In anticipation

Storyline: Advantures in our back yard

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Tomorrow will be our first Advanture day. It will be a long one. And it will be our first day to get out of this house and sleep elsewhere without compromising safety since we came back from Morocco in January and were locked down in March.

So what did we learned for the lock down:

• There is an occasional use from the endless YouTubing of a type B personality that had shifted to neutral (neutral is my natural state, if truth be known – A)
• It is damaging to one’s wallet to lockdown a type A personality – they eventually would spring to action (Eventually? I got dizzy with the constant buzzing around – A)

We’ve been talking about and looking into campervans for over 10 years now. We’d go to the RV shows and dream about a Roadtrek. This and Pleasure Way, both Canadian brands, were the two regulars on show. Roadtrek was a little cheaper, family-owned and assembled here in Southern Ontario (until 2019) and half of current prices. Due to extensive international travel we haven’t been to an RV show in the last few years. Then lately we learned that Rodatrek had been sold to a major European manufacturer and there had been some “cooking of the books” following which the operation had been shut down, only to be recently reopened under the banner of a new European owner. We shrugged since this RV business was something for the future. Perhaps one day, when we grow old and have done all international travels, especially the more challenging ones, like Asia and South America. And when we are done with all the train trips that we are interested in around the world and in Canada. Yes, perhaps… Until the two black swans flew in. Being in a high age and health risk group we found ourselves confined to our back yard with only short walks in our quiet neighbourhood. It’s been six months now and this Covid-19 thing is nowhere near being done with the world and with our country. It will be here next year and possibly in 2022, even after a safe and efficient vaccine is found (if such is found at all). With Alex’s compromised health we stay away (at least 2 meters away) from everyone, including our own children. And this will be in effect for a foreseeable future. Flights for us are out of question for the next few years. And we are leery of hotel stays and restaurant meals. At the moment we can drive around Ontario and even Quebec. The rest of the provinces are closed to us (Manitoba to the west won’t give us the chance to venture in without a 14-day quarantine. So, no easy access to Alberta and British Colombia. And the Atlantic provinces to the East are also closed unless we self-isolate for 14 days.) Ontario campgrounds are currently open. (this can change quickly with the second wave of Covid-19 cases quickly rising, though).

And so it was time to realise our other dream.  It is RVing time. Perhaps not the best time to jump in. Apparently, RV sales have gone through the roof this year. With factories closed for months, available inventory is limited and dealerships are not suffering at all. But it’s end of season, so we figured that if we could find something we wanted, we’d be able to negotiate a reasonable price.

How did we decide on this particular unit?

Alex has been watching YouTube videos endlessly (Not so! I have to sleep sometime – A). Then when in July the campgrounds opened, we began talking that perhaps at the end of the season we could find a deal on an RV. A campervan (also known as a Class B RV) to be exact. Towing has never been in our frame of reference. We need flexibility. We want to stop on a small road, by a pebble beach or in the flowery fields, we need to then park in front of a hotel in a city and spend a night there (post Covid-19 of course) and then continue. And we also want to be able to ship it to Europe and spend a summer or two RVing there.

Still it was a vague idea. We watched together videos of all currently available campervans in our market. We liked different features of different models but often would find that the floor plan wasn’t what we wanted. In the current Canadian market, we have access to new campervans built on 3 different vans (All, interestingly European standards…most of the old US-style vans having recently been pushed aside by the more modern and flexible). Ram Promaster (Fiat Ducato), Ford Transit and Mercedes Sprinter. There were some old Roadtreks around but we didn’t like the asking price for 8-year, 10-year or even older vehicles.

We eliminated the Mercedes option in all models because of insanely high price. Not that ours came cheap, but we are talking at least 30%, but often 50% more than the amount we spent. So it was between the RAM Promaster and Ford Transit. Pricewise, the Promaster is cheaper.

We narrowed down our functionality and floor plan requirements to:

• Kitchen had to be on the passenger side – this eliminated a few options.
• Fridge had to be bigger than the 3 cubic foot versions on some models and not under the kitchen countertop. This means fridge on the driver’s side.
• Sleeping has to be along the van length, not across (having to climb over each other to get in and out of bed are nowhere near as much fun as they once were – A)
• Didn’t like the rear bathroom option, although it is much roomier.

This eliminated a bunch of options. Such requirements were met by the new Roadtrek Zion (Promaster), Coachmen Beyond (Transit) and Pleasure Way Ontour (Transit) or Lexor (Promaster). Thor and Winnegago also produce popular B-class campervans, but not with the floorplans we preferred.

Time to see and try a few. The fall RV show would probably be canceled (and it was). As we entered phase 3 of reopening the economy perhaps, we could visit a few dealer places. We first talked to Canadream. It is an RV rental company that sells their rentals at the end of the season. We learned that they had lightly-used Coachmen and Pleasure Way models at what looked like a reasonable price, and we could have one by mid-October when the rental season ended. Since all units were out on rentals, we couldn’t actually check out any models. Interesting, but we needed more to go on. We hadn’t climbed around one of these vehicles for a few years, and like all automotive products, there had been big changes in that time.

Then we saw a new Roadtrek Zion at Sicard RV, one of Ontario’s larger dealerships. We drove to Smithville, East of Hamilton to see it. There was also a Winnebego Travato (Promaster). Seeing it confirmed our exclusion from the short list. The Roadtrek had some nice features, but there were two big dealbreakers for us. First, it felt dark inside, and we need light during the day. There are lighter-coloured interiors available, but manufacturing is months behind due to Covid-19 and we didn’t want to wait until next spring. Or summer. The big issue for us was that, despite its popularity, the Promaster driver and passenger seats and seating position were uncomfortable for us. We had to check out a Transit-based vehicle or rethink our entire plan.

Yep, how are we going to spend days on the road with such small and uncomfortable seats? Thus, all Promaster options were out. Our only option left was a Transit. Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be…. There are some of them in BC (4,400 km away) and some in Quebec, a mere 550km from us. What about Ontario? With Google help we found 1000 Islands RV dealership in Gananoque Ontario (a short 290km drive). It had quite a big selection of class B RVs. If we managed to drive to there without stopping on our way, the only interactions would be with the staff there. And we could see all options in consideration and more. Equipped with masks, gloves, hand sanitizers, wet wipes and you name it, plus some sandwiches and fruits, off we went about two weeks ago. The idea wasn’t to buy anything yet, but see them all and test the feasibility of owning one.

Until we walked into our Coachmen Beyond. The rest is history! We loved the sight of it. Seats were really comfortable, the interior light, and floorplan ticked all checkboxes. (We had hoped it would be so, given the YouTube video – or 50 – that we’d ingested about this particular model – A)

We don’t have many photos of it yet. This video from the dealership, posted a week before we purchased it but found only after the fact, is exactly the unit we’ll be driving away tomorrow. Hope they clean the sink before we pick it up.

Our small Audi trunk is full to the brim with all we will need and more for our test camping at Smugglers Cove in Prince Edward County.

I even precooked and froze meals that we’ll take with the coolers tomorrow, although we’ll be cooking on board when we start to travel. And it is scary, at least for me.

Glad we didn’t join the Coachmen Beyond Facebook group before we made the decision because we won’t be having any RV. It has been very useful though with all the manuals provided, issues discussed, advice, etc.

However, folks my advice: don’t join any support group meant to help the owners with their problems before you are an owner. (Well, I don’t entirely agree with that statement. Joining an ‘Owners and Prospects’ group can really help with research, provided one understands that many people post about problems they have with these complex, tiny homes on wheels. And many more reach out to help with solutions. For me the message is, don’t be turned off by the problems and issues. They are a very small minority of owners’ experiences. Do, however, learn about what to look for, how a dealer and manufacturer treat their customers in dealing with issues. – A) Hah, Alex. I guarantee you we wouldn’t be driving one tomorrow if I had seen all this scary stuff people are posting there. And even if I knew how complex this “home” controlled by electronics is. Good luck repairing it in the deserts of Argentina!