Searching Class B with independant toilet/shower

laserman · 08-25-2015, 01:33 PM

New to class B, searching fairly recent Class B models from popular brands with shower independant from the toilet. By the way , how anyone can get accostumed at wiping/cleaning its shower everytime on a class B combining shower/toilet?
In my preliminary search only the following models have independant shower from the toilet: Leisure travel all models except free spirit. Winn ERa: 70c only, Pleasure way all models.

Davydd · 08-25-2015, 02:48 PM

Here are the facts, IMO. A Class B van is too narrow to design a separate shower and bath without some kind of design across the back end (so far) because of the narrowness and the wheel wells in the way. A van has a little over 100 sq. ft. of living space. A dry bath will take up 25-30% of that space and a wet bath will take up about 10%. That is a huge trade off of lost space for other things that may be deemed mostly necessary much more than a 5 minute shower when you could have a decent shower curtain system to keep your wet bath dry. My wet bath is 25" x 40". I can throw my elbows out easier than in those 24" square dry bath shower stalls.

Pleasure-way has no Class B van models with dry baths. Leisure Travel Vans have suspended production of the Free Spirit SS. You have the Winnebago ERA 70C and this model:

Coach House Arriva

I like the design of the Arriva but I have never seen one. Also, they provide what I term "old school" amenities in appliances, capacities and energy systems, meaning it is meant for full hookup campsites to function as intended. A shower for instance takes a lot of water and waste tanks fill quickly. Otherwise you are limited to fast "Navy showers" where you wet, soap and rinse with the shower turned off between the three operations. This means you have to tether to hookup facilities to justify the luxury if you think you want to shower as you do at home. Also, a Shurflow water pump does not give you an equivalent water pressure compared to being hooked up to city water.

laserman · 08-25-2015, 03:02 PM

Thanks for your very valuable reply. I guess, most users would stop by at an hotel/motel if they seek same as at home shower. Makes sense.

laserman · 08-25-2015, 03:07 PM

Does most Class C,s have shower curtain system protecting the rest of the toilet area from becoming wet? If not what brands/models do have?

obgraham · 08-25-2015, 06:26 PM

Over on that "other" board, Mike W has mentioned that he joined Anytime Fitness. They have gyms all over the place (not in my town, though), and they just stop in there to use the showers when they want a good long hot one.

Not a bad plan.

In mine, the toilet gets wet. That's the way it is. I turn my vent fan to blow in, leave the doors open for half an hour or so, and things are pretty dry. Once a week the whole shower/toilet gets a Windex Washdown.

laserman · 08-25-2015, 06:30 PM

Great idea, thanks. This is a nice way to consider. Or, go to a motel/hotel once every two nights

booster · 08-25-2015, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by laserman

Great idea, thanks. This is a nice way to consider. Or, go to a motel/hotel once every two nights

Do you have an aversion to campground showers?

laserman · 08-25-2015, 06:59 PM

No, not really.That could also be an alternative. More or less costly ??!! What do usually Class B owners do ? Maybe we are making something more an issue than we really should

booster · 08-25-2015, 07:23 PM

We have a shower, which is an aisle shower in our Roadtrek, and don't normally find any need to use it. We are campground shower users, as that is where we usually stay, and sponge cleanings get us by other times without issue. We find the campgrounds much more pleasant than hotels, and we have our own bed and food, which we much prefer. There is a full range of campgrounds from very inexpensive, no water, no electric, no shower, maybe outhouse ones, to full service everything campgrounds. We select what type based on what we need at the time, be it shower, power, laundry, etc.

laserman · 08-25-2015, 08:44 PM

Yes, it starts to make sense to us. Campgrounds might be the solution

Davydd · 08-25-2015, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by laserman

Does most Class C,s have shower curtain system protecting the rest of the toilet area from becoming wet? If not what brands/models do have?

That is an advantage of any larger RV. They most all have a separate shower. However, the small popular Class Cs built on a Sprinter cab chassis have not much more tank capacities than the Class B vans making them really campground full hookup tetherers to get best use out of them.

My wife is an Anytime Fitness member and she has been imploring me and my beer gut to join. I mentioned the article about using them on the road. It hadn't occurred to her we could do that. That might be my incentive to join because we are more and more boondocking away from full service campgrounds.

We use the campground showers and have few qualms about them. Sometimes we find a bad one we won't use. The fancier the private campground the chances are the facilities will not be that great because they cater more to big motorhomes with full hookups.

We will never stop at hotels for breaks. Our B is better now that we know and can sleep down to 5 degrees F. In our previous Bs we did stop at hotels in freezing temps below 20F.

Unscented wipes are your best friend in a pinch.

avanti · 08-27-2015, 01:25 AM

In 9 years of b-van ownership I have showered literally every morning in our wet bath. It was not great in the tiny shower of our old Interstate, but our Legend is just fine. The curtain keeps the toilet dry and I just wipe the slightly damp walls with a towel and dry the floor with a paper towel. Bathroom is perfectly usable in a short time.

VoyagerRick · 08-28-2015, 02:58 AM

laserman, we're in the same situation as you, considering an Era 70C. And I have to say that the spacious bathroom is one of the main reasons. We plan to "camp" in urban areas to visit museums, theaters, etc. and use the RV as a mobile hotel room. My wife says she needs to pack lots of beauty secrets (I disagree, of course), and loves the idea of having a dressing room. We will probably find our way at some point to some state parks and wilderness areas where we will boondock. Having used tiny facilities on my old sailboat, I now prefer a bit more space. Priorities!

Jlly16 · 12-20-2015, 05:42 PM

I, just like your wife enjoyed the bathroom feature in the 70c. My only issue was that in order for the bed to come out completely, you have to activate the slide out.(no way around that) I'm a city person and would probably use my future class b 90% in stealth camping situations. After renting the Era 70c for a week, I realized very quickly that I had a problem. You can't slide-out on a parked street or even overnight Walmart boon-docking. I'm 5'4, so my saving grace was that I was able to sleep on the sofa comfortably enough without having to pull the bed out. I love, love the 70c and wish that they would get rid of one of the storage cabinets, move the fridge over and then lengthen the sofa. This way you could turn the sofa into a twin bed in those situations where you can not activate your slide for the full bed feature. If I was going to go the wilderness and campgrounds travel route than I would put this on the top of my list. As much as I love the styling and all the features, I need my class b to be incognito so the 70c is not viable to me.
I have no other complaints in regard to the 70c. I loved the tanks capacity, the storage space in the back {the access door from the shower, just genius(thank you leisure travel)} the smooth ease of handling (I mean it's a Benz sprinter, you cant go wrong)and the luxurious look and feel of the interior. Heck, it looks better than my apartment.

I just came across an Evergreen RV Imperial sprinter 245WS (they have 2 floor plans), I'm hoping that this will be my next rental. This floor plan has a separate shower stall from the toilet, and a dinette that converts to sleeping space, no slide neccessary.

2016 Evergreen Rv Imperial 245WS Sprinter, GPS, Turbo Dies, Alvarado TX - - RVtrader.com - For anyone interested in what I am talking about.

ever.jpg back.jpg

toilet.jpg shower.jpg

layout.jpg

Renting only Class B's until I find the right one for me to buy.
Travato 59k
Airstream Interstate
Avion Azur
Winnebago Era 70c

Davydd · 12-21-2015, 01:24 PM

The Evergreen is technically a Class C but an interesting one in that it doesn't take full advantage of adding as much width as possible as most cutaway Class Cs do but is still deceptively about 10" wider than a Sprinter van. I believe it started out as a passenger shuttle concept and the RV developed after. My question is can you have privacy using the toilet? It appears you have to use your aisle for for bathroom functions including the kitchen sink doubling as you bath lavatory. In fact it appears your whole RV becomes a temporary bathroom when in use for bathroom functions. That is strange to me and not exactly a private bath in concept. To me it would have more negatives than positives over a good wet bath design.

Some new developments since my last post. I did join the 2,100+ location 24 hour access Anytime Fitness. That concept of another showering place on the road I mentioned earlier might be tried out this coming year. It is the most convenient fitness place at home and I need it are the driving forces. On the road will be the extra. You just can't get a 5 minute, high pressure stream hot shower in a Class B.

Another development. Advanced RV just delivered a wet bathroom 2" deeper than their standard and I stood in it to compare against mine. I have also owned probably the two other best Sprinter bathrooms in a GWVan Legend and a Pleasure-way Plateau TS. The 2" made it more comfortable and probably is the biggest wet bath in a true van Class B if they go forward with it as a standard or option. Advanced RV has a rental program out of Willoughby, OH and Southern California.

booster · 12-21-2015, 06:15 PM

The Evergreen bathroom is probably the first enclosed one that I really like. The toilet is set like the older Roadtrek aisle shower units, and probably has some kind of fold out privacy screen. I will say that is looks like it would be perfect place the rotating toilet top that has been mentioned in another thread.

I like the setup because we are rare/never shower users, and the standalone shower could be used as a huge storage area when it was not going to be used. We don't mind the aisle toilet at all, and we even removed the privacy foldout panels as they were heavy and in the way.

Jlly16 · 12-22-2015, 01:02 AM

Davydd, I can see your point in regards to the bathroom. And that width is a no go for me, the most I'll agree to is an extended wheel base model sprinter chasis. When I take a trip to Cali, I'll look into possibly renting that deeper wet-bath class b that Advanced Rv now carries.

But now, since I've experienced that dry bath I'm a little hooked. In the end, it looks like I might just have to commission Advanced RV or another company to build me a layout from the sprinter bare shell. And at the cost of that, I will be full timing because that is a mortgage.

wincrasher · 12-22-2015, 01:27 AM

I really like the bath in my K. It's wide enough that you can shower and not get the curtain sticking to you. In the end, only the floor is wet, which I wipe up with a paper towel.

The drop-down sink is a great use of space and is really big if you want to rinse something out. Not having a sink poke you in the hip while you are trying to shower is nice.

tmshih · 02-24-2016, 01:13 PM

The Coach House Arriva has a rear dry bath on their Sprinter B Class unit. Luxury Motorhomes - Fuel Efficient Downsized Class C (Class B-Plus) RVs - Arriva

Another option would be a used Sprinter based MB Cruiser (also with a dry bath), however they do not come with a permanent bed requiring you to convert the sofa each night. FitRV's old rig "Das Bus" was a heavily modified MR Cruiser.

Jlly16 · 02-24-2016, 08:31 PM

I did see a Youtube video for the Arriva that you are talking about. The best part of that model to me was the exterior storage, outside tv and outdoor shower hose. The interior layout looked cramped.(I did like that fold out desk behind the drivers seat,though) and the bathroom has that unfinished look, like it was a last minute after thought.

Love FitRv channel

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