The image above (larger version) is the latest iteration of the floor plan for my RV. This is major version 5, as the blog post title implies, but that means that I’ve changed the size of the trailer or moved things around significantly enough that I’ve gone through a good number of major revisions and who-knows-how-many small revisions.
The numbers at the top, 1-18, represent the 16″ sections of the trailer. Since it has 16″ on-center frame tubes, it made sense the lay out the trailer in the same pattern. Since english-readers generally read from left to right, I’ll explain my design patterns using the same visual approach matching up with the image above.
The very rear of the trailer has barn doors and open to a utility area that will house all of the major electrical parts and pieces as well as storage and one half of the split AC unit.
Moving to the right of that there is a nearly-solid large black line surrounding the bedroom area. This represents the heavy-duty soundproofing I’m going to create for the bedroom. One of the reasons I chose to engineer my own RV is because of the soundproofing considerations. Retrofitting an existing RV wouldn’t have worked either because they can’t handle the weight (estimated at somewhere between 500 and 1,000 pounds). In the bedroom there will be a couch (which is critical for my ability to live in comfort) and a murphy bed or two. I’ll be mounting a TV of some size on the wall opposite the couch, and since this room is soundproof, it’ll double as a man-cave.
Moving on past the bedroom is the rest of the living area. In this area there are bathroom, kitchen, and dining facilities. Some might consider it odd to have the bathroom open to the kitchen and dining room area, but since I’ll be traveling solo on this adventure, it wasn’t that big of a concern. I could save space and weight by not adding walls I didn’t really need. I’ll have a pretty standard RV toilet and I’ll be building my own decent-sized shower. There will be almost as much counter space as my current townhouse and I’ll be using every square inch of it and the counter-space / storage underneath it. Underneath the counter will be a 10-gallon hot water heater, a mini-fridge, shelves and drawers. It’ll be very full.
Opposite the main counter is a dining table that will fold up against the wall and a couple of folding chairs. When they’re not needed, they can all fold out of the way.
The front of the trailer will provide a magnificent view of the outside world. When standing at the kitchen sink in the front of the trailer, a panoramic view will be available via the 4 large windows that will be directly in front of and to the sides of the front of the RV. I really have high hopes for this area.
If you’re really looking closely, you might notice “Concealed Ceiling LED Light” scattered around the edges of the RV. I like to have lots of general lighting from above, so one of the ideas I’ve had about lighting is to add lights around the perimeter of the unit that shine up onto the ceiling but do not shine directly into one’s eyes. Since the ceiling will be white vinyl, it should reflect quite well. But this is an idea and could quite easily change in the future. It’s more likely that the lighting systems will be an evolution of whatever ideas I come up with once I get my hands dirty with the project.
Another item in the image above is a clothes washing matching that appears to be right next to the sink. It’s actually meant to be under the sink and most easily accessible when the foldable dining table is folded away. The idea here is to have an all-in-one washer/dryer so I can handle my own laundry while on the road and not be stuck in laundromats. I’ve never even liked the idea of laundromats and when I lived in apartments and used the common laundry utilities, I never really even liked those. Never had any real problems, but I love being able to do laundry at home.
Above the toilet is another unique design I’m creating that I haven’t seen anywhere in any other RVs, tiny homes, or anywhere else. It’s a folding table that folds up when the toilet is in use and folds to a standard table position when the toilet is not in use. On the under-side of the table are towel racks which give more linear space for hanging towels and double as a “skirt” on the table which helps hide the toilet.
In future blog posts I’ll cover electrical and plumbing systems as well as the roof and utility areas in more detail.
Something I would put in would be a ceiling track curtain like they have in emergency rooms with a translucent curtain and use that to s curve /delineate the bathroom facilities.
I may end up adding a privacy curtain around the bathroom facilities at some point. Certainly not my highest priority at the moment, and it can be added when everything else is finished.