Winnebago ERA – RV Travels in Europe and North America

The Decision to Upgrade

Not an option we considered, but there are a lot of options out there.

When we decided on the early retirement it was done knowing that we would want to do a considerable amount of travel. After our experience with the Sprinter we knew that we enjoyed the flexibility and the pace that came with a small RV. One of Ron’s bucket list items was a Pan American highway trip. Ton tended to favor seeing more of North America. The compromise was to look for a vehicle that could handle travel outside of North America, but start the traveling in North America.

Based on our experience with the ERA and research we set some criteria for our perfect vehicle:

1. Under 24 ft in length, under 11ft in height. We want a vehicle that can be manuevered in urban environments as we do enjoy towns and cities.

2. Diesel engine. Better fuel performance, and outside the US lower cost for fuel in general. Diesels have longer life engines with more capacity to handle loads. The one problem with diesel now is ULSD diesel. Trucks built for the US market have required ULSD since 2007. At this time most of Central and South America do not have ULSD. We spent a great deal of time researching this issue and while there are some people who believe the issues are overstated, I think there will be long term problems running non ULSD diesel in a vehicle with ULSD.

3. No propane. Nearly every blog we read of people traveling overseas with propane appliances involved long technical discussions on how to find adaptors to fill the propane system, fit different kind of cylinders into the vehicle and some interesting tale of how to source propane. We wanted to avoid all of that if at all possible.

4. Minimal or no requirement to plug in. Our ideal vehicle would not require to be plugged in. In many places we were considering to go there would be no electric available,or the electricity would not be compatible with North American standards.

5. Comfortable cabin. The one thing we never tried with the ERA was just sitting and relaxing for a few days in one place. On trips like this we will have to learn to stop for a few days periodically. We needed to find a cabin that would be comfortable enough to do that, without causing an immediate case of “cabin fever”.

6. Capable of handling short periods of freezing temps. We never planned to be caught in below freezing weather, but it happened on a regular basis to us in Oregon (including a Memorial Day Weekend).

7. Rugged Enough. We do not plan to intentionally go 4 wheeling, but we regretted missing out on some dirt roads in Alaska and Oregon that we want to go back and do. Also, if we do head south we will need the capability to handle rough roads.

Vehicles We Considered

Our ERA. The first choice was the ERA. We were familiar with the van, and it had served us well. The Sprinter is used all over the world, and getting work on the van would be easy in most places we would visit. To give it the capability we wanted we would have to make massive changes in the electric system, and we would have to stay with propane. In addition we needed to modify the bed, find a way to cold proof the water system, and modify the exterior to improve the clearance. After a lot of discussion about how serious we were about having the capability to travel outside of the USA on a regular basis we decided to look at other options.

An internet search pointed us at some options that we would look at.

Earthroamer. The first vehicle we researched was the Earthroamer. It met all of our needs except for size, it is a really complete vehicle, but it is quite large. The Earthroamer really set the bar for us, but cost was an issue. New units were pushing up over $300,000. We did watch the used vehicles on their website and there was one that was very intriguing. This vehicle was a 2006 and the price was within our budget, and importantly it had an engine that did not require ULSD. We actually planned to visit Denver to look at this used vehicle, but an unexpectedly large snow storm in February on our trip back to Oregon caused us to skip Denver. By the time we were ready to go back and look, the unit we were interested in was sold.

Global Expeditionary Vehicles. The GXV website had two variations of pickup based RV’s that we researched. Their other vehicles were too large for our tastes. We sent an email to ask some questions about the Turtle model. They responded to our initial email, but never responded to a couple of follow up emails I sent. We studied their websites for ideas, but eliminated them from our options.

Pick Up and Camper Shell. We considered this option, but after looking at them at the Portland RV show, they just did not feel right to us.

Provan Tiger. Looking at some websites we saw mentions of Tiger vehicles. When we checked them on the web we liked the design and size. The price fit our budget. After reading the www.travelin-tortuga.com and www.whiteacorn.com websites, these vehicles had done the trips we were planning on and handled them with a minimum amount of drama. Mark at Provan responded within an hour of my initial email, and patiently to the barrage of emails I sent subsequently. At this point we decided to focus on Provan as our primary option.

Our First Vehicle

Our first adventure vehicle was a Winnebago ERA class B. When we decided to enter into the RV market (Ron got the bug first) we knew we did not want a large “motorhome”, but something that would give us the flexibility to explore out of the way places and bring our own bed. It needed to be large enough to be fully self-contained, but small enough to park downtown in small to medium sized towns. After some research we quickly landed on the Sprinter based class B as meeting our needs. At the time the primary converters of Sprinters available in the Pacific Northwest were Airstream, Pleasureway, Road Trek, and Winnebago. After looking at all of them at a RV show we decided to pursue the Winnebago. At that time they were selling for nearly 30% below the other vans with very similar features, and while they were a little less elegantly put together we liked the layout and the feel of the van.

The Good and The Bad of the ERA

The ERA was a great introduction for us and really met our needs. Like any small vehicle there are necessary compromises. During a little over three years of ownership we put over 40,000 miles on it. This included a trip to Alaska, and two cross country trips.

Things we really liked about the ERA:

1. Fuel Mileage. In general we averaged around 17 mpg despite Ron’s lead foot. The mileage ranged from 15 to 21 mpg depending on conditions. The Sprinter from a fuel economy point of view is nearly unbeatable.

2. Ease of Setup and Tear Down. Once we got our routine down we could fully set up for living within 10 minutes of arrival. Tear down was done in less than 15 minutes. This allowed us to easily use the ERA on a daily basis, even if we were returning to the same spot that night.

Caught in an unexpected snow storm St. Louis February 2013

3. Comfortable to Drive. Initially it was a little twitchy in the wind and was definitely affected by passing 18 wheelers. But after we upgraded the shocks and installed a beefed up rear sway bar, it drove very comfortably.

4. The size was acceptable. We had no trouble maneuvering in towns or in relatively close quarters with the ERA based on the 24 ft. Sprinter. Ton did think that the 21ft. Sprinters conversions we saw were even cooler and more practical. In parking lots we only required two spaces back to back to fit the van in. We were able to parallel park legally in cities and mid-sized towns within a few blocks of the down town core.

Things we wanted to change:

1. Low ground clearance. On the second day we ever used it I caught the running boards on a downed tree branch in Redwood National Park. The running boards on the passenger side were a constant concern not only on rough roads, but when parallel parking in urban areas. The utility area on the drivers side, while less exposed was also at the very bottom of the truck and vulnerable to catching on something.

2. There was effectively no sitting area in the van when the bed was made. You did have the option of swiveling the front seats and using them as “living area”, but that never seemed to work for us.

3. The couch/bed was uncomfortable. We tried several things to improve the comfort of the bed including an air mattress and 3″ memory foam top. They never did the job for us very effectively and by the end we were just sleeping on the couch without anything on top.

4. The ERA did not have an inverter. The other three Sprinter Class B’s we looked at did. At the time of the purchase that seemed ok, but as time went on it became more of a problem for us as we ventured afield. When not hooked up to shore power we had to run the generator to use the microwave or electric kettle. If we had kept the ERA longer we would have added an inverter.

5. The generator on a small vehicle is a noisy beast. Running the generator for all but the shortest of uses was not an option as it was located right below the bed causing a lot of noise and vibration.

Tag: Winnebago ERA

Deciding on a Vehicle

Our Winnebago Era