The first ten feet or so of the coach floor slopes up about six inches. I believe this was done mostly to improve passenger view though it was a slick way to incorporate some air ducts and transition passengers from the stairs up a bit higher over the storage bays. Regardless of the manufacturers logic; this portion of the floor needed raised and leveled to match the rest – I want a one level home.
It turns out that I spent several hours custom trimming 2×4 and 2×6 lumber to fit “just right” as nothing was level. Argh!! I hate that. In hindsight, I think the manufacturer had reasons for doing this (not level). As before, none of these reasons apply to me. It seems that the U channel into which the seats mount is a low point (on each side of the coach). I think this may have been for drainage purposes. In any event, it was a nuisance to me.
I had contemplated what to do with all that space under the floor and was thinking of heat exchangers for the house and/or somewhat ‘hidden’ compartments for long items (fishing poles). However; the quest for a “solid” floor ate up most of the space. I probably should have constructed the raised floor out of steel and then would have had much more usable space. Oh well… an idea for the first remodel – a few years from now. 🙂
One the joist structure was in place, I filled the voids with insulation.
This area in the front of the coach is over the front wheels and suspension so no basement – this means that the floor is exposed to the outside air. So, the more insulation the better.
I then laid down a sheet of 3/8″ plywood, a 1/4″ thick layer of cork.
And finally a layer of 7/16″ OSB.
That is the sub-floor.
I’ve done some complaining so now some kudos. Kudos to MCI for making the inside width exactly eight feet!! This makes it so very easy to lay down sheets of plywood, cork, etc. without having to do any trimming. Very nice and well done MCI!!
I’m not yet ready for the real floor but, when I am, I expect it will be rustic looking wood such as this Allen+Roth “Saddle Hickory Handscraped Wood Plank Laminate”
Good taste in flooring!
Thanks!! I just bought a gorgeous couch and am hoping the colors work ok together.
Great job thus far! If you go for wood type floor… are there thoughts on dampening the sound echo. Without carpet in some area’s.
No, I had not thought of that – good thinking Dantz – Thanks! I may have to put carpet on the walls. 🙂 I’ll have carpet in the bedroom and likely a rug or two but suspect the living room interior will be fairly “hard.” I’ll have to do some research on keeping the echo down.
Great job Jon! What a bunch of work!
Great website!
Sorry to read about your accident. I’m gonna dig out my hardcap, padded, elbow and kneepads that I used for inline skating and start wearing them biking. Knee pads might not work out due to movement there, but elbow pads should work great.
This is the first of your posts I saw, brought me to the site. I was wondering about the ramped/stepped floor in the front of the EL3’s and whether anyone levels that for RV use, and implications for the stairs, looks like it adds one step. I haven’t bought a coach yet but am looking at features of each online, not yet in person.
A different question if you know the answer: Very important to me to have tall cargo compartments to roll in a bicycle vertical. The compartments on an EL3 look as tall as on an H3-45(?). But I do see ducts(?) on the upper inside of the compartments on the EL3, have not yet seen if same on an H3-45. What’s your experience, can you roll a bicycle in vertical? I have a 20″ wheel folder and could easily drop the handlebar stem and seatpost, but even better if I don’t have to do that as I use a bike daily.
P.S.- I used to be a plane-head in all my youth and early adulthood until I had the money to fly and then found I get deathly airsick in light planes. But I fantasized about building an RV-6. Now I’m a boat-head, sailboats, and would like to restore a nice keelboat for local sails, but know I’ll never go way offshore for same reason as above, motion sickness. So now thinking about a bus.
Best regards,
Bob