|
Size, Weight & Floor Plan Issues For New Excel
After a 1-1/2 year of delay since we got rid of our old FW I finally bit the bullet and got my new left hip in January. At 10 weeks post op I'm feeling like a new man and ready to go for our dream RV. We are on final approach for ordering a new '15 Excel Limited.
We really like a floor plan with an L shaped couch but the TKE is no longer made. The GKE layout would have worked too since we plan on supplying the furniture. The 31IKE/34IKR are pretty much the same as the GKE without the wrap around counter that makes it a U kitchen. So I'm looking at those plans giving us the island kitchen with the L shape couch blocking the one end when in place sort of like a GKE plan without the fixed counter in the gap between island and pantry area. The new pull out counter from the pantry will turn this into a convertible IKE/GKE so we're thinking it's the best of both worlds, L shaped couch with U kitchen when we want it, open island plan when we don't.
I'm only going with one recliner so the lightweight modular section that would form the L can move over to the slide corner in the recliner area when we pull the slides in to travel. When want the open kitchen it's nice comfy corner seating that fits that spot well. I found a nice short Ikea L shaped modular couch that's a little under 76"L just right to fit in the couch space in a 34IKR. Problem is we don't want that big a coach. We do a lot of state park and COE camping and we're really interested in staying under 35', 33-34' was my target. The specs on the 31IKE sure fit both our camping style at 31'11" (pin to bumper) and the weight numbers for my '12 Chevy 3500HD SRW. We had a dually once and neither of us liked that beast as our touring vehicle when unhitched so the SRW was a must when we bought a truck for the next rig.
As our final dream RV we are loading this one up with options like auto leveling, dishwasher, quad fridge and lots more. When I do a weight calculation with all options, gear, food etc, plus everything that we might add (not going with a geny or washer dryer to start but both are future possibilities so I added them in) the 31IKE has me under my 17K# FW towing limit with a reasonable cushion of about 500#. The 34IKR puts me over by about the same amount and right at it without geny or w/d, so it doesn't work for our length limit and or actual weight limits by my calculations.
We're going to talk to Bryan about a mod to gain some couch space since the 31IKE would fit the other parameters so well. I sure wish they still made a 33 @ 34'4" since I'd probably be ok at a little longer but another leap to 35'5" is not what we want and I'm not going to pull a rig that could weigh in at 17000# or more with a truck limited to 17K#. Hopefully Bryan can work with us to mod the plan a bit a fit our needs so we can get an order going.
One thing I was also wondering about, the old 33 TKE has the same UVW as the longer 34 IKR (13800# - 33GKE actually listed higher @ 13980#) Going from 34'4" to 35'5" should add some weight, I'll have to ask Bryan about that. If anyone has thoughts on rig length and tow weights I'd love to hear them.
|
Linear Mode
