The RV Basement

As you walk around a fifth wheel, you should notice that the floor in the FRONT of the RV is raised due to the fifth wheel hitch being raised high to fit inside of the bed of a truck. You should also notice that the floor of the REAR of the RV is much lower – just a reasonable distance from the ground.

The designers of fifth wheels took the opportunity of the mismatched floors to create some storage space by extending the higher front floor to the rear much farther than is needed before stepping down to the different level. This effectively creates storage space between the floors which is known as the “basement”.

One neat thing about a fifth wheel compared to a travel trailer is this basement. This gives fifth wheels a large amount of storage just not found on a travel trailer. Of course that gives an opportunity to go over the weight limits that are important to follow, but assuming that will be just fine, you have a chance to store 6-10 large plastic totes underneath.

The basement of the RV also gives ample places to hide accessories and connections that are visible externally on a travel trailer.

Here is a picture of the side of a fifth wheel showing the door to the basement. In many follow up shots, I’ll show the interior of the basement, but you should now be able to locate the basement on a fifth wheel :