Top 5 Reasons We Chose Our Airstream Interstate Class B RV for Fulltime RV Living

What's up guys? Welcome to today's video, which is going to be all about the top five reasons on why we chose this particular Class B RV. And speaking of Class B RVs, this is going to spin off a little mini series that we're going to put out in addition to our regular Sunday videos. We're going to do short clips, like five minutes, on various frequently asked questions specific to Class Bs. So if you have a question about a Class B RV, leave it in the comments down below and we'll add it to our list. And we're going to start rifling off videos about those topics. The number one reason we got this Class B RV was for its layout and style. The style on the interior is very unique. It's nice and bright and modern and clean looking. A lot of the Class Bs that we toured through were very dark color scheme. So when we first saw photos of this unit on RV Trader, we were both like, wow, our eyes lit up and it felt bright and right. And another reason is, like I said, the layout. So there's two office spaces in this unit. Up here, I use my front office area and then Aaron offices in the rear. And the fact that the bed goes up and down and is convertible, it makes it so that we can use all of that back space. We knew we definitely did not want a permanent bed because with two people, that does not leave room for working and we need to work full time. Additionally, in the layout, we found this Class B to have the most storage available. So a lot have four seats up front or possibly a third seat where this cabinet is, but instead we have just two seats up front and then the five seats in the back. So that allows us to have a ceiling to floor cabinet here and a ceiling to floor cabinet back here, as well as all of the overhead lockers and storage. So that's definitely something we're not lacking in is interior storage. The kitchen as well is a huge factor for us. This literally has everything that a large motor home does. It's just on a smaller scale. So it has the microwave oven. It has the 12 volt 110 fridge and a decent amount of storage space for a Class B. The next point we're going to talk about is the quality of this Airstream Class B. And that was a huge factor for us because we're living in it full time. So two years later, and this is now six years old, nothing is really rattling or falling apart. As far as like knobs and trim and the construction quality, it's top notch on these. And that was a huge deal. So some of the vans that we looked at, like at the Class B RV shows, you can just kind of feel the difference in quality from one to another. And we just didn't want to deal with a lot of stuff breaking and being a big hassle on the road. So like their cabinets, for example, are like a plywood with a nice laminate over top with the heavy duty hinges. So for these to last and hold up just like brand new after six years, that's great. That's exactly what we were looking for. We're not trying to put down the quality of any other units out there. This was just a very important point for us for full-time RV living. Reason number three is in regards to condition of being new versus used. And when we were looking and shopping, we definitely walked through the entire array of new units that were top of the line budget and really old used units that were bottom of our budget. And for anybody out there that is starting their shopping journey, we highly recommend starting with RV shows. I know that there's not a lot of RV shows running right now, but it's a great way for you to get out there and get a good feel for different makes and models as a starting point. And then you can determine, do you want to buy new or do you want to buy used? And we found that this unit was the sweet spot. When we purchased this unit in 2018, it was four years old. So we got a good value on it. However, the interior had very little wear and tear. It was like new condition and that was awesome. So it's practically brand new feeling without the brand new price tag. Minneapolis is not known for selling RVs. So again, we were limited there, but it did give us a good sense on what used units were like. We walked through some used units that were low and affordable price. However, the inside, it was definitely used beyond what we wanted to live in full time. So again, going back to that comfortability between the new and the used, you really got to find your sweet spot for value and condition. And we found that this unit was exactly that. So after we had started first with the RV shows, second with the inventory in Minneapolis, we then relied heavily on online listings and we shopped online for what we wanted to be our actual purchased unit. Aaron spent a couple of years shopping actually, and we ended up picking out a unit down in Florida that we took a one-way plane to, and then looked at it, did all that there, and drove it back home. Yeah, and part of the reason we felt so comfortable taking a chance on a one-way flight all the way down there was because this was only five years old. It had very low mileage. I think it was 24,000 miles at the time. And you know, based on the pictures, the interior looked like it was hardly ever used. So based on all that, we felt comfortable taking the plunge and going down and looking at it and making sure it was the perfect unit for us. The next reason we chose this van is because of the Sprinter chassis. We shopped both the Promaster and the Sprinter, and I think either one would have been fine, but we really did want the Sprinter for a few main reasons. One was the gross vehicle weight. So the Sprinter one-ton can do around 11,030 pounds gross vehicle weight, and the Promaster one-ton I think is around 9,300, and that turns into the cargo carrying capacity that you can then store on board. And since we were not just using this for a weekend, we really needed that extra weight that the one-ton Dooley Sprinter gave us. Now also, the Sprinter comes in three different lengths, 19, 22, and 24, while the So we felt the 22-foot length was the perfect middle length for us. Also, the engine, we wanted the diesel engine just so that it's smooth and comfortable driving. Yeah, we did test drive a couple different vehicles. We test drove the Coachman Galleria, we test drove the Hymer Active, and let me tell you, just the way it handled and pulled itself was very noticeable. I've never driven a diesel before, so that was my first time, and it definitely had more pep in its step, and that got me excited. And another thing that was fun to discover during the test drive was the comfortability of the bucket seats. The driver's seat, the passenger seat, the ones that we have here on the Sprinter, they had a lot more knobs to adjust for your lumbar and all the support features, the padding, the tilt steering wheel. Yeah, that was a huge deal. You may not even realize that the ProMaster doesn't have a tilt steering wheel. It just goes up and down. It doesn't move forward and backwards, so it's just not as comfortable. So the whole point of RVing is to hit the road, hit the open road, and drive. We knew we would be doing a lot of driving. And then also, that driver's seat is my office seat, so I'm literally sitting there all hours of the day, and I wanted the seat to be comfortable. And I'm really, really glad that we got the Sprinter. The very last point we're going to talk about today is the tank sizes in this Class B. So while shopping, we found a wide variety of different sizes and tanks, and not ever RVing or living in an RV, we really didn't know exactly what sizes were going to work for us, but we know that bigger is better. Yeah, we knew we wanted a large tank space, but we didn't know exactly how the numbers would compute to a day or a week or anything like that. Yeah, for example, that Hymeractive had a cassette toilet, and we knew that that was almost a deal breaker. We would have had to put in a composting toilet because the cassette toilet was just not going to be feasible for us in full-time usage. So our tank sizes are 26 fresh, 27 gray, and 15 gallons black. And while they do make larger tank sizes nowadays on the Class B RVs, back when we were shopping, these were some of the largest tanks that we could find. And after upgrading our electrical system, and also figuring out how to carry extra onboard water, our next biggest thing that holds us back is the black tank size. So we're really happy that we put this into consideration during purchase because it ended up being the Achilles heel of our boondocking. And we are able to stretch it out to like seven days with the two of us. It takes a little bit of work, and it takes some tricks here and there, but we can get out seven days. And if it were any smaller than that, you know, we wouldn't be able to make it more than, I don't know, five. So those are just a couple of our top reasons on why we chose this Class B. We could really talk about this van and Class B's all day long. So that's why we kind of want to do a variety of these videos on very focused type of subjects so that people can find that if they're searching for that exact answer. So once again, leave a comment down below on what you would like to see us do about Class B RV living, and we will definitely put it on the list. We look forward to sharing this mini-series with you, and getting a little bit more engagement with people. And until then, we'll see you next time.