Smells/Odors with penthouse top up

[kltk1]

Thanks, 86Scotty. As usual, your advice is great and appreciated. I think everyone is right and, for our purposes, a hardtop is likely a better fit. Ya'll sure made Momma happy. And if Momma's happy.....

I did speak to SMB north a couple of weeks ago and they passed me on to the folks in California on converting an E-350. I then reached out to Cali and they'd have no problem converting a Ford. However, I didn't have an interest in the hard top at the time and should probably reach out to them again.

All that said, taking a look at the Hi-top vs PH thread turned me on to the Safari condo. That's a pretty slick setup with the hard side pop top. Being on the east coast of Canada, it's only a 500 mile drive for us from NJ to their sales office. As a Ford fan, the only downside is that I'd likely have to settle for a GM 3500 with a Duramax diesel. Although, I haven't done as much research on the GM towing/GCWR capabilities , they may have a V8 with similar capabilities to the Duramax. Either the Ford PSD or V10 can be equipped to handle what we're looking to do.

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[BrianW]

The Safari Condos are really nice IMO. If they were more available in the USA I think they would be a major competitor to SMB. The ones I've seen in person are very well designed and finished. I looked into getting one, but they are really hard to find used.

[carringb]

The GM vans can't tow quite as much. Especially now that they dropped the 6.6 diesel for the 2.8 diesel. That combo toes less than a sprinter, and probably closer to the transit when you factor in the curb weight.

The 6.0 gasser is rated for 16,000 combined, which means towing capacity for a built-out camper van will probably be under 8,000 pounds.

[ohpyramids]

Just wanted to say that this is a thread about foul smells, and I'm proud of everyone for making it 1.5 pages deep without a fart joke

[Twoxentrix]

Originally Posted by kltk1

Hi folks, please excuse what may seem an ignorant question. We're motorhome folks new to what life might be like with an SMB. As the SMB we're going to get will be more a travel vehicle as opposed to a camping vehicle. My wife has concerns about spending the night in a Flying J type place in the SMB that, while the PH top is up, she's going to get a lot of diesel fuel smells and other unpleasant odors in the van. Is there any validity to that? My contention is that with the windows zippered in you'd be isolated from that type of stuff.

Also, if there's a thread on this somewhere that would be helpful. A search didn't produce much.

Have not experienced any issues concerning "smells"...However, We're located in Annapolis Maryland (looks to be about 2.5hrs south of you) and If you have not had the opportunity to physically explore a Sportsmobile, I would be happy to extend such an invitation.

My wife had a list of "must haves" when we began our search, and was not impressed with the Sportsmobile because the majority weren't equipped with indoor showers, and she had concerns with the height of the Van. She wouldn't trade it for anything now!

There is compromise in all considerations, but there is simply something special about a Sportsmobile = advise you get into one if you haven't already.

[kltk1]

Thank you, Twoxentrix. That's a very generous offer. We're familiar with the Sportsmobile as we had one on order many years ago but had to back out. Looks like this time it will be a hard top RB50 unless the Safari Condo is a phenomenal benefit over the SMB.

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