By Dave Helgeson
Have you ever wondered, “What were they thinking?” when you encountered a feature “designed” to enhance your RVing experience?
My college years were spent earning a degree in architecture. My professors taught me and other students how form follows function. Per the folks at Wiki, “Form follows function is a principle that proposes a building’s purpose should be the starting point for its design rather than its aesthetics.” A few residential examples of “form follows function” include: a solar home with large windows facing south to catch the sun’s rays, the dining room located next to the kitchen, bedrooms located near a bathroom, a house in a heavy snow area with a steeply pitched roof to shed snow, etc.
This concept must be rather ingrained in me for when I encounter a poorly “designed” feature intended to support RVers in their travels, I wonder, “What were they thinking?” Or, more concisely, “What was the designer thinking?”
When it comes to RVing features, form doesn’t always follow function
Unfortunately, when it comes to things like RV hookups, dump stations, RV “friendly” fuel stations, campsites, and other features meant to improve RVers’ experiences, form often doesn’t follow function! I often wonder if someone even bothered to research the functions of RVs to arrive at the form, i.e., design?
It doesn’t take a lot of research to discover most RVs have an entry door on the curbside (passenger side); they are long and are more difficult to maneuver; utility hookups like water and electrical are typically on the roadside (driver’s side) and the sewer/gray water terminations are also on the roadside; sewer doesn’t flow uphill (basic law of physics); RVs are taller than an average passenger vehicle and difficult to back up, especially if towing and backing into a space on the driver’s blindside.
My most recent encounter with form NOT following function was when my wife and I pulled into a tribal casino that welcomed RVers to spend the night for free in a designated RV area. Their website even stated that many of their RV sites included electricity and water! A quick satellite peek on Google Maps (see photo above) showed long paved sites that were well marked out and numbered. I could even make out the utility hookups located in the concrete curbed islands. I thought, wow, somebody went to the trouble to see what the needs of RVers are! We marked the casino on the map as a definite place to stop for the night.
Casino RV parking looked great in satellite image, but …
When my wife and I arrived, it had everything as advertised. The only problem was the whole RV area sloped heavily to one side. Even worse, the RV spaces were diagonal to the slope, preventing me and others with travel trailers/fifth wheels from orienting our RV facing downhill so we could raise the nose of our units to become level. Why would some designer go to the work of designing spaces that were wide and long enough for RVs, even including water and electricity with a power pedestal designed for RVs, while missing the most basic required element of all—being level or creating a site that would easily accommodate an RVer to level their rig? Luckily for me I hadn’t burned all my campfire wood from the night before, which served as cribbing to level my RV.
I guess I will just add this to my list of “what were they thinking” items such as sewer receptacles that are higher than the RVs termination outlet, power pedestals in “non-electric” sites, picnic tables on the road side (driver’s side) of the campsites, dump stations with pads that slope away from the dump opening, power pedestals located in low spots where water ponds, campsites with no way to pull into them unless you go around the one-way loop in the wrong direction, RV “friendly” fuel stations with lack of turning radius to exit the pumps, “U”-shaped dump station drives with the dump on the outside of the bend where can’t you pull up close to it or see it in your mirrors, etc.
What about you? What have you encountered in your RV travels that had you questioning “What were they thinking”—where form didn’t follow function?
##RVT1157
Staying in a site right now with a high sewer hookup. Looking forward to emptying the tanks this morning
Or the ones that are so low, but have good threads so you can thread your adapter in, but then can’t attach the hose to the adapter, because the concrete around them slopes down toward the sewer hole. So you have to hold it in place or put some kind of weight over it, rock, foot, etc.
“Can’t fix stupid; only what stupid does”.
All good points! I’ve been told that the slope is a newer requirement for rain runoff. However, the slope in my opinion is excessive to say the least. When I get to sites like this, I have to take out my ramps to bring front end up on my Class A. The sewer connection is a pain in the you know what?!
Wish I had taken a photo. The sewer was a straight line across sites, the pull-through RV sites were not on the same line. The site looked great on both the park’s diagram and Google Earth (although the trees blocked much of the view. The electric & water were at the back of the site and the dump cap was at the front, as in next to the road. The park was full so I could not choose another site.
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I was towing a 21′ TT with a SUV. I had 20′ of sewer hose in 10′ sections. I had never before used that 2nd section. The best level spot was in the middle of the site. But to reach the sewer connection I had to park in the least level spot with my hitch literally 1″ from the road with my tongue jack wanting to slide on the packed sand. I blocked traffic until I could unhitch and drive around to park behind the TT. My 20′ of slinky was fully extended and luckily the seals held. In hindsight, I would have been better off to park backwards in the site with my wife blocking traffic as I navigated the one-way roads going the wrong way.
Stayed at a KOA in Petaluma Calif. Advertised FHU and pull thrus. Site was around 90 ft but no towed vehicles allowed. Had to park the toad in a cow pasture 1/4 mile away. Shore power was convenient but sewer hook up was around 60 ft from pedestal w*f, uphill!
Never stsy there again!
If you see a KoA in Petaluma drive by as fast as you can and stay at a truckstop!
We stayed at that KOA in Petaluma years ago. We were in a 21’ Mini Winnie so no toad. But it was super expensive and not worth the cost.
We stayed there the first of October last year with my 34′ class A and pulling the toad in a pull through site and there weren’t any restrictions. There was quite a bit of distance between the utilities though, too. We didn’t spend hardly any time in the park, but scoped out the areas along the coast and a bit in town.
They must have changed their rules recently, construction on site maybe?
With sewer dumps being in an out of reach position, I simply wait until I’m ready to leave, then move my coach closer to the dump.
When you go to college, they teach you what you need to know in your chosen field. Some people are so smart they don’t have common sense. Common sense can’t be taught, you either have it or you don’t.
Common sense used to be taught. Back when you were taught how to think, not what to think.
The examples given are the reasons I prefer to avoid reserving spots.
Google Earth can give you a lot of confidence or mislead you into thinking your rig will fit, the overhang is manageable and the corners navigable but it can’t tell you if your tires will need to be a foot in the air on one side.
Instead, we’ll disconnect the Jeep and drive the park using the roll/pitch gauges in the Jeep to measure slope.
Thank you, Dave! 🙂 Hmm, … thankfully, we have encountered few of the “what the … !?!?!”s that you described. The best (only?) example is a private campground just north of Denali National Park (Denali RV Park and Motel). The sites were not designed poorly (e.g., utilities on the wrong side), but they were tiny. Our extended driver-side slide hung over one side of the adjacent site’s picnic table. Thanks again and safe travels! 🙂
Just left the local county campground this morning. The dump station is on a significant downhill slope, which means the forward tank (in our case the black tank) will never empty properly.
Obviously the site designer was not an RVer, didn’t understand the concept, or didn’t care.
We decided to wait til we got home and will dump at the water treatment plant.
Camped at the Grand Canyon South Rim Trailer Village in a Classic Site. The slope was so bad the bottom of one TT’s steps was level with the seat on the site’s picnic table. I have a pic but don’t know how to attach it.
I know where you were! I have stayed there many times and have learned to park with the slope going away from my driver’s side. Otherwise, when exiting the RV (a 45′ fifth wheel), it is a BIG leap!
Some of my “favorite” what were they thinking is the hatch opening beneath my bedroom slide. Only half opens due to slide; is anyone actually that short??? And, of course, the water and cable/satellite connections are there. Should have used some type of side to side opening! Default air conditioner in my unit was the garage so I could have garage and living room or garage and bedroom; the manufacturer was kind enough to switch that for me to the bedroom is the default.
Thanks again, Dave! 🙂 I just recalled a couple of questionable manufacturer choices that steered us away from their product. We began shopping for RV #2 with one clear candidate in mind. We found one at a dealer and stopped to see it. We were dazzled by the beauty and high-end features and appearance with the slides extended. BUT, then the slides retracted and it became apparent that using the bathroom in travel-mode required climbing over the bed!?!?!?! DUH! Scratch the prohibitive favorite and refocus search. 🙁 Thanks again and safe travels! 🙂
Thanks, Dave! 🙂 So many mistakes, so few characters per comment. 🙂 Searching for RV #2, pivoted from prohibitive favorite to alternate, same manufacturer, more money. Alternate had no window on driver-side of main salon because huge television was hung on the wall. Designer failed to use a televator to hide huge television when not in use AND insert a window. 🤔😯🙁 Also, fuel fill was directly over house battery compartment. RV #1 was same manufacturer and compartment seals leaked fuel into compartment below if fuel back-flowed. Diesel coated batteries??!? Pivot again! 🙁 Safe travels, Dave! 🙂
Dave, in some of the items you mention, the design is such that there is neither form nor function.