In this installment of our discussion we are going to talk a bit about basements, basement storage features, and other things that might be in your basement. A large and well featured basement is one of the primary reasons folks choose a diesel pusher.
Basement storage: It seems to me that for the most part, typical diesel pushers have a lot of storage and this is not normally a great concern. I have seen some models that had insufficient storage capacity and it is something that everyone should check before purchasing a new coach. The chassis a manufacturer chooses to put under the house determines that gross vehicle weight and there are things a manufacturer can do to save money when specifying a chassis from the chassis maker. Sometimes these things affect the GVW adversely and the loser is the ultimate owner who cannot carry enough “stuff” in the basement. One recent example concerns a very high line Class A manufacturer who chose to save money and reduced the front axle weight rating. The result was a very expensive diesel motorhome that was overloaded with just the passengers on board. This flap has still not been settled to many owners satisfaction.
There are several aspects to the basement arrangement that we should talk about. I much prefer the basement storage arrangement with “pass through” type compartments. I have looked at several pushers with storage compartments attached to the bottom of the slides and I really don’t like that configuration. I agree that it makes the compartment easily accessible since you don’t have to duck under the extended slide to get into the compartment. However, it bothers me that you have all that extra weight hanging from the slide and the slide mechanism. My guess is that this is done by the manufacturers to save money rather than to provide convenient access, although I haven’t heard of any studies done comparing slide reliability with boxes hanging from the bottom. Anyway, I still prefer the pass through type because it allows me to carry really long stuff.
I am also not a real big fan of Joey beds or slide out trays. Granted they provide a degree of convenience but you do that by sacrificing storage space. All in all, that is probably a matter of personal choice and not really a deal breaker to me.
From a convenience standpoint, there are a lot of available items for you basement that a manufacturer can and should include in this expensive vehicle. I would like to see a built in power cord reel, and hose reel for the fresh water. Also as standard, should be a whole house filter with replaceable cartridges.
I don’t really know how to talk about the arrangement of the various controls located in the basement, generally referred to as the water compartment. In some ways, it bothers me if the fresh water system and the holding tank dump system are located in the same compartment. In another way, that type of arrangement does save space by only using one of the limited number of basement compartments. I have seen some very nice arrangements in this area, and some that make no sense whatsoever. I would be interested in hearing some of your thoughts on this part of your motorhome. What do you look for, what do you like and not like. I will mention one feature I do like. My first DP was a Coachmen, and in the water compartment the tank drain hose was mounted into a 4” PVC pipe setup which was mounted under the compartment. The pipe included a 90 degree elbow which pivoted to allow the hose to “point” in the direction of the drain hole. When you were finished with the hose, simply push it back into the PVC, screw on a cap and you were done. My current DP did not come with this feature and I finally got around to building one myself and installing it, last year, my own personal step towards building a more perfect coach.
In our next installment, we are going to talk more about basements and basement features. Until then, go camping and have fun.
Larry
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Traveling Light 2
Thanks for your comment Larry.
The spare is an issue. But you are right, it would take up a lot of space. Maybe my mantra of never having tires over 7 years old will protect me from need of a spare. This would be a good reason to buy a major brand like Michelin of BF Goodrich, so that in the event I had an emergency I could most likely find a replacement. Another thought: If I keep the cash in the bank that I would spend on a spare tire and extra wheel, it would be available for that unhoped for emergency. The cash is much lighter than the spare and it takes up no room at all if it is in the bank drawing interest. Life goes on and we become wiser as we share thoughts with folks in our circle of interests.
Here are a few additional Perfect DP thoughts I had last night:
1. Full body paint. Decals are the first thing to go bad. Since I am looking at decade old MHs for the immediate future, I have learned that very few decals have lasted 10 years. At least with paint, I can buff it out and polish it.
2. Air brakes? I would think this would be a big plus.
3. Jake Brake? Possibly another good idea. I am surprised not all Diesels have air brakes or jakebrakes.
larrycad
Traveling Light, nice post. You should maybe take up writing as you begin your fulltiming. Two comments, first, I strongly recommend the Cummins. Caterpiller has gotten out of the RV business altogether and I suspect there will be fewer and fewer places that welcome RVs with Cat engines as time goes on. As a rule of thumb, the larger the block, the more torque you can develop. Torque gets you moving and if you are towing, it could be important. Get the biggest motor you can.
Second, regarding carrying a spare, most will advise against it. Unless you are on a really tight schedule I and others would suggest you could use the space to better advantage. Just my opinion.
Larry
TravelingLight2
I have a several questions and comments to add to the forum.
First a little history: We have been campers off and on since 1971. Started with a pop-up, then tents, and then moving to pull behinds, then class C, then class A. We now travel the trade show and festival circuit but are usually less than 100 miles from our base of Charlotte, NC. We will move from sticks & bricks to full time MH within the next 12 months. We intend to work camp for the next 10 years and the distance we travel will increase over the years. We do not currently own a MH but are looking for DP in the 35’ to 40’ range. We are currently thinking Monaco, Holiday Rambler, Safari (yes I am aware they are all Monaco brands) or Foretravel.
1. I have not found very many DP MHs that have a mid coach access door. Most have the bus type door location in front of the co-pilot seat. This seems to us newbie full timers to be a negative. With a mid coach location groceries and entering/exiting seem to be much more convenient. With a co-pilot location the passenger sits quite a ways back from the dash, the driver must pass in front of the passenger seat to enter or exit. All people coming and going from coach require the passenger to vacate the co-pilot seat. This seems to be troublesome for full timing.
2. I have noticed that many coaches in the past had drivers doors, but that no one seems to be making them any more. Is there a reason?
3. I am interested in large basement storage, of course, but several of the DP’s have a restrictive beam or duct-work in the center of the coach that actually makes a full pass thru slide out tray unusable. So far I have only found Foretravels to have completely open pass thru without the beam or central duct-work issue. Are there any others that you can think of? The open basement pass thru is important in order to efficiently carry tools I use in my work camping life.
4. Something I have noted with great concern is the lack of space for house batteries. Also service of these important but easily overlooked items looks like a nightmare on most coaches. I will at the very least figure out some way to slide these out for service. We will be adding a considerable number of batteries in order to use solar panels efficiently. I have some solar back ground from having built houses off grid in High Country Colorado. We are prepared to spend as much as $7.000.00 for solar in order to become as grid free as possible. I am currently thinking 4 to 6 no maintenance gel or AFG type batteries and possibly 4 to 6 panels on roof. This would make the central AC in the basement more attractive, but then you lose that basement storage. When I look under the carriage of many DP’s I seem to see a lot of unused space. We won’t be four wheeling or off-roading so I think clearance is not much of an issue. I would like to use some of that space.
5. My lovely co-pilot and wife of 38 years agrees that the full wall slide out just seems to make unneeded central floor space. We are leaning towards no slides or 2 slides, one in living area and one in bedroom area.
6. We agree that mounting the bed forward to aft makes more sense to us to avoid the bump above the motor; however if we can find a chassis that we like with a floor plan that works, a port to starboard bed alignment would be nice if it allowed small windows at the head end for cross breeze and security viewing.
7. One piece windows sound nice except when I have to replace the whole windshield for a chip or crack instead of just ½ a windshield. The center bar does not bother me much.
8. Dinette on curbside is a given.
9. Cable and phone hookups not needed. Maybe I can adapt the wiring to use for something else.
10. Your info on Kingdomes not being HD compatible was very helpful.
11. I completely agree that ½ bath is not needed, but we would like to have the toilet separate from the rest of the bath for privacy and an extra sink that we see frequently with toilet area is a plus.
12. While on baths we are shocked that so many bath mirrors are set so tall. My wife is just less than 5’ tall and she can’t see herself in many of the MH bath mirrors we have looked at. That is now one of the first things she checks.
13. Having awnings over all windows even the ones under the patio awning is important for when it is too windy to put out patio or we are black top camping, but would like to be able to shade the dinette area.
14. We believe that there will be a considerable difference between camping, even long term, and full timing and we are trying to cover the bases for that difference.
15. We use computers and cell phones extensively and therefore an office area that can remain functional 24/7 is very important.
16. We will be pulling a car of some sort so towing capacity is important.
17. Ceramic tile is not important and because of its weight I question its true value at all. Carpet in the forward area is detrimental and would constantly need cleaning. We would prefer something else that is low maintenance but not cheap looking. Carpet in the bedroom is OK for sound deadening and barefoot comfort. If we have the same floor material in all areas of the space back to the bedroom we think it would make the floor space less cut up looking. There are some very attractive but expensive commercial vinyl floor coverings, commercial cork floors are another option, and even Bamboo is attractive, rugged and lighter weight than Ceramic tile.
18. Hot water heat is a huge plus, but we will be looking at MHs in the 10 year old realm. I have not seen any of that era that has hot water heat.
19. Question about windshield wipers. Is there any preference between wipers being mounted at the top of the windshield or the bottom? I think my preference would be mounted at the top.
20. I understand the fears of winds damaging the main awnings, but I wonder if adding a portable/accessory down post at the corners would help stabilize the main awning. We had a screened enclosure (add-a-room type) on our pop up and loved it. It would be great to be able to add that living space without the bugs. Some of the work I do crates sawdust and this would be the bug free area for my work. I HATE MOSQUITOES
21. Is there much difference between big block and small block diesel? Cummins is my choice because it appears service will be pretty easy anywhere in the country. Is there anyplace that gives recommendations as to which Cummins motor is good, better or best. CATs have a great name but Cummins seem to be far more plentiful.
22. I am thinking that the Alcoa Aluminum wheels are superior to steel; better balance, lighter weight at the end of the axles etc. I have recently decided that having a spare wheel and tire seems to be the answer even though it will be heavy and take up room. (Maybe this is another item for under the coach storage?).
22. I have read discussions from various forums about road side service and mounting tires. I will NEVER put my own tire on, but rather want to be prepared in the eventuality of a blow out. Tire troubles seem to be the number one reason for insurance claims. Tires less than 7 years old will be my mantra
23. Washer dryer combo or stackable separates. The something less than 5’ tall higher power that I answer to says she wants her own WD. Therefore we will have them, but the talk I hear is that the combos don’t do a very good job.
Well that’s enough for now. I truly enjoy the posts and have learned a lot in the last 8 months of planning. Thanks to everybody for their comments and questions.
S&Q the Traveling Light 2
steve dwyer
Hi Larry, I have a Tiffin Allegro Bus 05, 40′ and although I have plenty of basement space, one joey bed, my doors open up! Hard to get under them to access the compartments. Even with the slides in the doors get in the way. So side opening doors would be under my perfect DP. Steve
Peter R
I have a 40 ft coach on a Feightliner “High Rail” cahssis. I love the enormus storage space. And I agree with you nothing beats the total pass through. I was thinking about the slide outs but then I agre with you – They takk up storage space. The second negative is a, side to side, slide out in my coach can weigh 500 plus LBS. No thanks, I will reach in and use all the space I can and that’s just fine.
Hey, thanks for the DP reviews, I enjoy the segments.
Keep up the good writing.
larrycad
Ed, I enjoyed reading your comment and must confess, you have an interesting point of view with your analogy. I agree with most of your points and plan to do a summary of the various comments in a future post.
Butterbean, I will take some photos of my “hose storage” elbow and post them in the near future. Hope that helps.
Larry
butterbean carpenter
#2, Howdy Larry, Could you explain that 90 degree 4″ elbow set up any clearer, I can’t ‘see’ it…does the hose slide in & out of the 4″PVC AND then hook up or is this part of the system????
butterbean carpenter
Howdy Larry,
Ed
Enjoy your looking for the perfect DP. Isn’t it like the search for the perfect woman? What is more important is what you don’t want. Do you want a show queen? Or prefer not to have a trophy model woman. they do cost more to maintain. Maybe one doesn’t want a blonde or a redhead. again the list gets shorteer. Every woman comes with 2 arms, two legs and all the other necessary parts. But, there are some things you just don’t want. Every DP has some storage, some ammenities. But, which ones don’t you want? Every DP has wheels, tires, engine. My list would be I want a Cummings engine because of service. But, that doesn’t really narrow the list down much. Cat units can be difficult to service and now with CAT not making engines for DP anymore it could get even more difficult. Of course most coaches come with an Allison transmaission, again serviceability. Dont want a GM engine as they can be problem to service finding a dealer who will in fact do service work. I don’t want 4 slides. don’t want electric slides. Prefer hyd. Don’t want 3 point jack system. don’t want a rubbver roof. Would prefer not to have roof mounted air. Once you elimanate all the stuff you prefer not to have your list of manufactuers becomes a lot shorter. The point is once you list what you don’t want the shopping list gets shorter, much shorter. My analogy about the woman is just that, an anology. Call it food for thought! Ed