My suggestions for the Force, DX3 and XL exterior.
Common issues:
Bay layouts, I highly suggest that the bays on the Drivers Side be laid out the same across all models and floor plans that have the same wheelbase if at all possible. This can’t be exactly done the same with the 35DS due to it’s shorter wheelbase. The passenger really cannot be common due to the different door configurations.
I believe that ideal order for the DS forward bays is as they currently are on the 37TS namely, the Electrical Bay, the Battery Bay, the Storage Bay and the Generator Bay. This order is ideally suited to allow for expansion.
- Having the main Electrical Bay first is ideal as it’s directly below the main control area behind the driver allowing for easy connections not only for that panel but from the roof.
- Following it up with the battery bay is also ideal as it makes for easy connection to the inverter.
- Having the spare bay following the battery bay is prefect as it’s a great place for addition batteries so I would suggest an option to make that a battery bay instead of a storage bay.
- Lastly the Generator which is already ideally located.
There is one change I would suggest is the placement of the chassis battery. If I remember correctly the M2 chassis has an option for the chassis batteries to be located under the cab just above and ahead of the fueling cap on the drivers side and accessible once you open the drivers door. This would give room for three house battery before having to use the spare bay for additional batteries.
The rear bays are currently ideally located so I don’t see any reason for these bays to change.
- The Wet Bay
- Storage Bay with Electrical Reel
- Propane Bay
There are a few minor modification I would suggest making to the Wet and the Electrical Reel bays.
With power reels having the hose and electrical cable exit the way they do is not ideal. It makes them harder to extend and to retract. I would suggest placing a grommeted slot the lines would be pushed into once extended and the doors are shut, see below. That way you could just grab the hose or power cord and walk directly away from the coach till they are extended. When retracting them you just have to use a gloved hand to steer the cord or hose back on the reel. Much better than guiding them through a hole.
One other change I’d do at the same time is to move the electrical reel to the bottom of the bay. This would allow better use of the passthrough storage which is currently blocked by the cord reel. The lower part of the storage is reduced in that bay but I think having the passthrough is more useful. You might even be able to even put both reels in the same compartment so the wet bay wouldn't be quite as crowded.
On the silly but could be useful side.
The over the air antenna and control has always looked odd not being on the center line of the coach. When you see it from the outside it's all tilted. I'd suggest it be placed on the center line just ahead of the first AC unit.
Option to mount a Wilson Cell antenna on the roof. This can be to one side since it has wedges to bring the antenna back to vertical. I'd mount it on the drivers side but I'm not sure where the best place to put the other end of the cable. Need to think about that although maybe asking the customer where they want it might be best. Since this antenna is 18" tall I don't know for sure if it will stay under 13' 6" when mounted near the side of the coach. I think it will based on the current measurements I've seen.
I would like to suggest a Gen-Turi mounting ring option. Basically this would be a metal bracket mounted near the roof line directly above the exhaust from the generator all nicely painted to match the coach. This way one does not need to use suction cups on the paint finish just slide the tube into the hole in the bracket. I'll do a quick drawing for what I think would work later if anyone is interested.
Linear Mode
