It was our first time in RV. Everytime idea of renting an RV came up, the apprehension of being able to drive a vehicle of that size always ended up dropping the idea. But being stuck at home for many months now and not comfortable with hotel / AirBnB options to stay, finally started to search for - "Shortest possible RV with indoor toilet". That's when came across Stephen Kwan's 2021 Winnebago Solis. As I understand it's a new model offering from Winnebago and Stephen's iss almost brand new. We watched lot of videos on YouTube to know more and more about Solis and to gather the courage to make a decision. Finally, we said okay we are going to give it a try, if we are not able to drive, we will just bring it from Stephen's place to our place, park it, and pretend that we are at a scenic spot hundreds of miles away !! Seasoned RV-ers, feel free to take a pause and ROFL. Other to be first time RV-ers, please continue.Now first the owner - Stephen is one of the nicest guys we ever met. He is very very patient (we had to move both pick up and drop off time a bit, shared how our infant sometimes diasgrees with our plans). He was considerate throught, right from the time we reached out to him and till the time we dropped the RV back at his place.Second, location of RV pickup - Stephen's place is on a quiet lane (minimal traffic, pretty wide with ample parking space on the right). I parked the car right across his place (on the street) and it was super easy to reverse the RV on such spacious and quiet street, it makes a first time RV-er at ease.Third, the RV driving experience - First time RV-ers here comes the best part, I have a midsize SUV that I drive, and within matter of minutes of driving Solis, it felt like I am driving a bit large SUV. It is not wide !! It was just 4 inches wide than my SUV, so felt in total control as I noticed that there is lot of space on both left and right as I maintained my lane. Not even once I felt alarmed if I am driving too close to the lane dividers, it was so stress free to have that feeling while driving on the freeway. Driver visibility on the front is exceptional, you can clearly see the front bumper of Solis at all times. Gear shifting controls very basic, very easy, no complexity.Fourth, RV features and amenities - This Solis can seat 6 people with seat belts, and can sleep 4 - driver and passenger, two seat belts on dinette seats, two seat belts on the rear full bench seat. One of the best part of layout is that dinette area with two seat belt is right behind the drivers seat, so all four of us could communicate at all times, which was very important consideration for us. Some of the other Class B has a seating arrangements at the back, so you can not communicate at all with passengers while driving. Other amenities include - two burner propoane stove, a good size refrigerator, a bathroom with shower and cassette toilet. The only (two) things that we missed were vanity sink inside bathroom and a microwave. So we did a makeshift arrangement with a plastic dish pan (picture shared below) easily available for $5. After using bathroom we will put this plastic dishpan inside sink, wash out hands and then empty the pan inside bathroom, that way we used the kitchenette sink only for kitchen purpose. Now once RV is parked and hooked to electrical, you can use a small portable microwave, it costs approx $60 and there you have microwave option too (reference picture shared below).Fifth, the hook ups - Fairly easy to plug in electrical, fresh water, and gray water outlet. One thing you would want to check is that if it is possible to close the rear doors while fresh water hose is hooked up, we could not find a way to close the door. So we filled the water, and then disconnected the hose, closed the rear doors and used the water until we start to run low. Then we will reconnect the hose again. But we had to do it only once day, and we consumed lot of water onboard both in bathroom as well as kitchen. So was not a problem.Sixth, the cassette toilet - Was super eas to use as well, just a latch there. Pull it, take the cassette toilet reservoir out, dump it in less than 30 seconds, rinse it few times with fresh water, empty it, and put it back. That easy even for a first timer. Remember to push a circular button kind of thing while emptying, make its quick, some air pressure assistance I guess. We used the toilet very very liberally and even then had to empty it only twice a day. So if you are stationary on a site with dump on your RV site itself, then there is no problem at all.Seventh, the Pop-up - So this Pop-up top sleeps two people and is super easy to use, simple locks there. If you are short, may be stand up on the dinette seat to give it little more push, after that it opens on its own. Closing the pop-up was easy as well. A word of caution, during winter time, pop-up area will be little cold, even when it is pretty cozy in the main coach downstairs. Heat runs via propane and we tried to use the heat from vents as well (after putting the RV in ignition), but pop-up area remained cold, so either carry insulated sleeping bags or carry additional blankets as you will definitely need them for people who will sleep there. Remember no cooling from Air Conditioner on this model, only heat. Assembling the provided ladder was quite easy, and it was easy to climb up and get down, no issues there. Area wise pop-up is quite spacious, can easily sleep two adults, have a light and USB ports accessible while in the pop-up area.Finally, where to go as first time RV-er - One of the recommendation we can provide is, look for KOA Campground (Sequim) in Olympic Mountains/Peninsula area. If you will take the scenic route, at max it will take you 3 hours from Seattle to Campground. Just one patch where single lane on each side, otherwise fairly easy route to drive the RV for the first time. Campground is spacious, try your luck to get deluxe sites (Sites 90X ...) .. Deluxe site is very spacious, even parking in reverse was easy with Solis for me, electricty, fresh water, dump (sewage disposal) on site itself, along with a bench and amazing view of snow capped mountains. Propane is also available on the campground iself.To conclude, based on our research - for a first time RV-er, Winnebago Solis is one of the great options that will unlock you from the shackles of hesitation and apprehension of driving an RV. As for us, we now plan to rent from Stephen again very very soon :).Hope our experience helps others who are sitting on the fence, to take the first step and enjoy the RV experience. Good Luck to you first timers, and a BIG thank you to Stephen, Winnebago Solis and KOA Campground near Sequim !! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All !!
3 fotos enviadas por Surya P.