RE: Holiday Rambler Navigator 1994 external skin question
Don't forget the windows. My front driver's window lost its seal and fogged up. I ordered a replacement pane and we had to remove the whole window to put it in the frame.
There was evidence of rot and water intrusion from the top and side of the window. It wasn't so bad we had to do anything, but I had them go around the whole coach and put new lap seal caulking around both the sides and the top of each window.
The guy who works on my RV doesn't like silicone on the exterior of the coach and only uses the lap seal
RE: Recommendation for GPS
You can buy a copy of the DeLorme Street Atlas 2009 software with a USB LT-40 GPS receiver for around $50. I have been using this program for years and wouldn't take a trip to an unfamiliar area without it.
If you already own a laptop, $50 is all you need to have a GPS unit with a 12" or larger screen.
At 50 years old with no so great eyesight, I wouldn't even consider paying 5 or 10 times more to get a 5" inch screen.
Once you get the hang of the controls you can very quickly resize the area of view and zoom in and out.
To each his own, but if you are interested here's a link where to buy it on Amazon.com.
The LT-40 GPS receiver is a new model. I have the older LT-20 which has worked great. The new LT-40 is supposed to acquire the GPS signal faster than the LT-20. For what it's worth, I've never had any trouble with my Delorme software or equipment.
Delorme Street Atlas and new GP 40 USB GPS receiver
Good luck with your search, GPS is a great addition and well worth it.
RE: Bicycle Transport
I have six kids and sometimes carry friends. We put an extra 2" receiver on the front of the coach and have a 5 bike rack on the front and rear of the coach.
I assume both your coach and toad have 2" receiver hitches. If so, I would get a rack that will fit into the receiver. You can get anywhere from a two bike rack to a five bike rack.
If you want to tow your toad just put the rack on the back of the toad, it slips into the receiver and you just put the pin in it. If you happen to go somewhere without the toad you can put the same rack on the coach.
I can't think of an easier more flexible solution.
RE: Living Room Slide 2002 Endeavor
Sorry to hear of your problem. I to have a 2002 Endeavor with three slides. I have not had any problems though.
I hope it's as simple as the post above.
I notice you are nearby. For what it's worth I use Tom Kaesar for my repairs. His phone number is 804-752-6359. I have been pleased with his work and found it more reasonable than other shops in the area. He's been at it for over 20 years. Doesn't work on the chassis, just the house, so I think this would be something they would help you with.
Of course no one knows it better than Monaco themselves, Monaco closed their factory repair facility in Indiana, leaving just Wildwood in Florida and Oregon. I just don't have much faith in dealers and their shops. Although, I suppose there must be some good ones out there somewhere.
If it's more than Tom can fix, I might be tempted to let Wildwood fix it next time I'm in Florida.
RE: Front Hitch
I had a 2" receiver put on the front of my coach for a 5 bike carrier. It was two square sections, one welded on top of the other. This was welded to two cross members under the generator in the nose of the coach.
It worked for a couple of years, then this past summer we took a ferry in North Carolina, and as we were coming off the ferry the front hitch hit the ramp. It broke it loose and it was dragged beneath the coach. Luckily we didn't happen to have any bikes on it at the time.
We got a quick and dirty fix down the road, when we loaded the bikes, the rack started sagging within a couple hours. We had to unload them and carry them home in the coach.
I took it to a hitch shop in our town. They said they don't usually fabricate hitches because of the liability but since it was just for a bike rack they agreed to rebuild it. Usually then just install pre-fabricated hitches.
They used 2" square steel tubing. I've examined it and it does not have a particularly thick side wall, maybe 1/4". It is a much more elaborate setup than last time, but when the rack is fully loaded it still has slight movement of the hitch, which makes me wonder about it. I had him tie into the main twin rails and extend the tubing down to a horizontal tube that runs behind the base of the front cap, with the top of the tube 1/2" lower than the bottom of the cap. Off this tubing he welded the 2" receiver to the front of it so the only thing coming from under the cap is the receiver. It sticks out as little as possible. In this possition the receiver is 2" higher than the one torn off since it is a single tube, not one stacked on top of another.
My rack and bikes weigh less than 200 pounds. What you are doing is probably heavier.
My single tube, even with just 200 pounds or less moves enough to make me nervous. I'm thinking you're talking a lot more weight than I have.
Unless your coach is using some common front end like like a pick up truck, I think you are looking at a custom fabricated system. In that case I would think about one that uses two 2" hitches, 3 or 4 feet apart. I would also use 2" tubing with a thicker sidewall than they put on my coach.
You're going to have to consider the weight of the hitch, carrier and cart on your front end and whether it will overload your front axle. You also need to keep it as high as possible or it could drag like mine did. The further out in front of your coach it is the greater the leverage on the hitch and the more likely it is to drag when approaching a steep slope. I came out of a bank parking lot one time with a downward slope that turned into a upward slope as I crossed the edge of the road. I filled the receiver of the hitch up with asphalt.
I'm going to see how well our new setup works with the bike rack. I wouldn't consider anything heavier than that with my current setup.
If you can stand the weight, I would work with a hitch shop to come up with something heavier than what you think you're going need. The only thing worse than losing stuff behind you is losing stuff in front of you. I would hate to run my coach over whatever fell off the front.
RE: installing sat radio antenna
I hate roof penetrations. Every one of them is just one more opportunity for a roof leak.
I went through the front cap and put my satellite radio there with marine goop. After it was over I realized I could have secured it to the underside of the fiberglass cap and it would have worked fine, and without a roof penetration.
I don't know what your setup is but if you can find a place to tape it, glue it or secure it beneath a single layer of fiberglass in your coach you won't need to cut the roof.
Make sure you test the spot first to insure it works. In my coach I took out the TV and accessed my front cap that way.
RE: Costco now carries Pressure Pro
Mine have been on for 3 years and 35,000 miles. I've never had one stolen. I felt the chance of them being stolen was so remote I didn't bother ordering the anti theft lock you can get for them.
For starters they just aren't that common. That means a limited market to sell them even if a thief noticed them and knew what they were. The sensors only have value if you have the monitoring console.
It's hard to believe the stars would ever line up to produce a thief who noticed them, knew what they were, and knew someone with a Pressure Pro monitoring console who happened to need replacement sensors.
RE: Decision on Alpine Coach
If the seller has been unable to sell the unit for several months, he could be very glad to have a real live buyer, go make his day!
RE: Advice on DPs
This is an incredible time to buy a coach, many disillusioned sellers out there. Hey it's your money, but these things are depreciating assets. Any money you spend is thrown away. That being said, they are lots and lots of fun.
I was torn between buying a new one or a three year old coach. I'm really glad I went used. I paid a little more than half what a new one could be bought for. In today's market you should be able to do even better.
If you pay twice as much for something that's going to be used in a year anyway, think how much more fun you're going to have knowing you're getting it half price if you buy a three year old unit.
With careful shopping you can find a great used coach for a 100k and have just as much fun and as many features as with a new 200k coach.
I bought a Holiday Rambler which is part of the Monaco family (Monaco, Holiday Rambler, Beaver and Safari). These are good coaches with great support from the factory. If you find a floor plan you like with them, you will find it probably as exists in the other Monaco companies. In my case I wanted the bath and a half model. It existed in all the Monaco companies and even had the same floorplan designation (DST) across all their companies. The coach I bought could just have easily have been a Monaco Diplomat model DST instead of a Holiday Rambler Endeavor model DST because they are practically identical.
The fellow that works on my coach (he's has an independent shop and has been working on all of them for 20 years) says he really likes Newmar products, and I'd have to agree they have a great reputation.
He doesn't like Fleetwood because he says when he orders parts they take a long time to come, and many times after the long wait, they end up sending the wrong things.
Winnebago (one of their lines is Itasca) is a very strong company and I read posts from lots of owners who love them.
You mention Damon, which is owned by Thor, which also owns Mandalay. Mandalay is Thor's entry into mid-range diesel pushers. They have been around 5 years or so I think. I looked at them and they seemed a good value. Since they are kind of new, there weren't enough used ones around when I was looking.
Tiffin has a great reputation for customer service. It's a smaller company run by Bob Tiffin who bends over backwards for his customer's, and they love him for it.
Better than mid-range are going to be Foretravel, a small company that takes great pride in not taking any shortcuts on the construction and design of their coaches. They really go the extra mile in making their coaches as bullet proof as possible.
Fleetwoods top of the line is their American line such as the American Dream.
Country Coach is a another smaller company that makes better than average coaches and even does some top of the line bus conversions.
All of the above are either mid-range coaches or upper mid range coaches. They are for the most part built on straight truck frames. The real top of the line coaches are the bus conversions. They can easily run over a million dollars new.
It's all about bang for the buck. If I was bound and determined to spend 200k for a coach, I'd be going for a used high mid range coach like a Foretravel.
The above is impression I've gotten of the different companies after reading this forum for several years and doing the shopping while I was looking for my coach.
In the end just going to a diesel pusher itself is big step up no matter who's coach you pick. Their frames, engines and systems are inherently heavy duty. All companies are going to have both fans and detractors, some more than others.
Just take your time, enjoy the shopping and get to know all the players and their reputations. It's a lot of fun walking through the different units figuring out what works for you. If you're patient you're going to find the unit you're looking for.
RE: Headlight replacement Bounder
I went by Advance Auto and got the headlamp kit they sell. It's called Crystal View Headlight Restorer/defogger. It was sitting on the counter next to the register and came in a silver foil pouch. The website is www.myheadlight.com , you can order directly online instead of going to Advance Auto if you like.
It was a little over $20 and included everything needed for the job, including sandpapers, wipes and chemicals. It had me sand the lens with 1000 grit sandpaper, then 2500 grit sandpaper, then polish it with what I suspect was rubbing compound.
After all that, it called for the application of a sealer which sealed it and restored it to a clear condition.
I priced buying new headlamp assemblies and it was around $300.
It definitely greatly improved my lens. They are very clear. I'm not 100% sure whether they are perfectly clear like new. It's hard to tell, but there may be a tinge of yellowing left, but if it is, it is so minor I can't say for sure it's even there.
Bottom line is that for around $20, my lens look much, much better than before I did it. I'm satisfied enough with the results, that I scrapped the $300 headlamp replacement I thought I was facing.
RE: Opening The Slide On Incline
My Holiday Rambler requires us to put our slides out before we use our jacks. I suspect the entire family of Monaco Products, (Monaco, Holiday Rambler, Safari and Beaver) are this way.
We have extended our slides many times on steep slopes, both forward and sideways without any problems.
I don't think you should base your decision even a little bit on what any of us tell you. Your manual certainly addresses this and if not, give your manufacturer a call and ask for the technical assistance department. I can't tell you how many times I've called Monaco. They have always been very helpful to me. Considering this is my first coach, I had lots of questions, all of which they answered.
I hope they tell you it's OK to open the slide since it's very helpful when loading a coach. Worst case, if they think you need to level it first, then go ahead and level it, then put the slides out while you load.
It's definitely worth the time and possible phone call getting the correct answer to this question.
RE: Convert table/chairs to a booth
I swapped out my table and chairs for a dinette.
Click here for the details. Click here for swap details
With six kids we needed the bed and the ease of seating.
RE: Winterizing question
Bumpy's right, any RV place is going to sell an adapter that plugs into your 50 amp plug and converts it to a 30 amp plug, it looks like a pigtail with about a foot of wire between the two ends. Most people own them since many campgrounds don't have 50 amp service, only 30 amp, and you won't have juice unless you've got this adapter. My guess is you already have this adapter, you might ask your husband. After that, all you need is the small (fits in the palm of your hand) adapter that converts the 30 amp fitting to a regular 3 prong fitting that will work with a normal extension cord you can plug into any outlet in your house. This will give you either 15 or 20 amp service, depending on what the amperage of the circuit breaker is that you plug the extension cord into.
Like he said, this is plenty of power to run the washer for winterizing, just make sure you don't select any drying time, coach air conditioning or heat pumps on 15 amps.
Make sure you get a good heavy duty extension cord from Home Depot or Lowe's. Mine uses 12 gauge wire which is over 1/2" in diameter.
Don't feel like the expense of the adapters and heavy extension cord is wasted for winterizing the washer/dryer. I use this setup whenever my coach is at my house. There are lots of advantages to keeping the coach plugged in, even if you only have 15amp service going to it.
It means you can let your refrigerator run all the time so it will be cold when you load it. It also keeps your batteries fully charged. If you want to go out and fix something on the coach you can play the radio or TV and run lights without worrying about killing the batteries or running the generator as well.
RE: Electric outlets in coach
Several years ago, we drove in a driving rain one night and didn't have power on one side the next day. I'm trying to remember all the details, but water somehow got in the conduit that went to the basement outlet and it tripped the GFI. Maybe you have something that got wet and tripped the GFI, and subsequently it dried out allowing the GFI to operate without tripping.
RE: Milky Window - above driver - 2001 Dynasty
My 2002 Endeavor has a triple window on the drivers side. One short wide window across the top and a slider and stationary glass, which art taller than wide.
The stationary half of the slider has just started to fog. I have made at least ten phone calls this week figuring out what I needed to do.
Monaco says to buy, crate and ship the entire three window unit would probably be over $1,200. They quoted $150 plus shipping for just the glass for that one window. Atwood has quoted me $90 plus $25 to ship this glass.
After all those calls, I finally figured out what Atwood had to have to determine the exact piece of glass I needed. I too was initially told by Monaco the glass maker was probably made by Machine Rite. However, after looking at the glass it had the name Excel on it. Turns out Atwood bought Excel a few years ago, after my coach was built.
When you call Monaco you must get the part number for the whole window unit. The part number you need is not the "new" Monaco part number (in use about a year) nor the "old" Monaco part number, but the Atwood part number which is in essence the vendor part number, in other words the part number of whole window unit assigned by the actual maker of the window unit (which is not Monaco or Holiday Rambler).
Once you have the Atwood part number, you can call Atwood at 563-422-5641 extension 783, and talk to Donna. She will look up your part number and figure out which section of glass you need. For technical questions about actually installing the glass, she will direct you to Sue Phillips at 574-266-4829 who is familiar with how the window is constructed.
Unfortunately Atwood doesn't have any diagrams or drawings they are willing to send out, which would have be helpful. At least you can ask Sue questions, and she says it's fairly simple job but does require the removal of the entire window unit.
RE: Bottled Compressed Air
I've had the PowerTank system for the last three years. Their website is at www.PowerTank.com. It uses compressed carbon dioxide (CO2) which produces very high pressure and volume which is great for large high pressure tires. They have several configurations, one of which is designed for RV use.
I keep my tires at 120 psi. Using the onboard compressor of my coach I couldn't get my tires over about 105 psi.
I got the 15 lb cylinder. I usually have to refill it about once every 18 or 24 months after using it for topping my coach tires and lots of bike tires (six kids). Last refill was $20.
It's very handy, anytime I need air I just grab the tank and I've got it. I'm extremely pleased with this product.
RE: adding creative new sleeping space
We swapped out a built in table with chairs for a upholstered dinette/booth. We bought it new from one of the RV surplus places in Elkhart, Indiana. Here's a link to my post explaining how we did it.
Click here to see thread
With a bunch of kids we found the booth to be much better than a table and chair setup, not to mention it turns into a bed at night.
RE: Anyone have a Pressure Pro alert due to mis-read of sensor?
My Pressure Pro system has been on for 3 years. Sometimes I lose the signal from the rear wheels, especially while parked, less while moving. I don't get an alarm just a blank.
I did get my first false reading last week though. I had filled the rear tires to 115 psi and drove an hour then stopped for a couple of hours then drove about 20 minutes. I checked the pressures and one rear registered 106 psi. When I stopped I first grabbed my Power Tank to top off what I figured was a tire with a slow leak. I pulled off the sensor and checked the air in the tire and it was 129 psi, just like all the others (they were hot). I put the sensor back on and went back inside and lo and behold I got 129 psi on the monitor, just like my gauge had just said.
Again, this was the first time in 3 years, so I was surprised. From now on if I get a weird reading I'm going to check it before I assume there is a real problem and drag out the air to top it off. I've had a blow out so I really feel some kind of pressure monitoring is worth having.
Maybe I should report the problem with my monitor not registering the back tires sometimes. I thought it might just be low batteries.
I do have the external antenna. I strung it through the bays back to the dumping bay and actually let it hang out the bottom of that bay about 3 inches. That puts it within 12 feet of both back tire positions, but it still occasionally doesn't give me readings on back tires.
