RVers express pros and cons of front and side entry doors
By Joseph Garnett, Jr.
July 5, 2015
The many options are often what influences your decision to purchase an RV. Whether it’s gas or diesel? Does it have wooden or tile floors and conventional or residential refrigerators? The choices can seem endless. Perhaps, of the many things to consider, the location of the main motor coach door may sway your decision. However, where that main door is positioned my have already been decided for you by the manufacturers.
The main door is most commonly placed within the motorcoach floorplan if the RV is built on a gas or diesel chassis. Most diesel engines are in the rear. So, that main door is usually in the front by the passenger seat. Since gas engines are on the front of the chassis, the door is usually placed in the middle of the motor coach plan or just behind the passenger seat. However, there are a few gas models that still place the main door in front of the passenger seat just like most diesel engines.
We asked some campers at the Lazydays Tampa resort what they preferred about the entryway to their RV’s. Most had the same opinion that the middle entry of the gas chassis floorplan is limiting, while the diesel’s front-door plan made it difficult sometimes by having to maneuver around the front passenger seat.
“I like the front,” says Nate Deaton, of Jacksonville, Fla. “The front seat does get in the way when we have a cooler or something large.” Nate’s wife Kate also says she doesn’t like that ‘everyone has to go in front of the passenger seat just to get on and off the RV.”
Regardless, both Nate and Kate say they prefer the front door of their Fleetwood Providence and are willing to put up with the challenges when the front passenger seat gets in the way of what they are loading and off-loading.
Lazydays Photo
Unlike the Deaton’s, William Fernandez longs for a front door. He currently owns a Coachman Aurora and says that his middle door is too narrow. Fernandez also says he believes he would make better use of his floorplan with a front door. With the entryway to his motor home being between a chair and the sink counter, the snug 27 inches makes it tough to load things sometimes.
Kevin Garbin, of Cape Canaveral, Fla. loves the layout of his gas-powered Allegro Open Road. The main door is directly behind the front passenger seat, which gives him more room in the floorplan. “You actually enter into the center of the living room,” he says. Garbin does say that the doorway is still quite narrow. “ If I’m not careful, I could end up scraping my hands or straining my back,” he says.
Despite their preferences for the main door, all of the RVers are thrilled with choosing to travel and see the country. They say they have accepted the obstacles of the entryways.
If you want to explore the numerous gas and diesel RVs with various floorplans, visit our Lazydays Tampa or Tucson locations. There are hundreds to choose from.
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