Community Forums

wanderso · 09-15-2014, 08:58 PM

This seems like a good, real world review if the Travato from a full-time RVer with over 20k miles on it. http://travato2014.wordpress.com/full-review/

cjscotty · 09-16-2014, 07:37 AM

Question, where do you store your dump hoses?

gggplaya · 09-16-2014, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wanderso

This seems like a good, real world review if the Travato from a full-time RVer with over 20k miles on it. Full Review | Travato

Some of their "design flaws", i don't really agree with. Like the engine shifting down too low for a hill. I think that's just a lack of experience with gas engines. These guys are from the UK, so they're probably used to driving diesel engines with manual transmissions. Diesels generally rev much lower, whereas gas engine have a much higher rev band. Diesels also have double the compression ratio of about 20:1, where gas might be around 10:1. Having double the compression with gearing designed for lower revs means you have much better engine braking at lower revs. Whereas in a gas engine, you have half of much compression , and need to rev much higher to get some engine braking out of it. Going down a hill, i would much rather use more engine braking, and run less of a risk of overheating the brakes going down. So, understandably, the promaster shifts down pretty low while going downhill, makes sense to me. These gas engines love to rev.

wincrasher · 09-16-2014, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cjscotty

Question, where do you store your dump hoses?

There is a bay in the side of the van for a short hose - I put a 5' hose in there.

I bolted one of those PVC tubes to my storage box (see the Stowaway2 thread) for a longer hose if I ever need it.

wincrasher · 09-16-2014, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gggplaya

Some of their "design flaws", i don't really agree with. Like the engine shifting down too low for a hill. I think that's just a lack of experience with gas engines. These guys are from the UK, so they're probably used to driving diesel engines with manual transmissions. Diesels generally rev much lower, whereas gas engine have a much higher rev band. Diesels also have double the compression ratio of about 20:1, where gas might be around 10:1. Having double the compression with gearing designed for lower revs means you have much better engine braking at lower revs. Whereas in a gas engine, you have half of much compression , and need to rev much higher to get some engine braking out of it. Going down a hill, i would much rather use more engine braking, and run less of a risk of overheating the brakes going down. So, understandably, the promaster shifts down pretty low while going downhill, makes sense to me. These gas engines love to rev.

In my view, the 6 speed transmission is what makes the Promaster work so well with the V6 engine. I doubt you'd get as good performance out of it with a 5 speed.

Most of the new vehicles have transmissions that are more active downhill that in the past - especially while using cruise control. On my older cars, you could just freewheel going down hills. The newer transmissions want to downshift to reduce the speed buildup. (hope this doesn't sound like nonsense).

Of course this has it's limits in steep country. A deisel with an exhaust brake would probably be better suited in a heavily loaded vehicle. But so far my experience in the Appalacians, the gas V-6/6-speed combo works pretty well.

goreds2 · 09-18-2014, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wincrasher

Picked up my new Winnebago Travato on Friday (23rd). The delivery experience was less than I expected, as they weren't really ready to do it even thought they had a week's notice. Oh well. Other than the coach being filthy and the gas tank empty, everything worked. The only hiccup was a sensor on the passenger seat needed to be re-set so the alarm would shut off. Lucky I caught it still at the dealership and not down the road! If both seats aren't facing forward and clicked in position, a very loud alarm will sound and not shut off.

I spent that afternoon trying to shoe-horn all the equipment & supplies from my tag-along into the new van. I had to pare it down a lot and still have some more to go after this first trip.

On Saturday, I headed out to Mile High Campground, which is off the Blue Ridge Parkway near Maggie Valley, NC. The grade to get up there is 9% and rises to 5400 feet elevation, so that is about as tough as it gets east of the Mississippi. I thought the Promaster handled it very well. This drivetrain is very well matched to this vehicle and RV service. I got 16 mpg on this trip.

Once you get to the camp, you get views like this as well as temps in the 60's:

Here was my setup at the camp:

I had put the extender in my bike rack so I could open the doors. It also made a nice place to hook the hose to so I had water at my camp kitchen. You can also see the screen package you can get for the rear doorway:

I also got the screen door option for the main sliding door. One of my favorite features is that the TV, power antenna and the audio system are all 12 volt. The TV is in a good position for viewing outside, which is what I did to watch the Indy 500. I don't know how many B vans have outside speakers, but this one does, which was a plus watching the race:

All my gear fit easily in the back, but I need to go thru and reduce some. I think I get get the essentials down to one bin:

Organizing the cabinets is a challenge. Here is what you get for dishes (over the sink). Luckily I found some nesting cookware that saved me a lot of room:

This is the cabinet over the bed - I store some linen items, window coverings and the screens, and some dry goods:

The clothes locker seems big enough. It's tall enough to hang shirts, jackets, etc. I also stand some trays and cutting board behind the clothes. My dirty clothes bag is also in there:

The fridge is certainly big enough for weekend trips. This new model is narrow, tall and deep compared to the regular cube fridge's you see in other B's. It's a 3-way. I ran it on LP. The mid point setting froze most of my sodas, so I reduced it further.

Nice rig!!

cjscotty · 09-19-2014, 07:44 AM

So nice. Any storage under the bench seats?

bigdomino · 09-19-2014, 08:16 AM

Nice. What is the blue hose/cable at the back of the rv? Do you have to have the doors open to use it?

Thanks

wincrasher · 09-19-2014, 09:30 AM

That is a water hose that fits on an attachment inside that round plastic door. It's good for hosing down dirty feet, etc. The hose stores in that cubby in the back wall.

cjscotty · 09-20-2014, 07:26 PM

Are there any rattles going down the road? A pet peeve of my husband's.

How long does your propane last. How many showers do you get out of the 23 gallon tank.

wincrasher · 09-20-2014, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cjscotty

Are there any rattles going down the road? A pet peeve of my husband's.

How long does your propane last. How many showers do you get out of the 23 gallon tank.

Rattles - none from the vehicle. I did have to put felt pads on the television bracket so it wouldn't rattle. I put pads between my pots so they don't rattle. There is very little vibration in the rear of this van - I haven't had any shifting around of items in the back cabinets or bins I've stored in the back. I think this is primarily due to this van NOT having rear dual wheels, as well as being front wheel drive.

Propane lasts weeks if not months if just cooking and using the fridge. Water heat is 110v only and the generator is gasoline. One thing that will eat up the propane in just a couple days is the heater.

I can shower with about 1 gallon, maybe less. You have to use the on/off feature on the shower head and take navy type showers. But the issue is not fresh water. It's only having a 15 gallon gray tank. You can fill that up pretty quick, and as this tank has a pump-out type discharge, you can't just hook it up to a sewer connection and leave the valve open. It's just one of the quirks of this floor plan.

cjscotty · 09-20-2014, 08:16 PM

Are there any rattles going down the road? A pet peeve of my husband's.

Well I have now taken to reading the Travato full timer's blog that was posted above, and they do give great info. We saw a Travato again today and liked it, but still on the fence worried about the tank sizes. They say the 2015 has 15 black and 11 grey? This seems weird but that's what Winnebago's site shows and a dealer confirmed. Maybe Winnebago themselves misprinted? Great reads and info on here.

cjscotty · 09-21-2014, 08:20 PM

I see you answered the rattles, thanks, sorry about double question. LAST question, can you explain more how the shower works? Is there a button you press in the shower itself, does that mean that it doesn't go down the drain but fills up in the bottom of the shower unless you pump it out? Are you referring to the button in the back of the unit behind the back door by the outdoor shower hose? This has us confused. Or are there two pumps, one from the shower stall to the grey tank, and one from the grey tank to the discharge of the vehicle to sewer?

wincrasher · 09-22-2014, 10:33 AM

There are 2 pumps.

One that drains the shower pan into the gray tank. The other drains the gray tank to the sewer.

With the shower pump you have 2 options. You can turn it on and just shower away. Or, if you are doing Navy showers, you complete your shower and then run the pump to drain what little bit of water that is in the pan. Since I mostly boondock, that the latter is what I do.