Our home is a Newmar Dutch Star motorhome. It is 30 feet long, 8 feet wide, and has slideouts which increase our living space in the bedroom as well as the living room. The two slideouts increase the space of our 30 foot model to that of a 38 foot model that does not have slides. When we selected this motorhome, we were keeping in mind all of the narrow, short campsites we have seen in our camping trips around the US and Europe. While it is true that a large number of RV parks have upgraded their facilities to accommodate the larger rigs, we do a lot of camping in state parks, some of which were built in the '30s and 40's, when monster coaches were but an RV builder's distant dream. Our coach is powered by a Ford 460 V-8, which gets about 6 miles to the gallon.
Moving from a three bedroom home into the coach was interesting, to say the least. On the first night we slept in the coach, Nancy got up in the wee hours of the morning to do whatever it is that women do in the middle of the night when they get up. I felt her get up and rolled over to go back to sleep. Suddenly I heard a rumbling sound, accompanied by motion in the bed. Nancy had inadvertently, whilst poking about for the light switch, hit the bedroom slideout controller, whereupon the slideout had begun to retract. I told her, not gently, to hit the button again, to stop the motion, then again, to send the slideout back out. I could see that we were going to have to learn the location of all the various control buttons in order to prevent disaster. In the morning, I learned the location of the slideout controller fuse and removed it.
Once we became accustomed to living in the small space, we have had no difficulties. We are, of course, restricted in the amount of things we can carry with us. Our coach is rated at 17,000 pounds gross vehicle weight, 1800 pounds of which is net carrying capacity. Into that must go the weight of the driver, any passengers, and all of their things. Many people that travel in motorhomes have no concept of the danger in which they place themselves, their motorhome and the traveling public, by running overweight. Another crucial issue is keeping an eye on the inflation level of the tires. The carrying capacity of the vehicle is directly related to the tires on the vehicle. Underinflated tires build up heat, which is deadly to tires. Just ask Ford and Firestone! We carry an air compressor with us and check the air in the tires every time we move the coach.
The bathroom consists of facilities much like one would find in any home, including a full-sized china toilet, sink with vanity, and a roomy shower.
We added a Palliser leather recliner and ottoman to the living room, which meant we no longer had to fight over who got to lay on the couch. We also added a swag lamp, a collapsible bookcase, satellite TV receiver and a long telephone extension to make our home more comfortable. |
