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RE: Nissan introducing a true B-Worthy Van!
It will be interesting to see if the trades folks are willing to give up hauling space to get more space up front. They really tend to stuff as much inside as they possibly can. Sounds like body on frame, though, so they should like that part of it.
At last, a van with toe room! A pickup front end is a great idea. Might make Ford rethink the E-vans, which were obviously designed by someone with no feet!
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booster
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03/12/10 05:53pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Roadtrek armoire cabinet
Ours has shelves in it. It also had a hanging rod across the top inside that you could use for hanging things if you took the shelves out. We opted to remove the rod and brackets and stick with shelves only.
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booster
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03/10/10 08:07pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Roadtrek armoire cabinet
Here is a thread where we posted some pics of what we did with ours, along with the install of the Mobilife RV armoire. Since that thread was done, we have found that our two Express Loungers and a 6X9 patio mat fit in the base easily from the outside. We also modified a card table to fit into the tall skinny area at the rear of the armoire. We now can easily setup our mat, table, and chairs in about 2 minutes, without having to even open the rear doors.
Armoire thread.
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booster
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03/10/10 05:05pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Roadtrek armoire cabinet
You can get them through a Roadtrek dealer or get a very similar (actually Roadtrek copied them) one from Mobilelife RV in Kithchener. That is what we did, and yes they can be taken in and out, but it is a bit of work. The base stays in place.
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booster
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03/09/10 09:04pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Isolator vs Separator, which would you use?
I like the separator on our 07 190P Roadtrek, as it allows the van battery to charge with the house batteries while plugged in. It has a 3 step charger, so we can leave it plugged in all winter and all 3 batteries stay full and in good condition, otherwise the van battery has to be disconnected so the small loads don't kill it in a couple of weeks.
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booster
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03/08/10 05:40pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Last payment, but no end to trouble with RoadTrek
My understanding is that the tank is the standard Chevy tank, just moved down a few inches. Lots of folks have had issues with getting the correct fuel pumps for them, however. I think Roadtrek used all California compliant pumps, so they could sell them anywhere, so the VIN might get you the wrong pump. You might want to drop in on the Roadtrek board that is on Yahoo.
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/roadtrek/messages
A member handled Campskunk has an RT of the same vintage and has just done a bunch of fuel pump work and research.
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booster
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03/07/10 09:30pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Generator oil for Onan
I would not run anything that is rated to the latest automotive standard of SM, and even SL is not as good for flat tappet, air cooled engines. The latest standards reduce the anti-scuff agents to save the catalytic converters in the new cars. Air cooled need a lot of anti-scuff do to high localized temperatures in them. Using Synthetic DOES NOT change anything, the new oils are not as good. Motorcycle oils rated at SG to SJ or small engine oils of the same rating range, are probably the best to use, then old standard (not clean diesel) diesel oils, then "old engine,high mile" oil of the same ratings (I don't like to use it because it has solvent in it to swell the seals to reduce leaks. For now, I am using dino 30 wieight SG rated oil, as I use it only in the summer, and not many hours per year. When we start traveling for real, and months, in varying climates, I will be switching to 10-40 synthetic motorcycle oil.
My ONAN maunual recommends an API performance class SJ, SH or SG engine oil for my ONAN 5500 which I think is something like motor cycle oil. From reading many of the posts from folks here folks seem to be running synthetics, regular oil etc. Is the SJ, SH or SJ classification something folks are sticking to or are you just running regular car oil in your generators?
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booster
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03/06/10 02:42pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Roadtrek
I have to agree with you on this one. The quality level, fit and finish, and attention to detail of our 07 190P (new roof style) was significantly lower than the units we had looked at even two years earlier. We had an upside down stripe, bad paint on the AC cover, interior trim falling off, glue on the wall coverings, gaps in the cabinetry, curtains too short to latch properly, seats that were way too hard to rotate. I hope they get it back together as they regroup coming out of the tough times lately, as we do really enjoy our Roadtrek.
We just received our new 2010 210 Popular this is our second Roadtrek. First one was a 2003 190 Popular. From our observations Roadtrek takes less care now than before. The craftsmanship and final inspection before vehicle leaves factory was not done on our unit. Our unit has some issues, ie. kitchen window installed crooked, several cupboard doors are scratched, missing items inside, 'trunk' carpet installed partially in living area, adjustments needed on many items, exterior paint touch-up... We will be going back to the factory in April, Roadtrek assures us that they will fix unit to our satisfaction. We chose Roadtrek based on our previous vehicle, which we really liked for it's design and quality.
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booster
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02/28/10 07:57am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Storm Damage to a B
I think there is a very good chance that the insurance will total it out. It is a Dodge, so it can't be a real current model. What year/value does it have? That is some major damage.
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booster
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02/26/10 01:43pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Leasing?
I have never heard about leasing a "B", but Lake Region has recently rolled out a program that has you buy the RV from them, and when you are not using it, they will rent it out for you, taking care of all the cleaning, etc and other issues that make renting difficult. Obviously, they are also storing it for you, which could be a plus and cost saving for some folks. Not right for us, but if you didn't use your rig much, but wanted to have it available whenever you did, it might be a good way to be able to afford what you otherwise couldn't.
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booster
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02/22/10 09:26pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Roadtrek List Pricing
Here is a dealer that has pdf's of the window stickers, so you can get at least some of the info.
Roadtrek dealer
I am sure there are others if you look around a bit.
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booster
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02/20/10 08:58pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: RTs at the RV Show this Past Weekend
Booster,
Correct me if I am wrong but I could not find any Roadtreks at the Minneapolis RV show. Pleasure-Way, Leisure Travel Vans, Great West Vans, Winnebago ERA and Airstream Interstate were on the main floor. Disappointed I could not see the Ideal first hand.
You are absolutely correct, no Roadtreks. Imperial Camper apparently is getting out of all motorized units and Roadtrek has not yet settled on a new dealer for their units. I was hoping it would be Lake Region, as they are great folks, and they have the other brands for comparison shopping, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. I spoke with the Roadtrek rep, and he had been trying to get space at the show, at the last minute, but was not successful. I think the Imperial thing caught them off gaurd. Lake Region had a bunch sold, and we also saw a Winnebago marked sold at another dealer.
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booster
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02/16/10 12:24pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: RTs at the RV Show this Past Weekend
From reading various Forums, the B is really growing in popularity. People are viewing it from the aspect that it can be driven daily, most are stelth looking (RT's 170/90/210), the gas mileage is great and they are fun to travel around in. This popularity could be bringing prices up? We have an '05 RT190P and truly enjoy using it. Safe travels.\
At the Minneapolis show this weekend, there were a surprising number of B's and B+ with sold signs in them, maybe 20-25% (of about 20 total B's and B+). Very few of the big rigs or trailers were marked sold.
The prices have seemed to be climbing since fall of last year, about when the new models came out. New inventories are way down, and production still low, so the glut of units is pretty much gone now and they can hold the line on prices more. Used B's have been higher priced than past years for probably a year now, with the tight economy driving it, I would assume. We bought our new 07 190P in the fall of 08 at a very good price, and even though it was about a year earlier than we planned, I am glad we did, as the prices have gone up enough now that we probably would have had to go used.
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booster
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02/16/10 07:11am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: CO Detector/Tragedy
Yep, CO is part of the combustion process, but the more cleanly the burner is running, the lower the amount of CO there is. The old CO detectors were considerable more sensitive that what they sell now, and probably would have detected CO in our case, but ours didn't. We know it works because it will go off once in a while while I am execising the geneator in the garage, with the doors open and me gone.
The blower location and heat exhanger leaks are a pretty simple matter of pressure balance between the combustion chamber inside the heat exchanger, and the circulation air on the outside of the heat exchanger. The circulation fan in our Suburban is blowing toward the heat exchanger, so it generates a positive pressure around the exchanger, but a very small pressure because of no duct resistance. The cumbustion fan also blows toward the heat exchanger, so it generates a positive pressure inside the exchanger. The pressure inside the exchanger would normally be larger in this type of setup because the combustion fan has more back pressure and it is a squirrel cage that will generate more pressure than the blade fan they use for the circulation. If the heat exchanger developes a leak, the air will flow from the higher pressure to the lower pressure, which is usually out of the heat exchanger.
It is considerably more expensive to put the combustion fan on the outlet of the heat exchanger, as it has to deal with the high temps, and corrosive gasses of combustion. These are not really efficient furnaces, so the exhaust is much hotter than the air from you sealed combustion, condensing, furnace at home, which may have the exhaust close to 100-120* F. Having a fan and motor that could handle the high temps is not an easy thing to do and be durable. On our gas water heater at home, which is sealed combustion with a fan after the heat exchanger, they actually split the incoming air into two paths, one for combustion, and one to dilute the burner exhaust before the plastic chimney, but after the heat exchanger. The air inlet tube on the water heater is 3" pipe for 40K BTU, where our condensing furnace uses 1.5" pipe for 60K BTU, but has cooler exhaust, so you can see how much air it takes to cool the gasses
I hope this made at least a little sense!.
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booster
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02/10/10 04:34pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: CO Detector/Tragedy
Seem like a lot of people run their furnace at night while cold weather camping.... doesn't it also vent outside?
Yes, they do, and problems are rare. As was said, you have to be careful about open windows and such. We also had an issue with the sealing of our 07 Roadtrek 190P. The frig area was not well sealed to the cabin, so whenever the frig was on gas, or the water heater or furnace was on with the wind wrong, we could smell it inside the van. The appliances were burning cleanly, so the CO detector didn't go off, but it clearly wasn't safe.
I am looking at the assembly blowup for the Suburban furnace in our RT right now. If I am reading it correctly (not a great drawing), it looks like the combustion fan is before of the heat exchanger. This is a notoriously dangerous layout, as the heat exchanger winds up pressurized with combustion gasses. If the heat exchanger starts to leak, the gasses go right into the van. Home systems with forced vents used to be the same way, but they have changed to putting the fan after the heat exchanger, so that the heat exchanger sees a negative pressure. That way, if the heat exchanger leaks, room air leaks into it instead of the gasses coming out. Much, much safer. I am surprised that they still are allowed to make them this way.
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booster
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02/10/10 09:15am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: negotiating with a RT dealer: ideas?
When we were looking at used ones last year, we found absolutely no relationship between asking price at a dealer, and what they would take. 30% less was fairly common, with the least being in the 20% off range.
Just remember when you use the NADA guide that by 2006 they were including a lot of options in their base pricing, so you don't add them again. The other thing that many folks don't understand is that if the RV came with any of the listed NADA "options" as part of their base price, you don't add them into the price. Things like the furnace, AC, microwave, vent fan, power locks, etc all are this type of thing. The dealers will always hand you a sheet that lists all of the items as added to the price, which is not correct. Prices seem to have gone up a bit since we were looking, but we could almost always get them to NADA high retail, and even had one under low retail, although the condition also dictated that. The longer they have had it, and how many they have on hand definitely makes a huge difference, and with spring getting near, and the economy picking up a bit, they are probably reluctant to cut as readily as we found.
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booster
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02/09/10 06:19pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Roadtrek macerator hose replacement
I jack our 07, 190P up with 2.5 ton floor jack, at the lower A arms in the front, in two steps on each side, putting it on jack stands under the frame, just behind the front wheel arch of the frame, I then lift the rear in one shot, from the differential center and set it on stands under the differential tubes, as close to the wheels as possible, or on the frame in front of the differential, if I want it hanging. These are all recommended lift points for the Chevy van, taken from the service manual. It is a big heavy rig, but once you do it a couple of times, it is no different than a car. Ours has been on the stands all winter, as I have been doing a lot of things to it, and I have lots of room under the entire van.
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booster
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02/01/10 07:18am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Winter Camping in a B (not by choice)
Any reason you didn't run the van to keep the battery up and get a little heat out of it behind. I know diesels don't do real well at heating when idling, but you could cover the radiator.
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booster
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01/27/10 06:56pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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Step grip tread adhesive
Some time ago, Rodger posted about a 3M (I think) product that he had found to work very well in reattaching peeling grip treads on his Roadtrek. I think he found it at some home center, but I haven't been able to locate anything that rings a bell.
Anybody remember what it was?
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booster
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01/26/10 05:54pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Sprinter 3500 vs 2500
Sooooo ahhhhhhh what is your point Hit the Road?
The 2007 Sprinter is the new engine with all the problems of less MPG, restrictive fuel and other ""government mandates"
I made it a point to buy the 2006 ('07 PW) since it was the last of the breed! Oh and $30,000 + less! for the same interior.
I read it wrong too, it sounds like you were saying the pre 07 had the V6.
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booster
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01/26/10 03:16pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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