mpruet
Well-known member
Well, I bought a 2018 21 ft. Travato 59K class-B. I was debating between getting a class-B RV or doing a DIY van conversion and finally chose the Travato. I decided that I could afford the purchase without significantly impacting my retirement nest egg and wasn't sure that I could do a good job on a DIY project. (I'm not that good with woodwork or electricity.)
I had a 37 foot class-A, and it had turned into a money pit. It was older and required a new washing machine, hot water heater, fridge, window, sofa bed, fan, etc. Also I had to replace all tires and recently had to replace the engine fuel pressure regulator, drive shaft, and starter relay. While my wife and I took it to Alaska last year, she was fairly definite that she didn't want to do any long trips in the RV again. I didn't take the rig anywhere this past year, but instead did the Prius camping thing all summer long. While the Prius Car Camping (l'Hotel Prius) worked fine, it became really cramped when I took my dog with me. So I opted for the Travato.
I had seriously thought about doing a van conversion, but wanted to be able to have my wife be able to fly to one of my destinations and stay with me in whatever my rig was. I felt that my wife would need more comforts than I could provide in a DYI van conversion. I just couldn't see my wife using a prota-potty, so I opted for the Travato 59K. It has a layout that is quite similar to a lot of the DIY conversions that I have seen. It is not so cramped like most class-B's are.
It has t20 size-31 AGM batteries for the house system with 100 Watt Zamp solar on the roof. The batteries can be charged from solar, the alternator, or the generator. I suspect that initially I'll be forced to top-off the batteries from the generator in the evenings because I doubt that a 100 Watt panel will be enough. There are two additional plugs in on the roof, but not too much real-estate space. There is an additional Zamp plug on the side of the van for portable solar panels. I'm hoping to make it to RTR so will probably be looking for solar upgrades when I get there.
I had a 37 foot class-A, and it had turned into a money pit. It was older and required a new washing machine, hot water heater, fridge, window, sofa bed, fan, etc. Also I had to replace all tires and recently had to replace the engine fuel pressure regulator, drive shaft, and starter relay. While my wife and I took it to Alaska last year, she was fairly definite that she didn't want to do any long trips in the RV again. I didn't take the rig anywhere this past year, but instead did the Prius camping thing all summer long. While the Prius Car Camping (l'Hotel Prius) worked fine, it became really cramped when I took my dog with me. So I opted for the Travato.
I had seriously thought about doing a van conversion, but wanted to be able to have my wife be able to fly to one of my destinations and stay with me in whatever my rig was. I felt that my wife would need more comforts than I could provide in a DYI van conversion. I just couldn't see my wife using a prota-potty, so I opted for the Travato 59K. It has a layout that is quite similar to a lot of the DIY conversions that I have seen. It is not so cramped like most class-B's are.
It has t20 size-31 AGM batteries for the house system with 100 Watt Zamp solar on the roof. The batteries can be charged from solar, the alternator, or the generator. I suspect that initially I'll be forced to top-off the batteries from the generator in the evenings because I doubt that a 100 Watt panel will be enough. There are two additional plugs in on the roof, but not too much real-estate space. There is an additional Zamp plug on the side of the van for portable solar panels. I'm hoping to make it to RTR so will probably be looking for solar upgrades when I get there.
