Raised rail vs Straight rail

[Gjac]

In researching Class A MH's the things that are important to me is storage, CCC and FW capacity. I found some discussion about more storage in raised rail MH,s vs straight rail. Can someone explain the difference or direct me to some web site that explains both designs. My old P-30 chassis has two pass thrus that are adequate but I am having a difficult time finding these pass thrus on newer chassis in the 30-32 ft range.

[eheading]

The problem with a diesel pusher is that as you go down in size, ALL of the shrinkage comes out of the wheelbase. The overhang in the rear for the engine stays constant (roughly), and the front overhang for the door is a constant. With a smaller gas engine I believe you can actually get a longer wheelbase for an equivalent overall length. I will say that I was a little concerned about going down to 34' after having a 41'motorhome, but we have been very pleased with the way our Ventana drives and handles.

Ed Headington

[Gjac]

eheading wrote:
Yeah, I can't see you ever getting more than one pass thru on a 34' length diesel motorhome. There just isn't enough room between the front and rear axles. That was just something we had to give up when we downsized to the 34' motorhome we now have.

I do think you could probably get a 26" bike flat, with the front wheel removed in our pass thru trunk, but you would want to measure it very carefully to be sure.

Ed Headington

Ed I know your right because that is what I am finding also, but I just can't figure out why a 34 ft DP has only one pass thru but an old 33 ft gas MH has two. I thought that DP's had a longer WB than the same size gas MH?

[eheading]

Yeah, I can't see you ever getting more than one pass thru on a 34' length diesel motorhome. There just isn't enough room between the front and rear axles. That was just something we had to give up when we downsized to the 34' motorhome we now have.

I do think you could probably get a 26" bike flat, with the front wheel removed in our pass thru trunk, but you would want to measure it very carefully to be sure.

Ed Headington

[Gjac]

webslave wrote:

eheading wrote:
While our 41' Revolution LE had 2 pass through trunks, the 34' Ventana LE only has one. You could put folding bikes in the pass through, but definitely not "regular" 26" bikes. I don't think I've ever seen a pass through that could hold a regular bike.

Ed Headington

In order to get a 26" bike stored upright in a storage bay, you would have to give up interior ceiling height in order to keep the coach's height under 13' 6"... It could be done on a custom coach, but, I don't believe that you'll find an "off the rack" coach cut up like that. Most folks would hang them off the ladder or off their towed before giving up interior space.

I don't want to store them upright but on their side with the front wheel removed like I do now with my old MH. I put mine on one side and my GS bike on the other side of one pass thru. I would like the next MH to have a little bigger pass thrus preferably two like I have now only bigger. I was willing to go to a 34 ft DP but not seeing anymore pass thru storage in the ones I looked at.

[Two_Jayhawks]

Gjac wrote:

Two Jayhawks wrote:
Check out this link. I'm not sure the lowered rail chassis doesn't offer the most basement. As for knowing how much weight you can stuff in you'll need to know unloaded vehicle weight per axle.

Thanks for the link. From what I gather the raised rail is only on larger DP's as JRP stated also not in the size that I am interested in.

Just a FYI Winnebago builds a 36' on the lowered rail chassis if you end up going a bit longer.

[webslave]

eheading wrote:
While our 41' Revolution LE had 2 pass through trunks, the 34' Ventana LE only has one. You could put folding bikes in the pass through, but definitely not "regular" 26" bikes. I don't think I've ever seen a pass through that could hold a regular bike.

Ed Headington

In order to get a 26" bike stored upright in a storage bay, you would have to give up interior ceiling height in order to keep the coach's height under 13' 6"... It could be done on a custom coach, but, I don't believe that you'll find an "off the rack" coach cut up like that. Most folks would hang them off the ladder or off their towed before giving up interior space.

[eheading]

While our 41' Revolution LE had 2 pass through trunks, the 34' Ventana LE only has one. You could put folding bikes in the pass through, but definitely not "regular" 26" bikes. I don't think I've ever seen a pass through that could hold a regular bike.

Ed Headington

[Gjac]

eheading wrote:
We have a 34' Newmar Ventana LE that is on a Freightliner raised rail chassis. I believe the idea of the raised rail is to give you more vertical space in you pass through basement compartments in the middle (left to right) of the coach.

Ed Headington

Ed how many pass thrus do you have? Are the big enough to store bikes in them?

[Bruce_Brown]

Gjac wrote:

Two Jayhawks wrote:
Check out this link. I'm not sure the lowered rail chassis doesn't offer the most basement. As for knowing how much weight you can stuff in you'll need to know unloaded vehicle weight per axle.

Thanks for the link. From what I gather the raised rail is only on larger DP's as JRP stated also not in the size that I am interested in.

Correct, mostly. A raised rail chassis is a diesel thing, doesn't have to be a larger one. Newmar make a 34'er with a raised rail chassis, I'm sure other do too.

Gassers are all straight rail.

[eheading]

We have a 34' Newmar Ventana LE that is on a Freightliner raised rail chassis. I believe the idea of the raised rail is to give you more vertical space in you pass through basement compartments in the middle (left to right) of the coach.

Ed Headington

[Gjac]

Two Jayhawks wrote:
Check out this link. I'm not sure the lowered rail chassis doesn't offer the most basement. As for knowing how much weight you can stuff in you'll need to know unloaded vehicle weight per axle.

Thanks for the link. From what I gather the raised rail is only on larger DP's as JRP stated also not in the size that I am interested in.

[Gjac]

Kayteg1 wrote:
I did not research what you are comparing, but IMHO the starting point would be what you are searching for.
Just "My old P-30 chassis has two pass thrus that are adequate" is not telling me anything.
In my conversion 40" tall bays I was able to park my Honda trail bike.
Are we talking the same adequate?

As I stated in my OP I am searching for a 30 -32 ft MH.

[Kayteg1]

I did not research what you are comparing, but IMHO the starting point would be what you are searching for.
Just "My old P-30 chassis has two pass thrus that are adequate" is not telling me anything.
In my conversion 40" tall bays I was able to park my Honda trail bike.
Are we talking the same adequate?

[jrp]

are you looking at gas or diesel? the raised rail is used on larger diesel pushers, primarily by Freightliner. http://freightlinerchassis.com/RV-Chassis/xc-r-chassis/menu-id-87.html