CULLING THE FIELD

Ever since the mid 1990s Stan has been visiting the annual RV show held in Calgary's Stampede Park every February and haunting RV sales lots other times when time would allow. We vacillated between 5th wheels, Class Cs, travel trailers and Class As. Every manufacturer and dealer did their level best to talk us into buying their concept of the ideal RV. However, we saw many problems and shortcomings in their products. Among them were:

1. Lack of storage space. Because we were planning on living in our RV full time we needed to carry most of the day to day things that we'd need for living for the next several years. This wasn't going to be a brief vacation, then back to civilization. This had to BE civilization! Storage space was nonexistent to meagre at best except in the highest end towables and Class Cs, and the Class As.
2. Appalling construction was common. One line of RVs used 1/4 inch particle board under the dinette booth cushions! Another RV used Velcro type fasteners to hold the washroom's medicine chest door closed. Most RVs feature drawers made of stapled MDF (medium density fibreboard) covered with a plastic applique, no glue, no screws, no dovetailing, no tongue and groove, no dados, no wood! In several lines of RVs the front wheel base width was far too narrow. The front wheels on a vehicle the size of a city bus were indented almost a foot from the coach walls. Feature your favourite live action hero in ballet slippers!
3. Dreadful floorplan design was also rampant. The excessive use of 'L' shaped counters that obstructed the aisle through the motorhome is a good example. Distressingly often, these were placed directly opposite the step-well associated with the entry door, creating a dangerous bottleneck. Kitchen/galley areas were constructed with almost no counter space for food preparation or on which to rest pans, bowls and other utensils. We also saw units incorporating a couch (sofa, chesterfield, davenport, hide-a-bed, whatever) directly across from a dinette booth, leaving only a 13" (33 cm) gap for an aisle. Another serious problem was the use of 74" (188 cm) or even 72" (183 cm) long mattresses. These are the so-called "short-queens." Stan calls them "those !@#$%&*! short-sheeting cheaters!"

Eventually we decided that we couldn't use a towed RV. Marguerite's handicap makes moving back and forth between the towing vehicle and the towable tiresome at best, death defying at worst. And, such a trek would be necessary every time we stopped for an evening or even a "pit stop." Thus we disqualified 5th wheels and travel trailers.

Realistically, that left us with only two other possibilities, a Class C or a Class A. A perusal of the Calgary market clearly demonstrated, however, that the only Class Cs that would be acceptable, i.e., not possessing most of the failings listed above, were almost as expensive as Class As. It was also quite clear that the overwhelming majority of Class Cs neither exhibited the quality of comparable Class As nor the storage capacity. Thus, after years of dreaming and haunting RV sales lots we finally decided that the only rational option was to look seriously at Class As.