I’ve been on the road with this RV exactly a month now. I can’t believe that this day in September was my last day of work! Now that Miranda and I are so well acquainted with each other, I thought I’d share a list of things I like about her and one of the things I don’t.
Let’s get the negative out of the way first!
Things I Don’t Like
Since it has been on my mind lately, I will start with the battery compartment. It’s spacious enough that I could put in eight golf cart-sized batteries if I want, but maintaining the batteries is a pain because of lack of overhead space. I am considering installing a pull out battery shelf, but I need to look into how much reinforcement would be needed.
The storage space under the dinette benches could much easier to get to. The bench behind the driver’s seat is especially a waste of space. There is a tiny, hard to open, drawer, accessible from the aisle. Taking it out would give me a large storage chest. It’s on my to do list.
The wardrobe doors suck. The sliding doors have hard plastic holders to keep the doors from moving when I drive. I have yet to access that closet without striking one of those holders with a wrist or elbow. The doors have a tendency to get off their rails and forget about trying to open them if stuff inside has shifted. If I’m going to live in this coach for any length of time, I need those doors replaced with ones that open out. That’s no longer a luxury item! I had considered a tension rod and curtain solution, then realised that this wouldn’t hold the items in while driving. So, back to real doors I go. All I want for Yule is…
The towel holder on the inside of the bathroom door has got to go. I say this an average of once a day. Early on in my trip, I hit my head so hard on the darn thing that I had a dark purple egg on my forehead from Nipigon all the way through to Regina!!! Yesterday, it almost took an eye out. Yet, it’s still there. I need to remember to bring a screwdriver in there the next time I, erm, go.
The cockpit console. I’m told that there are other ones available, so I’ll have to do a search. I’d like one that could hold my atlas and other guides and which wouldn’t make reaching for the glass of water/a pen/a pad of paper/the camera/my sun glasses/the lip balm/the hand cream/ the Purell/etc. a treasure hunt.
The house door sticks as though it’s not exactly square. Maybe it just needs an adjustment. I’ll have to take a closer look at it.
The cockpit door locks only occasionally open from the outside with the key. I frequently have to reenter from the house and open the doors from inside.
Things I Like
The layout is pitch perfect. The spaces flow well into one another and make the coach seem really spacious. I’ve lived here a month and a bit now and I have yet to feel cramped at all. I really like having to cross a room (the main part of the bathroom) to get to the kitchen and that the entrance to the kitchen isn’t exactly in line with that of the study. I am a lot happier having many small rooms than a few big rooms. The fact that the toilet has its very own room is a bonus. In such a small space, having to open an actual door is a real luxury.
The furnishings are well chosen. The absolute only thing I wish I could change, and I’ve said this before, would be to swap out one of the chairs in the lounge so I could fit in a credenza with shelves and drawers. I was surprised to discover that I like having the other chair. When I’m traveling, I overturn my computer chair in the back room, making that room fairly inaccessible. If I’m just stopping for a few hours for lunch or making a late stop in the evening, I don’t bother ‘making up’ that room and instead I find myself plopping down in one of the chairs at the front to read. Unfortunately, the chair that would be easiest to remove, the one behind the passenger’s side (because the bolts are easily accessible via the battery compartment), is the one I want to keep. The chair by the door tends to be a catch all, so I might as well have a proper surface there.
I’m surprisingly fond of the dinette, too. I usually eat there and it’s where I sit with my laptop and research materials to plan out my day. When traveling, I take the wicker baskets that I placed over the fridge and store them on a dinette bench. Eventually, I’ll get around to creating some sort of securing mechanism so I can leave the baskets above the fridge when traveling, but for now they’re completely out of the way on the dinette bench.
The ‘upstairs bedroom’ is a cozy space that works for me even though some might find it a tad tight up there with my mattress. I like that there is room for overflow storage without cramping my sleeping space. I’m not fond of the fact that I have to climb up on the dinette to get up there, though, since it’s getting the dinette dirty. I supposed I c/should put a towel over it. But climbing up (and down) isn’t a pain at all, not even in the wee hours of the morning when my bladder is screaming at me. There is a conveniently located light above the bed and I really like the curtain on a hospital rail. Closing it at night is the equivalent to shutting the bedroom door and gives me the feeling that I’m cozy and secure in a private little nest.
The kitchen is surprisingly efficient. There is just enough room to work. The only thing I’d change is that I would replace the double sink with a single one. The sink could be deeper, too, but that’s a minor complaint. The stove and oven are fantastic. A couple of weeks back, the piezo (sparker), the one part I was told didn’t work, started to work! So, now I don’t have to use a BBQ lighter to fire up the stove. I absolutely adore cooking on a gas range; it’s so much faster than on an electric one. The oven is excellent, too, and doesn’t require any feats of athleticism or eyebrow risk to light. The size is just right one-person sized casserole dishes. As for the fridge, no complaints there. It’s huge! I can’t even keep it completely filled, but when I have something oversized, there’s room for it.
The bathroom is the best space in the coach that I didn’t design myself. It does not feel like a stereotypical RV bathroom. There is plenty of space to walk around in the main part of it. The vanity is generously proportioned, with a medicine cabinet that offers more usable space than I have need for, plenty of counter space, and an under sink cabinet that is roomy enough for all my cleaning products. Next to the shower, there’s enough place for me to put a storage tower I had at my old house, effectively giving me the exact same amount of storage in the bathroom as I’m used to having! The shower is very luxurious and just the right size for me. There’s no elbow banging involved in it! The only thing I’d change is the shower head since it doesn’t have the adjustment for turning off the water while soaping up. The toilet room is surprisingly pleasant for such a tiny space as its white walls and window make it very bright and airy. This room was also the source of a DOH! moment for me. I was frustrated that the coach doesn’t have a broom closet. Yesterday, I finally clued in as to why there’s a hook behind the toilet. Whadya know, it’s just the right height for hanging a broom. Or a Swiffer stick in my case!
Then, there’s the room I call the study or the living room. Oh, I LOVE this space! My mother really outdid herself with her fine tuning of my design. The two mattresses and pillows make a wonderful place to recline and watch a movie or read. The night table is at just the right height and distance for placing a mug of tea or a glass of water. The useless bar has turned into a very useful place for storing all the cables for my electronic equipment. There’s also just enough room to put a litter box and box of litter out of the way, tucked in the space between the toilet room wall and the edge of the storage box topped with the night table.
Looking up, I have no less than four skylights, two of which have covers enabling me to leave them open even when it’s raining. They add a lot of light to the coach and bring in less noise than do open windows. I do need to think about insulating them for the winter.
Finally, there’s the basement. What else can I say about the basement, but thank goodness for all that usable storage space! I packed the basement in Ottawa and have had to make only a few minor tweaks. There can be a lot of shuffling involved to get at things that are stored in the bowels of the large pass throughs, but it’s not tedious at all.
All of these elements combined make for a very airy and livable coach. I don’t feel cramped in here in the least and I just left a 900 square foot home!
If your under bench area is like ours, there is indeed a lot of wasted space. You might consider adding hinges to the piece of plywood under the seat so all you have to do is remove the pads and flip up the lid to gain access. We use this area for things we do not use often.
The battery tray is a little more difficult. You would have to raise the floor to clear the ledge in front of the compartment. This might be accomplished with 2 X 4 or 2 X 6 on edge with plywood screwed on top. Then you would have to build a pretty sturdy drawer that slides out with a method to keep it from falling or tipping when it is out. Heavy duty drawer hardware might be strong enough or a prop that you place between the drawer and the ground. As you discovered, the batteries are very heavy so you would want them to slide out just far enough to service.
You would also have to lengthen the cables to allow this. I noted in a previous post, you have experiencing soldering plumbing. Soldering cable uses similar techniques so I am confident you could do it yourself. If you decide to do this, send me an email and I will give you detailed instructions.
One bench has heating pipes, so it’s fine, but the other one has a really stupidly designed drawer.
No need for hinges. Once I remove the cushions, I get to a very thin sheet of plywood that gets pulled out and put out of the way.
With the 3/4 plywood in the battery compartment now, the batteries are flush with the door.
For the battery drawer, this is something I wouldn’t even be thinking about until the summer, but I’ll let you know if I need instructions. Thanks!
This was a subtle reminder to check the water level in your batteries soon… If they are down, fill them and check again in another two weeks. If they are not down, check them in a month. I know it is difficult to climb into the compartment to do this and you might need a mirror and flashlight to see into them but it is a necessary procedure!
I just did mine and after two months of being in storage mode with just the solar charging they were down about 1/8 – 3/16 inch. I would consider this about “normal”. I topped them off and will check again after we are in Mexico and they have had some use.
I checked the batteries last Friday!!! 🙂 They didn’t need water.
I’ll check them again tomorrow and then every two weeks after that.
Go ahead and check them again in two weeks. If you find they need water every two weeks, keep checking every two weeks. If you find they do not need water, or only need very little (1/8 inch or so), you could switch to a once per month routine. There is no sense getting a sore back any more often than necessary.