To buy a Class B or not to buy a Class B? That is a question many RVers have probably considered at some point. After all, #vanlife literally has its own hashtag and a sea of influencers that make it look pretty epic. However, despite the many appeals of a Class B van, they do have their drawbacks. Kerri Cox of Travels with Birdy is here to tell us all about taking the leap from a 30-foot travel trailer to a Winnebago Travato—and all of the decision making that went into the process. What are the pros and cons of buying a Class B? What else do you need to know before buying a Class B? What’s it like to transition from a family travel trailer to a Class B van? Read on to find out in this guest post.

This is a guest post from Kerri Cox. To listen to Jeremy interview Kerri click on the media player above or subscribe to The RV Atlas wherever you get your shows.

This spring, I fell in love with a van and bought one on a bit of a whim. I have joked that this was a mid-life crisis…and it could be! Can I blame it on turning 50 soon? However, there were a lot of real factors that led my husband and I to make the switch from our travel trailer to a Class B van sooner rather than later. I have two years left until I retire from public teaching, and we had 100% planned to keep our travel trailer until then. Then, we planned to decide what RV would be best for the huge trips we plan to take. But, sometimes, life takes you on a detour.

Here’s what made us consider #vanlife now:

So, even though I am a pretty practical person about almost everything in life, I decided to go a little wild and get the Class B!

Even though I have long thought Class B vans were pretty cute, there were many reasons I thought I wouldn’t buy one, including:

Despite all of those reasons not to buy a Class B, we decided to take the plunge, anyway! And, I don’t think it was totally crazy. Here are the pros of buying a Class B:

We saved a lot of money by buying a used RV from a private seller, but the process was a lot more complicated. Here’s what you need to know:

But, if you are determined, do your due diligence, and research everything you can, it can be done!

This is a guest post from Kerri Cox. To hear more about Kerri’s experience with buying a Class B, click on the media player above or subscribe to The RV Atlas wherever you get your shows.

After considering all of the pros, cons, and special considerations, are we happy with our decision to buy a Class B? YES, absolutely!

Here’s what we love about the 2022 Winnebago Travato 59K:

There have been a few drawbacks. We did need to order a whole new awning and are nervous about a weird Travato quirk where the awning deploys itself, even while driving (fingers crossed for this problem to skip us!). And, we still have a lot to learn in order to operate all of the systems. Even though we have a decade of RV experience, this van has a lot of things that are totally new to us.

Have I convinced myself you that this was a reasonable purchase? Even though it was a bit of a whim, we didn’t take the decision lightly. And, while there was a lot involved in both the sale and the transition, it has all been worthwhile! The Travato 59K seems to be the perfect rig for this stage of our life, and we are excited to get out on a long road trip. We just need to add a bird sticker to make Birdy 3.0 official!

If you are thinking about buying a Class B, I hope sharing my experiences has been helpful. Feel free to reach out if you have questions, you can find me on Instagram and Facebook as Travels with Birdy or in the RV Atlas Facebook group!

The post Downsizing from a Family RV to a Winnebago Class B with Kerri Cox from Travels with Birdy appeared first on The RV Atlas.