Regular readers of this blog have watched us go through this exercise before, and not just once. We first attempted to go from a 40’ Class A diesel motorhome to a 26’ Class B van based RV (original story here). It didn’t go well. A few years later we downsized from a 45’ Class A diesel motorhome to a 33’ Class A diesel motorhome (story here). It didn’t go well. So why are we trying it again? Ostensibly to spend less time in large, over crowded private campgrounds and more time in smaller, typically more spread out state/local/national campgrounds. But our ultimate goal is wild camping, which is camping in the middle of nowhere on public land, hopefully with no other campers in sight. Large class A motorhomes do not excel at wild camping off rough forest service roads, and are typically disallowed at smaller, public campgrounds due to length restrictions.
We’ve noticed a trend in the past few years of RVing: RV parks are filling up sooner and sooner for the high season, especially when a 45’ Class A requires the largest spaces in the park, of which there may not be many. We’re now in the habit of making reservations 6-12 months in advance, a habit we don’t enjoy. In addition, the larger parks are typically not near the destinations we wish to explore, such as national parks and monuments, state parks, and wilderness areas, necessitating multi-hour drives in the Jeep day after day. A desire to camp closer to our fun places is what drove us to make a change.
And what a change it is. We just ordered a 2023 Storyteller Overland Beast Mode van. A 2023 you may ask? Well, there is a 1 year wait list for the privilege to purchase a $200,000 van. If that isn’t indicative of a coming bust in the RV market I don’t know what is. In any case, we think (hope!) it will be a better solution.
Storyteller Overland Beast Mode 4×4 Van
Before I get into the pros and cons, I should point out a hopefully smart move we already made: we rented the exact van we’re buying for 3 days/nights and put it through its paces. The theory being 3 days is sufficient time to extrapolate usability/happiness for a longer trip. I can confidently say we enjoyed the van very much for 3 days. Beyond that I guess we’ll find out in a year.
The main pro of this van, which is also the main con, is its diminutive size (well, in comparison to other RVs). At only 20’ in length, it’s slightly shorter than a F150 crew cab pickup truck. And that means we can park in a normal parking space. Forgive me for emphasizing this point in more detail, for it’s a massive change in thinking for us. For the first time in our RV lives (which spans 10 years), we will be RVing with a single vehicle. In any motorhome that is flat towing a second vehicle behind it, you can never back up. And I don’t mean ability-wise. I mean you can’t back up at all or you risk serious damage to the vehicle being flat towed. We always plan an exit route before getting into any parking situation. With a van, just park like any other vehicle and back out when you’re done.
During our rental, we enjoyed an outdoor lunch at a trailhead after our morning hike
Alright, so it’s easy to park. And being a lifted 4×4 van with oversize, all terrain tires, it’s also capable enough to drive to many, if not most, places any vehicle is allowed to camp, be that deep in the woods of Oregon, amidst the mountains of Colorado, up the Dalton Highway in Alaska, or down long, sandy tracks in Arizona…all in the middle of nowhere. See where I’m going? We skip RV parks for camping in the wild, near hiking trailheads and other places we enjoy recreating. That means no reservations required and far less driving to/from destinations every day.
This brand van has a massive Volta lithium-ion battery pack (12 kWh usable, 13.5 kWh nominal) accompanied with a 3200W inverter, meaning we can run the AC, induction stove and microwave at the same time. The battery pack is mainly charged via a large alternator, charging about 1% per minute while driving. No shore power or generator required.
It has a built in air compressor, and a good one at that: the ARB twin air compressor. Two air chucks, one near the rear hitch and one in the front bumper, make for easy work of inflating tires, which will be frequently used given our penchant for driving down sandy, muddy or snowy roads.
The van also has a large suite of KC off road lights, both for driving and for parking (has 2 bright LEDs illuminating each side and 2 for the rear, in addition to 12 LEDs for the front). That’s 18 LED lights, which might seem like overkill until you try to drive or park your rig in the dark on non-level terrain, with rocks, stumps, or even drop-offs in any direction. You can never have enough illumination.
One thing the van doesn’t have is a toilet, which I touched on in the rental post. Although I suspect this is less of con than the overall lack of space for two people to stretch out, which is why we’ll likely carry a mesh pop up tent (the CLAM tent is popular with RVers) for days when the mosquitoes rule. Luckily there is a surprising amount of storage space, both inside and outside (on the roof rack and attached to the rear door). We plan to take the above tent, a couple of folding chairs, a propane fire pit, 20 pound propane tank, a toilet privacy tent, and two fat tire e-bikes, in addition to the normal clothes, food and hygiene products.
The estimated delivery is Feb-Mar of 2023. Until then we’ll continue enjoying our Class A with reservations already made 9 months out. The biggest question left to decide is whether or not we sell our Class A or split time between the two.
