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2007: RV Purchase Page 3
Cameo F35SB3
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| March 9, 2007: Walking back from the Cameo bedroom toward the kitchen you will see a linen closet just before the stairway to the left. The upper cabinet door hides the 110 volt AC circuit panel. This shows many more circuits than are in my King of the Road which is probably the result of a 50 amp trailer rather than the 30 amp as is the KOTR. You can see a portion of the bedroom French door to the right |
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| with the hall window behind it. The cabinet on the wall to the left of the linen closet is a control panel for several trailer systems. Click the photo to see a large view of this control panel. I have referred to the "hall" several times here and on previous pages. I have always stated we would never have an RV with a "hallway". The reason, halls are usually dark and wasted space since they are not a multi-use area. They are used to transport a person from one room to the next. I've seen many RV designs with dark, useless hallways. However, in this case, the large window brightens not only the hallway but the bedroom also. The linen closet adds purpose to the hall and it is the hall which allows this design to have three distinct areas, bedroom, bathroom and dining/living areas. |
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March 12, 2007: The bathroom is separated from the bedroom, unlike most fifth wheel designs. We disliked that design in all trailers except this one. The medicine cabinet is a wrap-around so extra large. The Corian counter top seems easy to clean. The shower is full size, the same as our King of the Road with a skylight over the shower. However, since this skylight is in an enclosed bathroom |
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| the incoming morning light won't be waking us up. The toilet is a porcelain marine grade appliance. The only option for the bathroom was a Fantastic fan rather than the "B-52" style fan in the vent. I did not choose this option because I wanted to choose my own brand and style of high velocity fan for this vent. Installation should be very easy since it will already have power to the existing fan. Click on the photo to see a view of the toilet area. There is one potential negative of the bathroom. When connected to electricity, we normally heat with electricity rather than the propane furnace. This room will get no heat without adding a small electric heater and the only electrical outlet is the one above the sink. I've wired several buildings so have plenty of electrical experience and believe it will be easy to add an electrical outlet probably to the floor next to the toilet. I'll decide the location once we have more experience with this bathroom. |
| March 13, 2007: Continuing the tour into the kitchen, click on the photo to see an enlarged version of this photo. The Cameo comes with Corian counters and sink. I believe that is a positive since they are light weight and easy to clean and repair but I've never owned Corian, so time will tell. You catch only |
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| a glimpse of the island which makes this area into a real kitchen. For 2007, the faucet has been simplified from the pull-out spray faucet which Gwen would like. It will be easy to make that change. The tall skinny cabinet to the right of the photo is one of the two pantry cabinets. The other is on the left next to the refrigerator. Two more negatives, when the slide is in, the kitchen is unusable because of the island and the refrigerator may not be available either. Second, the drawer glides are a cheaper model, other than ball bearing and are not full extension. The cheaper faucet and drawer glides are a downgrade by Carriage to keep the quality elsewhere and hold the price point on the Cameo. If the drawer glides become a problem (they may not, the King of the Road has the same glides, is 7 years old and I've had problems with only one glide), I'll change them to the better glides. Out of view of the photo is a ceiling fan above the island and a Fantastic Fan (an option) above this end of the counter top. The roof air conditioning is also located in this area and we purchased the heat pump option to give us electric heat through the roof vent system if needed. |
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March 15, 2007: This is the other end of the kitchen and the entertainment center. You can click the photo for a larger view. In the center of the photo is the refrigerator. The standard is 8 cubic feet, we opted for the 10 cubic foot refrigerator figuring we would probably spend as much as 10 years or more |
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| in this trailer and the extra 2 cubic feet would be appreciated. Our current refrigerator is 8 cubic feet so we know what it's like to fit a week of groceries into that size space. The larger refrigerator is an expensive option, about $550 per cubic foot. You have a better view of the tall pantry cabinet next to the refrigerator. The entertainment center will have many changes. First we told Carriage to keep the television, we already have our Sharp Aquos LCD TV which we plan to keep and mount near the TV area. This area will become my computer station so my monitors will be where this TV is located. We did not order the fireplace option so there will be a Maple cabinet where the fireplace is located. The satellite TV control station and the Internet modem and router will be located in this cabinet. The retractable desk tray, where the plant is sitting, will likely be my desktop. I have a different idea for a place to put my keyboard. We are giving up our surround sound system in the King of the Road so hope the system in the photo is a good replacement. |
| March 16, 2007: Looking into the living area, we have made several changes. Click the photo if you want to see a larger view. We have chosen a darker carpet than this model. We also do not like the plastic, stained glass inserts into the cabinet doors and have paid to have them removed and replaced with solid maple paneling. |
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| We have also exchanged the large couch in the rear for one Euro-chair. We need to have a second computer station so that will go in the back corner next to the Euro-chair. The furniture to the left are described as "theater seats". These are very comfortable and actually two matching recliners side by side. They are flush recliners so do not need to be moved away from the wall to extend. We have also ordered wood-laminate flooring rather than the linolium. When touring the bedroom, I mentioned the blackout/day shades as an option rather than the day/night shades. These were also ordered for the living area. We also wanted an upgraded ceiling but Carriage would not do this for us. A huge disappointment but did not break the deal because we liked this floor plan over any in the Carri-lite model (the next level up). |
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March 23, 2007: Next week is scheduled to be the ship date for our new Cameo F35SB3 from Millersburg, Indiana. This last view shows the powered awning and entrance. You will notice this awning does not have the metal covering to protect the awning when traveling. We opted to have the better awning installed, otherwise, the sun, elements and tree limbs would likely destroy this one quickly. The Carefree of Colorado awning on our KOTR with a metal covering is still in good shape after seven years of use. The final option we chose is the Astro Foil insulation. Some trailer manufacturers call this the "Arctic Package". We expect to be in cold weather and may be in hot weather too, so felt the better insultation would be helpful to maintain a comfortable living temperature inside. The manufacturer recommended the Astro Foil over double pane windows. |
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April 18, 2007 ... taking delivery of the Cameo
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| October 8, 2007: A reader, Gary, asks some good questions in research before buying an F35SB3. In summary, I've told Gary that we still think we made the right choice but there are other options we should have gotten and we are very disappointed in one option. Also, you get what you pay for, the Cameo is a fine trailer in its price range. Click here to read the entire question and answer email. |
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