Floor plan question

[memilanuk]

So... the wife and I are starting to entertain the notion of a short 5th wheel. In looking through various floor plans and reviews, something came to mind, something that we actually really like about our current TT. Specifically, ease of access to certain key areas - bathroom, kitchen, dining area, bedroom - without having to run the slide out when stopping at a truck stop for fuel / lunch, or at a rest area for the night.

A lot of the floor plans we've been looking at (again, short 5th wheels in the <30' class) tend to have setups where it looks like there'd be no access to the 'upstairs' with the slide in. Others appear to have limited/no access to the kitchen/dining area with the slide in.

To be frank, we kind of stumbled upon the layout we have in our TT - the thing we were looking for in the TT was a walk-thru bathroom that had more space. But once we started traveling with the new trailer, the ability to enter the 'front' door and still have access to 80+% of the coach immediately became one of our favorite 'features'.

Given that there doesn't seem to be a lot of short 5th wheels with two doors 😉 it appears that feature set may be tough to come by. Not impossible, but I'm concerned that I might be putting too much emphasis on something that is not really that important.

So I guess my question (particularly for those of you with short 5vers) is how you feel about your current (or past) setup with regards to making quick stops while traveling. Is it a hassle, where you have to put the slide out every time you want to do anything, or not?

[rickeoni]

We have full access to everything with the slides in, the only thing we can't do is watch the 60" TV in the living area. Full access to the kitchen, bathroom & bedroom with the slides in was important and hard to find in a 30 foot fiver.

[REWahoo]

2112 wrote:
We had the same concern when deciding on our current FW. We have access to the bath and bed but not the fridge. We love the floorplan so we bought it. It turned out to be no big deal. Pop out the slide a few inches to get to the fridge.

^ This.

We have access to the bedroom/bathroom with the slides in and that's all we need most of the time while traveling. If we do want to get to the fridge, easing the slide out about a foot is all it takes. A very minor inconvenience for the floor plan we both really like.

[shepstone]

memilanuk wrote:
So... the wife and I are starting to entertain the notion of a short 5th wheel. In looking through various floor plans and reviews, something came to mind, something that we actually really like about our current TT. Specifically, ease of access to certain key areas - bathroom, kitchen, dining area, bedroom - without having to run the slide out when stopping at a truck stop for fuel / lunch, or at a rest area for the night.

A lot of the floor plans we've been looking at (again, short 5th wheels in the <30' class) tend to have setups where it looks like there'd be no access to the 'upstairs' with the slide in. Others appear to have limited/no access to the kitchen/dining area with the slide in.

To be frank, we kind of stumbled upon the layout we have in our TT - the thing we were looking for in the TT was a walk-thru bathroom that had more space. But once we started traveling with the new trailer, the ability to enter the 'front' door and still have access to 80+% of the coach immediately became one of our favorite 'features'.

Given that there doesn't seem to be a lot of short 5th wheels with two doors 😉 it appears that feature set may be tough to come by. Not impossible, but I'm concerned that I might be putting too much emphasis on something that is not really that important.

So I guess my question (particularly for those of you with short 5vers) is how you feel about your current (or past) setup with regards to making quick stops while traveling. Is it a hassle, where you have to put the slide out every time you want to do anything, or not?

If full access with all the slides in is your goal, then look at an Open Range 337rls. The kitchen island is on castors and when its strapped down to its "parking spot" there is full access to everything including all the kitchen, dining room, sofa, bathroom and bedroom. the only things not accessible is a couple of cabinets in kitchen and the chest of drawers in the bedroom. Its the only full access fifth wheel that we have found when all the slides are closed. We use it constantly when on the road, in fact we probably use it more with the slides closed than open. Fridge stove, sink and tv, are all fully useable. its 34 ft long and a wide body at 100" which also helps with the roominess. This certainly comes in handy when at rest areas or other places for quick overnights and when there is lots of traffic moving around the parking lot, for a quick lunch break or "pit stop". There is 2 versions Mesa Ridge or Open Range both 337RLS I tried to post a link but it won't do it.

[laknox]

4x4ord wrote:

DutchmenSport wrote:
I'm with you memilanuk.

A couple months ago we fell in love with a front living room 5er that had awesome floor plans. We loved that open feeling between the upper level living room and the lower level kitchen-dining area. We were ready to pull the cord on one model until we seriously considered what happens with slides IN.

That started us on a new search and we found only 1 model that actually had access to everything with all slides in. I don't remember which one it is now, but the stairs to upper level were in the middle and the bathroom to the master bed room in the back had access in the middle, not the sides, creating a hall. And it had no center island, making the kitchen 100 percent accessible.

But, as I recall, that specific model was simply not around where I live for us to even look at it. So, we decided to just keep our travel trailer that IS completely accessible with all 3 slides IN.

Coming from someone who's been down the same road you are traveling, only you can made up your mind if you need full access or are OK with having stuff blocked if/and/when you MUST have the slides in and cannot extract them.

I don't know about others, but we use ours with slides in a lot. Especially during the winter months, more than the summer months. Slides in reduce the space to heat and air condition.

If you do decide to go with a unit that blocks access to different areas, YOU have to ask yourself which is most important and which is not? Kitchen and bathroom when traveling on the road? Or Bedroom and no bath for overnight sleeping? And what happens if you end up in a horrid storm and you feel the need to pull the slides in to reduce your foot print. (which we've done on many occasions).

There are reasons why you will want to use the camper with slides in and extracting will NOT be an option. What is most important.

For us, our decision to keep our current camper a bit longer was our answer.

So, I went out and gave it a good bath!

I doubt that you can measure a difference in the energy required to heat or cool your trailer with slides in vs out. It takes energy to warm or cool mass. The mass that needs cooling or heating stays virtually unchanged slides out vs in. The empty space contains very ltitle mass.

Here in AZ it's =real= easy to notice the difference in cooling when the slides are in vs out. I'll have it sitting in front of my house with the AC running and, as soon as I open my slides, the temp goes up by several degrees. I've left the slides open for several hours during the day, and it never gets really cool...until I close the slides.

Lyle

[GMH]

We have a 2013 Cougar 26sab. With both slides in we have access to the fridge and bathroom. Its a bit of a squeeze to get between the kitchen counter and the dinette seat back unless the LR slide is moved out a few inches. We went looking for a newer one, but have not found anything under 34' that we liked the layout more for just the two of us.

[RollandB]

We have full access except to the kitchen Pantry and and bath with our Arctic Fox 27-5L which is 29’5”.

[2112]

So I guess my question (particularly for those of you with short 5vers) is how you feel about your current (or past) setup with regards to making quick stops while traveling. Is it a hassle, where you have to put the slide out every time you want to do anything, or not?

We had the same concern when deciding on our current FW. We have access to the bath and bed but not the fridge. We love the floorplan so we bought it. It turned out to be no big deal. Pop out the slide a few inches to get to the fridge. DW has even done it at a traffic light. She was out of the truck and back in with soda in hand before the light turned green, with time to spare. We pop it out a few inches or all the way for lunch, depending on the situation.

This wouldn't be a deal breaker for me in future purchases now that I have lived it. It's no big deal for us.

[rhagfo]

4x4ord wrote:

DutchmenSport wrote:
I'm with you memilanuk.

A couple months ago we fell in love with a front living room 5er that had awesome floor plans. We loved that open feeling between the upper level living room and the lower level kitchen-dining area. We were ready to pull the cord on one model until we seriously considered what happens with slides IN.

That started us on a new search and we found only 1 model that actually had access to everything with all slides in. I don't remember which one it is now, but the stairs to upper level were in the middle and the bathroom to the master bed room in the back had access in the middle, not the sides, creating a hall. And it had no center island, making the kitchen 100 percent accessible.

But, as I recall, that specific model was simply not around where I live for us to even look at it. So, we decided to just keep our travel trailer that IS completely accessible with all 3 slides IN.

Coming from someone who's been down the same road you are traveling, only you can made up your mind if you need full access or are OK with having stuff blocked if/and/when you MUST have the slides in and cannot extract them.

I don't know about others, but we use ours with slides in a lot. Especially during the winter months, more than the summer months. Slides in reduce the space to heat and air condition.

If you do decide to go with a unit that blocks access to different areas, YOU have to ask yourself which is most important and which is not? Kitchen and bathroom when traveling on the road? Or Bedroom and no bath for overnight sleeping? And what happens if you end up in a horrid storm and you feel the need to pull the slides in to reduce your foot print. (which we've done on many occasions).

There are reasons why you will want to use the camper with slides in and extracting will NOT be an option. What is most important.

For us, our decision to keep our current camper a bit longer was our answer.

So, I went out and gave it a good bath!

I doubt that you can measure a difference in the energy required to heat or cool your trailer with slides in vs out. It takes energy to warm or cool mass. The mass that needs cooling or heating stays virtually unchanged slides out vs in. The empty space contains very ltitle mass.

X2 to 4X4Ford
Yes, access to bath and bed is important, but I don’t need to get to refer. I worry more about what the layout is with slides out, as that is how you use it 99.9% of the time!

[4x4ord]

DutchmenSport wrote:
I'm with you memilanuk.

A couple months ago we fell in love with a front living room 5er that had awesome floor plans. We loved that open feeling between the upper level living room and the lower level kitchen-dining area. We were ready to pull the cord on one model until we seriously considered what happens with slides IN.

That started us on a new search and we found only 1 model that actually had access to everything with all slides in. I don't remember which one it is now, but the stairs to upper level were in the middle and the bathroom to the master bed room in the back had access in the middle, not the sides, creating a hall. And it had no center island, making the kitchen 100 percent accessible.

But, as I recall, that specific model was simply not around where I live for us to even look at it. So, we decided to just keep our travel trailer that IS completely accessible with all 3 slides IN.

Coming from someone who's been down the same road you are traveling, only you can made up your mind if you need full access or are OK with having stuff blocked if/and/when you MUST have the slides in and cannot extract them.

I don't know about others, but we use ours with slides in a lot. Especially during the winter months, more than the summer months. Slides in reduce the space to heat and air condition.

If you do decide to go with a unit that blocks access to different areas, YOU have to ask yourself which is most important and which is not? Kitchen and bathroom when traveling on the road? Or Bedroom and no bath for overnight sleeping? And what happens if you end up in a horrid storm and you feel the need to pull the slides in to reduce your foot print. (which we've done on many occasions).

There are reasons why you will want to use the camper with slides in and extracting will NOT be an option. What is most important.

For us, our decision to keep our current camper a bit longer was our answer.

So, I went out and gave it a good bath!

I doubt that you can measure a difference in the energy required to heat or cool your trailer with slides in vs out. It takes energy to warm or cool mass. The mass that needs cooling or heating stays virtually unchanged slides out vs in. The empty space contains very ltitle mass.

[laknox]

4x4ord wrote:
My last trailer allowed access to the bedroom; bathroom and fridge without opening a slide. We really appreciated that feature. The trailer we have now requires the kitchen slide to be moved some to access the fridge; bedroom and bathroom are still accessible. We still like the floor plan of our current trailer better.

Be honest; SHE likes it better and you know what's good for you! :B

Lyle

[laknox]

memilanuk wrote:
So... the wife and I are starting to entertain the notion of a short 5th wheel. In looking through various floor plans and reviews, something came to mind, something that we actually really like about our current TT. Specifically, ease of access to certain key areas - bathroom, kitchen, dining area, bedroom - without having to run the slide out when stopping at a truck stop for fuel / lunch, or at a rest area for the night.

A lot of the floor plans we've been looking at (again, short 5th wheels in the <30' class) tend to have setups where it looks like there'd be no access to the 'upstairs' with the slide in. Others appear to have limited/no access to the kitchen/dining area with the slide in.

To be frank, we kind of stumbled upon the layout we have in our TT - the thing we were looking for in the TT was a walk-thru bathroom that had more space. But once we started traveling with the new trailer, the ability to enter the 'front' door and still have access to 80+% of the coach immediately became one of our favorite 'features'.

Given that there doesn't seem to be a lot of short 5th wheels with two doors 😉 it appears that feature set may be tough to come by. Not impossible, but I'm concerned that I might be putting too much emphasis on something that is not really that important.

So I guess my question (particularly for those of you with short 5vers) is how you feel about your current (or past) setup with regards to making quick stops while traveling. Is it a hassle, where you have to put the slide out every time you want to do anything, or not?

I was in the same boat, with bathroom access being =much= more important than the rest. My #1 choice when looking over the last 3 years, would have had full access to most of the coach without having to move slides, but it had no island/peninsula. I never was able to look at that model and, when we actually saw the one we have now, DW fell in love with it. It =does= have a peninsula, so the street slide has to go out 8-10" to give us access to the fridge, but forward is fully accessible. If there =were= any issues, I suppose I could carry the remote in the truck and open a slide a bit as we pull off. :B

On edit: When we travel, we've always carried a small cooler and bag of snacks in the truck with us, so fridge access has never been important to us. Bathroom is another story...

Lyle

[DutchmenSport]

I found it, but it's not "little".

Link, click here.

[DutchmenSport]

I'm with you memilanuk.

A couple months ago we fell in love with a front living room 5er that had awesome floor plans. We loved that open feeling between the upper level living room and the lower level kitchen-dining area. We were ready to pull the cord on one model until we seriously considered what happens with slides IN.

That started us on a new search and we found only 1 model that actually had access to everything with all slides in. I don't remember which one it is now, but the stairs to upper level were in the middle and the bathroom to the master bed room in the back had access in the middle, not the sides, creating a hall. And it had no center island, making the kitchen 100 percent accessible.

But, as I recall, that specific model was simply not around where I live for us to even look at it. So, we decided to just keep our travel trailer that IS completely accessible with all 3 slides IN.

Coming from someone who's been down the same road you are traveling, only you can made up your mind if you need full access or are OK with having stuff blocked if/and/when you MUST have the slides in and cannot extract them.

I don't know about others, but we use ours with slides in a lot. Especially during the winter months, more than the summer months. Slides in reduce the space to heat and air condition.

If you do decide to go with a unit that blocks access to different areas, YOU have to ask yourself which is most important and which is not? Kitchen and bathroom when traveling on the road? Or Bedroom and no bath for overnight sleeping? And what happens if you end up in a horrid storm and you feel the need to pull the slides in to reduce your foot print. (which we've done on many occasions).

There are reasons why you will want to use the camper with slides in and extracting will NOT be an option. What is most important.

For us, our decision to keep our current camper a bit longer was our answer.

So, I went out and gave it a good bath!

[Addy15]

Earlier this year, we transitioned to a shorter 5th wheel from a smaller travel trailer. We now have a Winnebago Minnie Plus 27RLTS which is just under 30 ft. There are two opposing slides in the living area -- one for the kitchen and one for the sofa. The door is mid-coach and, like was mentioned above, allows full access to bathroom/bedroom. The living/kitchen area is less accessible than I would like with the slides closed (but obviously not a deal breaker since we now own it). The floor plan includes a kitchen island which blocks the refrigerator door when the kitchen slide is retracted in. If they had made that island only about 3 inches shorter, we would be able to fully open the fridge door. If we really needed to, we can partially open the slide to open the fridge and even scoot ourselves back to the dinette if we wanted to sit there.

So far, we have found this trailer/floorplan to be very functional for our needs.