Why build a home when you can design your own motorhome RV?
Should we build a new home? For years we have been pondering this idea, although we are still years away from taking such a leap. As every year goes by, the kids are getting more and more attached to our current home, and I remember how much I hated being uprooted from my childhood home when I was 14, even though we were only moving across town. It was stressful, and I don't want to do that to my kids. So we ponder remodeling the current home. In some ways, that is the best solution. We just need some more bedrooms, a bigger office, maybe a few other fun spaces (chapel, workout room, home theater?). We could probably be happy remodling our current home.
But what we lack in our present location is what the countryside has to offer. We are landlocked in suburbia. Even though there is a pond across the street from our house, it is not possible to walk down to the shore and feed the ducks or anything... only ice fishers brave the steep tree-choked slope to the pond, which we cannot even see from our house though it's only 100 yards or so away. We would like to get a telescope but we would hardly be able to use it at our present location because of the trees. We would like to sit around a fire outside once in a while, but we feel there is not enough privacy here. There is not much room for the kids to run around and play ball. However there are lots of quiet, relatively traffic-free places to walk, and that is not always possible if you live in the countryside, with 45-55 mph traffic on the roads.
I think I may have come up with the solution to these quandaries. We should remodel our present house eventually, yes, but the real solution is to get a motorhome. A motorhome (or RV) would allow us to take the whole family out to some remote location where we could set up the telescope, and if the little ones are bored or tired, they can hang out inside the motorhome. We can up and travel to visit my in-laws without worrying where the next (yucky) pit stop will be, we could just pull off the turnpike and use our own nice clean one. The whole driveable world will open up to us. We can even bring our dog (probably not the fish though).
Buying a motorhome would undoubtedly be less expensive than building a new house. There are drawbacks to motorhomes, however. One is the gas mileage, but I think that is worth it for the convenience factor. Another drawback is that even at their largest, they're pretty small. They may only sleep 6 at the most, comfortably, with seatbelts for 8 at best. It can also be tricky to safely buckle in a carseat in a motorhome (some people say the only safe seat is in the front passenger spot, with the airbag off... others say it is possible to buckle a car seat on a dining bench seat). If you have a larger family with young kids, space could become an issue very quickly.
So we need to think outside the rolling box.
A customized, family-friendly, safety-conscious motorhome:
If I could redesign a motorhome from scratch (and I think I just might), I would have a different layout inside. I would take the seating design of the latest minivans and put that into the motorhome. I would put in enough swiveling, shoulder-harnessed, childseat-safe seats, bolted to the frame of the vehicle, for everyone. These chairs could be positioned at a table allowing the kids to play games or computer or do their school work, or watch TV. (I would have headphone jacks built in like airplane seats have.)
I would not waste room on beds with mattresses for the kids. Instead, each seat would include a storage compartment where the child's bed would be stowed, be in a foam pad and sleeping bag, whatever. My kids and their cousins, from age 3 up to age 13, would rather crash on any old floor anyway if they could all be together, than in a bed. The kids could sleep on the seats themselves (which would recline and have a footrest) or they could find a spot on the floor. We could also have a tent stowed on board for extra sleeping room at a campsite.
I would not skimp on the bathroom, especially the shower... I would opt for a shower/tub as I've seen in some motorhome designs. This would be a must for little kids. If we could even upgrade the tub and water heater, I would do so. Maybe a tankless water heater would be the thing.
And what about privacy for parents... we need a vacation too! I would make sure the layout had a potential for separation between the master bedroom and the main area where the kids sleep. For instance, the kitchen/office could be in between, with sliding doors. More on the motorhome office below.
A custom designed, high-tech motorhome/RV
My husband and I like to geek out. We run several websites, some for business purposes, others for charity purposes, still others just for fun. We need high-speed internet access and a good workspace. We need to be able to shoot digital photos and video, and edit and upload them. We also are getting into astronomy and will need storage space for the additional equipment that requires, from tripods and telescopes to delicate photographic equipment and battery power. Our kids, who we are homeschooling as well as raising in our computer-savvy ways, will also need work areas.
To gain this space back from the traditional motor home layout, I would minimize the kitchen... it would be primarily an office which could be temporarily converted to a kitchen, then back to a workspace. I see motorhomes can come with covers that lower over the sink or the cooktop, allowing it to serve as additional counterspace. Perfect. I would do away with the traditional fridge/freezer and instead use the drawer-style refrigerators and freezers, which could even be located under the bed or sofa.
On the high-tech topic, I would also like to experiment with different materials to help lighten the overall vehicle while also making it stronger and longer-lasting. I would look to the emerging commercial space industry for ideas here. Carbon composites are the latest thing in space planes and such. These would be an excellent alternative to fiberglass, I think.
All right, so maybe my motorhome would cost just as much as it would to build a whole house! :-) But it would be absolutely perfect.
Does anyone actually custom-design their own motorhome?
In fact, designing an RV for a family to use has been done before. I read about former advertising entrepreneur Jay Shapiro who is driving across the whole world with his family and pets in a custom-designed RV. His was designed to have parts which could be found around the world, as well as a NASA-designed water purification system (I want one of those too!). A unit like his starts around $275,000, they say.
I am searching for examples of custom-RVs like those used by the X-files nerds or the FBI on White Collar.
There are companies that offer to let you design your own RV, but I suspect most of these are just having you cut-and-paste options together.
I think someone smart in engineering with some friends who know about motors and engines and connections with people in high-tech industries (like space technologies) could design his own RV for his family and possibly have it come in at a reasonable budget. Then his wife would be a very happy lady as the whole family motors off to the Texas Star Party or the Jersey shore or just for a weekend jaunt up north to go stargazing.
And to me, this seems like a smarter choice for our lifestyle than sticking everything we have (and much that we don't have yet) into a new house in one location which will not always suit our needs. I want to build our own home... a motorhome!
