Isle width question?

[bryanhes]

Thanks Cody,

Looks nice 

Bryan

[cody]

Just a couple of ideas, both are 8ft.

[bryanhes]

I had mine at 8' as well. I am moving things around along with the fridge. And going back to a center walk thru bathroom.

Thanks again,
Bryan

[robertglines1]

old school tape floor layout and walk around,or make cardboard boxes the size of your main features and move them around til you get what you want. Remember height requirements for showers will limit placement of shower...If your big like me booth space is a problem,can't suck gut in enough..great for small kids though...FYI....what ever do it your way....Ideas go to prevost stuff and look at coaches for sale.some real neat idea's there.

[Tom Y]

Bryan, Keep in mind that more width may be needed at shoulder height. I have been in a few different company built conversions. The smallest I saw was a 24 inch walk way, and it felt fine to me. I can measure my bedroom door if intrested, but I think 26 inch.  Tom Y

[Ericbsc]

I used anangled kitchen cabinet. I am building pullout trays into the end tables and table between recliners. We havw a formal dining room, and breakfast at home that we don't use now.

[Tom Y]

Bryan, Ours is setup more like a SS. But this is what we wanted. The smallest distance between the counter and the bath wall is 27 inches wide and the bedroom doors are 24.5 inches wide. Tom

[Sean]

Any codes?

Yes.  NFPA 1192 provides specific minimums for emergency egress purposes.  Any aisle or passage leading to an exit (so this includes the main aisle, since it is the path to the exits from almost anywhere in the coach) must be a minimum of 13" at its narrowest point.  Also, the exit door itself must be a minimum of 18" wide.  Lastly, an exit that is not a door must be able to pass 'an ellipsoid generated by rotating about its minor axis an ellipse having a major axis of 24" and a minor axis of 17"', which would really dictate that, in practice, most aisles should be a minimum of 17" wide.

I think you will find all these code-mandated minima to be uncomfortably narrow, so if you make your aisles wide enough for normal people to be comfortable walking through the coach, you will be well within the code.

FWIW, 24" is generally considered the minimum width of a doorway to be comfortable.  For aisles past counters, furniture, etc. you will want at least 24" of shoulder room, but below perhaps waist height you can get away with less, possibly as little as 17", although code allows you to go down to 13" as per above.

HTH,

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[luvrbus]

Eric, that is beautiful cabinet work on your Eagle and I have question about the windows how are going to cornice the windows with them being so low and close to the coach are you going to cornice the windows ? 




good luck

[bryanhes]

Eric,

The cabinetry looks great. Did you build all of it? I like the layout. That is similar to what I have been thinking about.

Thanks,
Bryan

[Sean]

On seated coaches the law is 26" isle.

Did you mean to write 16"?  Most MCI's have a 14" aisle; the federal standard for schoolies is 12", and I will bet if you go into your Setra and measure between two adjacent armrest pivots it's 16" or less.  Shoulder room, of course, will be more, but I'd be surprised if it's even 26" at shoulder height for shorter adults.

That, of course, all applies to standard seated coaches, which must comply with FMVSS 217 (exit requirements for coaches).  FMVSS-217 uses a 13" ellipsoid, even smaller than the one that I mentioned above for NFPA-1192 (here's the test procedure: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/DOT/NHTSA/Vehicle%20Safety/Test%20Procedures/Associated%20Files/TP-217-TB-00.pdf).  Once you start talking about ADA-compliant (wheelchair-capable) coaches, the applicable standards are FMVSS 403 & 404 and these dictate much wider aisles to accommodate the wheelchairs.  Low-floor transits, for example, must comply with these new (effective 2004) standards.  

-Sean

[bryanhes]

Sean,

For some reason I knew you would be "da man" to produce codes   

I do not see how someone could live with 13". I am 5'10" and 170lb. Heck I would feel confined with that.

Thanks,
Bryan

[Sean]

I do not see how someone could live with 13". I am 5'10" and 170lb. Heck I would feel confined with that.

As I said, most would find the code minimum to be uncomfortably narrow.

Note, BTW, the the FMVSS-217 emergency exit standards mean that you'd possibly have to squeeze through a hatch just 13"x17" (17"x24" for RV's per ANSI-1192), and I suspect there are quite a few adults who could not do that. We put a boat hatch in our roof, not only for emergencies but also to access our roof-top deck.  We picked the smallest size that seemed comfortable to us, and that was 19"x19"; even then, we've had guests look up at it and decide it was too skinny for them to attempt.  The moral of this story, I guess, is that if you are a large person, don't travel by bus, because the emergency exits may be a tight squeeze

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[cody]

Thar was something I had been puzzling over, how they get all those ellipsoids in the buses.

[Busted Knuckle]

Sean,
Thank you for catching that! Yes I meant 16" which is what Setra told us when we asked why the isles seemed so narrow. But in the model Setra we were asking about it has a drop ilse floor. So the seats hit higher up on the body and seem narrower than it really is. (compared to other buses like MCI)
  BK