We bought a campervan! She (of course female) is a 2015 Pleasure-Way Excel based on a Ford Econoline 350 with the 5.4L Triton V8. She has 40k miles on the clock and we found her in Florida baking in the sun at a dealer. Her price was good, the condition decent and I flew out to see a client and on my way check her out and – if she passed – drive her the 750miles home.
She is called Serenity after the “Firefly”-class cargo hauler from the short-lived Sci-Fi Series. Its one of our favorites and the dependable, slightly worn but lovable ship is a perfect namesake for the van that allows us to explore.
Quick note on why we selected this specific van. We knew we wanted a Class B, basically a campervan, not an RV. It had to be 20 feet or less so it fits into State / National Park camp grounds (not RV parks) and basically needs to remain maneuverable without tugboats. At the same time, there is of course the requirement for additional luxury like a flush toilet, proper bed, a TV / DVD player, air conditioning etc. Basically, the higher end Class Bs have all the amenities but remain on a normal cargo can footprint, something that can be driven around towns and smaller country roads without issues. There are a huge number of vans to choose from and they all seem to be based on Ford, Dodge or Mercedes Sprinter chassis with either a dedicated cabin or – far more common – a converted people hauler. Virtually all of them are too tall, the place where we park her has a hard (=structural beams) ceiling of 9’3″. This really limited the model choice but also focused us on the type of van we could get, basically the pre-2015 Ford E350 Econo Line. And those vans were the chassis for a few campervans, namely the Pleasure Way models from Canada.
Now I started looking specifically for this model, 2008 up with a max of 50k miles. A few of them have V10 engines which is nice in mountains but basically means that one has to haul a fuel tender since the fuel tanks are the same size. I could not find any Diesel engines which would have been really nice from the torque perspective (and mileage), with all the amenities, these vans are actually quite heavy. And lastly, the Pleasure Way Excel specifically has a widened cabin, 2-3″ on each side make a huge difference inside and give the van a “fat rump” which of course led to her name.
We test drove one in Maryland but couldn’t agree on a price, it was in pristine condition but quite old already and had a fair number of miles. Then a few months later, one came up in Oregon (V10) and the one in Florida that we finally bought.
Buying a campervan basically combines the worst parts of buying a house with the worst parts of buying a car. One deals with a used-car dealer with all the greasy, fake smiles, friendly chumminess that is so repellent that I’d rather pay sticker price than shake their limp hands. Add to that that a RV is fairly complicated. Its got all the 12 & 120 V electrics, 3 separate water tanks, a full propane system with tanks, lines etc, A/C plus of course the van itself. Yes, I spent 6 hours checking it out and having them repair all sorts of things but in the end didn’t check all the parts that the dealer – quite skillfully hid.
The deal was struck and I took off, basically heading straight north on I95. Driving her was a little daunting, I don’t really drive anything larger than an SUV ever and being in Flordia didn’t help, people seem to not use indicators at all. The radio is complete garbage, the standard Ford “comes with the truck” kind of thing and despite trying I could not get anything other than Christian Rock, Christian Country or Christian Talk shows for the next 600 miles. And of course, she is slower in top speed, acceleration and – crucially – deceleration. The plan was to head North, find a Walmart, eat, sleep and keep going.
That’s pretty much what happened as well and 23h later with 750 miles down I got her home. Where she fit under her roof just about (with 2″ to spare).