How Do You Evaluate Floor Plans?

[barmcd]

We've been looking at class A diesel pushers for a couple of months now and as far as I can tell I have no real floor plan preference other than I'd rather not have the TV up high between the front seats. That's problematic in the price range we are looking at which puts us at 2004-2007. Those years had very few available coaches with floor mounted entertainment centers. The wife says she can make anything work and doesn't seem to have a preference either.

I find myself placing more emphasis on the chassis, engine and radiator configuration, which from all advice I've seen, is backwards.

How do you evaluate a floor plan?

What is a deal killer?

Or a must have?

Do you find two vanity sinks valuable?

[time_to_go_now]

accumack wrote:
For us it was a bath and a half.

And that is the point! To each his own. Who needs a bath and a half in a 300 square foot motorhome? What a waste of space.

We walk out if the space is poorly used by adding another toilet!

Good luck!

[chuckftboy]

When we were ready for a new coach, the wife and I sat down and put all our floor plan needs and wants together. Lucky for us, we pretty much like the same things. After that it was all me, choosing the chassis that made me happy. Only problem was we had to buy new to make it all work.

Little things like furniture and TV's can be redone to fit your likes as long as you can live with the major stuff like bath, bedroom and number of slides.

[RayChez]

For us what was important was a big kitchen with plenty of counter top was a must for the wife. Big shower in the bathroom, washer, dryer a must. Two couches, NO recliner chair, had it on my first coach and we needed more seating for guests. French doors to the bedroom. We did not want the huge slides that when you pull them in you can barely walk to the bathroom. Quality woods used for the cabinets was also important to us. We have Walnut. Ceramic floors and corian tops.

I would have liked the television that folds up to the ceiling.

But to ask others about floor plan is kind of crazy because every person has their own idea as to what they want.

Some coaches are beautiful on the outside with all the gaudy paint schemes, but have terrible floor plans.

Good luck on finding what you want.

The original poster wanted to know about choosing floor plans, yet some are giving information about chassis. GEEZ!

[PCarnathan]

We spent a great deal of time looking at the coaches at RV shows. It's a good place to see a bunch of choices in one place. We knew what we wanted before we actually started looking to purchase. Bath and-a-half, king bed, minimum 400 HP Cummins, 10,000-watt Onan. We have a full-wall slide on the curb side, but once we park and unpack, there's no reason to keep going back into the basement storage. The awning's on the slide so we don't lose any "patio" space as a result of the curb side slide. We also wanted couches facing each other so folks could chat without leaning forward and looking sideways. Although, at this point we're considering removing one of the couches and putting in a pair of recliners.

Dislike? We have a big flat screen TV over the dashboard and viewing it is a little weird. I'm still pondering what to do about that. Having the two recliners will help with TV viewing.

Pat in Menifee, CA
www.patcarnathan.com

[AllegroD]

Inside and outside use was our focus.

We chose a floor plan with 2 slides on the DS, twice. This is because we like to use the awning for cooking, sitting and even napping. We do not want a quad slide for that reason. We acknowledged that that would narrow the interior design.

We did not need a front TV, as we do not like the sitting & viewing arrangements with a TV over the dash. We use the kitchen lightly and for simple preps. I am 6'2" and we wanted a sofa, not a love seat, and a recliner. Internal storage needed to be good but we did have to have a huge amount. Outside storage also did not need to be huge. We did need a couple of large bays, again, for my over sized lawn chairs.

Now for the decadence. I have arthritis. I have had 1 knee replacement and due for another. Our desires were for a little less effort on setup. Leveling is automatic. Awning is electric. Bay doors open out not up, resulting in less stooping. We connect water and pull out the grill (stored on DS) before the front slide goes out, making it easier. We have an ATS so there is no moving of internal plugs.

We do not agree that you know immediately, though you will be able to know what does not work immediately. We sat int the MH for an hour talking about it and opening and closing things, before going back outside to do the same. We brought slides in and then out to fit our use and check out setup.

There is nothing perfect. Take your time. A few hours will go a long way towards getting it right the first time.

We like our Tiffin Allegro 36LA for the choices considered above.

[the_silverback]

Simple, if my wife likes it, it is a good floor plan.

[JimM68]

No TV over the dash was a deal breaker for us too.
This was 5 years ago, looking at lightly used DP's, very few and far between.

Sportcoach, Berkshire, and Tuscany all had 40 foot, front kitchen layouts then. They'd be 5 years old today, and buyable under $100k.

Step up, Fleetwood has a very nice front kitchen layout in those years.
Up from that, winnie/Itasca have a tag axle front kitchen, these were buyable new at $210k in 2010.

We eventually bought a Monaco 40SKQ layout. This was available in Knight, Ambassador, Endeavor, and Diplomat from like 2006 up?
Front kitchen, side bath, TV on the back wall. It's been 5 years, I still like it. Fulltiming in it now.

[DSDP_Don]

Have you ever mentally dressed yourself when packing for a trip. Starting at your feet with shoes, socks, pants, underwear, etc. Try this technique when shopping coaches. It requires that you be left alone for awhile and not hounded by a salesman. While in the coach, walk through all of your activities, from driving the coach with the slides in, sitting on the toilet with the door closed, standing in the shower to loading the refer when the slides are in. Once done inside, open the storage bays and see where all your stuff will go.

In the time frame that you're looking, the ISL 400-425 was on the market and is probably one of the best motor home engines ever made. Obviously, there are larger and smaller, but the ISL is the most popular. You'll also need to make sure that it has at least an Allison 3000 transmission. Anything smaller will be limiting.

[wallynm]

We made a list. Computer table eating area over booth configuration. Length bed placement over side way placement. Side by side two door refig freezer with ice maker. Micro convection oven and no gas oven. No washer dryer. Enclosed stool room. Jack knife sofa vs hide a bed.

If looking at used with tube type TV,s you may be able to replace them with flat screens with elevating mounting bracket.

[Ivylog]

barmcd wrote:
We definitely don't want two couches, but I was thinking that buying a coach with two couches, then replacing one couch with an entertainment center and recliner might be the way to go.

This is what we did but replaced with an office area and a Euro recliner chair. I like the TV up front as I lay on the J couch to watch TV and the DW uses the recliner.

The longer the use, the more slides. The DW likes the two bathroom sinks, I could do without two and darn sure would not give up the space for a bath and a half and I've been told I'm full of it.

OP, I could not find how you are plan on using the MH... half time, FT??? Without knowing usage it's hard to give sound advice although the chassis is more important to me as other than side entry (not many anymore), front kitchen and full wall slide (fairly new) there really is not that many variables in the years you are looking at.

For me it's tag axle, 10 airbags, and side radiator without going to Prevost, Newell, or Foretravel. MY dark colors still look new.

[donn0128]

Livability. Short comings you could overlook for a weekend can become major issues for long term living. We went and played house for a half hour or so in each unit we considered. Found out real fast those that would not work for us.

[2gypsies1]

barmcd wrote:

I find myself placing more emphasis on the chassis, engine and radiator configuration, which from all advice I've seen, is backwards.

Do you find two vanity sinks valuable?

The emphasis definitely should be on the chassis, engine, radiator. Then choose the floorplan from what's available. You'll have many choices but get a good basic build first.

The TV can always be moved with the new flat screens available. Remodeling is often done on RVs.

Two vanities? Not in our opinion...along with not two bathrooms. That's a waste of space. In our 16 years of full-timing we've never had occasion to use more than one at a time. 🙂

[Artum_Snowbird]

There are some models now with a drop down TV in the counter. It's a window when you want a window, then the TV comes up when you want a TV. Doing a rebuild like that might be a nice idea.

[barmcd]

rr2254545 wrote:
I think you have not looked enough if you think they are all alike. For us due to Claustrophobia we must have a bed that goes from front to back in the motor home.

We have two sinks and do not use the second sink in the bathroom.

Go online at PPL and check out all the different floorplans

We like the fore and aft placement of the bed too.

[barmcd]

accumack wrote:
For us it was a bath and a half.

We looked at a couple with a bath and half and were totally turned off by one of them. The toilet was right in front of the door in the rear bath. When you looked down the coach from the front the toilet jumped out at you if that door wasn't shut all the way.