Community Forums

mobilemike · 10-25-2019, 06:03 PM

Whats with "women cant drive big motorhomes"
My wife drove 40ft school buses for 8 years. Observe any school districts bus drivers pool and 90% are women. A woman can drive a motorhome as well as any man.
Look in your local news for a school bus rodeo and go watch. I have judged bus rodeo before and what these woman can do with a 40ft school buss is astounding.

Get the big motorhome you want. Tell your wife she will do fine, you have confidence in her, she will probably end up being a better driver than you.

crb478 · 10-25-2019, 07:22 PM

I have a 1998 Beaver Patriot Savannah, it is listed as 33 foot but is actually 34 foot. I am 6'1 with a 34 inch in seem and my seat goes back farther than I am comfortable driving from. As for a pantry we don't have much of one, its on a slide of 4 wire shelves and easily holds cans and boxes. Its just not very big. We do have tons of cabinets so for us it is not a real problem. There are motor homes out there that will fit you and make your wife happy, but in the shorter ones you will probably have to make some sacrifices. I wish my shower was a little bigger and that I had a King size bed. I am happy with pretty much everything else so I doubt I will be looking for anything else anytime soon. If I was living in it full time that would probably change things. Right now I just want a nice hotel room on wheels not a home on wheels.

R.Wold · 10-25-2019, 11:43 PM

Id say sit in the drivers seat for a while and experiment with stretching your legs out a bit. I found places under the dash where I could stretch out my left leg in both my ford class Cs and my Newmar 30’ class A. In the class A I can stretch my left leg straight out under the dash, and I too have a 36” inseam.

So you find ways to get comfortable and adjust your driving position. The longer you stay behind the wheel, the more you’ll want to reposition to get comfortable. I sit in multiple positions throughout the day. Another consideration though is driver fatigue. I found I could drive a class C about 300-400 miles more in a given day. After 450-500 miles in my class A gas, Im beat.

Teamfoxy · 10-26-2019, 05:41 AM

We have had both a C and an A built on a Ford chassis. On both the leg room side and overall storage capacity the A is much better.
Not all coaches drive and handle the same way. Weight distribution and the overall length to wheel base ratio make a large difference. On our first trip to the truck scales, we found our Class C was overweight on the rear axle by about 600# while we were still within the GVWR. I moved the spare tire to the front bumper and shifted our cargo around to have heavy items forward. The improvement in the way it drove was amazing.
When we bought our current class A, I employed the same philosophy of weighing everything and keep the heavy items forward. I also looked for one with a wheel base to overall length ratio of 55% or better. Ours comes in at 56%. As a result, our coach drives very well without adding all the suspension modifications that many say are necessary. Nan does half the driving and she likes our A much better than the C. So do I.

twedinger · 10-26-2019, 05:54 AM

Finally tumbled to the window location aspect. Thank you

twedinger · 10-26-2019, 05:55 AM

That type of pantry is sufficient

paddykern · 10-26-2019, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johninsd

The Class C's on the Sprinter chassis typically have much more available legroom than the Fords. I am 6'4" with 36" inseam and I can put the driver's seat back so far that I can't reach the pedals. Storage is limited but I deal with that by taking less stuff. There are stores nearly everywhere if I forget something.

John
2016 Itasca Navion 24G

Agree.
I'm 6'0" and the Sprinter is the first vehicle I don't need to have the seat all the way back to drive.
The Sprinter drive seat is very easy to get in and out of and has huge amount of leg room.
It is also very comfortable to drive.

Ray,IN · 10-26-2019, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twedinger

My wife and I have decided to start looking at motor homes. Since the possibility exists that she may be called upon to drive, she was wanting a short RV. We started looking at class Cs. I am not a tall person 6 ft. -- 36 inch inseam. I was not able get in a comfortable driving position in any of the class Cs. Also found a few 36ft. Class As with the same issue, the driver's seat does not go back far enough with the slide in. Also, important to my wife is a pantry.

So when we look at unit these are the first things we check.

if these are met we continue looking at the unit.

My DW is 5'2", 102#, she took an abbreviated 1/2 day driving course right after we bought our MH. She was then, and is now comfortable driving our MH anywhere except city traffic congestion. I can see that, a 8' 6" wide MH in heavy congestion with 10' wide lanes.

Anyone can drive a large, long vehicle on a highway; backing, parking, tight turns, etc., is where experience and training wins out. No-one can just drive once every few months and remain proficient.