Читать книгу RVs & Campers For Dummies - Christopher Hodapp - Страница 67

On the issue of home office space in RVs, manufacturers are way behind the times. Once, on a company tour, Chris asked one of the designers why it was so difficult to find an RV with a built-in desk. The clearly annoyed designer shrugged it off and groused that everybody was going to have their little wants: “Everyone thinks they know better how to design an RV.”

Sorry fella, but in this case, they do know better. Over 40 million Americans regularly go RVing, with 25 million on the road in any given year, and more people now work from home than ever before. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of at-home workers skyrocketed higher than ever before. You don’t have to be Einstein to figure out that millions of Americans would like to be able to work from the road.

For a decade, RVers who fall into this category have been pleading for models skewed toward them, with a small desk area, a proper charging station to keep needed devices organized, and a reasonable Wi-Fi connection solution. This wouldn’t be a difficult design change, but so far, the RV industry has turned a deaf ear. Many an RV built for two is inflicted with a positively enormous dinette area, far beyond what’s needed, while some of that valuable space could easily have been used for at least a tiny desk.

A dealer will tell you he can accommodate you. He’ll direct you to the bunkhouse, which can be “easily reconfigured,” or worse, to the dinette. “Hey, you guys like to work together! Won’t it be great, sharing a workspace across from each other?” No, it won’t.

So, now’s the time to examine those scary words custom job, the ones that sound so expensive. Many companies specialize in custom work for RVs, more of them every day. But the truth is, if your workstation is simple, you really can do much of it yourself. Office furniture from specialty RV furniture makers is usually expensive. The majority of great offices in RVs we’ve seen were done by the owners. You can find tons of videos on YouTube telling you how to yank out a too-big dining area and redo it for a desk, often something residential, picked up someplace like IKEA. A much smaller eating area can be done at the same time, or you can use recliners with tray tables that can be raised and then folded down again. There are all sorts of ideas for redoing an area of an RV with a vanity or a dresser. Actually, a bunkhouse can make a terrific office, if you don’t need the space for the kids. It all depends on how much space you need for what you do.

If you know you’ll need an office, think about it during the shopping process. And never underestimate the power of YouTube. Search for the name of the model you’re looking at, and see if anyone has already done it.