are being debuted, these floor plans may be all you’ve got to judge by.
Often, people look at floor plans because getting to see inside an RV you’re interested in, the one that may be your heart’s desire, takes time, effort, and perhaps a long drive. The better you get at judging from a floor plan whether a particular RV may be right for you, the less likely it is you’ll drive to another state to get a look inside a unit that wasn’t at all what you thought it would be.
Take full advantage of the wonderful resource of YouTube. Just about every trailer, fifth wheel, and motorhome out there, including the tiniest teardrop, has some dealer or owner, somewhere, who does a walk-through of that specific trailer on video. Print out that floor plan if you don’t have a company brochure, and refer to it as you watch. Very quickly, you’ll get a sense of paper versus reality. Not everyone is Steven Spielberg, but some of the dealers who’ve been doing this for years produce videos on YouTube that are far beyond merely helpful — some people actually buy based only on these videos, hopefully because they’re an old hand or they’re already very familiar with the company. Many manufacturers have brief videos with a lovingly art-directed fly-by through the interior, but a 40-minute video walk-through with someone like the knowledgeable T.J. at Princess Craft in Texas will give you a very good idea of whether this particular model is worth tracking down.
There’s no question that we recommend walking through any vehicle before you commit to buying it. But in the RV universe, particularly now, when manufacturers are overwhelmed and dealers are asking for a down payment to hold the particular rig you want, that may not be possible. The fact is, if the RV you’ve ordered is very similar to the one you’ve seen (for example, an older model), you’ll probably be very happy with your RV-on-demand. Of course, make absolutely certain what the dealer’s policy is, in case you don’t like it.
If you’re trying to make the best of looking at a floor plan, here are a couple tips.
If the floor plan you’re interested in is, say, a 25-foot trailer, try to get into any 25-foot trailer, more than one of them, just to get an idea of the feel of 25 feet and what can and can’t be done with it. We’re not saying there’s a lack of imagination in the business, but RVs within their class and size tend to fall into certain recognized patterns when it comes to the placement of the major amenities. Get to know it, and that floor plan will probably look more familiar.
Familiarize yourself with as many units as you can that are made by that manufacturer, to get a feel for their product. A square line drawing from above of a corner bed tucked between the bathroom and side wall will seem clearer to you if you see how it was done in another of the units they’ve built.
SLIDES AND WHY YOU NEED TO THINK ABOUT THEM
The RV industry has gone slide bonkers, with not just one or two in a unit, but sometimes four or five of them. The single full-wall slide is also fairly common now — at the push of a button, one entire side of your motorhome expands, like Moses parting the Red Sea. It’s darn near miraculous.
The advantage of slides is, obviously, the added indoor space. The disadvantages are, to be honest, numerous. First, slides add a whole lot of weight — as much as 1,550 pounds apiece — which affects your gas mileage, tires, and more. Second, you don’t have to be an engineer to understand that a slide is a major compromise to the structural integrity of an RV, and there are consequences to installing one. Many common maintenance issues in an RV are an easy fix, but when something goes wrong with a slide, it can have far more devastating consequences. And where slides are concerned, the fact is that, sooner or later, something is going to go wrong. Here are just some of the possibilities:
Water leaks: Leaks caused by slides can be insidious and can go on for some time before they’re detected. If you find that the floor around the slide is soft, don’t shrug it off — it probably means that water is coming in and damaging your subfloor.
Drafts: Along with water, slides also allow in drafts, and this affects your air-conditioning and your heating. People who cold-weather camp complain of the slide-related drafts.
Debris in the mechanism: To prevent this, many slides now have slide toppers (clever awnings that roll out automatically with the slide, to keep debris from falling in and causing problems). But doing your lubricant treatments, which are necessary to keep your seals in good condition, can be a bit more difficult if you have a slide topper. Give your floor a quick sweep before you engage your slide, for the same reason, possible debris.
Pests: Pests of all sorts will have easier access to your RV interior. Enough said.
If you’re caring for them properly, the slide problem you face may be an easy fix, but they’re usually on the expensive side. Just be sure to check the warranty of any RV you’re considering, and ask specifically about slides. (More on warranties in Chapter 6.)
If you decide to get an RV with a slide, you’ll need to take more care making and breaking camp. You truly need to inspect your space before you go pushing that button —one tree branch you didn’t notice can cause serious damage.
A big RV with lots of slides can also cause an etiquette problem at your campsite. You pull in the size of a school bus, pop the hydraulic switch, and blow up to the size of a 747. Don’t be surprised if your neighbor is a bit grumpy over it. Always try to be polite and smooth things over. (RVers are, in general, the nicest people on earth, so it shouldn’t be a huge problem.) Always ask for a large pull-through space, one that’s designed for a rig of your length and width (most campgrounds only ask about length). The older the park, the narrower the spaces, so just keep that in mind when deciding where to stay.
Speaking very generally, people who spend a lot of time parked in an RV love slides for the added living space, while people who enjoy being constantly on the move find them an annoyance and often not worth the bother or added expense.
At an RV show, you’ll nearly always find the slides already open when you step inside. Never, ever be embarrassed to ask a salesperson to close those slides, so you can see what the unit looks like without them. You’ll also get a chance to see if they operate smoothly or if they shudder and sound like a couple of bricks thrown into a clothes dryer.
Can you still function in a trailer without opening the slides? The answer: No, you probably can’t. In fact, in the first trailer we looked at, as the slides slowly closed, we had to step away, toward the door. And after they were shut, the dinette was snugged up against the kitchen cabinets, and there was no access whatsoever to the bedroom or bathroom. The smiling salesperson informed us that this was the reason they’d put in a second entrance door in the new models, so you could still reach the bedroom when they were shut.
Worse, whenever we asked if they had anything without a slide, salespeople tended to look at us as though we’d slipped a cog. In the end, this was one of the many reasons we chose Airstream, because its trailers are slide-free. (Airstream only uses slides in its Atlas touring coach.) We decided that slides were against the laws of physics, and just weren’t for us.
Traveling with kids
When it comes to space, there isn’t a more important issue at the decision-making stage than whether you’re traveling with kids.
There’s a big difference between a pair of retirees with wanderlust and a family of five living on the road, even for a short time or on a seasonal trip. You may think that someone trying to live long-term in a
