- Nov 24, 2008
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- Since july 2009 And Still Going Strong
Its a long one so bear with me on this:
Well its been 10 years owning our 10m american B class. We’ve used it on and off during that time full time living as well as a touring van towing a trailer with car. In June 2018 we brought a 2012 Mercedes sprinter which we have converted to camper van. The idea of the sprinter was that it would be more of a touring van but over the last four months traveling up from Portugal its become apparent that we are trying to use it as a living van. We’ve loads more storage space in the sprinter than the RV. We hoped to do some art making during our tour but everything is so well stored away you have to move everything to get one box out, so of course it doesn’t happen.
We didn’t sell the RV last year but put it in storage incase things with the Merc didn’t work out. We’ve been back in the UK for nearly three weeks and even though the RV is only stored 100 yards from our pitch we’d not been to look at it until today. Not sure why really, possible the thought that something may have happened to it as its not been stepped into for nearly a year i.e. water damage etc but also the emotions attached to it. Well other than being fitly as its on a farm and outside so got dirty etc, we stepped in and other than a couple of cobwebs to great us it is dry as a bone. The next thing, would it start? The two solar panels were pretty much covered by an Ash tree overhanging the roof but the controller showed a charge going in so the moment came…… turned the key and she started as she always has first turn. In my mind theres nothing better than the rumble of a big V10 petrol guzzler. I was quiet overwhelmed by the whole thing and its now given us a big dilemma.
Can we use it in the same way as we have been with the Merc? We think we can, after staying on 51 Aires over the last 4 months theres only a handful that we wouldn’t have been able to get in/on. The running maintenance cost of the RV over the 10 years has been minimal and on average no more than the Merc has been over the last year. The big thing is of course fuel, we’ve spent £900 over the four months in diesel for the Merc, averaged 26 mpg fully laden with mixed roads from the flats of Spain to the Pyrenees and Swiss Alps. The same distance in the Rv would have cost around £2300 at 10 mpg so an additional £1400.
So the difference is the extra cost in fuel when touring and all the extra space in the RV.
What to do? I think several sleepless nights are ahead of us, didn’t think it would affect us this much when we saw it again. We thought we’d look at it and say yes its to big lets sell it, Some will say its just a van but to us its more than that it was our home.
Theres been lots of people downsized to PVCs over the last few years. Should we be going big again?
Of course Margo, the Labradoddle, would love having more space in the RV and could actually get onto the bed.
A confused and emotionally drained, Shawn and Emma
A couple of photos, The Merc in Leichtenstein July 2019 and the RV in Leichtenstein November 2016
Well its been 10 years owning our 10m american B class. We’ve used it on and off during that time full time living as well as a touring van towing a trailer with car. In June 2018 we brought a 2012 Mercedes sprinter which we have converted to camper van. The idea of the sprinter was that it would be more of a touring van but over the last four months traveling up from Portugal its become apparent that we are trying to use it as a living van. We’ve loads more storage space in the sprinter than the RV. We hoped to do some art making during our tour but everything is so well stored away you have to move everything to get one box out, so of course it doesn’t happen.
We didn’t sell the RV last year but put it in storage incase things with the Merc didn’t work out. We’ve been back in the UK for nearly three weeks and even though the RV is only stored 100 yards from our pitch we’d not been to look at it until today. Not sure why really, possible the thought that something may have happened to it as its not been stepped into for nearly a year i.e. water damage etc but also the emotions attached to it. Well other than being fitly as its on a farm and outside so got dirty etc, we stepped in and other than a couple of cobwebs to great us it is dry as a bone. The next thing, would it start? The two solar panels were pretty much covered by an Ash tree overhanging the roof but the controller showed a charge going in so the moment came…… turned the key and she started as she always has first turn. In my mind theres nothing better than the rumble of a big V10 petrol guzzler. I was quiet overwhelmed by the whole thing and its now given us a big dilemma.
Can we use it in the same way as we have been with the Merc? We think we can, after staying on 51 Aires over the last 4 months theres only a handful that we wouldn’t have been able to get in/on. The running maintenance cost of the RV over the 10 years has been minimal and on average no more than the Merc has been over the last year. The big thing is of course fuel, we’ve spent £900 over the four months in diesel for the Merc, averaged 26 mpg fully laden with mixed roads from the flats of Spain to the Pyrenees and Swiss Alps. The same distance in the Rv would have cost around £2300 at 10 mpg so an additional £1400.
So the difference is the extra cost in fuel when touring and all the extra space in the RV.
What to do? I think several sleepless nights are ahead of us, didn’t think it would affect us this much when we saw it again. We thought we’d look at it and say yes its to big lets sell it, Some will say its just a van but to us its more than that it was our home.
Theres been lots of people downsized to PVCs over the last few years. Should we be going big again?
Of course Margo, the Labradoddle, would love having more space in the RV and could actually get onto the bed.
A confused and emotionally drained, Shawn and Emma
A couple of photos, The Merc in Leichtenstein July 2019 and the RV in Leichtenstein November 2016
