That is an odd installation and I think not by the factory. Our 2001 has the side AC factory install and it has a half-height cabinet below it. The cabinet that holds the AC is an odd shape looked at from above, kind of trapezoidal, I assume this is to help with the air flow issues.
When the factory AC died, I replaced it with what appears to be this same AC model thanks to a recommendation from harveyrv. Other than some trim cutting around the cabinet edges because it was very slightly larger than the original, it was not difficult to replace and it works well. In fact it works better than the factory unit because it has a higher BTU output.
The only modification I made to the unit (and I did this to the factory unit as well) was to drill holes VERY CAREFULLY in the unit's integral drip pan so that all collected water goes into the trailer drip pan. I did this because the units are designed to collect a half inch of water or so and this sloshed out into the inside of the trailer when we drove to the next campsite (in SE Texas if you run the AC, you are making water). Knowledgeable people on this board remarked that this would likely result in a loss of cooling efficiency because the units use the collected water to cool internal parts. That was an OK tradeoff for us because of the damage to the cabinetry and potential mold issues caused by the sloshed out water.
As I see it, the biggest issue with the side mounted design is that the cool air emitted from the unit tends to bounce off the other side of the hall wall and stay in the immediate vicinity of the AC, causing its thermostat to cycle while the rest of the trailer is too warm. We, and others on this forum, have handled this by placing a floor fan in the back of the hall to blow the cool air away from the front of the AC towards the front bed. It's a little awkward but it works.
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