Читать книгу RVs & Campers For Dummies - Christopher Hodapp - Страница 63

Some people are very good at reading floor plans, tossing around terms like traffic flow and direct access. The rest of us need a little help.

In the exploration stage of considering an RV, you’ll see lots of videos and photos of the insides of people’s rigs. But you also need to understand a little about floor plans. Why bother? Well, start checking out the websites of RV manufacturers. An amazing number of them will only give you a picture of the exterior, accompanied by a series of floor plans labeled with a model name or number. When new models are being debuted, these floor plans may be all you’ve got to judge by.

Often, people look at floor plans because getting to see inside an RV you’re interested in, the one that may be your heart’s desire, takes time, effort, and perhaps a long drive. The better you get at judging from a floor plan whether a particular RV may be right for you, the less likely it is you’ll drive to another state to get a look inside a unit that wasn’t at all what you thought it would be.

Take full advantage of the wonderful resource of YouTube. Just about every trailer, fifth wheel, and motorhome out there, including the tiniest teardrop, has some dealer or owner, somewhere, who does a walk-through of that specific trailer on video. Print out that floor plan if you don’t have a company brochure, and refer to it as you watch. Very quickly, you’ll get a sense of paper versus reality. Not everyone is Steven Spielberg, but some of the dealers who’ve been doing this for years produce videos on YouTube that are far beyond merely helpful — some people actually buy based only on these videos, hopefully because they’re an old hand or they’re already very familiar with the company. Many manufacturers have brief videos with a lovingly art-directed fly-by through the interior, but a 40-minute video walk-through with someone like the knowledgeable T.J. at Princess Craft in Texas will give you a very good idea of whether this particular model is worth tracking down.

There’s no question that we recommend walking through any vehicle before you commit to buying it. But in the RV universe, particularly now, when manufacturers are overwhelmed and dealers are asking for a down payment to hold the particular rig you want, that may not be possible. The fact is, if the RV you’ve ordered is very similar to the one you’ve seen (for example, an older model), you’ll probably be very happy with your RV-on-demand. Of course, make absolutely certain what the dealer’s policy is, in case you don’t like it.

If you’re trying to make the best of looking at a floor plan, here are a couple tips.

 If the floor plan you’re interested in is, say, a 25-foot trailer, try to get into any 25-foot trailer, more than one of them, just to get an idea of the feel of 25 feet and what can and can’t be done with it. We’re not saying there’s a lack of imagination in the business, but RVs within their class and size tend to fall into certain recognized patterns when it comes to the placement of the major amenities. Get to know it, and that floor plan will probably look more familiar.

 Familiarize yourself with as many units as you can that are made by that manufacturer, to get a feel for their product. A square line drawing from above of a corner bed tucked between the bathroom and side wall will seem clearer to you if you see how it was done in another of the units they’ve built.