Forum Discussion

windbrave's avatar
windbrave
Explorer
Jan 07, 2017

with dinette, couch, rear bed and over-cab bunk, within 26'

There are three of us. Me, my wife and my one-year old little girl. I am hoping to find a C with the dinette, the couch, the rear bed(I suppose the only choice is a corner bed than a walk-around one) and a cab over bunk. I am wondering one of us can keep an eye on the little one from the passenger seat in the front so I guess the dinette better be on the street side. It should not be over 26ft. Is there any C like this out there guys?

10 Replies

  • Our 2004 Fleetwood Tioga 26Q measures 27 feet bumper to bumper. Like many ,it has a rear bedroom with RV Queen bed with one side against rear wall, access from right side and foot of bed. It has a cavernous cargo area and adequate cabinet space. There are 27-28 foot floor plans with a bedroom slide on one side that have fore and aft bed with access on both sides and at the foot
    (better). It's hard climbing over partner without waking them to go to the bathroom, etc.
  • We have a Minnie Winnie 25 B. We have used the car seat a couple of times with our two year old GD. The dinette table had to be lowered to fit our car seat. When using the car seat, you loose the the use of the other seat belt in the dinette. When we used the seat, someone rode on the sofa across from the seat. There is a tether hook for forward facing the car seat, which seems to more secure than facing it rearward. I quess the passenger in the front seat can use the windshield rear view mirror to see the dinette. I know as the driver that is about all it is good for.
  • windbrave,

    Google "Coachman Freelander 21QB". You will find it has most of what you seek (dinette/couch combo) along with a massive outdoor storage compartment for your child's light weight bulky outdoor play toys. There are longer models that are still shorter than your max length. There are many U-Tube videos made by RV dealerships, showing off their used ones for sale.

    The Freelander is an entry level motor home. You will find them to be more affordable. Just so you know, the actual length of a 21QB is almost 24 feet. Not 21 feet as implied.

  • Many units of this size have a swivel chair immediately behind the passenger seat. This seat is generally a lot more crash worthy than dinette seating for your little one. If needed, you could certainly rig a mirror so it's easy for the passenger to see the little one while traveling.
  • My 28A has everything desired except it is 28.
  • My first motorhome was a 26' Class C. It had no rear bed (just the overhead bunk) and it was still pretty close quarters when you had a couple of people inside. S1`ince it was usually just me, it wasn't too big a deal, but for the family you might want to go a bit larger.
  • Probably not, if it must really be shorter than 26 feet, because even with slideouts making more room, you need a larger box to fit kitchen, bathroom, sofa, dinette, and a bed on the floor.

    With dinette, but not sofa, this was a common size and layout for the rental market for about 10-15 years from the late 1990s until the collapse of the RV industry in 2007 to 2008.

    Models 22B and 24D from Fleetwood in the Jamboree and Tioga lines. There was a 26Q that had the rear bed open on two sides, but that was 27 feet or longer and still had either sofa or dinette, but not both.

    Model 24M from Jayco in the briefly made Escapade line. You could get sofa, dinette and rear bed in the Escapade 28G, but that was almost 29 feet long.

    Model 25DS in Jayco's Greyhawk line.

    Model 2450S in Forest River's Sunseeker line. Sofa, dinette and bed in the 2900, which was 30 1/2 feet long.

    Models 23A and 24T in Thor's Fourwinds, Chateau Sport and Dutchmen Express lines. The 24T was 26 feet long in the Ford, a bit over that as a Chevy. Sofa, dinette and bed in the 28A, just under 30 feet long.

    Model 24V in Winnebago's Minnie and Itasca Spirit lines. Sofa, dinette and bed appeared in the 29B and 29K models, which were 29 1/2 feet long. These floorplans migrated to the Outlook line in 2006, then to the entry-level Access line in 2008. The 26A model in all of these lines offered a little more room, adding a chair (not a sofa) to the living area, but was a bit over 27 feet long on the Ford chassis, 28 feet on the Chevy.

    Winnebago put a dinette and rear bed in the Mercedes-platform View and Itasca Navion 23J models, about 24 feet long. This evolved to model 24J in later View/Navion models. Look also at the Melbourne models from Jayco, Chateau and FourWinds Sprinter models from Thor.

    There are more options if you don't really need the cab-over bunk, which opens up offerings from Phoenix Cruiser and some newer, smaller motorhomes. Winnebago puts a rear bed in dinette in the Promaster-platform Trend 23L; this offers a studio loft bed rather than a cab-over. The Transit-platform Fuse 23T has a walk-around rear queen bed, dinette and bench seat up front, but no loft or over-cab bed. Look also at Thor's Siesta Sprinter, Citation Sprinter, Synergy lines, and Gemini and Compass RUVs on the Transit platform.

    Not needing cab over also opens up small Class A lines like the Mercedes-platform Winnebago Via, rear corner bed and street-side dinette in model 25P, just under 26 feet long.
  • MobileBasset wrote:
    If the 26 ft is a hard limit due to storage size or something, make sure you measure it yourself. My 25B is more like 27ft.

    Double ditto.

    Look at the specifications for each floor plan. Don't depend on the model number.
    Check out the Phoenix Cruisers too. http://www.phoenixusarv.com/
  • If the 26 ft is a hard limit due to storage size or something, make sure you measure it yourself. My 25B is more like 27ft.