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New home build.
Please allow me to introduce myself.
Ted Calvert, 65, retired industrial electrician and maintenance technician. Southeastern Ohio.
We got an old GMC (that’s a redundancy!) fifteen years with a blown engine and a cardboard and shag carpet band bus interior. My brother, a knowledgeable mechanic, guided me through an in-frame major, and I gutted the interior and started over, making it into a modern motor home.
We also have an ’87 XL, working on converting it. Wife wants a motor home, son wants a band bus. So we’re trying to pack existing bedroom and bathroom, plus bunk room, kitchen and front lounge into 40′. From the front of the proposed bunk room there is 12′ to steps. That will allow for fridge on street side, short kitchen on curb side, couches on one or both sides. No table. Yes, tight.
Now for my questions. I have a 15kW water-cooled diesel-fired Onan. I hope to put it on the street side, where the old air handler (I assume) was. Next bay aft of the first baggage bay. I can get the door cut like the condenser (I assume) bay door, opposite. I just can’t see having the genset on the curb side, where one will likely be spending time. There is a 6 x 10″ chase between these two bays, from one side to the other. I would likely set the radiator fans up against the street-side door, now slotted, do draw air from the curb-side compartment, throught the chase, into the street-side compartment and out through the door. I would put breakers, house batteries, inverters, etc. in the curb-side compartment, with a splash shield inside, yet allowing airflow.
I would relocate chassis batteries to the engine room. Water tanks in last bay. Hopefully leaving front and middle bays open. Have roof airs with heat strips. Electric fireplace for bedroom. Will build in electric heaters where needed.
Thanks, in advance, for your ideas, and thanks, Jon and whoever else is responsible for this great site.
Ted.
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5 Replies
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Ted,
Do yourself a huge favor and come to any large gathering of Prevost coaches. You are attempting to re-invent the wheel, and while that is very satisfying it almosts assures you that when it is done you will realize there were other and better ways of doing things.
Every converter that builds a store bought conversion has gone through the devlopment process and over the ensuing years has continued to refine their designs, floor plans, and features. Space is a given. You have 40 feet by 8.5 feet to use. Your use of that space can be very efficient, or can cause the loss of space which as you are aware is at a premium.
You can find out where rallies are being held and show up to see how many floor plans there are. You can get a great idea of how to arrange the bays. If you have an interest you can see how the systems are done. I’m not suggesting you are going to find the exact floor plan for your needs, but you certainly will be able to see how the proportions are. From that point having seen the real product your research of ideas by looking at various layouts on the internet will make a considerable amount of sense.
I assume the question was regarding generator placement. You are likely to find converters have used either side of the coach, but one thing they all share in common is they go to extreme lengths to muffle the noise. On most of our coaches when we are sitting outside the air conditioners seem to make more noise than the generator, almost all of them in the bay encased in a very efficient sound box.
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Hi Ted, Welcome to the PC! Your plans sound right! I will tell you no matter what design layout you use you will always think “I could have done that different”. Like Jon says, you can only squeeze so much into 320 square feet. Now, if you add slides that changes the whole layout. I am building our 91 XL for two. Large master, Large bath, small kitchen, Large front salon. I have 1 open bay for storage (1st bay) Electrical/Condensor (Middle Bay) 30 gal. water heater, plumbing, generator (Rear Bay). All street side. That gives me 2 half bays free curbside.
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And Ted, while it is important to sweat the details like it sounds like you are doing, keep in mind every coach is a compromise. We only have so much space to work with so you just have to determine what best suits your primary objectives. There is no perfect coach or right answers when it comes to how our coaches are set up, only personal preferences.
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curb side where bus airconditioner compressor was. Engine compartment. I did that on the 89 and worked great and did not cause any overheating.
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Thanks, all.
Robert, thanks for the pic. My genset is a little too big for that area. It’s an Onan 15DL3.
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