I know there are a lot of people that think anyone who would put a center console into an RV is bonkers, but not me. The reasons for not doing it are being cramped in the cockpit, restricted access if you need to get under your panel to work on something and of course added weight. Valid points.
I have several reasons I think I can make this work for me. First, I'm 5'9" and 180 lbs...not huge and dont plan to be putting on weight anytime soon. Second, I plan to spend a lot of time thinking of ways to make it easily removable for maintenance, which I think I can do. Third, weight is not that critical to me, I'll trade weight for comfort in the cockpit any day within reason...I think builders get way too crazy about the weight topic when building these RV's but I'll save that for another post.
I just really think the center console, when done right, can add a lot of comfort, functionality and aesthetics to the cockpit. Here is my reasoning: I like the throttle on the center console so I dont have to reach for it on the panel (nice for formation flying I have read)...this is exactly where its located on the DA20 and I really like it there. I want an arm rest, its amazing how much this improves comfort. Sit in an office chair with and without arm rests once...big difference. Added storage in the console for charts, books, manuals, etc...this will be my map box since I wont have one in the panel. It provides a place to rest your leg up against. When I ride in an RV without a center console as a passenger, there is nowhere to rest your left leg. And lastly, it adds panel space ahead of the throttle quadrant for items such as the fuel selector.
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