Loves & Engineering Suggestions

 October began this journey of hunting down then purchasing our new RV. You wait and hope everything goes well and the planned delivery date goes off without a hitch. 

Finally the time arrives.. you go through the walk through, everything that you wanted for it and looked over is as beautiful as it was so, now is the time to take it home 🏠 and begin the process to get to know your new RV!

You unpack, decorate, learn to live with the daily rituals and how your new RV functions.. then...this is the time you start seeing funky things that well.. 

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? 🤔 💭 

I have learned over time that most engineers or designers of RV's tend to be weekenders or don't actually RV at all.  The day to day living and functionality of someone being inside a RV full-time just doesn't compute in their creating of what they build sometimes that, you will find components of your RV in weird or placed at locations that just seem.. odd! 

Well, we love ❤️ 💗 Abigail, even with her oddities that we have currently found in her but, if you are looking to purchase the Riverstone Legacy 42 FSKG, we thought we would go over some of the small things we felt would be a good idea to let you know in advance.. so, you are prepared and not confused, bothered, annoyed 😠 or even disappointed 😢 by what you find. 

Lets start from the inside of the RV shall we?

Most of the designing you will find (as space is precious) is the desire to make things look "Homey" or have a flow of continuity that also looks appealing to the eye. It is only until you have lived in your RV for some time that you start to realize that some of the times been with their nice looking design could have been put somewhere else or, had something else put in its place, maybe a different style or a different way of having it put in so, the first item we noticed was the style of handles that were put on all the drawer, doors and cabinets in Abigail. 

With the placement of some of the cabinet doors or drawers, you ran into not only safety concerns but, we also started seeing minor rubs against the wall and snagging against other near by cabinets. This occurred because the handles themselves had a design that allowed for things to snag on them, also stuck out far from the cabinet face so, one would either bang into it, the cabinet or door face would hit the opposing wall or you would hit your person into it. Though the design looked visually appealing, they tended to be bulky, heavy and an overall issue for the areas they were placed. 

In the Kitchen: 

The cabinets hit the walls and damaged the opposing wall and other cabinet it came into contact with.

Easy Fix:

Put a silicone stopper on the opposite wall to catch door

The Command Center/Coat Closet: 

Stuck out so far that many persons with short sleeves had them become snagged and tore their shirt sleeves, I also had my robe get caught and jerked me backwards. This is a major safety concern. 

Easy Fix:

Replace Fixture with a closed handle as to not cause this issue. Hint: Take the current handle into hardware store to get the right handle dimensions.

 

Stair Drawer:

Handles stuck to far out that persons walking up or down would step on the handles and bend them, possible outcome could be that damage to the slide of the drawer or the draw face could break. 

Easy Fix:   

Replace Fixture with a flat face handle to remove this issue. Hint: Take the current handle into hardware store to get the right handle dimensions. 

Bathroom Door 🚪:

Door swings wide, connects with other door jam, causing damage to the backside of bathroom door.

Easy Fix:

Place silicone dot where door connects with door jam. 

**IDEA** Bathroom Door is very large and awkward for the space that it is in.. Potential options to correct this for the future if you desire to look into it is turn the door into a sliding barn door.  You can use the current bathroom door, you will just have to make the adaptions above and adding pucks, to close off the handle.. there are YouTube videos on how to.. but, ya get my point. The link for the kit is listed below. 

Amazon Small Barn Door Kit

The Bathroom Toilet 🚽:

Toilet lid bounces off the wall damaging the wall from the wear and tear.

Easy Fix: 

Place a Silicone Dot where the connection is to protect the wall and toilet from continued damage.

Bedroom:

Dresser Fixtures:

They stick out far, if one of the drawers are not fully pushed in then your gliding door for access to your washer and dryer won't open fully. 

Easy Fix: Replace the dresser fixtures with more flush handles to help ease this issue. Hint: Bring in one the the current handles with you to purchase the correct size dimensions needed. 

Closet Drawer Fixtures:

Again they stick out to far, causing a tripping hazard. When you get out of bed your shine will make contact these handles. 

Easy Fix:

Replace the fixtures with handles that are closed ended and shallow to the drawer face. 

Bed Cabinets:

Same as the other cabinets.. will hit the opposing walls.

Easy Fix: 

Silicone Dots placed where the doors will come in contact with the wall to keep from wearing down the or damaging the cabinets. 

WOWZA.. you're probably going... what was going on when they put those things in the rv to begin with? 

Like I stated earlier, it was meant to look pretty, and they do.. its just that after time you start to see that they don't function for the purpose they are intended for so, making minor adjustments allows for better living overall. 

Now, let's go outside and see what's taking place there. 

Abigail comes with a "entertainment" area and with that we have this amazing 50inch TV and JBL sound system. One of the difficulties is that the clip which is intended to support the door open is not made well. in fact its plastic, and not strong at all. If a bump against the RV or a gust of wind hits that door.. it will cause that door to come down and come down hard.  

Fix Option:

We could purchase an additional clip to place on the opposite side to help provide support on the door or we could (which would require spending more money 💵) purchase a smaller tv.. like 45inch and putting in lift arms to support the doors from the inside when open. That seems to be the best option over all. 

Front Door/ Front Awning:

When the front awning is fully open and you go to open the door or just having the door open, you can and will bang the door against the support arm of the awning. This will cause damage to the edge of the door, the paint but, this could also cause severe damage to the support arm of the awning if the door goes slamming into that support arm multiple times. 

Slight Fix: 

Placing silicone dot on the door to protect the door from continued contact of the awning arm. Placing a support arm to secure to the RV to keep the door from opening farther then you want. Similar to the old style door hooks to keep the RV doors open. 

Even with these small things that we have found in the short months that we have lived in Abigail, I know other things will pop up over time as with "ALL" RV's do. Its learning and bending to deal with what comes, making the best of what is and working through it. Henry and I are in no way disappointed with our purchase, Abigail is our home 🏠 and that feeling has never changed. 

If you have any questions please ask and we will answer. Thanks for sticking around and all the fun stuff that Abigail has taught us so far. 

See ya soon our fellow Ramblers!

Robyn.