How do You Travel in a Sprinter Based Class C?

[JCGibson]

Good morning,

We like the concept of a Sprinter based class C/B+, but feel the execution misses the mark. What I mean is, the cargo carrying capacity is so low, how could it be used for any long term use/trips? We saw one that had a CCC of only 795 pounds which is less than a single axle 20' TT. With the two of us and our dog we are about 450 leaving only 345 for water, food, clothes, etc. Also, with such a small diesel fuel tank and a diesel genny running while driving to keep the coach comfortable on hot days, seems like would have to fill up every 200 miles or less.

My question is, how does one make it work for a trip?

Thanks!

John

[mrwinters12]

If you need....more stuff consider this....they can tow up to 5K. We just spent 3 months in our ERA and met many full timers in similar sized vans. I would agree b plus for full time but highly doable...

[luvlabs]

I don't know, but we find it rather fun to travel in our Navion. We have worked hard to get rid of stuff we don't need but we still carry our water filtration system, barbecue, leveling blocks, satellite dish, dog and cat and all their stuff, air compressor, and so on. But we don't carry a full tank of water or leave waste in our gray and black tanks, and other unneeded stuff. We tow a light (2500 lbs) car. Our Navion has an OCCC of 1100 lbs and we use all of it (and probably a few hundred pounds more).

We took it on a 4500 mile 2.5 month trip this summer and did fine.

Don't mind the 26 gallon fuel tank. A good break every few hours is good for you but we also get an effective fuel range of over 300 miles/tank towing. Since we plan to drive only 300 miles per day, it works well. BTW, the generator burns less than 1/2 gallon per hour so only a slight factor in your fuel economy.

When looking at these things, a lot of people get stuck on "pretty" and don't look at what it takes to travel and enjoy it. Light and pretty should be the criteria. Take a look at Winnebago (who introduced the Sprinter based motorhome to the US) for models that look pretty good, with better OCCCs than most of them. Doesn't hurt that they have four different floorplans to choose from.

[hoosierrun]

We are using a class B+ and tow a small SUV (about 3700 #'s). We pack the toad with a lot of supplies that won't fit in the RV. It seems to work for 2 of us with no pets. We've gone 18,000 miles so far.

[milkman55]

Our 2017 Dynamax Isata 3 FW has a CCC of 943 lbs (full fuel). We don’t haul any water to also save weight. It’s easy to fill up when you get to the campground or use city water hookup.

We can go about 350 miles between fill ups and that’s about all I want to do anyway without stopping. We got the propane generator because I didn’t want to burn diesel for the generator and the propane is lighter and less maintenance. We usually have full hookups and don’t use the generator.

If you plan to boondock, don’t think the Sprinter is a good choice for a very long stay. We can usually go three days without needing to dump our tanks.

[CampFire Junkies]

We just put 17,000 miles on our Class C, MB Sprinter chassis this past year. We don’t tow and didn’t have any weight issues with water, bbq grill, wood, cast iron Dutch oven, Instant Pot and us... I am a BIG guy also at 6’5” and heavier than I am supposed to be. Average just over 16mpg going no faster than 65mph. We have a LP genny that gets used sparingly. With just the two of us the cab AC cools everything just fine in the summer while driving.

[Loggenrock]

As others said, we're into our 3rd year in our "B+", over 17k miles, tend to travel "loaded for bear", and are still not overweight. We dry camp alot, so keep 30g FW tank full when travelling. Black tank about 26g, gray about 30 - we find we can go 4 nights comfortably, 5 if we're careful, with those volumes. We tow Suby Forester, often with tandem kayak on the roof of it. Find we get around 15.5 mpg with that set-up, about 16.5 without the toad (seldom...). Comfortable cruising range of 260 miles between fill-ups, have pushed it to 300 miles a couple times, but I prefer to have a bit of reserve on the 26 gallon diesel tank. Have had it weighed fully loaded by wheel position, each axle still less than max capacity, total weight right at GVWR (which is 11,050 for any Sprinter chassis), but even with toad still under Sprinter chassis GCVW of 15,250#. The Prism has a rated towing capacity of 3500#, Views I believe have a 5000# towing capacity. We moved into this after a decade in a Roadtrek on a Chevy Express chassis, so to us this rig is spacious!!! ST

[NYBobbo]

I have a 24J View. The diesel gen uses about 1/3 gal per hour. The diesel tank could be bigger but I've never run out or have been concerned to find fuel (I've only had problems finding propane).

You will find you can take what you need and purchase as you go, seems there is always a Walmart nearby. The fridge has enough room for several days at a time. It's not like your house where you can stock up at Costco once a month.

Take enough clothes to make it a bit over a week so your not stopping too often to do wash.

It comes down to - the more room you have the more "stuff" you will put in it. After a 1.5 years I've been leaving more and more items home since I found that I rarely used it all.

For me the C is a great size. I can travel on almost any road and find parking most places (2 regular car spots). So it's small enough to go and large enough so that on bad weather days I still have some room to move around.

[HighDesert]

Like others have said, you firs have to realize how much space and weight you have to work with. Different models have a wide range total weight capacity (CCC). We spent a month in out Forest river Sunseeker MBS 2400 R, with a small dog this summer and had no issues at all. Since our unit was new, and the engine not broken in well and towing a JK Wrangler, we got about 11 - 15 mpg. The only hitch we ran into was making sure we could get the ULSD for the MB engine. We had plenty of space for clothing, dog stuff, BBQ, stand, carpet, chairs, and all the basic stuff you need, and still had space. We were just below weight limit towing the Jeep. When you look at the sprinters, really take a hard look at the CCC based on slide concepts - the full wall slide has much less total capacity and limited cargo space as compared to the 2400R with rear bed slide and dinette slide. This was a factor for us. We would stop about every 200 or so miles and fill up, and let the dog (and us) out to move around. Our last rip was a little over 3000 miles and planning similar tip for next year, and more.

[JCGibson]

Thanks everyone for the great replies. Lots of good information and much appreciated.

Now the next question. Has anyone done a trip to Alaska in your sprinter based class c? We spent 8 years there while stationed at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage and would like to go back in a couple of years.

[Showkey]

Originally Posted by HighDesert

Since our unit was new, and the engine not broken in well and towing a JK Wrangler, we got about 11 - 15 mpg. The only hitch we ran into was making sure we could get the ULSD for the MB engine. .

Not to derail this thread but........all diesel sold in the US is ULSD. Some locations or regions have more bio diesel blends than others ( some states mandate bio blends) .....which gets some owners more concerned than others. The Sprinter forum hashes and rehashes the bio blend thing. Last published document EPA was pulling back on bio blends. MB also relaxed their bio blend requirements when they realized a IL customer might not be able to drive their Sprinter because of the states bio mandates.

After 50,000 my MPG is consistently between 11-15 towing a trailer. Wind and speed have more effect on MPG than than the trailer. I have never achieved more than 15 mpg. Crossing KS with 60 MPH head wind dropped to 10.5 as all time worst.

MB biodiesel letter:

https://www.mbusa.com/vcm/MB/Digital..._Brochure5.pdf


ULSD:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-low-sulfur_diesel

[paisleydale]

We drove our 2014 View to Anchorage in 2015. We drove up on the Alaska Hwy and back on the Casiar Hwy. We were loaded with more stuff than we needed and still we 16 mpg, but then I drive 60 mph and a lot less on some of these roads in Canada and Alaska.

It was a great trip cut way to short due to health issues, but we plan on going back in 2018 with DW's brother and SIL - can't wait.

The View did well, no problems, never had a problem with diesel or propane other than buying some in Beaver Creek when we did not need to, but we did not know about the station at the Alaska border, live and learn.

[SSTraveler]

You should join the Sprinter Forum, https://sprinter-source.com/forum/index.php, it represents all the Sprinter models and you can search it to get most of your questions answered. Great bunch, very helpful. Many have taken their Sprinter based rvs to Alaska and some several times. Just search and you'll find answers.