Looking for a Climbing Van

We decided we wanted a climbing van which we both could live out of on long trips so we started doing research on what we wanted and polling friends and family. On the spring breaks I lead in college I had drive 15 passenger vans and had found them to have good clearance and while big were not too large to manage. Suggestions
-Truck with camper shell; we concluded it was too small for two people to live out of
-Truck with camper; larger and good clearance but we liked the idea of the living area being connected with the cab.
-Euro VW Van; perfect for one person but a small for two
-15 passenger van/Extended Cargo Van - Size is good but would have to do conversion ourself, thought low roof would feel cramped all the time.
-Sportsmobile with Penthouse top - We liked these a lot but were not finding them in our price range.
-Used Cargo Van with Penthouse top- Sportsmobile will install the penthouse top on a van for $5,500. This seemed like a good option.
-Roadtrek - High top 6'1" standing roof, an inch short for me, has a stove, fridge, storage, bed in the back.
Class B RV - Roadtrek and Sportsmobile are both class B RV and there are some other brands but we found these two had the best lines for us.