Ron,
A person size does not have any thing to do with wanting slide out. There are many reasons to want the slide out, such as you want the sofa that makes into a bed so you can take along other people, like maybe grand kids. The sofa is a much better bed than the dinette. Maybe you just like the extra room when parked.
You could use your words to say one does not need the larger dinette you can get without the slide out. A right sized person would not need the larger dinette. Maybe you are just to tall to sleep on the regular size dinette.
I hate to think of what you would say about all those people in the big class A or 5th wheels with four or five slide outs. They must be really really huge people to need that many slide outs. I am just kidding you at this point, but I how you get my point.
Have a Merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Hi Tom,
I get your point. The original point I was trying to make is that some people desire the slide out because they "need" the additional elbow room to be comfortable. (I think I just said it more appropriately) I agree, there are a number of reasons why people desire a slide out, but elbow room is what everyone talks about. I think the full size bed would be the front runner up. Nobody goes for a couch in a no-slide arrangement which leaves me to believe having the couch is not a primary reason.
I am truly sorry if I have offended anyone. I never meant to do that. It's not my way of life, but I do say (or rather type) dumb things now and then. Please give me a little grace on that.
Now back to the original posting question.
The thing about a Phoenix is that you can order one completely stripped down to the bone, or decked out to the hilt. In all my years, I seen only one stripped down. The best bang for the buck option is called the "Premium Convenience Package" which lumps in many RV-specific features in one reasonable price. If you don't get that option, you don't have a fully functional motor home.
We surely love our full body paint job, how great our rig looks because of it. As Carol says, it also cleans and waxes up easier than the unpainted white gel coat.
We got the surround sound system, originally wondering if that would be worth the expense. We are happy we got it.
We got the extra awning on the driver side for our dinette. That was a good decision. I only wished we got one also for the bathroom window along that side of the motor home.
We got the bigger 14 foot awning, 2 feet bigger than the standard 12 footer of the era. That was a wise choice. Get the biggest awning offered.
We spent big money for the thermal pane windows which turned out to be a good decision primarily for sound and no sweaty windows. We don't camp much in extreme heat or cold so we don't benefit often for those reasons.
Here is a list of things we should have had done when our rig was made for us 10 years ago. I later did them myself at a higher cost and the inconvenience of it all.
1) The barrel chair at that time was pedestal-mounted to the floor and had a seat belt, I changed the seat to a 3rd captain seat. Today that seat is a movable Euro chair of which people say good things about. We like our bolted-down seat being a 3rd high-back reclining passenger seat with a seat belt. We also like that it adjusts forward, swivels, and reclines, yet it is fixed to the floor, always in just the right place.
2) We originally went with cloth dinette cushions to save money and also thought the cloth would be more comfortable than vinyl. We later switched to the premium (leatherette/vinyl) cushions which changed the dinette from a place of torture to a place of comfort.
3) I reconfigured our galley to fewer but deep & wide drawers. Someone seen what I did and had their built PC configured similarly.
4) I highly recommend paying more to get two 6 volt AGM batteries.
5) I don't know what roof antenna Phoenix is installing these days. I would make sure not to get the crank up one, but rather a small uni-directional digital-specific roof antenna. I would also consider mounting it one foot rearward, placing it on the main roof instead of the fiberglass cap.
6) I would inquire about the cost to upgrade the steel wheels with wheel covers, to quality Alcoa alloy wheels. Just get a price to see what it comes to, to make a better educated decision about them. I am considering Alcoa wheels when it's time for new tires.
And Tom.... A Very Merry Christmas to you and your family as well.
Ron
