The next design challenge

[StuartO]

We’ve been around motorhomes since the early 90’s and during that time there have been lots of innovations, as designers seek to make better and better exploitation of the limited space inside a motorhome. Even the biggest motorhomes are only 12 meters long and, even with slide-outs, they are less than 5 meters wide, and the “ordinary” motorhome is much smaller, around 6 or 7 meters long and just over 2 meters wide. Some are smaller still.

 

Yet in all sorts of ingenious ways the designers accommodate a remarkable array of facilities, sometimes allocating space exclusively to one, sometimes sharing it. For example our motorhome has two fixed single beds at the back, which works well for us, while it has a swing-wall bathroom, to allows shared space for a really decent shower compartment within a compact overall bathroom. Likewise the kitchen/lounge area overlaps, so you can make use of a bit of extra space in either when you aren’t using both.

So while transverse double beds at the rear were a common way of getting the most out of the back end in years gone by, single beds and island beds now seem to be expected instead and these take up more space, so other compromises have to be made for them. Motorhome design is always, inevitably, a careful compromise.

 

Design innovations don’t always work. For example while twin singles at the front of a motorhome will have real advantages, from what I’ve seen so far the designers have yet to get them right. There is space for singles at the front of an A Class because there is otherwise “wasted” space over the long dashboard, so why not use it? Why not contrive twin singles up front instead of a drop-down transverse double? And sooner or later the designers will come up with a neat and reliable arrangement for twin singles up front.

So far however the attempts at drop-down singles to replace a transverse double have been crude-looking and clumsy or flimsy in various ways, so that some sort of breakthrough in thinking is called for. I’m sure someone will come up with it sooner or later, but it’s obviously a pretty difficult challenge. Maybe it needs a big rethink of what happens in the next-reward ceiling-level section, to allow enough length for a pair of proper drop-down singles and the stairway/platform arrangement which will be needed in between them. If the designers can solve that problem and create a easy-to-use and robust pair of single beds up front, it will open the way for other innovations too.

 

So the swing-wall bathroom is my favourite success story of the last twenty years in motorhome design and twin drop-down singles at the front are what I see as the biggest challenge. What do you think?

[colin]

We considered buying a van with longitudinal drop down full width bed years ago, and this was based on a panel van with added roof height, so it's been done. Globecar also make vans with them, so I'd be surprised if there's not an A class with similar.

IMO the 'latest' innovation has been around for a couple of years, suspiciously it came about after I made some enquiries around a few companies about an idea I had. IMO in it's present form it's nowhere near reaching it's potential.

[Billggski]

Drop down beds are clearly the fashion at the moment, but I am yet to be convinced.

With a family, once the bed is lowered there is no real communal area. With an overcab bed you can send the kids off to watch TV or sleep, and continue your socialising undisturbed. The simpler the better I think, after all there is plenty of height to use in motorhomes.

[colin]

Billggski - 2015-04-06 1:45 PM

 

Drop down beds are clearly the fashion at the moment, but I am yet to be convinced.

With a family, once the bed is lowered there is no real communal area. With an overcab bed you can send the kids off to watch TV or sleep, and continue your socialising undisturbed. The simpler the better I think, after all there is plenty of height to use in motorhomes.

 

The Avanti L (IIRC that was the model) that we looked at still had a usable lounge for under 6 footers with the bed dropped, it was because of gf's claustrophobia at not being able to hop out of bed that we never got one, apart from that it was a great layout with masses of room for what was a PVC with extended roof.

[bolero boy]

see the latest Hymer Duomobil or the Frankia range for the latest drop down singles, with lounges in the rear and with garages unfpderneath....in fact, wrong way round vans....great but mighty pricy....

[StuartO]

bolero boy - 2015-04-06 6:14 PM

 

see the latest Hymer Duomobil or the Frankia range for the latest drop down singles...

 

These are the ones I felt were clumsy in arrangement or flimsy in construction Chris, but I hope that further development will deliver a better result in due course.