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“Found Space?”

 Crawling around in the Joey bed basement of my 34 foot I discovered this space on the driver side forward wall. It's inboard of the house battery compartment and has what looks like the air compressor.  Why would this space have been created but left so difficult to access?

The space exists on other models, what are you using it for?

Randy
Randy (N4TDT) and Karen Crete
Sarasota, Florida
SOLD:  2000 U270 34' WTFE Build 5756 "Ole Red"

Re: “Found Space?”

Reply #1 –
Thats like buying an house and finding a basement underneath that was closed off.. Score!! Then again.. maybe not lol

Re: “Found Space?”

Reply #2 –
Boats and motor homes try to maximize storage space by creative use of every nook and cranny Year 2000 came with small 12v Thomas air compressor for HWH level and slide out system Especially on a 34 I would think
Tim Fiedler    2025 LTV Unity MBL on Order
2000 Chevy Tracker 2 Door Convertible 4WD Now lifted 4.5"
1985 Citroen 2CV6 Charleston
Murphy Rebel on wheels with 175HP Titan
Cessna P337
1980 48' Westport MY (!/4 Share)

Re: “Found Space?”

Reply #3 –
Quote from: floridarandy –
........................Why would this space have been created but left so difficult to access?......................
Randy,
In prior years, that cubby is where the Heart Interface Inverter/Convertor and the Aux 12Vdc compressor were located, with a partial cover panel over the top section of the volume.  In these earlier years of the Unicoach, the compressor was mounted on the floor behind the Heart.  I think that 2000 was the first year that FT used the ProSine 2000 in the U270's.  And the ProSine's are usually mounted on the storage bay wall, as near to the batteries as feasible?  Now...... whether the PO changed the compressor and then ceiling mounted it or not, I'm not familiar enough with the 2000's to know.  But nice storage volume, for any size coach.
Enjoy the found storage volume!
Neal
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Neal (& Brenda) Pillsbury
'02 U320 SPEC, 4200, DGFE, Build #5984
'04 Gold Wing
'07 Featherlite 24'
'14 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit
MC #14494
Exeter, NH & LaBelle FL
Quality makes the Heart Soar long after Price is Forgotten

Re: “Found Space?”

Reply #4 –
Just as Neal noted, in that compartment on our 97, the HWH compressor was mounted on the floor in the back of that compartment and the inverter in the front, also on the floor. I replaced the inverter and decided to mount it in the same place as I wanted to avoid accidentally smacking it with something when moving the Joey bed in out out.
jor
93 225
95 300
97 270
99 320

Re: “Found Space?”

Reply #5 –
Our 2000  295 has the same set up of compressor up top. Nothing else in there so I decided to put another 8D sealed battery in it as it would be right behind the battery tray with 3 others. cable lengths are pretty much the same for all. Nice to have the extra storage capacity for 12v as we now have around 1000 amps. Our compressor has never been used in the 8 yrs of wonership. It does work as I try it now and again. Coach stays level for months when here at home and I never use the auto level mode anyway.
Fingers crossed it stays that way.
JohnH
Coachless, now use aircraft. 2003 Ford Travelair TC280 class C. Super shape. Just for 1 yr .
1994 Ford E350 ClassC,total renovation inside and out. Now sold.
2000 U295  36' Cummins 350 c/w Banks Stinger, Resonator upgrade,Solar, LED lites.Residential fridge with slide out pantry. Build 5674. Sold
ex 92 GV 022C ored Cummins. Sold
ex 95 GV240 cat 3116. Sold
2017 Mini cooper s & 2016 land Rover LR2 HSE  LUX.
jhaygarth@aol.com    SKP #130098
treat everyone as you would like to be.

Re: “Found Space?”

Reply #6 –
This compartment, in my opinion, was created to add  longitudinal stiffness to the basement structure. Side to side stiffness is provided by the horizontal basement walls/dividers, each of which has diagonal steel frame members welded in place under the skin. However, going front to back, there is very little to resist the push/pull of the rear suspension trailing arms which attach to the rear bulkhead joint so famous on the forum for creating pages of search results. This little compartment has the only structural front to back vertical structures. It consists of welded 1 ½" X ¾" rectangular tubing filled with ¾" plywood bonded to the fiberglass skin. How do I know this? Up close and personal experience having had the LP tank, house batteries, and bottom skin removed. As long as these longitudinal compartment dividers remain attached to the framing above (the basement ceiling/coach floor) and below (basement floor), the compartment doors will continue to open, close, and latch. It must be effective, as if it was not, we wouldn't be hearing so much about the separation of the bulkhead joint as about the deformation of the basement structure...

I use this bonus space to store spares that I hope won't be needed on the current trip!
Don

Quote from: floridarandy –
...Why would this space have been created but left so difficult to access?
The space exists on other models, what are you using it for?
Randy
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Don & Tys
1999 U270 3602 WTFE #5402
Xtreme Stage 1 w/Headlight, Step Conversion, etc.
2009 Honda Fit Sport with Navi
Freedom is NOT "just another word for nothing left to lose"... with apologies to Kris Kristofferson
 

Re: “Found Space?”

Reply #7 –
Here's an interesting factoid regarding that compartment and those walls that Don describes. I was talking with Keith the foreman at MOT and he told me that the models with that compartment often developed a sqeak that could be heard when traveling. He was assigned the job of addessing the issue. After lots of investigation he traced the noise to those two vertical pieces. The remedy Foretravel settled on involved removing the pieces, sawing off a quarter inch from the top and remounting them.
jor
93 225
95 300
97 270
99 320