What's more important? Kids space or living area?

[leamaarie]

We are upgrading from a Rockwood Roo 19 foot Hybrid to a 35+ foot quad bunkhouse hard shell travel trailer. We camped in our Roo for a few months, so anything is an upgrade when it comes to size. We have been looking at so many different floorplans that we are very confused as to what to get. We will be not only living in it for about 7 months, but after that we will use it for camping too in the future. We are looking at the Forest River Wildwood QBTS and the Forest River Signature Lite 8327ss or something similar without the outside kitchen. We have 4 kids and would like them to have their own space, but we are wondering if their space is more important than the living area. I do love the kitchen island, but with that we lose space inside the bunkhouse.

So, my question is, for those living in these with kids, in your opinion, what is more important? Is a kitchen island really that great to have?

[GaryWT]

Sounds like you have a plan. I agree with kid space, we have a bunkhouse that sleeps 4 but also have a full size outside kitchen which is the key to our trailer. The outside kitchen is our must have. Our bunk house can also be emptied and used as a nursery when our grandson comes with us. As for the island, we do not like slides that open under the awning and takeaway valuable outside space.

Good luck and enjoy the extra space.

[leamaarie]

Thank you all for the comments. After doing more research, we have agreed with many of you that say kids space is better. The island is nice, but as some pointed out, there are 4 kids back there and their space is more important than a kitchen island right now. They are 10 and under, so the bunkhouse will be used for a good deal of time. Since we are giving up an island we have looked at "adjusting" our interior. We thought about adding an small Ikea movable kitchen island and then removing, but keeping in storage, the dinette and couch. Putting a smaller table and adding a better entertainment space by putting a smaller Ikea couch. This would give us more space and then if we do decide to sell in the future we would just replace what we did. This adjusting is still up in the air for now, until we can give it more thought. Pinterest is very informative and gives me a lot of ideas with getting more space within the trailer.

Right now we are just deciding between a couple trailer brands and the better deal.

Thank you again for the great advice.

[Community Alumni]

Kids are the priority. When you don't give them a good amount of space that they can call their own, they claim the common space. Sometimes even your own room lol. You have to remember that they're going to have to share the space back there amongst each other so the more the better. We also found floorplans that had an island or rear entertainment that we loved, but gave it up for a floorplan that was better suited for the kids.

Since you're going to be living in it for 7 months then I would go with the unit that has the most space back there. I wouldn't worry too much about kids outgrowing the bunk. I slept in one from childhood until I was out of college.

[Lantley]

jerem0621 wrote:


You don't have to have a bunk house to be comfortable as a family...there is nothing wrong with spending rainy days together. For the DW and I...we had our queen bedroom...if we needed privacy we just headed to the bedroom. The boys loved our convertible beds, they were very comfortable sleeping arrangements.

Spent several months in the camper (no slide to boot) with this configuration...lots of fun and great memories.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

For me this why you need a bunk house. For privacy the adults should not have to retreat or leave the room. Privacy will be available for both adults and kids if kids have a dedicated space of their own.
Converting beds gets old.

[Mickey_D]

From my experience boys will sleep just about anywhere but girls want a lot more privacy and that is why we have a bunkhouse model (two daughters). At night we also toss the dogs in with them and that helps me sleep a lot better, plus I can get up at my normal crazy hour, drink coffee and read and not wake everyone else up. We thought really hard before buying our LaCrosse 329 about getting a rear living trailer and skip the kids room, but after two years I am really glad that we got the bunkhouse model. After the kids move out we will probably get a class A and just let them or other guests sleep on the couch if they want to go.

[jerem0621]

We did the make the beds thing in our last TT. It was quite literally 5 minutes out of our day combined...the kids loved having the big area while the DW and I went to bed. The only issue with that is that if I wanted to fix something early I risked waking the kids.

We would probably go with a rear lounge TT of some sort since my boys are getting older now and will be out of the house within 3-5 years.

Also, most bunks don't fit my kids...pretty much relegated to a double over double bunk.

You don't have to have a bunk house to be comfortable as a family...there is nothing wrong with spending rainy days together. For the DW and I...we had our queen bedroom...if we needed privacy we just headed to the bedroom. The boys loved our convertible beds, they were very comfortable sleeping arrangements.

Spent several months in the camper (no slide to boot) with this configuration...lots of fun and great memories.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[SprinklerMan]

I have quad bunks in a 29 ft . The bottom bunk on one side folds up . Kids have room to spread their junk out .

[Halmfamily]

We have two kids, now 17&19, when we were looking for our first fiver four years ago we looked at bunkhouse units and front living room units. Our kids did not like the small space and hard bunks. Then we looked at the FL unit with the twin couches that fold out into beds. They loved it and loved having a huge TV and the fireplace to stay warm.

The kids are outside most of the time except to sleep. We really enjoyed the large living room and at bedtime they just opened up the couches when we went to bed.

Let your kids help decide, their input is invaluable and it might surprise you what they think is best. Good luck

[twxsby89]

Kids space over living space for us.

[Lantley]

If I were in the market today and had kids I would get a mid bunk floor plan as show below. Best combination of kids space and living area.
Kids need their own dedicated space. When kids have their own space the adults can also have their own space

Highland ridge mid bunk floorplan. Look around there are others

[Opie431]

We had a college football player in one of our bunks. He fit.

With a bunkroom our grandchildren can watch TV and we can watch something else or turn it off. Wonderful.
I do a lot of cooking and baking. I do not need an island but I need something that I can lay over the sink so I have more counter space.

I have no trouble doing without an island, I would have trouble getting children out of bed each morning so the dinette could go from bed to table.

[Nicholsfamily05]

We have a 40' bunk house and the rear is the bunks.
Both sides of the room slide out giving it a large open floor to do stuff with.
On rainy days they play board games or match box cars, she has her dolls, and he has his GI joes.
Granted only 4 of us total but sometimes friends come. We do a month long camping trip each summer and found that it has worked for us staying out of each other's areas.
They have their own tv back there to watch movies with or when the weather really sucks for a few days video games. Only brought those out twice so far.
We have a good amount of counter space but the DW does want an island in the next camper.
The bunks are a bit short and kids may out grow them a bit faster than we liked.

[JeremyV]

I know I would love to have 4 bunks. We have 6 kids and they don't all fit in our camper so they get to sleep in a tent. I've seen some quad bunks that have one of the bottom bunks that turns into a table and the bunk above it folds up. Thought that was pretty cool to provide some living space for some kids in the back.

[ford_truck_guy]

It all depends on YOU... we cannot truly answer that question... I am sure that MY NEEDS and WANTS are different than most on this forum . . .