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Old 02-10-2020, 02:53 PM   #1
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Why Don't They:

As we search for our Ideal full time Class A DP, we find some things the are in only a tiny percentage of motor homes or none and cannot understand why they are not more common. Probably someone here can explain some of these things.

Why don’t they:

1. Put the shower enclosure all the way up to the ceiling? There is room for a decent height shower but they stop the enclosure 2 feet or more from the ceiling and leave me crouching to wash my hair.

2. Have 4500 watts of solar on most RVs?

3. Use lithium house batteries.

4. Put toilets up higher so you do not have to squat down so much to sit on them. We did this in our home and it is wonderful.

5. Have more and larger windows.

6. All have swivel front seats that become part of your living area.

7. Have access to “basement” storage bays form inside the RV?

8. Include sturdier step well covers. Many or most of the used RV we looked at the stepwell covers no longer work properly and the new ones look like they will break tomorrow. They are all so thin and cheaply made cheap motors plastic gears etc.

9. Combine grey and black water tanks?

10. Have a seat belt restraint like thing for the bed so if someone is sleeping while the other is driving they do not get killed in an accident.

11. Use automatic or push button tinting for the windows, so you can have privacy or keep out heat, but then see out clearly when you want to see out.

12. Have windows that open (some do, but most seem to not). Especially on the driver’s side.

13. Have a driver’s door?

14. Have a reinforced (aluminum?) walkway/deck on the roof?

15. Have skylights? I know they can get hot in some places, but you can easily have covers.

16. Include tie down rings here and there like they do in the bed of a pickup truck so you can tie down inside items (like a big parrot cage) when you are traveling.

17. Paint in basic two or three tone colors without tacky swirls?

18. Have rear windows (except on a very few exceptions).

19. All use adjustable beds that can become a couch during the day?

20. More frequently have a pull down bed in the wasted space over the driver’s and passenger’s head (We saw this once and it was on a junky Thor).

21. All use a removable induction range instead of gas. It is so much safer and you can cook stinky stuff outside.

22. Use CB radios much anymore?
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Old 02-10-2020, 03:12 PM   #2
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Sounds like you're a candidate for a home made conversion
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Old 02-10-2020, 03:30 PM   #3
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Items 1, 6, 8, 12, 13 and 15 were all included on our 2004 Itasca Sunrise. It's hard to believe they're not on many (or most) newer motorhomes as well.

Oh, and we have a CB radio (#22) as well but I haven't used a CB since the '70's!
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Old 02-10-2020, 04:22 PM   #4
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Most of the reason is COST, you know the almight $$$$$. People are looking for a Rolls Royce on a Chevette budget.

You step up to a Prevost or the likes and you can get all of this stuff.

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Old 02-10-2020, 04:47 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AveryF View Post
Items 1, 6, 8, 12, 13 and 15 were all included on our 2004 Itasca Sunrise. It's hard to believe they're not on many (or most) newer motorhomes as well.

Oh, and we have a CB radio (#22) as well but I haven't used a CB since the '70's!
same here except #6 have an almost mid range door and stopped using CB's back in the 80's
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Old 02-10-2020, 05:06 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldjensens View Post

2. Have 4500 watts of solar on most RVs?

3. Use lithium house batteries.

7. Have access to “basement” storage bays form inside the RV?

9. Combine grey and black water tanks?

10. Have a seat belt restraint like thing for the bed so if someone is sleeping while the other is driving they do not get killed in an accident.

21. All use a removable induction range instead of gas. It is so much safer and you can cook stinky stuff outside.

22. Use CB radios much anymore?
Interesting topic, and I'll take a stab at a few of them.



2. 4500 watts? Not sure most RVs have enough space on the roof for even half of that.
3. Still an expensive initial investment, and only worth it for those who are boondocking a lot. Even then, it's still easier to use a generator than to go with solar and batteries.
7. Not sure I would find that too useful since the things I put in the basement are not things I need to use inside. It would complicate the flooring/carpet too.
9. Not sure why anyone would want that unless it was a really small RV with no room for both.
10. No one should be sleeping in the bed while the RV is moving. I am not sure any manufacturer would want to be liable for the safety of such a seat belt either.
21. I have a portable induction cooktop and love it, but I also like having the propane stove. If boondocking, it's good to still have redundancy.
22. Most of the country has cell phone coverage now.
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Old 02-10-2020, 05:34 PM   #7
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Old 02-10-2020, 06:58 PM   #8
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1. Our Sunstar has a full height shower stall, with a skylight bubble so even I at 6'4" can stand upright.

2. I just bought 2 high efficiency 250 watt panels. each of them is 13.38 ft^2. 4500 watts would take 18 panels, or 240 square feet, Our Sunstar is a nominal 8' usable wide by maybe 29' long, or 232 ft^2. That leaves no room for antennas, A/C, shower skylight, fridge and roof vents, etc.


More importantly, those panels weigh 33 lbs each (the reason I paid more for more efficiency/ less weight. 18 of them would add almost 600 lbs to motorhomes that are already close ro being overweight.



I bought used panels, so they cost me only $90 each. But that times 18 = $1,620 higher cost.



3. And all of that solar power has to go somewhere, so, more batteries, more weight, bigger solar charger, more weight, bigger inverter to use those batteries, more weight. And, ALL of those, vastly more money.


And, all of that extra cost is marked up significantly by the mfr.


5. Every available wall space in ours has a window. The only space that could has the 32" TV.

7.This would have been handy in our Suncruiser because there was an orphan space that was very har to get to from underneath. However, that compromises floor strength, insulation, and, perhap, exhaust gas intrusion, and don't need it in the Sunstar.





8. Huh? Never had a step well cover, never needed one.

9. Combine grey and black water tanks? What? I don't know how you use a motorhome, but that's not at all useful to us. It's a detriment.

11. Money, money money money.

12. All of ours do, except the door.


13. Have a driver’s door? Yeah, I miss that.

14. Have a reinforced (aluminum?) walkway/deck on the roof? Go back to #2. Add a walkway, shades the solar panels, more weight, more money.

18. Have rear windows (except on a very few exceptions). Had one in the Suncruiser, Not very useful to actually look out of with a rear bed, leaked, and dripped condensation in cold weather.

19. All use adjustable beds that can become a couch during the day? Sorry, I don't want to make up the rear queen every night, nor need a couch back there during the day.

20. More frequently have a pull down bed in the wasted space over the driver’s and passenger’s head.


Had one on this Sunstar. Didn't need it, took it out to save weight, and (see your #6) it made the front seats unusable when it was down.


21. Induction stove... Sorry, like my gas, like saving electricity. But, I guess with your 4.5kW of solar and all the battery and inverter appurtenances, you can run an electric cooktop.

22. Have amateur radio, cell phones and a sat phone. Every time I fire up the CB, it's crickets.
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Old 02-10-2020, 07:07 PM   #9
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if there was enough demand somebody would build it. i am afraid you need a custom prevost or newell to full fill your demands
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Old 02-10-2020, 07:14 PM   #10
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Ken has it right....COST. If you're willing to pay for a customized RV, then you can have anything you want. That & appealing to the majority of buyers, not the few. I, for one, could care less if I had solar panels, a pull down bed in the cockpit or a CB radio. CB radio? Hello, it's not the 80's anymore - Waze & traffic reporting GPS are all I need to know about tie ups & where "smokey" is.

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Old 02-10-2020, 07:51 PM   #11
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20 - Usually there is a poorly placed TV there.

23 - Why is the TV there? It's usually at 90 degrees from viewers. I know that the old style were so big, that was an easy place to stick them, but they've been gone for a dozen or so years.
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Old 02-10-2020, 08:10 PM   #12
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Wow.....that would be one unsellable coach!!!!! Unless you traveled with a parrot!
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Old 02-10-2020, 08:15 PM   #13
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Many answers should be intuitive; liability, expense and compromise.

If you want it, you can pay to have it added before, during or after your build.
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Old 02-10-2020, 08:30 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldjensens View Post

Why don’t they:

1. Put the shower enclosure all the way up to the ceiling? Most I see stop less than a foot from the ceiling.

2. Have 4500 watts of solar on most RVs? Cost

3. Use lithium house batteries. Cost

4. Put toilets up higher so you do not have to squat down so much to sit on them. We did this in our home and it is wonderful. They do. Our toilet is actually on a platform and most RV toilets are sold in standard and high models.

5. Have more and larger windows. Gotta have closets, fridges and vertical support.

6. All have swivel front seats that become part of your living area. Almost every new RV has this feature.

7. Have access to “basement” storage bays form inside the RV? Why?

8. Include sturdier step well covers. Many or most of the used RV we looked at the stepwell covers no longer work properly and the new ones look like they will break tomorrow. They are all so thin and cheaply made cheap motors plastic gears etc. Probably under 20% of RVers would need or use stepwell covers.

9. Combine grey and black water tanks? Not necessary. And if you want to do that just buy a twist-on gate valve to keep closed and then open your gray and black dump valves.

10. Have a seat belt restraint like thing for the bed so if someone is sleeping while the other is driving they do not get killed in an accident. Same reason not all sitting spaces have seatbelts.

11. Use automatic or push button tinting for the windows, so you can have privacy or keep out heat, but then see out clearly when you want to see out. This would be great but consider the cost.

12. Have windows that open (some do, but most seem to not). Especially on the driver’s side. We must be looking at different RVs, all the ones I see have most windows opening.

13. Have a driver’s door? Cost

14. Have a reinforced (aluminum?) walkway/deck on the roof? Most roofs are now reinforced to allow walking on them.

15. Have skylights? I know they can get hot in some places, but you can easily have covers. Go outside to look at the sky.

16. Include tie down rings here and there like they do in the bed of a pickup truck so you can tie down inside items (like a big parrot cage) when you are traveling. It's a living space, not a cargo hold.

17. Paint in basic two or three tone colors without tacky swirls? They think people like tacky swirls.

18. Have rear windows (except on a very few exceptions). Since you're looking at DPs this should be self-explanatory. Lotsa gas As and Cs have rear windows.

19. All use adjustable beds that can become a couch during the day? Because they have couches that become beds at night?

20. More frequently have a pull down bed in the wasted space over the driver’s and passenger’s head (We saw this once and it was on a junky Thor). In Gas As and Cs this is pretty much standard.

21. All use a removable induction range instead of gas. It is so much safer and you can cook stinky stuff outside. Why does it need to be removable? Many have both induction and gas ranges and some are induction only.

22. Use CB radios much anymore? You really need an answer to this?
Answers above.
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