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Old 06-05-2015, 05:50 PM   #1
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Winter Factory Delivery?

With our timeline, I'm afraid the 2016 DSDP we intend to order will be ready for factory delivery around December 1st. Is that a stupid time to be in Nappanee? We currently live in Northern California, and I'm also afraid that the 2300 mile drive home will include some serious potential for snow, at least on the mountain passes.

If Nappanee is "normally" tolerable in early December, I might be able to sneak due south, then west along I-40 to Los Angeles, then go up I-5 to NorCal.

I've also heard that it can take longer to get your new coach when you choose factory delivery. If that is so, it might be better to have the thing leave Nappanee in mid-November just to avoid the snow dilemma. That would quash my factory delivery wishes, though.

Any advice on this quandary? Waiting to order it is no bueno since we're chomping at the bit to start full-timing! We are also not able to order it earlier than mid-July, hence the challenge.

Thanks,

Roy
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Old 06-05-2015, 08:03 PM   #2
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The weather in December is a crap shoot. Could be okay, could be neck deep in snowballs, How important is factory delivery to you? The extra time you hear of is the service dept. going over your new coach fine tuning it. IMHO, factory delivery is worth it no matter the Time of year. That being said we live in Mich. just 2 hrs. North of Nappanee and pushed our factory delivery back because of the winter weather. We have had two nasty winters back to back. But if we had no choice we would have done it in winter.
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Old 06-05-2015, 08:11 PM   #3
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I would risk it to get the benefit of the factory delivery, and, like you said "sneak" back home on I-40. What could possibly go wrong?
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Old 06-05-2015, 08:16 PM   #4
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We did factory delivery of our 2015 DSDP starting on December 1, 2014 and got lucky with the weather. It was cold but no snow that week. They had snow in November but it was all gone and the roads were clear and dry. We did get to fully test the heating systems 😊. I agree it is a bit of a crap shoot.
Factory delivery was a great experience. I will do it again if/when we get another coach.
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Old 06-05-2015, 08:18 PM   #5
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Yes Northern IN weather is a crapshoot in December. It's very flat, and you will likely find several days of good weather when you can escape south. You might find yourself driving south to I-20 to avoid winter weather in the Rockies. That said, I will never drive my coach anywhere near salted roads. So, if I were purchasing a new expensive rig, I would wait for factory delivery until April.
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Old 06-05-2015, 08:20 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HighwayRanger View Post
With our timeline, I'm afraid the 2016 DSDP we intend to order will be ready for factory delivery around December 1st. Is that a stupid time to be in Nappanee? We currently live in Northern California, and I'm also afraid that the 2300 mile drive home will include some serious potential for snow, at least on the mountain passes.

If Nappanee is "normally" tolerable in early December, I might be able to sneak due south, then west along I-40 to Los Angeles, then go up I-5 to NorCal.

I've also heard that it can take longer to get your new coach when you choose factory delivery. If that is so, it might be better to have the thing leave Nappanee in mid-November just to avoid the snow dilemma. That would quash my factory delivery wishes, though.

Any advice on this quandary? Waiting to order it is no bueno since we're chomping at the bit to start full-timing! We are also not able to order it earlier than mid-July, hence the challenge.

Thanks,

Roy

I live about 65 miles north of Nappanee in lower Michigan. Naturally there is no guarantee, but early December normally isn't that bad for snow in this area. Your plan of heading south is a good one. I'd go south to Indianapolis, St.Louis, Oklahoma City, picking up I40 there.
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Old 06-06-2015, 04:42 AM   #7
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I live about 65 miles north of Nappanee in lower Michigan. Naturally there is no guarantee, but early December normally isn't that bad for snow in this area. Your plan of heading south is a good one. I'd go south to Indianapolis, St.Louis, Oklahoma City, picking up I40 there.
I would agree.......

Nappanee is just east of what is called, "The Region" in northern Indiana. This area is know for "Lake-Effect" snows. Generally heavy downfalls.

We live 3 hours south of Nappanee in the Indy Metro area. Yes it will be cold - snow in Central Indiana at that time of the year is more in the form of flurries but as people have said - it can be a crap-shoot but I believe at that time of the year is worth the gamble.

With a December 1st delivery - you will be in Nappanee for a few days and may get snowed on - but normally does not last and roads open up within a day.

Salt on the roads - yes - it is used. I have lived my whole life in areas with snow and salt on the roads. Best I can say is, it rinses off.

Good luck and how exciting for you..........

g
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Old 06-08-2015, 03:15 PM   #8
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HighwayRanger --

The issue, really, is the salt on the roads if there is significant snow or if there has been significant snow; the issue isn't about the weather conditions and cold in Nappanee per se.

We took factory delivery in mid February on our '13 Dutch Star 4018 and we had nail biting about the salt all the way. We had temps no higher than 12 degrees the whole time we were there (and we stayed as long as we could to take advantage of the outstanding factory delivery experience which, as others have stated so well, is second to none). There was never any issue about the cold or the weather in northern Indiana in the winter -- or being comfortable with the Oasis heat in our all electric coach. We were toasty and comfortable all the way and we had an absolute ball the whole time we were there. But we were worried the entire time about getting caught in salt on the roads which we knew would be horrible for our beautiful new bus.

And the fact is we were just very, very lucky about the salt. Although it was really cold and there was snow around us, we had a full week of dry roads and no snow that came down -- all the time we were there. The highways stayed completely dry. When the weather report turned bad for the weekend after our factory delivery, we made sure we dusted out in advance of the coming storm (and the early salting of the roads), we ran south to Indy, then on to I-65 south all the way to Ft. Myers. We never encountered salt or even precipitation on the highways anywhere on our trip south. Wow, we were lucky!

We did cautionary cleaning of entire undercarriage of the bus after arrival in Florida, but we never had any rust or corrosion issues. That however was not true of others who were not as lucky as we were and had no choice but to drive through the salt. And we saw the results of the rust and corrosion from the salt that showed us what we ducked.

There is no one I have heard of who has had significant exposure to salt on the highways that thinks that the salt is no big problem. It is a big problem. There are just too many cracks and crevices on a machine this complicated to have the salt eliminated in them. So you just have to know that this is, as has been said, nothing but a crap shoot.

If I had it to do over again, yes, I definitely would do the factory delivery because it's so outstanding, but I would also schedule it during a month when you can reliably count on no salt on the roads in northern Indiana. If picking up an already built unit you like could be in the cards at a dealership that you know would be good for PDI (the latter of which being a lot less likely than you might guess), I would say at least try for that. If you feel, like we did, that factory delivery is so important that you want to have it as a top priority, I would definitely recommend planning the delivery during a less high risk season for salt. I know that that does not feed our desire to have what we want when we want it, but in the long run, if you eliminate the chance of undercarriage corrosion and rust by doing so, you are going to be a lot happier with your decision to be safe with a thing that is going to be so much a part of your ongoing motor homing experience.

Just my two (or three) cents ...

Deek
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Old 06-08-2015, 03:39 PM   #9
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FWIW I'd be much less concerned about one drive down a salted highway in winter followed by a good wash than I would being parked anywhere near the ocean where I was subject to salt spray.
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Old 06-08-2015, 03:44 PM   #10
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Winter Factory Delivery?

I have seen rigs that were delivered to PA in November with some nasty undercarriage salt, and sold in the Spring with corrosion.
I would not risk my dream rig.
I-40 gets some snow in the high areas in December, like Flaggstaff and places in NM, etc.
Maybe drop to I-10 if you are lucky enough to escape IN salt free.
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Old 06-08-2015, 10:22 PM   #11
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Sounds like we need to move our delivery up if at all possible. Hopefully we can be there in late September or early October. Significantly better odds of good weather.

We'll try!

Thanks for the advice!

Roy
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Old 06-09-2015, 08:07 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Deek View Post
HighwayRanger --

The issue, really, is the salt on the roads if there is significant snow or if there has been significant snow; the issue isn't about the weather conditions and cold in Nappanee per se.

We took factory delivery in mid February on our '13 Dutch Star 4018 and we had nail biting about the salt all the way. We had temps no higher than 12 degrees the whole time we were there (and we stayed as long as we could to take advantage of the outstanding factory delivery experience which, as others have stated so well, is second to none). There was never any issue about the cold or the weather in northern Indiana in the winter -- or being comfortable with the Oasis heat in our all electric coach. We were toasty and comfortable all the way and we had an absolute ball the whole time we were there. But we were worried the entire time about getting caught in salt on the roads which we knew would be horrible for our beautiful new bus.

And the fact is we were just very, very lucky about the salt. Although it was really cold and there was snow around us, we had a full week of dry roads and no snow that came down -- all the time we were there. The highways stayed completely dry. When the weather report turned bad for the weekend after our factory delivery, we made sure we dusted out in advance of the coming storm (and the early salting of the roads), we ran south to Indy, then on to I-65 south all the way to Ft. Myers. We never encountered salt or even precipitation on the highways anywhere on our trip south. Wow, we were lucky!

We did cautionary cleaning of entire undercarriage of the bus after arrival in Florida, but we never had any rust or corrosion issues. That however was not true of others who were not as lucky as we were and had no choice but to drive through the salt. And we saw the results of the rust and corrosion from the salt that showed us what we ducked.

There is no one I have heard of who has had significant exposure to salt on the highways that thinks that the salt is no big problem. It is a big problem. There are just too many cracks and crevices on a machine this complicated to have the salt eliminated in them. So you just have to know that this is, as has been said, nothing but a crap shoot.

If I had it to do over again, yes, I definitely would do the factory delivery because it's so outstanding, but I would also schedule it during a month when you can reliably count on no salt on the roads in northern Indiana. If picking up an already built unit you like could be in the cards at a dealership that you know would be good for PDI (the latter of which being a lot less likely than you might guess), I would say at least try for that. If you feel, like we did, that factory delivery is so important that you want to have it as a top priority, I would definitely recommend planning the delivery during a less high risk season for salt. I know that that does not feed our desire to have what we want when we want it, but in the long run, if you eliminate the chance of undercarriage corrosion and rust by doing so, you are going to be a lot happier with your decision to be safe with a thing that is going to be so much a part of your ongoing motor homing experience.

Just my two (or three) cents ...

Deek


Well stated Deek. I would add that driving on dry roads that have been salted within the past several days will throw salt dust all over your coach as well, and every bit as damaging to the underside. Salt is a forever problem. However if you sell/trade in 2-3 years then it doesn't matter to you, but it would to some buyers. My 2˘.
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Old 06-09-2015, 09:42 AM   #13
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You absolutely do not want to drive the coach on wet salted roads. I don't care how well you think you've cleaned the chassis the fresh water will not replace or remove the salt that has seeped into every crack, crevice and non-weather tight electrical connector under your house. "Mysterious" and premature electrical failures down the road are just one of the risks.

Unfortunately wet/salt areas can persist for days or weeks (depending on the amount of snowfall) after the snow event as the snow banks along the road continue to melt.

If it were me I'd want to take delivery before mid October or after mid April. Just like at the casinos, "luck" is for the few.
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Old 06-09-2015, 10:36 AM   #14
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You absolutely do not want to drive the coach on wet salted roads. I don't care how well you think you've cleaned the chassis the fresh water will not replace or remove the salt that has seeped into every crack, crevice and non-weather tight electrical connector under your house. "Mysterious" and premature electrical failures down the road are just one of the risks.

Unfortunately wet/salt areas can persist for days or weeks (depending on the amount of snowfall) after the snow event as the snow banks along the road continue to melt.

If it were me I'd want to take delivery before mid October or after mid April. Just like at the casinos, "luck" is for the few.

Also true for beach boondockers. It never leaves!
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