- 1 hour ago
Chris and Kathy give a detailed tour of their Coachmen Crossfit Beyond Ford Transit campervan after six months on the road, showing how this compact Class B motorhome works for real van life. Parked at a New Jersey state park, the rig is packed with practical upgrades, from the electric awning and solar panel to the rear storage pod, generator, and easy-access service connections.
Inside, they walk through the kitchen, pantry, dinette, swivel TV, compressor refrigerator, bathroom, and twin-bed sleeping setup, explaining the propane, water, battery, and heating systems along the way. The couple also shares how they adapted the van for travel with a small dog, extra storage, privacy curtains, and magnetic organizers, making the space feel usable for long trips and everyday camping.
Their conversation also touches on why a smaller campervan is easier to drive, park, and use for national parks, weekend getaways, and extended RV travel. It is a practical van tour for anyone researching the Coachmen Beyond, Ford Transit campervan, Class B motorhome, or full-time and part-time RV living.
Created for viewers searching for van life tours, campervan walkthroughs, Class B RV reviews, Ford Transit motorhome layouts, and Coachmen Crossfit Beyond walkthroughs. Ideal for RV shoppers, travel lovers, and anyone interested in practical campervan storage, off-grid basics, and real-world motorhome living.
Inside, they walk through the kitchen, pantry, dinette, swivel TV, compressor refrigerator, bathroom, and twin-bed sleeping setup, explaining the propane, water, battery, and heating systems along the way. The couple also shares how they adapted the van for travel with a small dog, extra storage, privacy curtains, and magnetic organizers, making the space feel usable for long trips and everyday camping.
Their conversation also touches on why a smaller campervan is easier to drive, park, and use for national parks, weekend getaways, and extended RV travel. It is a practical van tour for anyone researching the Coachmen Beyond, Ford Transit campervan, Class B motorhome, or full-time and part-time RV living.
Created for viewers searching for van life tours, campervan walkthroughs, Class B RV reviews, Ford Transit motorhome layouts, and Coachmen Crossfit Beyond walkthroughs. Ideal for RV shoppers, travel lovers, and anyone interested in practical campervan storage, off-grid basics, and real-world motorhome living.
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TravelTranscript
00:00Hello, this is Patrick with New Jersey's Outdoor Adventures YouTube channel.
00:04I'm here in Lair State Park, New Jersey, camping out in my Airstream van,
00:08and I bumped into some folks here, and they have a really awesome rig.
00:13They're going to tell us about it and give us a tour.
00:16This is Chris and Kathy.
00:18Hello, welcome to New Jersey Outdoors.
00:22Tell us a little bit about your van and what it is and how you're using it.
00:27Okay, it's a 2018 Coachman CrossFit, which now has a new name,
00:36and it's called Coachman Beyond, for purposes I'm not at liberty to say.
00:40But now it's called Beyond.
00:42This is a 21-foot-long, 21-foot-6-inches, so it's really 22 feet, they call it.
00:49Class B motorhome, dual wheels, and a five-cylinder gas engine.
00:56Eagle boost.
00:57Eagle boost with a turbo charge.
01:02Okay, we have our awning here, which is an electric awning.
01:07It's made by Carefree, and it has a LED lighting on it.
01:13It also has a wind sensor, so if the wind gets too high, it automatically closes.
01:19And it's really a great awning, it's really super easy to put up.
01:25There's no down pegs to it, you just let it come out.
01:29And it's pitched enough so no rain catches on it.
01:34And I'm just going to close the door here.
01:37This is a sliding door.
01:39This is all tinted windows.
01:42Any of these windows open?
01:44They all open, yeah.
01:46Oh, I can show you how this opens.
01:56Well, that's a force.
01:58It really is enough.
01:59When you get the exhaust fan going, it really is enough to cool down the inside of the van.
02:05Especially, you're in a nice shaded area here.
02:08Not too much shade, so if you had solar like I do on my van, you're going to get enough
02:13light.
02:14That's just it.
02:14That's why we parked here, because we do.
02:16We have a solar panel on the roof.
02:18All right.
02:19This is two coach batteries and one engine battery.
02:23All right.
02:26They said it had dual wheels.
02:28Then we have the storage pod that we purchased in the back, which is slidable.
02:36This slides forward right now.
02:37I have it locked, but I can unlock it and show you how it slides forward.
02:41It holds 500 pounds of weight.
02:44We have a mobility scooter in there and a table, chairs, a grill that we cook on.
02:54Really very simple to operate, balanced.
03:01It's made by Arrow.
03:06And as you can see, I just have to pull it back.
03:14And then unplug the power.
03:18Now the doors.
03:19Oh, this is still locked.
03:21I apologize.
03:26And the doors now are clear.
03:31And it's green.
03:35And if I want, I apologize for falling a bit.
03:38That's right.
03:39That's van life.
03:40Put the stuff where it fits.
03:42Wherever it fits.
03:52And then this has a screen.
03:54It pulls down.
03:56All right.
03:56Now, obviously, our bedding is in the way right now.
03:58But you just move that out of the way, and then you can leave the doors wide open.
04:02And this Ford has the option of going all the way back on both sides.
04:07Now, look at that.
04:08They have little storage storage up there.
04:12I have a little electrical connection there right now for my backup camera because unfortunately
04:18with Ford, the camera's down low.
04:20And with the part in the way, we don't see anything.
04:23But the new ones have rectified that.
04:37We'll just have to push this back.
04:42Go ahead.
04:42Go around to the side.
04:43Don't worry about this now.
04:44It's a little heavy because we've got a lot of stuff in it.
04:48And then I'll just lock it up here.
05:00We have our water connections for fresh water, city water, black water, black tank flush.
05:08And then for your outside cable for satellite or for hookup at a campground.
05:14Now, just in case our viewers don't understand the difference,
05:18the difference between city water and fresh water.
05:21Well, city water is you just hook up a hose to a campground.
05:25And fresh water is you fill your holding tank inside,
05:29which is a 30-gallon fresh water holding tank.
05:31And that carries your water with you down the road.
05:37We have, this is the gas for propane hookup is behind here.
05:41I'd show you, but it takes forever to get that screw out of here.
05:44So, this has a tank built in permanently.
05:47Yes, I have a 60-pound cylinder, which holds about 12 pounds of propane.
05:53Okay, and that's all hooked right up there.
05:56There's a safety switch.
05:57You can turn it off.
05:58When you get it filled, after you're done filling, you just turn it back on, and you're good to go.
06:04This is the electrical connection here.
06:05We have a special cable in the storage bin that snaps in there.
06:09And just plug your 30-amp cable in.
06:11You're ready to go.
06:12Now, I notice this campground, there's no electric.
06:15There's no electric.
06:16How are you operating stuff?
06:17We are on batteries right now.
06:21You can't see it here, but there's two batteries under there, one on each side.
06:27They're actually up in here.
06:29All right, that's the battery right there.
06:31And on the other side is another battery.
06:33They're AGM batteries, dry cell, so you don't have to worry about putting water in them.
06:40I noticed underneath there, and I see a tailpipe there.
06:43Well, this is a generator.
06:44Okay.
06:45We have an Owing Cummings engine, and it's a 4KW generator.
06:57Takes care of everything in the unit.
06:59The only problem that you have is that you can only operate the air conditioner without the microwave.
07:05If you need the microwave, you've got to shut the air conditioner off.
07:07Because it just won't hold both.
07:08It's just one or the other.
07:09It holds the generator.
07:11It holds everything perfectly good as far as the air conditioning goes.
07:15And as far as the microwave goes, no problem.
07:18No breaker blowing.
07:20This is the Truma hot water furnace.
07:25Combination of both.
07:26It's underneath the bed inside, and it keeps this rig perfectly warm.
07:31And is that propane only, or is it also electric?
07:34No, it's propane only.
07:35Okay.
07:35All right.
07:36But you need 12 volts to operate the fan.
07:38Okay.
07:38And again, everything is there.
07:39This is an outside spray with a quick disconnect.
07:43Cold water only.
07:45It has to be on with the pump inside.
07:48It doesn't come, doesn't work if you're under city water.
07:52All right.
07:52Here's our sewer connection, which Coachman is changing.
07:56They're making a cutout here on the new models, so you can just get in there directly.
08:01I put a 45 on this because it was really hard to get in there and make the connection.
08:06So now, it's very simple with the 45, and I'm not much lower than the original spot itself.
08:12We can see here the handles that that operates the discharges.
08:15Yes, that's the gray waters on the left, and the black waters on the right.
08:20You can tell the difference because of the size of the handles.
08:23Now, what we're looking at here, folks, is the propane tank that's permanently built in.
08:29And we have, this is the gas tank, and believe it or not, it's simple enough to hook up.
08:37Because what you do, you open your door, you open that up.
08:41There is no cap, so you just put your thing in there, you fill your gas, and when you're done,
08:46you close that, and you close your door.
08:47And this is gasoline for the engine and generator?
08:50One tank?
08:51Yes, one tank.
08:51Okay.
08:52All right, and it's about, if I'm not mistaken, it's 22 gallons of fuel.
08:56I've never gone that low.
08:57The most I've ever had to put in is 18 gallons.
09:00What is this thing here?
09:03These are aftermarket items that we purchased, and it's a grill so you can keep your windows closed but have
09:12them open.
09:13So now you have a vent there that allows you to get fresh air to come in, even if you're
09:18going down the road.
09:19And no bugs can get in because of the screen.
09:21The window goes up inside this channel right here, so nobody can try to take it out and get into
09:26your vehicle.
09:32This is the Ford chassis, one ton, and ergonomically designed.
09:39We get between 15 to 19 miles per gallon, depending on how you're driving.
09:46But Ford says that your average is about 15 miles to a gallon.
09:57We have also, which we didn't point out before, is a screen door that comes and closes, and therefore you
10:05can leave your sliding door open,
10:07and yet you still have plenty of air coming into the coach without any bugs getting in.
10:11That's just a grab handle there?
10:13Grab handle here.
10:15The newer models, I understand, are putting one on each side.
10:18After I've marked it, if you wanted, you can put one in here to grab, and we very may well
10:23do that as we get older.
10:25All right.
10:26Okay.
10:28Now who's this over here?
10:29This is our little dog, Nina.
10:31We have a little fold-up carrying case that fits in right behind the seat just to carry her.
10:37Obviously, if you have a bigger dog, you're going to have more of a problem.
10:41But that's just, and we have a storage basket above it for extra stuff for dog food and her treats
10:48and stuff like that.
10:50Well, look at this.
10:50This is a wardrobe behind the driver's chair.
10:53This is an aftermarket.
10:54This is an aftermarket, which we did.
10:56We made a shelf so we could hang clothing on here because this particular model did not have any clothing
11:03racks available, closets.
11:06Okay.
11:07We do have extra storage up here.
11:10Which is a mess.
11:11Which, when you're on the road, you've got to have every inch.
11:14This is normal, folks.
11:16This is how it goes.
11:17It's different than what you would normally do in your house because you're on the road.
11:22And tell us a little bit about that.
11:23How long have you been on here?
11:25We've been on the road this month.
11:27Almost six months.
11:27We started out in March and now here we are in September and we'll be home in the beginning of
11:33October.
11:33So, this is also something else we added.
11:36It's just an adjustable curtain rod and my wife made up this curtain.
11:42So, it's a privacy curtain.
11:43So, if you're stopped for the night, all you have to do is just draw this in.
11:48She made it out of an actual, you know, thermal curtain.
11:52I just had to shorten it.
11:54And the reason we made it thermal is because in the summertime, the heat comes through the front windshield and
11:59this blocks it from coming into the rest of the coach.
12:02And when it's cold, it prevents the heat from going into the driver's section, which you're not using.
12:08You know, when I drive my van in the winter, I put my curtain across just like this because I
12:13have the front area nice and warm when I'm driving.
12:16And when I hit the brakes, that cold rush of air puts the back of your neck.
12:20And that prevents it.
12:22Yep.
12:23Then we have our, this is our service panel.
12:27It tells you, you know, how you're doing with your gray water, your black water, your propane, your fresh water,
12:34and your batteries.
12:36All right.
12:37So, this is the thermo heater.
12:41You can set the temperature, whatever you want.
12:44Off, up, down.
12:45Then other options.
12:47This is, uh, that's a hot water.
12:49Uh, I just reset it.
12:51I'm sorry.
12:52Let me change this.
12:54Now I go to the hot water.
12:56All right.
12:57It's set on hot.
12:58So, it's just hot water for domestic hot water.
13:01Domestic hot water.
13:01Not like baseboard heat.
13:03No.
13:04Then we have the, this is whether I'm on gas.
13:09I can be on, not only gas, I can change it to a mixture of gas and electric.
13:14I can go to mix two, which makes it a little bit more harder.
13:17And it's electric one and electric two.
13:19Now, it's running strictly off your battery.
13:21But we like to leave it on propane so that we don't have to worry about that.
13:26So, if you were plugged in at a campground using their electricity, you'd essentially save
13:30on your propane and use an electric?
13:33Okay.
13:34And again, other options, this is the fan, whether it's on high or low, that's for the heat.
13:38So, you could be high or econo, right?
13:40We leave it on high, okay?
13:43And then there's, this is the automatic shutoff.
13:48You could set a timer.
13:49So, if you want the heat to come on at nine o'clock at night and go off at 11
13:52o'clock at
13:53night, you can do that as well.
13:54Right now, we have that off.
13:56And then we have the clock, which adjusts the time, a.m., p.m., right?
14:02And then we have the other option here, is it on 12 hours or 24 hours?
14:08We leave it on 12.
14:10All right?
14:12Okay, that'll switch off.
14:14We have a generator here.
14:16This is the generator starter.
14:17You just push down here, and when the light comes on, that means it's primed, it's ready
14:23to start.
14:24You just hit the start button, and the generator will start.
14:29Right now, we haven't started in a while, so we won't mess with that right now, all right?
14:32And that's an hour meter?
14:34Yes, that's the number of hours that the generator has been on, okay?
14:37This is the solar panel, and it tells you how many volts you're using on battery one.
14:42It tells you the amperage, all right?
14:45Right now, we're 1.8 amps.
14:47We're drawing off battery number one.
14:48This is how charged up it is, okay?
14:51Then we're at 34%, so obviously now we're over to battery two.
14:55Battery two is 11.7 volts.
14:57That's down a little bit.
14:58But we've been running two days now just on the batteries.
15:01How would you charge them if you didn't have the sun?
15:03Does the engine, when you start the engine, the water?
15:06When the engine is running and you're going down the road, it charges all the batteries,
15:09all right?
15:10When you're parked at the campground, you can either plug in, and that charges your batteries,
15:14or we have the solar, or you can start the generator, and the generator will charge
15:18the batteries.
15:21If you're sitting for a continual amount of time, sometimes running the generator just
15:25an hour a day, a half an hour at night, and a half an hour in the morning is enough
15:28to
15:29completely recharge the whole system.
15:31Okay.
15:33These are your lights, and they're all LED lights.
15:36You can see this is the kitchen light.
15:40This is the main area, so we'll leave those on.
15:44So you can see this is a porch light, which is right here.
15:47You can see that.
15:48Then we have the awning lights.
15:49The lights are on.
15:50Then we have a ground cover light, which lights up a blue light underneath, which is very nice
15:55at night.
15:55In a place like this, where it's really dark.
15:58Right.
15:58So, and this is all lights.
16:00I took this.
16:00All the lights go out.
16:01So this is a different type of switching system than some of our viewers might be.
16:06This looks like multiplex.
16:08Yes.
16:08Yes.
16:09And again, all the lights now come back on.
16:11You can turn them all off individually as you're going along.
16:16That's right.
16:16Now we'll leave these lights on so you can see.
16:19We've made a couple of option changes here.
16:21This was all set up just as it was, and we put, went to, I can't wait.
16:25And we bought a magnet that attaches to the back here, and then we have the chili powder
16:31in this one, and each of our spices there, and this is magnetic.
16:35So it sticks right there going down the road.
16:37It stays in place.
16:39We also did the same thing for our knives, our kitchen knives, and these are all set up
16:45so that we don't have to worry about putting them in drawers.
16:47All the drawers are magnetic, and they're soft close.
16:51So when you push them close, they automatically go by themselves.
16:55And this one is nice because it's really deep, and I keep my coffee pot and water
17:00and sometimes a bottle of wine and that kind.
17:03It came with a trash can.
17:06I ditched the trash can, and I just use baggies.
17:09It's just easier, and we toss them out as we go.
17:12We don't have large amounts of trash, and then we can just toss them into, you know,
17:16like garbage cans anywhere, you know.
17:19One of the options that we do do with the bags that we get from any supermarket you get them
17:24from, we just take them and fold them and fold them like a flag, and then they're nice
17:28and storageable.
17:30Just put them right in there.
17:31This is our two-burner stove, all right, which is gas with the electronic ignition.
17:37So you push your gas on, and then...
17:41No, you have to hold it.
17:42Oh, there you go.
17:44Now we're going.
17:46Once it's lit, you let it go, and you make your adjustment on how high you want it
17:49or how low you want it.
17:51And then I notice there's no cooktop ventilation.
17:54You use the fan.
17:54We use the fan.
17:55Yes, you have a fan upside.
17:56Now they do have a piece of glass here to prevent the heat from going up
17:59and getting this surface too hot.
18:01So this is our sink.
18:03And then we have the sink.
18:04We store our fruit in it when we're moving.
18:07That's a good idea.
18:08The sink pops up, and it just turns on, turns off.
18:11One thing you do have to remember is it has to be in the hot water position.
18:15Otherwise, when you close it down, you close the lid, it turns the water on.
18:18And if you had your water pump on, I guess you would just continually run.
18:22Yes, and we had that problem one time.
18:25And we filled our gray water tank real quick.
18:28Yeah.
18:28We have also a little dish area here to put your sponge and your dish detergent in.
18:34Again, nice, soft close.
18:36Now the bedding area in the back, it comes pretty much like you see it.
18:40It comes with twin beds.
18:41It also comes with a convertible couch.
18:44But this was the only option that we had.
18:46I set the table up this morning because I wanted a place to sit and have coffee.
18:51But normally, I can show you, I can drop the table, and you might have to do this, Chris, because
19:03I'm not strong enough.
19:06There you go.
19:07Getting old sucks.
19:09And then this goes like this.
19:15And this goes like this.
19:17We keep extra blankets under the pillows.
19:20And then that gives us almost a full clean bedding, yet because we're almost 70, we need to be able
19:27to get up in the middle of the night so we can roll out of this much easier than we
19:31can if it came all the way out to the end.
19:33And a lot of people that are in our Facebook group have copied this because they think it just works
19:40for them much better.
19:41This was just 5-inch foam, and it just goes in a pillowcase.
19:46It's not a big deal.
19:46I got it in Joann's, I think.
19:48And that's a great tip, folks.
19:49If you're interested in entering this lifestyle and you have a specific product you're interested in, there's also Facebook groups
19:56for that manufacturer's product that you could pop onto and get ideas from other owners.
20:03This is like a little storage pod down there.
20:06It's not very deep.
20:07It's probably about 6 or 8 inches.
20:09It's meant to store the tabletops and the leg, but we use it for just about everything.
20:15We have a tabletop down there, but I store wine when I buy it.
20:19We store a lot of other things under there.
20:21We put our winter boots in there.
20:22Our winter boots are all under there.
20:24And I guess that's the battery charger and breakers and fuses.
20:27Yeah, that's the fuse panel down there, as well as the thermo heat intake.
20:32And we have a carbon monoxide detector.
20:39Here's a swivel television, which we have a release underneath here.
20:45It has a chain that came with it, but the chain popped off.
20:48And I do apologize because I have to reach in there, pull down on it, and it swings out and
20:56adjusts.
20:57And these are TVs that come with the unit.
21:02Some people have swapped it out for one that's a little bit bigger.
21:06That's all obviously an option that you're welcome to explore.
21:11There's storage up here.
21:13There's a VCR player.
21:15We put our stuff, we have medicines we take.
21:17Our underwear goes in plastic bags so we can slip them up there and just take them out and use
21:22them as we need it.
21:23We have, this is a VCR, or I'm sorry, a CD player that comes with the unit also.
21:27And you can use that.
21:30We have, this is the air conditioner, all right, it's a thematic air conditioner, runs off the generator or off
21:40of electric power.
21:41Keeps this unit very, very cool, no problem with it whatsoever.
21:45BTUs are set up properly.
21:47There you have other lighting in here, as well.
21:49So we can put on, there's reading lights that you see there that hang down, that are adjustable.
21:56So if you were sitting up or if you're laying down in bed, you can use the reading lights to
22:00read with also.
22:02I'll turn those on.
22:02We have balance lighting, which is, that's mood lighting, I'm sorry.
22:10It changes the colors.
22:11You can see here, there's blue, white, yellow, all right.
22:16It's just mood lighting that's inside the cabinet, it's inside every cabinet.
22:19So at night, it's very nice for, you know, if you've gone to bed, someone's gone to bed and the
22:24other person hasn't,
22:25you can still see to get up and go where you need to go.
22:28All right, and then we have the porch light out front that shuts off.
22:31Then we have the valance lighting, which is underneath here.
22:35And you just control that with the switch.
22:38Then we have the lights right above us here, called the dining lights.
22:41You can turn them on and turn them off, as well.
22:44And then we have the porch light.
22:46And this, again, all lights.
22:48I hit the switch, all the lights go out in the whole van.
22:50So if you're here at night and you left the light on, oh, I left the light.
22:53You just hit that switch and it turns the lights off.
22:56This is our pantry.
22:59All right, which we designed its baskets in here, so it's much easier.
23:03Instead of having to reach all the way in the back there, we can pull a basket out, get what
23:06we need, push the basket back in.
23:08And just an idea my wife came up with, and cloth baths, and I believe she bought those at the
23:14dollar store.
23:15So it's not anything that's really unnecessary.
23:22This is a convection microwave, which we changed out.
23:25This is made by Dometic.
23:27And the reason we store our bread in there, we're going down the road.
23:31Because, again, space is very, very important.
23:34So this is felt well-vented.
23:36And we have our fan, exhaust fan, which is electric.
23:41What comes from the factory is an electric switch.
23:45You turn it on, it automatically opens it up.
23:47But we preferred, we changed it out because it was strictly exhaust.
23:50Now we have exhaust, or we can draw out air from outside and bring it in to cool the van
23:55down.
23:55And you have a thermostat on it, too.
23:56Yes, it does have a thermostat, and it's a three-speed.
23:59And we have a cover on it.
24:01All right, and we have the rain guard on it, so that if it's raining outside, you can still have
24:05the fan on.
24:06Because some of the new units come with a rain guard sensor on it, and they'll close if it's raining.
24:11And if you're, you know, you're gone, that's nice.
24:13But if you're not gone, and you still want to have fresh air coming in, we put the max guard
24:18on the top.
24:19Okay, we have our Norcool refrigerator.
24:22This is a compressor refrigerator, not a gas exchange.
24:28And the difference is, I guess, not only the way it runs, but what does it take to operate it?
24:34Well, it's a 12-volt system compressor.
24:37It's got a compressor in the back of the unit, so you don't have to worry about the unit being
24:42level.
24:43That's the nice thing about the Norcool is that it is a compressor refrigerator.
24:47We also have a freezer, which is an extremely big freezer.
24:50And we make ice cubes, and we have all our stuff stored in there.
24:53So, it's got plenty, plenty of space.
24:56And we've been on the road, like I say, for six months now.
24:59And we just keep everything we need with us.
25:01And, you know, every week or so we go shopping, put more stuff in it, and move along.
25:06The grill on the bottom here is the air cool for the refrigerator.
25:11It draws air through the bottom and up, and comes out the top up here.
25:14So that you have a constant movement of air around the refrigerator, and it doesn't overheat.
25:19Here is our bathroom and shower.
25:21This is an option that we did change also, because originally it just had a curtain that came across the
25:28front.
25:29So we get an aftermarket item, and now we have a little more room here where the curtain comes out
25:35a little bit further.
25:36All right.
25:38And then you have a little more shoulder room, so you don't feel like you're really closed in.
25:43And aftermarket, again, we got this all through people on YouTube or on the channel that we use for Coachman,
25:51which is called Coachman CrossFit.
25:54And they give us all the advice on modern upgrades.
25:58You have a toilet, which is raised, so this is very important for people as they get older, because a
26:04lot of people are handicapped.
26:05This is a higher toilet, very nice.
26:07You don't have to worry about trying to get up from a low toilet.
26:10What are the capacities?
26:12I know you have a weights tank we saw outside for a gray, black, and you have a freshwater tank.
26:17We have a 30-gallon freshwater tank, which is underneath the one bed on the left here.
26:22And then we have a 12-gallon gray water tank, and we have a 10-gallon black water tank.
26:28So there's no mask grader on them, so you don't have to worry about that.
26:32And we keep our laundry hung up in here.
26:35Other five items that we store where we're going down the road, obviously.
26:39It has a nice mirror.
26:40It has a light inside to switch outside.
26:44And then it comes also with a soap dispenser.
26:47So you get your soap, your shampoo, and your cream rinse, if that's what you want.
26:52You can change them out.
26:54They're very, very simple to take in and out.
26:57Just pop them out, fill them, put them back in.
27:00And away you go.
27:02Again, this was a standard that came with the Coachman.
27:05They have a Mullen faucet.
27:07So you can hold them.
27:09Hang it up here for your shower.
27:10Or just stand and hand shower yourselves, which is what we do.
27:13Our viewers are probably going to ask, the toilet paper is just out like that.
27:19Is that going to get wet when you're showering?
27:20Well, actually what you do when you want to shower is a cover over it.
27:25And then it doesn't get wet.
27:27Excellent.
27:28Right?
27:29And again, we have a rug down here only because this is a fiberglass floor.
27:34And so rather than slip or something in the middle of the night, we have a little rug there.
27:39So when you take a shower, you just take it out.
27:41So, and we'll close this back up.
27:49It has tinted glass in it that comes from the factory this way.
27:52Some people have changed these out and made them into mirrors.
27:55So that's completely preference, whatever you prefer.
27:59There's a couple of brackets here if you wanted to hold magazines.
28:02I put my slippers in here for taking showers.
28:05So they're stored there.
28:06They don't fall out because the netting holds it.
28:11And fire extinguisher is there.
28:12And we do, like I said, we do have the nice sliding screen door to keep the bugs out.
28:24Well, that was an excellent tour.
28:27You don't realize how much space you have in there and where everything could go.
28:32So tell us a little bit about your history with RVs.
28:37Well, this is our seventh rig.
28:39We started out with a pop-up camper when we were first married.
28:43And we went to a small fifth wheel, 17 foot.
28:47And then we went to a leprechaun 26 footer, class C.
28:52Then we went to a class A Southwind, 33 feet, basement model.
28:58From there, we went back to a class B road track.
29:03In 2000.
29:04In 2000.
29:05We bought it new.
29:06New.
29:06And we had that for 15 years.
29:10And then we decided to go full-time.
29:11So we purchased a 40 foot Wonder Lodge bus.
29:15We lost our mind.
29:17And we had to tow a car behind it.
29:19And we had everything that we owned was inside that bus.
29:22And we just decided with the fuel economy that the bus got that it wasn't practical for us.
29:28So what we basically did is we settled in Florida for six months out of the year.
29:33We live in a park model in an RV park.
29:35And then we bought the Coachman so that we could travel the other six months out of the year.
29:41So we're out six months a year, and we're in Florida six months a year.
29:44But sometimes we go home, and then there's something we want to do.
29:48So this is easy enough to pull up in front of the mobile and just pack it up for a
29:52quick weekend
29:53or go to a bluegrass festival.
29:55Or it's not like you have, you know, because I don't totally ever totally unpack it.
29:59So I take the food out of it.
30:01I clean it.
30:02We take some of the clothing out of it that we use.
30:04But basically, it's pretty much ready to rock and roll anytime we want to go someplace.
30:09And the nice thing about the class Bs is that you can go into a shopping center
30:13and not worry about that you're going to have to try to turn around with a big rig
30:17that you're towing a car behind you.
30:19Or, you know, so this just takes a regular parking space.
30:22You know, it fits nice.
30:24It works out well.
30:25You need to go to the grocery store.
30:26You just start it up.
30:27You go to the grocery store.
30:28You come back to your campsite, and you're good to go.
30:31You want to go do touring someplace?
30:32You don't have to worry about towing a car behind you.
30:35You take this to wherever you're going.
30:36We've had it in all the national parks, and it's just so easy to handle.
30:42It's a great handling rig on the road, and you're really economically sound
30:46because you're getting 15 to 19 miles to a gallon, and this is a gas engine.
30:50So we went from a diesel 40-footer to a gasoline 22-footer.
30:56Yeah.
30:57Another thing I'd like to point out for anybody that's looking at this that's my age,
31:00I'm handicapped.
31:01So this is very easy for me to get in and out of because of the grab handle
31:05and the way that the steps are set up.
31:08I have no problem getting in and out of this particular rig.
31:11A lot of them are up and down and, you know, and they're not level.
31:16This is just three steps, and then it's level once you get into the van,
31:19and that's important.
31:21Well, Chris and Kathy, I really appreciate you giving our viewers a tour here today
31:26for New Jersey Outdoors of your beautiful Coachman van,
31:30and I wish you many years of travel success and luck and happiness.
31:36Everybody I've visited so far has a van.
31:38Very happy folks.
31:40Yeah.
31:40Yeah.
31:40It's a way of life, and it's wonderful.
31:43It's really very freeing.
31:44Yeah.
31:45Well, thanks for checking in.
31:46Check out their Facebook group that we mentioned earlier
31:50if you are interested in purchasing one of these vans, or at least in the research.
31:54It's called Coachman CrossFit Slash Beyond.
31:57Excellent.
31:58Well, thank you, and welcome to New Jersey Outdoors, and enjoy your weekend here.