Half bath

Time for my two cents... We had a coach with only one bath for eight years and fivers before that. Reminded us of our first house with only one bath. We learned to do the "dance."

The bath in the old coach was accessible with all slides pulled in. Many new coaches like ours have the bath in the back which would require either opening a slide or crawling over the bed. The half bath mid ship is accessible while in transit. Not having access to a stool in transit would have been a deal breaker.

When we are off the road, the half bath is for the cat box and their food. The stool is only usable for a stand up whiz. We are happy with the set up. Almost everything in an RV is a compromise.

lawnspecialties wrote:
My Vengeance has one and so did our former Cyclone. The mere fact that its just another black tank that needs to be cleaned out is enough for me to wish we didn't have it. I'd much rather have that place be a nice pantry or something for storage.

X2
my 1/2 bath is now a storage closet/shed.
The additional black tank made it more trouble than it was worth.
However having a nice closet with interior and exterior access is worthwhile

I think the extra half bath is essential. It never fails, when it's 'in use', it's also needed by the other person.

It also came in very handy when I took my two 13 yr. old great nieces on their first motorhome trip this past summer. Girls like to be in front of the mirror so the half bath was theirs. Oddly, they WANTED to use the rv park facility showers which they didn't have to. That worked well since there were four of us.

Safe travels,
MM.

Many are missing the point of the half bath when it comes to a motor home. In the early days of motor homes, they had an all in one bath. You were jammed in there with your knees in the shower while sitting on the toilet. As time went by and motor homes got bigger, people wanted something better. The next generation was the "split" bath. Shower on one side of coach and bath on the other. As great as people thought this was, it had it's own issues. Little privacy and the requirement to shut off the coach while someone showered.

Most recently, people have realized that an all in one bath is really the way to go, as long as it's not a little box. We bought our last diesel pusher because it had an all in one bath, rarely seen in 2005. It was a side aisle model and the bath was quite large.

With the desire to go back to all in one baths, of good size, it had to be placed at the rear of the coach. If you look at large diesel pushers, the majority of those being sold today have a LARGE rear baths.

With all that said, you have to realize that with the bath in the rear, access while driving was impossible, unless you were willing to crawl over the bed. The answer was to install a half bath that could be accessed while the slides were closed while on the road.

So......people aren't buying them because they're snoody or have a great need for a second bath, they're buying them because they're needed to make the more popular rear design work.

When it comes to large trailers with multiple sleeping positions, it only makes sense to have a second toilet, due to more people. In something like a toy hauler, where the occupants are often covered in dirt from the toys, people can use the rear toilet without getting the rest of the coach dirty.

Lastly, we were on a week long trip where we both got the flu for three days. Having that second toilet really came in handy. Remember RV's rarely had a TV in them 30 years ago, but people want to be more comfortable when they travel.

DSDP Don you have given us some good insight. I understand with motorized RV's the 1/2 bath allows for bathroom use with slides closed.
However with towables the extra bath does allow for easier access if there is a large group. However it adds an additional black tank that just creates more work if there is a small group that does not need the extra capacity.
The 5 of us can go a week on a 40 gallon black tank with ease. However if we use both toilets we end up with two half empty tanks vs. one 3/4 full tank. The tank cleaner (Me) ends up with more tank maintenance without gaining any real advantage.
I'm OK with a 2nd toilet. It is the 2nd black tank I have come to despise! LOL

Lantley, we have ONE holding tank for black and grey (189 gal). But, I would rather have the half bath even if there was an additional black tank. It wouldn't need to be emptied at every stop, just make sure that it has plenty of water.

Sometimes the urgency of needing the extra 'tinkletorium' is more important than a extra tank.

YMMV

Safe travels,
MM.

Lantley, not all 1-1/2 bath 5th wheels have two black tanks. Our new 1-1/2 bath RV, currently being built, has only one black tank. It's a Mobile Suite.

I love having our half-bath. If you don't want one don't buy one. As usual it's all personal preference.

golf_bears wrote:
Lantley, not all 1-1/2 bath 5th wheels have two black tanks. Our new 1-1/2 bath RV, currently being built, has only one black tank. It's a Mobile Suite.

Amen to that! I'm OK with 2 toilets but not 2 black tanks.
I'd be interested to see the floorplan.
Most toilets discharge directly into the black tank.
I imagine the toilets would have to be fairly close to each other to share the same black tank

SASS59276 wrote:
I love having our half-bath. If you don't want one don't buy one. As usual it's all personal preference.

Well you can buy a bath and a 1/2 unit like me a modify/eliminate the 1/2 bath if necessary. My exterior closet is really a good idea.
Maybe I'll create a new trend.:B