The Exterior of the RV…. basements

It is all about your CCC or Cargo Carrying Capacity.  The consensus  on the web is to allow for no less than 3000 lbs of CCC. So if we have adequate CCC then we need to focus on storage.  Do we want slides or no slides. 
The pros of having slides:

• convenience – easy to get to our stuff
• time saver – easy to get to stuff in the back of the storage compartment

The cons of having slide:

• reduces storage – they take up considerable space
• they are heavy – reduces you effective CCC
  
  
  

Also the quality of construction on the storage doors should be very carefully inspected for any damage and excessive wear. Check all exterior storage compartments for proper operation of doors and any signs of leakage. Also, we must consider whether or not we will need a heated basement and whether or not since we will at some point in time be stuck in less than favorable temperatures although we will do everything we can to avoid this). Is a pass through storage compartment really necessary? This will depend upon a couple of things – 1) what will be bringing that would require it and 2) what can be stored on our toad (i.e. via a roof rack or in the back of the toad). 

My gut feel is that we won’t need a pass through storage compartment and I am not sure we will really need the slides due to their reduced storage and increased weight.  Not to mention they are expensive to have installed if they aren’t already on the rig.  Besides I am fairly handy and can always add them myself at a later date as can be found in these links:
http://www.modmyrv.com/2009/01/03/rv-sliding-storage-cargo-tray
http://home.off-road.com/~cruiserhead/drawer/tlcbox.html

So the only critical thing we need in our storage compartments is one large enough to accommodate two rather bulky folding chairs.  As long as one compartment can handle that I believe we will be in good shape with storage…