The Cars

As befitting my impending retirement, and Senior Citizen status, Winnie and I knew we wanted to do a lot of traveling. We’d already tried tent camping a couple of times and knew we were not cut out for life in a tent, even temporary. So, we spent nearly two years looking at RVs and camping trailers as retirement loomed ever closer in my sights. After lots of discussions, lots of looking and talking with salespeople, we decided what we really wanted was a small Class “B” (van-chassis) RV. This RV matched what we wanted. I’m hoping we have many years of RVing retirement life.

Winnie showing off our new toy. Photo taken the second weekend we owned our RV, at Leesylvania State Park, nearby our home. We combined our photo session with an RV picnic, followed by a short cold weather hike.

This side of the van has connections for shore power (30 amps), two water connections (one to fill the tank, one to provide water directly into the system and bypassing the tank), cable TV, and a connector for external solar panel. The propane bottle is also located under the chassis, with a fill connection and isolation switch.

Now I had to appear in photos next to our new toy.

The other side of the RV, showing side loading door and awning.

Interior shot, looking forward. The seats are soft leather and very comfortable. With the van layout the seats are positioned pretty high above the road, and with the wide windshield give excellent road viewing. No center console so as there is enough room to stand up and walk into the back of the van.

Interior shot looking back from between the front seats. For a small van, the builders packed in a lot of creature comforts. The two rear seats both have lap seat belts, so we can take two passengers with us. A nice feature, one that Winnie particularly wanted. We quickly discovered that being able to take two passengers was very nice indeed, when we went on day trips.

The dining table comes down and gets stored in an overhead bin above the front seats. Due to the floor stand design, it needs to be taken down while driving, as constant vibrations could damage the floor socket. The left side seat has a slide-out that connects to the right side, creating a base for cushions. This creates an adequate bed, just right for the two of us. Larger people would probably not be comfortable sleeping.

Showing the left interior with kitchen unit (sink, 2-burner gas stove, microwave, refrigerator, and drawers), along with overhead storage bins. The propane hot water heater is located under the seat. The unit does include a propane and CO monitor, something I was especially interested in. There’s also a smoke detector in the overhead a little further back.

The full wet bath all the way at the back. Includes a cassette toilet (the waste tank slides out the back for dumping), drop-down sink, and shower. There’s a shower curtain on overhead track that encloses the shower are when used. The bath can be closed from the van interior with double sliding doors. The RV also came with blackout curtains to cover the rear windows for added privacy.

And the storage “closet” on the opposite side of the shower and toilet. From the rear, under the drawers, there’s a storage space for the RV’s shore power cable, potable water hose, and miscellaneous necessary hardware.

The Brochure floorplan for the 18G layout. Alternate floorplans have the wet bath immediately behind the driver’s seat. This moves the kitchen unit on the opposite side partially blocking the side entrance. We didn’t care for this layout as the interior feels too crowded, with a very narrow path between the kitchen and wet bath.

The Thor brochure is a simple two-page production. Page one shows the three available floor layout options.

Page two shows the various features available. There’s a handy link on the bottom right-hand corner going to the Thor website for this RV model.

Thor Scope B Vans – Thor Motor Coach