Best floor plan for 6 sleepers

[matthewjscott]

Looking to purchase immediately new or used class A Motorhome 2014 and up.
What are the best floor plans for 6 sleepers?
What is your favorite make and model?

[Groover]

I have Palazzo bunkhouse and have been happy with it for groups the size of what you are talking about. I did upgrade the factory sofa/bed and that helped a lot.

The Palazzo has a queen bed in back, a dropdown full size with some extra space in the cockpit, the sofa folds out to a full size, the two bunks and you can sleep a small person in the dinette.

If you are trying to live in it it does get a little tight with a crowd but we expect to be out a lot when we travel and the guests can make use of the campground facilities if they get uncomfortable. The bunks are tight for adults but I have slept in them at times and I am 5'9" and overweight. They make for a great closet if you don't use them for beds. My 6'4" tall son-in-law sleeps in the drop down bed without too much trouble. The "Dream Dinette" really is not suitable for sleeping, much to my disappointment.

I love the mid-door in the Palazzo with a crowd. I can come and go as I please without disturbing the rest of the crew excessively. That is handy since I am a morning person and the kids generally are not. Plus you can load groceries directly into the kitchen which you find yourself doing a lot when carrying 4 teenagers.

Being a DP the Palazzo has much larger holding tanks than most gas powered RV's so it can handle a large crowd longer than the gas units.

The biggest issue is finding comfortable seating for everyone while traveling. We often end up with some sleepers in the beds.

It doesn't have all of the comforts of home but it beats any tent or popup that I have stayed in.

I do wish that they offered the bunks in a longer unit with a little more living space but this one has met my needs fairly well.

If you go that route feel free to contact me about some improvements that I have made to mine.

[doxiemom11]

If you have young children, you could always get a toy hauler and convert the back space to a bunk room. My daughter's family have an older travel trailer (about 36') that has 2 bunks in the rear as well as a 2nd dinette booth that folds down into a bed. They keep that booth down so it's 3 beds back there and they have a front bedroom. The dinette in the kitchen area can be folded down if needed as well as a pull out sofa which is a double bed. These are used as beds for when their kids have friends going with them. Don't know if you could find that type of layout in newer trailers or not. They got rid of their 5th wheel to have more room for the kids.

[willald]

Rick makes some really good points. I hadn't really thought about a dual sofa model, but it could work if:

1. You can find one that has dual sofas that big, and has all the seat-belted places to sit like Rick's rig has.
2. Your kids are OK with being that close when sleeping, and not really having their own 'space' like they would with a bunk model.
3. You don't mind losing nearly all your living space when kids go to bed.
4. You don't mind having to set up, and put down all those beds every day.

Personally for us, #2, 3, and 4 would eliminate this option.

As far as the privacy thing goes: We have a Class A with the bunks along the 'hallway' near the back bedroom. Privacy has never really been a problem for us. Just put the jacks down to make things solid, put a lock of some kind on bedroom door, and turn on a TV or music for noise when you need to cover up other 'sounds'. Has always worked fine for us, and we are younger than most couples that own a class A, and get 'frisky' quite often, haha. 🙂

[Rick_Jay]

matthewjscott,

I don't know what's available since 2014 that will fit your needs, but I can just relate our rig & family experience.

We bought our gas Class A new in 2004 after doing about 2+ years of research on different options. This was our first (and only) RV purchase and we wanted to get it right the first time. At the time we purchased, we had 4 kids (ages of about 1, 3, 4 & 8). We started looking at hybrids to tow behind our Honday Odyssey and ended up with a 36' dual slide gas class A and we tow the Odyssey behind. We looked at all options in between, but that looked to be the best option for us. Here we are almost 17 years later and it's STILL the most functional floorplan we've seen for our crew. Back in 2004, there were NOT that many bunk model class A's, and I never liked most of them anyway because the majority put the bunks right near the rear bedroom. NOT good for privacy.

Anyway, our rig has dual sofas and a dinette upfront which always gave us sufficient sleeping space. I've heard people complain about how much trouble it is to setup and put away the bedding every night & morning. I'm not really sure what the issue is. When the kids were younger, my wife and I did it in about 5 minutes for both sofas & dinette. The trick is to stow the bedding/pillows in the cabinets right above where they're sleeping. Easy peasy! 🙂

Also, our rig came with 12 factory installed seatbelt positions (3 on each sofa, 4 on the dinette, passenger & driver), so the kids always had options as to where to sit. For the first 3 or 4 years we were using 1 or 2 car seats as well. This worked out well as they could change their seating positions on longer trips depending upon whether they needed the dinette, or were watching a movie, or whatever.

We decided that living space was more important the sleeping space. Kids can sleep anyway, especially younger ones, so there was no problem with that. Now that they're "full sized" they still make it work. Note, over the years, we also had 1 or two medium sized dogs travelling with us.

The problem is dual-sofa layouts seem to have fallen out of favor with the advent of the bunk units. Too bad. The kids had the front of the rig, mommy & daddy had reasonable privacy in the back. The AC or heater blower masked any sounds coming from the rear bedroom and the jacks keep the rig pretty stable. So wifey and I could watch whatever we wanted on our TV and not worry about their "little ears" listening in. Or we could do our cuddle time and even get a little "frisky" as Howard Cunningham used to put it on "Happy Days". 🙂 It worked great and would NOT have been possible with bunks on the other side of our door. Plus, without the bunks, we had a decent sized bathroom AND a good size closet and storage drawers midship which is needed when you've got a crew of 6 people travelling.

One thing you might consider is to widen your scope. You might be able to pick up a mid-2000 era higher-end Diesel Pusher with a dual sofa floorplan for less money than the new rigs you're looking at. When (or IF?) I ever replace our rig, I'll most likely be looking for a well cared for, early to mid 2000's high-end DP, which probably sold for over 1/2 million. I'll get all of that high end quality in a rig that's just broken in. My budget will probably be in the $100k range or so.

Well, I just wanted to give you another solution, which worked well for us. My best advice is to take your time and leave no stone unturned!

Good Luck!!!

~Rick

[AllegroD]

Have not read all replies. How about a Fleetwood Pace Arrow 35E

[learntorv]

obgraham wrote:

willald wrote:
If I had that many kids coming with us in the RV and wanted some privacy for the adults....I'd nix the Motorhome idea completely and start looking at larger 5th wheels or TTs

Now you need a tow vehicle big enough to pull that beast, with seating for 6!

Most crew cab trucks can be configured for seating for 6. It's not the most comfortable with the size of people they're talking about, but not un-doable.

[willald]

obgraham wrote:

willald wrote:
If I had that many kids coming with us in the RV and wanted some privacy for the adults....I'd nix the Motorhome idea completely and start looking at larger 5th wheels or TTs

Now you need a tow vehicle big enough to pull that beast, with seating for 6!

True, but you're going to have challenges finding (safe) seating for 6 people in a Class A Motorhome, too. That's a whole nother topic/discussion.

Only tow vehicle I can think of that might work for this would be either a really large SUV, or possibly an older E350 Ford Van with a V10. That is, assuming you can find one, Ford hasn't built those in a while.

Will

[obgraham]

willald wrote:
If I had that many kids coming with us in the RV and wanted some privacy for the adults....I'd nix the Motorhome idea completely and start looking at larger 5th wheels or TTs

Now you need a tow vehicle big enough to pull that beast, with seating for 6!

[willald]

If I had that many kids coming with us in the RV and wanted some privacy for the adults....I'd nix the Motorhome idea completely and start looking at larger 5th wheels or TTs that have a large bunkhouse on one end (at least 4 bunks), and master bedroom on the other. Either that, or see if some of the kids will sleep in a tent or something.

Would try to find one (bunkhouse TT or 5th wheel) that has two bathrooms, also, as Dennis is absolutely right - It aint just about sleeping area with that many people in the RV. You have to be concerned about the load put on the rest of the facilities, too. Not to mention, where are all of them going to sit/ride when you are on the road?

[learntorv]

matthewjscott wrote:
Thank you, here are our 6 sleeper details

Two 50+ Adults (who would like privacy at bed time. Wink wink)

1 - 16 year old boy who always brings a friend
1- 14 year old girl who always brings a friend

Have heard there is NO privacy with bunks.

That's why we never bought a class A. We didn't like the lack of separation between us and the kids.

Lots of families fulltime in class A RVs with 1-6 kids, so you can make it work. But truly, the bunks are right outside of the master bedroom in almost all of the floorplans.

We did tour a RV that had "salon bunks" that lowered down the slide in the living room where the dinette and couch were. We nixxed it because it didn't give the kids their own "room" but we were looking for something to live in. That coupled with a pull out couch and a cab over bunk could get you to the number of beds you need plus some separation between you and the kids.

A cab-over bunk and sleeping couches may work for your group. A tent is also a good option.

Otherwise, I'm failing at finding the model # but acquaintances had a class A that had a real bunk room at the very back of the RV. I want to say you even may have gone through the bathroom before getting to it. So it was something like master bedroom, bathroom, bunkroom. But unfortunately I'm failing at finding the make/model right now.

[magnusfide]

Dale.Traveling wrote:

matthewjscott wrote:
Thank you, here are our 6 sleeper details

Two 50+ Adults (who would like privacy at bed time. Wink wink)

1 - 16 year old boy who always brings a friend
1- 14 year old girl who always brings a friend

Have heard there is NO privacy with bunks.

First up is put the boys outside in a tent. For the girls a coach with a cab over bunk should work but check the weight limits. Puts them 30 feet away from the master bedroom. In two years when the son is 18 and off at school the girls can then move outside and into the tent.

Double ditto. Teens grow up and move away before the last payment is made on a rig that size. Tents are great for the extra people. I saw one Class A pulling a pop-up camper but don't know how legal that was. Still though it's a great idea. Pop-ups can be sold and the main mh kept.

[Executive45]

Everyone worries where people are going to sleep. That's the LEAST of your problems. Kids, esp teenagers can sleep anywhere. That many people in an RV will tax the bathroom a lot, the kitchen a lot and the TV a lot...just my 2 cents....Dennis

[rgatijnet1]

You can always tow a pop-up camper behind you for those occasions when there are extra guests.

[TWZMYJP]

matthewjscott wrote:
Thank you, here are our 6 sleeper details

Two 50+ Adults (who would like privacy at bed time. Wink wink)

1 - 16 year old boy who always brings a friend
1- 14 year old girl who always brings a friend

Have heard there is NO privacy with bunks.

We have a very similar situation, with our 15yo boy and 13yo daughter who more often than not want to bring friends camping with us. The boy(s) do sometimes sleep outside in a tent, but when the weather is bad enough they sleep inside. The boy(s) usually end sharing the overhead bunk, and the girl(s) usually end up on the pull-out sofa, which allows all of them to hang out and do what kids do. The wife and I pull the "privacy" door shut on our bedroom and it works out just fine for us. The bunks are very rarely used for sleeping, more often than not they are just a great place for storage bins and the friends duffel bags.