Personally, I wouldn't want to try it. I think all my patience supply ran out from raising two boys.
However, I do occasionally take my grandson along (he's 5) It is a tight fit in the PW, but doable. We leave the beds in the twin bed arrangement and he sleeps on the floor between them and feels quite secure there. While we're driving I use 4 large moving straps to strap his car seat down to the frame of the beds in the back. (our PW does not have the sofa with seatbelts) I doubt that this is legal and if we ever get stopped I'm probably in for a big ticket. However, it does hold his seat quite securely. During the night the seat goes onto one of the cab seats.
With 2 little ones you're really in for a squeeze. If you're all stuck inside in bad weather, it will be tough. Take a look at the Winnebago View. It's built on a Sprinter chassis, so it gets somewhat better fuel economy than most "B+" units and runs on diesel fuel which thankfully, is cheaper than regular gas right now. However, it's much roomier and does have extra seats, beds and seat belts.
Julie
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A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. ~ Lao Tzu
Our Great West Van Classic Supreme was the longest B at the NC rally, I believe, but Sportsmobile makes a customized 24' long body Mercedes Sprinter now. Still a Van body, but a loooooog one.
Our B pulls a heavy bass boat so I would think a B could pull a pop-up.
We sold our 86 Class B in 1988 and went with a 24 ft Class C. Yikes, what a mistake. We lost the ability to keep it in the driveway in a new town, the ability of easily launch the boat and it was just too big. We thought we needed the extra room.
The year our son was five years old we were camped twice in the Class B, and on two different trips he had a stomach virus. Yikes! That was not pleasant.
He was growing and we thought we needed more room. In hindsight we wished we had just purchased a large tent. We could have all slept in it and still had the luxury of using the inside of the B. Then when he got older he could have slept in the tent by himself.
(Little did we know that we would end up going back to tent camping after selling the Class C in 1994 due to financial reasons).
I think the B is very do-able or your family.
Marilyn w/ Joe, 2000 Xplorer Class B van, usually pulling a Ranger bass boat.
Smudge, (in photo) a Shih Tzu/Yorkie Mix and Gizmo is waiting at the Rainbow Bridge
We had Sportsmobile do a slight modification of one of their standard floorplans to accommodate our family of 4.
We took full advantage of Sportsmobile's customization options. I'm a couple of inches taller than my DW, so the bed on my side is a little longer. We narrowed the drivers' side front Gaucho to make room for the bath and fridge/microwave cabinet all on one side so that the passenger's side would have an unobstructed view (no tall cabinets on that side).
None of us are very tall. My children are 15 and 16. When we are set up for sleeping, 3 of the 4 of us have an unobstructed path to the bath. That is the limit for floorspace in sleeping configuration. DD has topped out at 5' 5" and so can sleep comfortably across the front seats on the folding bed platform that SMB offers. DS has just passed me in height, so he now gets the longer bed. There is plenty of space for driving and sleeping. We don't "live" in the RV. Once we get to a destination, we experience the destination, not the inside of the RV.
We wanted a smaller RV (used to have a 24' Class C). We decided to go with a B, but were concerned that it would be marginal with the 4 of us. Since the kids probably won't want to keep coming with us for much longer, we decided to get the RV we want for the 2 of us and "make do" until the kids move out.
As it turned out, this RV works fine for the 4 of us. When the kids move out, we will have an abundance of space.
The dilemma with a B is the more people you haul the more storage you might need (clothes, food, etc.) but people hauling displaces storage. That's an inverse need situation. Then adding things like trailers defeats the most advantageous aspect of the B in being able to go just about anywhere, anytime.
If I had pre-teens I think the Airstream Westfalia would be the most appealing B. It sleeps four and everyone sits up front. It's zoned so that people don't have to get out of the way of each other. The kitchen and bath are generous. There are still some new ones around.
Davydd
2005 Pleasure-Way Plateau Sprinter B Camper Van
Davydd is the Welsh spelling for David with an English twist using a v instead of an f. See Our Pleasure-Way and my pork tenderloin sandwiches
Visited states in an RV
On edit, I meant to put this quote in the current thread.
Here is my take on a class B for 4.
bbennick wrote: We had Sportsmobile do a slight modification of one of their standard floorplans to accommodate our family of 4.
We took full advantage of Sportsmobile's customization options. I'm a couple of inches taller than my DW, so the bed on my side is a little longer. We narrowed the drivers' side front Gaucho to make room for the bath and fridge/microwave cabinet all on one side so that the passenger's side would have an unobstructed view (no tall cabinets on that side).
None of us are very tall. My children are 15 and 16. When we are set up for sleeping, 3 of the 4 of us have an unobstructed path to the bath. That is the limit for floorspace in sleeping configuration. DD has topped out at 5' 5" and so can sleep comfortably across the front seats on the folding bed platform that SMB offers. DS has just passed me in height, so he now gets the longer bed. There is plenty of space for driving and sleeping. We don't "live" in the RV. Once we get to a destination, we experience the destination, not the inside of the RV.
We wanted a smaller RV (used to have a 24' Class C). We decided to go with a B, but were concerned that it would be marginal with the 4 of us. Since the kids probably won't want to keep coming with us for much longer, we decided to get the RV we want for the 2 of us and "make do" until the kids move out.
As it turned out, this RV works fine for the 4 of us. When the kids move out, we will have an abundance of space.
My recommendation is you rent a class B and try it out (hopefully there are places in your area that offer this). Even on a 3-day trip, I think you'll start to see if this will work for you or not - or what things are important to you and not - before you make a big investment.
We did this (rented a unit) and fell in love. After that is was fine-tuning what we liked and didn't like about various interior designs.
Just take your time - you'll see what works for you and not.
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