1991 40' WLWB

[George, David]

Newbie looking at a 1991 WLWB with 75,000 miles. It has the split
bathroom, where there are small aisles on either side leading to the
bedroom. I think I like the side aisle configuration better, but don't
know enough about it to know why.

I'm looking for advice/opinions/input on the advantages and
disadvantages of each configuration.

Which configuration came standard with the 1991??

Thank you all.

Dave George


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[mbulriss]

Dave,

I responded to you offline with my phone number. For the benefit of
the forum members, I will repeat some of what I mentioned to you in my
offline email, as well as other information.

If I understand your description properly, you are looking at a very
rare Bird layout. What I refer to as a "Y" shaped bathroom with two
entrances into the bedroom from either side of the vanity and sink
area, apparently exists in no more than four Birds ever built. I have
one of those layouts and we love it. Bennie Collier, former Customer
Service Guru from the factory, told me he did not think that BB ever
made more than 2. In fact, he was able to describe mine back to me
from memory! The prior owner of my coach claims to have identified
four. No one from the factory has been able to verify that for me.

We like the fact that there is total privacy in the bedroom area, even
without the need to close the pocket doors on those two side aisles.
We had a 1983 PT prior to our 91 and we had the private street side
bathroom. With the advent of the wide-body Bird, I never really cared
for the pass-thru 'garden bath' that had to be totally closed off to
use it if other people were on-board. The "Y" bathroom gives you a
private water closet (toilet), which you don't have in the pass-thru
bath. If you have guests, you don't have to worry about them needing
the bathroom in the middle of the night and disturbing you. The
additional closets behind the vanity area further muffle noise from
the front, provide lots of storage and are easier to access than the
rear hanging closet behind the bed.

If we had not found ours, a side aisle would have been a good second
choice for us.

Mike Bulriss
1991 WB40 "Texas Minivan"
San Antonio, TX




--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "George, David"
wrote:
>
> Newbie looking at a 1991 WLWB with 75,000 miles. It has the split
> bathroom, where there are small aisles on either side leading to the
> bedroom. I think I like the side aisle configuration better, but don't
> know enough about it to know why.
>
> I'm looking for advice/opinions/input on the advantages and
> disadvantages of each configuration.
>
> Which configuration came standard with the 1991??
>
> Thank you all.
>
> Dave George
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

[fanfor35]

Thanks Mike. Is what you refer to as the "garden bath" what I see in
many ads referred to as a "pass through" bath? Assuming that's the
case, the side aisle bath was the only other option except in what
seems like a few very rare Birds that had baths in the center and an
aisle to the bedroom on either side of the vanity/sink area. Is that
right?

I guess what I'm asking is there's no way I could confuse the
garden/pass-through bath with the y bath? I know what I'm looking at
is not a side aisle, and I know it has entrance aisles on either side
into the bedroom.

Thanks

Dave George

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "mbulriss" <mbulriss@...>
wrote:
>
> Dave,
>
> I responded to you offline with my phone number. For the benefit of
> the forum members, I will repeat some of what I mentioned to you in
my
> offline email, as well as other information.
>
> If I understand your description properly, you are looking at a very
> rare Bird layout. What I refer to as a "Y" shaped bathroom with two
> entrances into the bedroom from either side of the vanity and sink
> area, apparently exists in no more than four Birds ever built. I
have
> one of those layouts and we love it. Bennie Collier, former
Customer
> Service Guru from the factory, told me he did not think that BB ever
> made more than 2. In fact, he was able to describe mine back to me
> from memory! The prior owner of my coach claims to have identified
> four. No one from the factory has been able to verify that for me.
>
> We like the fact that there is total privacy in the bedroom area,
even
> without the need to close the pocket doors on those two side
aisles.
> We had a 1983 PT prior to our 91 and we had the private street side
> bathroom. With the advent of the wide-body Bird, I never really
cared
> for the pass-thru 'garden bath' that had to be totally closed off to
> use it if other people were on-board. The "Y" bathroom gives you a
> private water closet (toilet), which you don't have in the pass-thru
> bath. If you have guests, you don't have to worry about them
needing
> the bathroom in the middle of the night and disturbing you. The
> additional closets behind the vanity area further muffle noise from
> the front, provide lots of storage and are easier to access than the
> rear hanging closet behind the bed.
>
> If we had not found ours, a side aisle would have been a good second
> choice for us.
>
> Mike Bulriss
> 1991 WB40 "Texas Minivan"
> San Antonio, TX
>
>
>
>
> --- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "George, David"
> wrote:
> >
> > Newbie looking at a 1991 WLWB with 75,000 miles. It has the split
> > bathroom, where there are small aisles on either side leading to
the
> > bedroom. I think I like the side aisle configuration better, but
don't
> > know enough about it to know why.
> >
> > I'm looking for advice/opinions/input on the advantages and
> > disadvantages of each configuration.
> >
> > Which configuration came standard with the 1991??
> >
> > Thank you all.
> >
> > Dave George
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>

[mbulriss]

Dave,

In a word: Yes. My term "garden bath" = "pass through" bath.
Specifically, that's when you can see all the way through the bathroom
area from the front of the coach and see the bed. (I'm not even sure
garden bath was an official BB term, but it was a 'marketing' term I
picked up from BB salesmen.)

I believe you have the rest correct also. The "side aisle" is when
you have to go along one outer wall of the coach after passing through
the kitchen area and you then go along that outer wall to reach the
bathroom and then the bedroom. There will be only one outer wall
aisle, but it can be on either side of the coach. (Note: I have never
seen or heard of one with two full side aisles as it would have been a
tremendous waste of space for the bathroom.)

The "Y" bath (for want of better term) is when you look down the
center of the coach from the front and see the bathroom sink/vanity.
Then as you go through the bath area and pass the vanity/sink, you can
go either to the right *and/or* to the left through separate entrance
aisles to the bedroom. Each of those aisles has a pocket door to
close off bedroom access. That's the model layout with a total build
population (*ever*) of no more than 4, per factory sources.

Check the pictures of my coach again if this is not clear. I added
them to the forum Photo Albumns in an albumn named "Mike & Sue Bulriss
- Texas Minivan" with descriptions on the pictures.

Feel free to call me with any other questions.

Mike Bulriss
1991 WB40 "Texas Minivan"
San Antonio, TX

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "fanfor35"
wrote:
>
> Thanks Mike. Is what you refer to as the "garden bath" what I see in
> many ads referred to as a "pass through" bath? Assuming that's the
> case, the side aisle bath was the only other option except in what
> seems like a few very rare Birds that had baths in the center and an
> aisle to the bedroom on either side of the vanity/sink area. Is that
> right?
>
> I guess what I'm asking is there's no way I could confuse the
> garden/pass-through bath with the y bath? I know what I'm looking at
> is not a side aisle, and I know it has entrance aisles on either side
> into the bedroom.
>
> Thanks
>
> Dave George
>
> --- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "mbulriss" <mbulriss@>
> wrote:
> >
> > Dave,
> >
> > I responded to you offline with my phone number. For the benefit of
> > the forum members, I will repeat some of what I mentioned to you in
> my
> > offline email, as well as other information.
> >
> > If I understand your description properly, you are looking at a very
> > rare Bird layout. What I refer to as a "Y" shaped bathroom with two
> > entrances into the bedroom from either side of the vanity and sink
> > area, apparently exists in no more than four Birds ever built. I
> have
> > one of those layouts and we love it. Bennie Collier, former
> Customer
> > Service Guru from the factory, told me he did not think that BB ever
> > made more than 2. In fact, he was able to describe mine back to me
> > from memory! The prior owner of my coach claims to have identified
> > four. No one from the factory has been able to verify that for me.
> >
> > We like the fact that there is total privacy in the bedroom area,
> even
> > without the need to close the pocket doors on those two side
> aisles.
> > We had a 1983 PT prior to our 91 and we had the private street side
> > bathroom. With the advent of the wide-body Bird, I never really
> cared
> > for the pass-thru 'garden bath' that had to be totally closed off to
> > use it if other people were on-board. The "Y" bathroom gives you a
> > private water closet (toilet), which you don't have in the pass-thru
> > bath. If you have guests, you don't have to worry about them
> needing
> > the bathroom in the middle of the night and disturbing you. The
> > additional closets behind the vanity area further muffle noise from
> > the front, provide lots of storage and are easier to access than the
> > rear hanging closet behind the bed.
> >
> > If we had not found ours, a side aisle would have been a good second
> > choice for us.
> >
> > Mike Bulriss
> > 1991 WB40 "Texas Minivan"
> > San Antonio, TX
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "George, David"
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Newbie looking at a 1991 WLWB with 75,000 miles. It has the split
> > > bathroom, where there are small aisles on either side leading to
> the
> > > bedroom. I think I like the side aisle configuration better, but
> don't
> > > know enough about it to know why.
> > >
> > > I'm looking for advice/opinions/input on the advantages and
> > > disadvantages of each configuration.
> > >
> > > Which configuration came standard with the 1991??
> > >
> > > Thank you all.
> > >
> > > Dave George
> > >
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> > >
> >
>

[Pete Masterson]

On some of the newer coaches, the term "Diagonal Aisle" is used for
an arrangement that leads to a side bath. In my coach, the 22 cu ft
home-type refrigerator is located in the center of the coach and
placed at a 45 degree angle relative to the length of the coach. The
galley cabinets (to the rear) are also trimmed at the same 45 degree
angle. There is a diagonally-arranged pantry-cabinet to the left of
the refrigerator. This diagonal leads to a hallway along the edge of
the coach to the bedroom. My coach is arranged with the aisle and
galley on the curb side, but (I think I've seen) some have the mirror
image arrangement.

You can not see directly into the bedroom from the front of the
coach. (The galley is in the way.) The bathroom is completely private
(it has a sliding door that enters the side-aisle). The shower is an
odd, roughly 5-sided irregular (the sides are all different lengths)
shape that fits in behind the refrigerator and other cabinetry in the
galley/dining area. The bathroom also has a linen cabinet with the
washer in the bottom and a full-length closet. The down-side is that
the bathroom sink (at an angle, located approximately in the center
of the coach) is a little short on counter space.

Since this arrangement can affect the location of some on-board
systems, I signify my coach with "WBDA" to indicate that I have a
Wide Body, Diagonal Aisle arrangement.

Some "side bath" and "side aisle" Wanderlodges do not have the
diagonal aisle arrangement.

Pete Masterson
'95 Blue Bird Wanderlodge WBDA 42
El Sobrante CA
aeonix1@...



On Jul 26, 2007, at 10:33 AM, mbulriss wrote:

> Dave,
>
> In a word: Yes. My term "garden bath" = "pass through" bath.
> Specifically, that's when you can see all the way through the bathroom
> area from the front of the coach and see the bed. <snip>

> I believe you have the rest correct also. The "side aisle" is when
> you have to go along one outer wall of the coach after passing through
> the kitchen area and you then go along that outer wall to reach the
> bathroom and then the bedroom. <snip>

> The "Y" bath (for want of better term) is when you look down the
> center of the coach from the front and see the bathroom sink/vanity.
> Then as you go through the bath area and pass the vanity/sink, you can
> go either to the right *and/or* to the left through separate entrance
> aisles to the bedroom. <snip>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]