rear kitchen models

[Montana_2364]

would someone be kind enough to tell me how the rear kitchen does when traveling. I have heard horror stories of people who have rear kitchens and the breakage of dishes and the disturbance of the propane lines back by the fridge, etc.
Anyone out there own one and travel with it?????

[NJ Hillbilly]

Many here do with little on no problems. The older trailers were more of a problem since now most have shocks on th trailer axles which helps the trailer ride.

I am sure others will chime in that have RK's

John

[jh1802]

You might want to do a search on this topic. I asked this question about a month or so ago.

[kdeiss]

I had a Jayco with a rear Kitchen never had a problem

[Searchers]

We've had our 1999 2850 RK on some pretty bad roads in the last five years and haven't problems of any kind.

[ronstan]

we have a 3295rk and have not had a problem with it. I think that the trailer is heavy enough that it doesn't bounce like some others. Just my oponion

[Montana_2364]

thank you so much for replying. The rig you are talking about is the one that I am looking at purchasing.
Do you like it - Do you have any words of wisdom for me regarding the rig?? Any real problems, things that you do like or don't like?

[Montana_1683]

Haven't had any breakages in our 3295Rk. Although items on the lazy susan under the sink seem to migrate, but there isn't anyting to prevent movement. I always use foam core board cut a little larger than the cabinet openings to place inside the cabinet doors. This helps prevent items from moving towards the doors and falling out when we first open the doors upon reaching our destination. ( I get the foam core board at either Hobby Lobby or Michaels, since I have retired from teaching. Before I just used students' science project display boards if they did pick them up. Barb likes new piece, even though I covered the older ones with contact paper.) We like the rear kitchen, especially in the 3295RK because when I am cooking no one is in the way. Also this provides a very large open living area space, which Buff really enjoys.

Gary

[sreigle]

We also like the big rear kitchen in our 3295RK. We've put probably 20,000 to 25,000 miles on ours and broke just 1 dish. That was before we learned how to avoid that. The one we broke was a corningware skillet. We learned to put a small piece of the nonskid shelf liner between breakables. We just leave them there all the time now and haven't broken anything since. Ours has the peninsula that goes fore-aft with cabinets overhead. When applying brakes hard things tend to slide forward (not just a rear kitchen thing). So we put some of those small tension rods crosswise between cabinet uprights to keep things from sliding into the next compartment. We would buy a rear kitchen again. The Montanas ride nicely. You will bounce things around on rough roads but it's not been a problem. We've had no problems with things sliding around on the lazy susan. Some folks have but we haven't. We have some pretty heavy canned goods on there, too.

[CountryGuy]

We also have 3295RK and love the unit, however, we have had cabinet doors bounce open and stuff come out. We have had the spring bars (that Steve R. has inside of the cabinets) pushed right down and out and the dishes move about 5 inches forward. I will fess that I don't have my cabinets packed as full as Steve and Vicki, cause they are full timers.

On another thread we were discussing I 10 in the area of Alabama, Louisiana, etc. and I mentioned that leaving New Orleans we took an alternative route that we enjoyed so much and no bucking on the roads. Steve commented that was one reason he loved the back roads, they were not as bouncy as the interstates can be.

Now, will tell another story on ourselves. As many of you know we went northwest of Chicago the week before the Rally, that meant we had to get around Chicago, coming from the Indiana turnpike to 94 and around the windy city. Well, it is now the concrete jungle, the trip was horrid, long and so stressful. UGH. On the way OUT of the area, to get to the Rally we had to get around the concrete jungle somehow someway. We decided on the alternative route method, took 47 south to 17 east (through Kankakee Illinois) and over into Indiana where we wiggled our way back to Bremen for the Rally. When we got the rig set up and opened the slides I found:

Dish soap that had been in the rear sink had bounced OUT of the sink, onto the counter, where it had leaked soap (about the size of a coffee cup around), after it had leaked on the counter it must have rolled or bounced on to the floor and left a HUGE puddle of soap there. I had a very clean counter top, even cleaner floor and somehow the soap container did not break or split.

Solution, the dish soap will now ride under the sink, NO MATTER WHAT!G>

Would I give up my rear kitchen cause of a few soap bubbles and sliding dishes! NO WAY!

In all our years of camping in several other units, we have always had something move around. One time (rear bedroom) the entire bed was unmade! Pillows that had been against the rear wall (headboard) were on the floor at the foot board, blankets all turned down, nice as you please! We had cupboard and closet doors come open, drawers come open, in the 14 years we drug around one unit, I think we opened every door or drawer in the unit at least once while towing.

We use a lot of velcro to hold doors closed and are very careful opening the slides, and expect the unexpected.

[Chester]

Just to join in all the others comments, I agree with those given. Our Montana 2750 was a rear kitchen and we have not experieneced any of the problems some indicate. I would consider rear kitchen again.

[sreigle]

Carol, in the past year or so we towed into Indiana via the turnpike near Chicago, on the Illinois side. Like all the other roads in the Chicago area the turnpike was very, very rough. Now, I don't like rough roads at all but when I also have to pay to drive on them.....

[CountryGuy]

Steve, we agree wholeheartedly!!

We sat in that disaster around Chicago for 3.5 hours, no sight of

1.) rest areas that were open, all that we saw were closed for reconstruction

2.) gas stations, see number 1.

3.) food, see number 1.

4.) doggie runs for the kids, see number 1.



Now, they still had to get their $$, could not just let us sit there in NON moving traffic for 3.5 hours with no facilities, we had to PAY for the PRIVLEDGE.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[Montana_1197]

We have traveled only about 15k but haven't broken anything yet. In our can good storage, on the rear wall, we don't stack cans at all and have traveled roads (Louisana-Arkansas) where we have bounced so much I would have bet the wheels came off the ground. We bounced enough to literally stack cans on top of each other. We also removed the turntable in the corner cabinet and use that space to store papergoods and large foil items. I did see a neat item on a RV show this morning. They suggested using tube socks (clean-of course) to put your glasses in. They'll be protected and if they do break all the broken pieces will stay inside the sock.

[CountryGuy]

Hey Don and Janey,

That tube sock idea is pretty cool!!! Thanks for posting it!

[vickir]

Since I'm the one who decides what goes in which kitchen cabinet, I thought I'd jump in here with some thoughts on this issue.

First of all, I put heavy items (canned goods, pots and pans) on the lower shelves, lighter items (spices, boxed food items, etc.) in the upper.

As far as dishes and glassware goes, I lined the entire shelf with non-skid and put a corner plate-holder (one of the vinyl-covered kind) against the front-end of the cabinet (over the sink). The only problem I've had with the dishes is the small bowls would sometimes "rain down" on me after a particularly rough drive. I solved this problem by putting a small tension rod (CW) across the cabinet opening.

The socks idea is good, but I opted for acrylic glassware, so that's not an issue for us. And, as full-timers, that's just too much trouble since we're on the road so much.

As Steve mentioned earlier, I put squares of the non-skid in-and-around the glass items (measuring cups and mixing bowls) and have had no problems. The small tension rods have also been helpful as "compartment" dividers ... it helps to keep things in order.

We've had a couple of instances of cabinet doors opening while in transit and Steve has adjusted the latches and resolved the problem.

I agree wholeheartedly with Carol ... I would take another rear kitchen in a heart beat (as long as it's a 3295!).

(I'm also wondering if the rig with the flying bedding might have been haunted?!?!?!?!? Something to think about! )

[CountryGuy]

Vicki, If that rig was haunted, it surely had nice ghosts! It was a great rig!! We had a lot of great rving days in that rig!

We also have the non skid stuff on the shelves and between the dishes. Love that stuff!

The small tension rods help, but have not solved the moving dishes situation (then again, I have my dishes in the middle section of the cabinet, the cups and glasses (also acrylic) in the front section. Bowls in the rear section, and they have moved a lot too, one time well into the middle section.

We are working on other solutions to this jumping dishes situation, and if they work out, we will let you all know about it at some point, maybe months from now, but, we will let you know.

No, the solution is NOT a new rig, I LOVE the 3295, and so does Al, this is OUR floor plan, the rest we can adjust or fix or tie down!

[sreigle]

Carol, do you have those tension rods cranked down good and tight? Ours never get knocked loose. Vicki says we did have one knocked loose when she didn't have it tight enough. Then again, since yours is not packed as heavily as ours maybe yours gets more of a run at those tension bars!

[CountryGuy]

Steve,

I have them as tight as I can get them, here is a thought, maybe let Al put them in, he might be able to get them in with more tension???? Hmmm, might give that a try. I have been afraid to put too much tension on them, don't want to bust out the cabinet sides, maybe that is silly thought on my part???

And, yes, since I don't have as much in my cabinets as you do, I think the dishes do get a running start at the tension bars!

Carol

[sreigle]

I don't think our small tension bars could put enough stress on the cabinets to hurt anything. If you're using larger, stronger bars then all bets are off. We're using the small white ones you get a camping world. I've seen them in just a couple of walmarts too.

Vicki just told me these are stronger than similar sized curtain-type tension rods. Maybe that's why they don't get knocked out of the way.

Here, they say a picture's worth a whole bunch of words? We use the single bar in the top of the picture:

http://www.campingworld.com/browse/p...25&prodID=1383

Ours are white but I see they now have them in oak, too.