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Old 01-01-2024, 02:43 PM   #1
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THOR #28145
Redundant Door to toilet in split bath motorhomes.

Has anyone else noticed how awkward getting to the toilet from the bedroom at night is? Every split bath design has a door that opens for the most convenient access from the main part of the coach. I think the door is redundant since most RVs with a split bath design close off the space bathroom hall with some sort of door or curtain or screen at both ends. With than in mind has anyone either removed the door or turned the door around to make access to the toilet at night more convenient for access from the master bedroom?

The one problem with removing the door is that you would loose a place to put towel bars for the bath towels.

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Old 01-01-2024, 03:28 PM   #2
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Not a split bath problem, most bathroom doors swing for easy access from the front of the RV, which means awkward access from a rear bedroom. The engineers have a 50/50 choice on door swing assuming no other factors are involved. They choose for most used traffic pattern which is from the front of the coach. I believe they got it right.

But if your priority is different feel free to make the mod. Post pics of the result. Others may agree with your priority and benefit from you paving the way on the mod.
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Old 01-01-2024, 04:53 PM   #3
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In my coach, the shower is on the right side and the door to the toilet is left handed (opens to the rear). The bedroom door is a pocket right to left. With a towel rack on the back side of the toilet door, the towels are accessible from inside the shower. With both doors blocking the passage, it makes a great dressing area, thus we seldom need to lower the shades in the front or rear of the coach.
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Old 01-01-2024, 04:54 PM   #4
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Not sure I follow what is meant by Split Bath, but our door opens toward the MBR. In fact at night when level, and slide in; we can open the about 3/4 way and it effectively blocks off the front or main cabin of coach. We do have a MBR door so we have two levels of door privacy.

I could see advantage if the door was hinged on other side, but I prefer it hinged where it opens facing the rear.

Only issue I have had with Bath door is on occasion when slide was out, and I retracted the slide, I may have forgotton to close the bathroom door... and if so, you cannot close it I have to re extend the Slide all the way out, close door, and retract again
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Old 01-01-2024, 05:17 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by dkoldman View Post
Not sure I follow what is meant by Split Bath, but our door opens toward the MBR. In fact at night when level, and slide in; we can open the about 3/4 way and it effectively blocks off the front or main cabin of coach. We do have a MBR door so we have two levels of door privacy.

I could see advantage if the door was hinged on other side, but I prefer it hinged where it opens facing the rear.

Only issue I have had with Bath door is on occasion when slide was out, and I retracted the slide, I may have forgotton to close the bathroom door... and if so, you cannot close it I have to re extend the Slide all the way out, close door, and retract again
Split bath has a hallway between the bedroom and the living area running between the toilet on one side and the shower on the other side. That hallway can be closed off on both ends by a pocket door or folding accordion folding screen or curtains. With pocket doors there is a very tiny space to be able to open the toilet door when the pocket door to the living area is closed.
.
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Old 01-01-2024, 05:33 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by Dan-sr@perra-us.net View Post
Split bath has a hallway between the bedroom and the living area running between the toilet on one side and the shower on the other side. That hallway can be closed off on both ends by a pocket door or folding accordion folding screen or curtains. With pocket doors there is a very tiny space to be able to open the toilet door when the pocket door to the living area is closed.
.
Are you saying they make bathrooms with just a toilet, and on the other side just a shower? Are there two sinks, I sure hope so.

I can picture this kind of. So some Designer came up with the idea to have 4 doors and two sinks to make one bathroom

This is why we need harsher drug laws.
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Old 01-01-2024, 06:00 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by dkoldman View Post
Are you saying they make bathrooms with just a toilet, and on the other side just a shower? Are there two sinks, I sure hope so.

I can picture this kind of. So some Designer came up with the idea to have 4 doors and two sinks to make one bathroom

This is why we need harsher drug laws.
That say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here is my thousand words. This is an old and common design. the toilet door is kind of redundant when the pocket doors can be closed instead.
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Old 01-01-2024, 06:42 PM   #8
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That say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here is my thousand words. This is an old and common design. the toilet door is kind of redundant when the pocket doors can be closed instead.
The picture clarifies greatly. Now what was original question, was it to ask about opinions to removing the door that goes to the toilet and sink?

I think I see your problem, because for me it would be annoying to have come out of MBR and walk around the door to open it up. But I see why they designed it the way they did for guest.

I can't see removing the bathroom door at all, no matter the inconvenience. I would not trust those Pocket doors.

We have sliding wooden door in MBR similar to picture, but I would not call it a pocket door. I have never seen an RV with the true Pocket door like you have in the front.

I assume the shower has a fogged glass door? I don't think my wife would like that pocket door as a shield for privacy unless it locked?

From what I can tell, the way it is... is prolly the best.
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Old 01-01-2024, 06:42 PM   #9
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In my last coach, a Fleetwood, the toilet door opened towards the front of the coach. There was a accordion type door towards the rear, master bedroom. These two doors made the split bath into a rather large room, with plenty of room to dry off and dress after a shower. It also made ingress to the toilet easy in the middle of the night. I have noticed that my older Fleetwood branded RVs were more user intuitive than what I have from Thor. Another example is that my Fleetwoods had a water pump switch within reach of every faucet. Unlike Thor, it's almost as if the Fleetwood designers actually used the products they designed.
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Old 01-01-2024, 07:10 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dkoldman View Post
The picture clarifies greatly. Now what was original question, was it to ask about opinions to removing the door that goes to the toilet and sink?

I think I see your problem, because for me it would be annoying to have come out of MBR and walk around the door to open it up. But I see why they designed it the way they did for guest.

I can't see removing the bathroom door at all, no matter the inconvenience. I would not trust those Pocket doors.

We have sliding wooden door in MBR similar to picture, but I would not call it a pocket door. I have never seen an RV with the true Pocket door like you have in the front.

I assume the shower has a fogged glass door? I don't think my wife would like that pocket door as a shield for privacy unless it locked?

From what I can tell, the way it is... is prolly the best.
The one in the MBR is more like a barn door although both doors use the same hardware. My Tiffin Allegro had a similar arrangement with folding accordion privacy screens at each end of the hallway. I do not remember the space being as tight for opening the toilet door on the Allegro with the front privacy screen closed as it is on the ACE with the font pocket door closed. We generally close the pocket door to the living area when using the toilet simply because closing yourself up in the toilet closet is too coisotropic and makes it difficult to get everything back together after using the toilet.
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Old 01-01-2024, 10:14 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by Lt Keefer View Post
In my last coach, a Fleetwood, the toilet door opened towards the front of the coach. There was a accordion type door towards the rear, master bedroom. These two doors made the split bath into a rather large room, with plenty of room to dry off and dress after a shower. It also made ingress to the toilet easy in the middle of the night. I have noticed that my older Fleetwood branded RVs were more user intuitive than what I have from Thor. Another example is that my Fleetwoods had a water pump switch within reach of every faucet. Unlike Thor, it's almost as if the Fleetwood designers actually used the products they designed.
The water switch we added to the bathroom has become our primary switch. I can't tell you how handy that has become. The light on the outside just reminds you that the Switch is on.
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Old 01-01-2024, 10:18 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by Dan-sr@perra-us.net View Post
The one in the MBR is more like a barn door although both doors use the same hardware. My Tiffin Allegro had a similar arrangement with folding accordion privacy screens at each end of the hallway. I do not remember the space being as tight for opening the toilet door on the Allegro with the front privacy screen closed as it is on the ACE with the font pocket door closed. We generally close the pocket door to the living area when using the toilet simply because closing yourself up in the toilet closet is too coisotropic and makes it difficult to get everything back together after using the toilet.
.
Sounds good, seeing that picture makes it clearer what you are up against. I still don't think I remove the door. Maybe a wedge so it will stay open.
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Old 01-01-2024, 10:39 PM   #13
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Usually a split bath in a short coach allows for a larger shower and a roomier toilet and sink enclosure.
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Old 01-01-2024, 10:44 PM   #14
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The multiple doors are so someone can take a nap in peace while someone else is taking a crap with folks in the living area.

You can also close off the bedroom if there are guests in the rig.
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Old 01-01-2024, 10:51 PM   #15
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My 2 cents ….

I would not remove the door because under normal conditions then it would require closing two pocket doors instead. That seems more inconvenient, though I am not claustrophobic so wouldn’t buy me much of anything. I also would not like appearance of exposed toilet when traveling normally with pocket doors retracted/open.

As far as reversing door, the problem I see is that at night if bedroom pocket door is closed for privacy, guests coming from front of motorhome would not have enough room to swing door past themselves trying to get into toilet room. As designed there is much more space to stand to side to let door swing by.

Can’t you pop door off hinges and try it to see how you like it? In any case I’d save everything to put back before selling or trading. New owners would likely want the door there.
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Old 01-01-2024, 10:52 PM   #16
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The multiple doors are so someone can take a nap in peace while someone else is taking a crap with folks in the living area.

You can also close off the bedroom if there are guests in the rig.
I am considering removing the door to the toilet closet. that space is closed off by the sliding doors at either end of the hallway.
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Old 01-01-2024, 10:56 PM   #17
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I am considering removing the door to the toilet closet. that space is closed off by the sliding doors at either end of the hallway.
How would guests have “locked” privacy?
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Old 01-02-2024, 12:00 AM   #18
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How would guests have “locked” privacy?
“Privacy, he don’t need no stinking privacy”
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Old 01-02-2024, 01:10 AM   #19
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It'd be fun to see Thor design a door that swings both ways. It's a newish feature in certain RV refrigerators. Maybe it could be upscaled to a lightweight door?

https://www.core77.com/posts/110060/...rigerator-Door
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Old 01-02-2024, 01:58 AM   #20
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“Privacy, he don’t need no stinking privacy”
And no one in the coach gets any privacy from the sinking when someone uses the toilet. That vent fan in the toilet closet does not pull the air out fast enough.

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