Floor Plan Pet Peeves

I love our driver's door, and wonder why many more coaches don't have them.

More To See wrote:
Dining area on the driver's side. It's so common I wonder whether I'm the only one that hates it.

Yes that is a friend's pet peeve too!

So much so that I also wanted my dining area to the passenger side, so I would be looking out the window at my campground, not the one next door. Having the cooking area on the passenger side is also important!

Less important is having the RR on the drivers side (no window anyway)

I did see a fifth wheel with dual bathrooms, one in the front has full bath, while the one towards the garage area had a small tub, small sink, and toilet. Great - because getting my daughter and her wheelchair up to the forward bath would be really difficult. . .

Fred.

It seems like most designs put the TV to the back of one of the dinette chairs.

We also lament the absence a night stand on one and sometimes both sides of the bed.

I don't get the design of the drawers in the bedroom of many of the 2004-2006 coaches we are looking at. Its usually in a slide so maybe that has something to do with it. You have a set of drawers on the bottom and they are deeper than the two sets on top of them. So the bottom set is almost like a step. The higher drawers as so shallow they are almost useless.

Golden_HVAC wrote:


I also wonder with all these roomy slide outs, why they never seem to put one in the rear wall of the RV?

Actually you can buy a Class A, B, or C with a rear slide. Thor makes the A.
Rear slides are very common on travel trailers.

Our gas class A has the main tv in a perfect location for watching it from the L shaped couch and half the dinette.

We don't have shelves next to the bed but it was our choice - we got a king bed instead of a queen. The queen has shelves. But, I installed a clear acrylic corner shelf (The Container Store) that is perfect so we are happy.

We can access the fridge and the bathroom no problem when the slides are in, though the foot of the bed is a little tough to get to. And we have plenty of room for the driver's seat.

We like the dining area on the driver's side but we never really thought about it.

I don't think there is anything in our floor plan that is a 'pet peeve.' We haven't seen one better. However, we sometimes shake our heads at some of the wiring choices made...

Dining area on the driver's side. It's so common I wonder whether I'm the only one that hates it.

My pet peeve that I found in our MH and our current 5 er....the closet isn't deep enough....the hangers have to be turned to the right. Grrrrr

Our old MH had an entertainment center/fireplace behind the co-captains chair. Didn't realize till after we bought that it meant I couldn't recline back---not even an inch. Was not good for my back problem.


I agree with both your points, too.

Yes I have always wondered why there is not a nightstand in the slide out that also has the bed in it. It would add to the storage, and square footage of the bedroom.

I also wonder with all these roomy slide outs, why they never seem to put one in the rear wall of the RV? I have seen beds that slide out to the drivers side, passenger side, and most are only about 18" deep, while some are as much as 24" or even a rare 30" deep slide out. But if they used the rear wall, made the slide about 7'6" wide, they could put nightstands on both sides, and slide that thing out about 4 feet - if they wanted to!

I think the limit is how far the slide must come in while in the travel position! With a murphy style bed, one could have the bed fold up and out of the way, then the slide deploy once parked, and could turn a 36' long gas RV into a 40' RV by having the back wall slide WAY out! Have the RV designer never heard of a closet pocket style pocket door? They could have a 4' deep sidewall slide into a 2' deep pocket, and only slide in 2 feet into the living space.

So I guess not enough legroom for the driver when the slide out wall for the drivers side living room is to close to the drivers seat is my pet peeve!

Back when my RV was new, in 1997, getting to the bathroom with the slides closed was a challenge. So using your own bathroom while in a RV rest area was impossible without opening the slides. Also some floorplans limited access to the refrigerator. Not to much fun while full timing, and wanting to stop at a grocery store while on a trip.

Alpha used to build their RV with a 4' deep drivers side slide out.

Another RV manufacture brought out a 'double slide out' with a 2' deep slide out and another 2' deep slide out inside the first one, so it would slide out a total of 4 feet. They built a handful of RV's before going bankrupt in 2007.

What I hated in the RV I was looking at was the dinette. I ordered mine without one, and it came with three captains chairs on the passenger side, two 'extra' behind the passenger seat. I removed the center one, and the 18" wide snack table, installing a 29" wide X 44" long table in their place, that folds into it's stand on the wall. So I get to sit in a very comfortable captains chair while eating my dinner and watching TV at the same time. Those on the couch have to look sideways to the overhead TV, and the one sitting in the drivers seat or forward passenger seat really have to crane their necks around to see the TV, but I am very comfortable. Can even lean my seat back!

Good luck on your RV search. My buddy's Country Coach has a $1,200 Brookstone recliner in it, with power massage. Not a factory option at all!

Fred.

This should be an interesting topic. I think most coaches already address the two issues raised by the OP. Perhaps in small coaches there could be some issue like that where the designers just did not have room to incorporate.

The only issue I can come up with on our current coach is that the inside storage is a bit weird. There are virtually no square corners so the the cabinets are mostly asymmetrical but that was a compromise between aesthetics and function.