and WAYYY cheaper(even if you have to buy a used truck), and maintenance on any American truck is far easier to get.
Don't get me wrong I like my class b, but a 1994 Dodge cummins (mechanical diesel or a v10 gas like mine) 4x4 extended cab with a big slide in with a real shower and an outside shower too is a lot more room and amenities for the money.
Go look at a few larger ones with showers and compare.
However, if your heart is set on a class b then still get the shower, even if it's without hot water and you just have the stall, pump and some jugs that you can dump cold water and stove heated water into for the rare shower of desperation.
If you really camp or boondocking or tailgate overnight, TRUST ME, some night you will thank me !!
As I said mine is just a tiny sit down shower pan, and it's usually just storage(its a big open drawer basically), but when I really need or want it, I am VERY HAPPY that I have it as I unload all the stuff that normally rides there !!!

GREAT.... Yes, I absolutely understand why you like the "B".. it's the least complicated setup of all the other big Class A's and C's.

We have an inside and outside shower... with hot water.

Here's my rig; exactly what I purchased in May 2017... click on link below;

https://www.conejowholesaleauto.com/...beffb59e9eb708

[Camoman]

Wow !! That's a SUPER nice one !! That's a really sharp interior and even the silver outside looks nice !!
Thanks for the comment and pics !!
Where do y'all travel and camp?