1997 National Dolphin

[abacusblack]

Hi everyone.
I am a new member and have found a 1997 National Dolphin motorhome with a tag axle and the GM motor. It has one slide on the drivers side and other than the decals faded off it looks well kept for its 60,000 + miles.

The asking price is $16.000 but I am somewhat concerned that at 36 feet and with a tag axle the fuel mileage will be around 6 miles per gallon. I would find 8 + mpg. acceptable but 6 will be too costly.

Have any members owned this year and model coach? I would appreciate any advice on the mileage and the coach in general.

Thank You. Brian. Mission BC. Canada.

[Russ & Dana]

abacusblack, My FIL has the 1997 National dolphin with one slide and tag axle. GM Motor. It gets 7 MPG pulling a large minivan with a car dolly. And that is in the hills of Missouri. His coach has about 25,000 miles on it.

[bobfo]

Hello,

I have a 1997 Dolphin 35' With slide and 460 Ford engine. Towing a Honda CRV We average just over 7 miles per gallon. That looks like a great price for your Dolphin.

bobfo

[zzjea]

I have a '98 Dolphin on a '97 Chevy chassis with the Vortec 454 GM engine. We bought it in March with only 26K miles on it. 36' and one large slide.

I checked it recently on a 100 mi trip to lake and back and got about 7.3 mpg. However I have run the genset a number of times in storage to keep it in service, so my mileage is affected by that. I figure I am getting around 8 mpg with no towing. It is very similar to the one you are looking at and includes a washer/dryer and tag axle. I try to drive at 55-60 in cruise control, since I don't need to get to or from anywhere as fast as I thought I used to.

$16K sounds pretty good if everything checks out engine/trans wise. It sounds like the coach has been well cared-for. Make sure everything works like it's supposed to and if not then you can estimate what it will cost to fix and that will determine what it's worth to you. You can use that info to negotiate. Check the tires for date and condition, as 8 tires can be expensive. They put 6 new tires on ours when we bought it. 2 were ok.

We really like our Dolphin and have made a number of improvements since we got it. The work I have done on it helps keep me out of trouble, since I'm retired and need to fill in my spare time between golfing.... Plus I like to tinker and make something better or more useful than it was.

John

[abacusblack]

Hi John. Thank you for your input.
I found this coach at a small dealer who takes in trade in`s from a large dealer and also imports coaches from the USA. I think this coach is an import ( 2 air conditioners) and it has been sitting for a few months now.
The "Dolphin Decal" on the engine door is very faded along with the stripe.
I have not yet taken a good look yet as I was shying away from coaches with a tag axle and was looking at a 34' Bounder , a 34' Winnebago Adventurer and a 34' Pace Arrow that this dealer had on the lot.
I did a little checking on the Dolphin and did not find really anything bad said about them. I found that comments from owners were very positive. I understand that the manufacturer is no longer in business but there are many other coaches that have suffered a similar fate.
I am now keeping my eyes open for Dolphin coaches and trying to learn more about them. I joined this site and am grateful for the helpful response to my first thread.
I am including some photos of the 1997 coach. I would appreciate your response and will be going out to take a better look in a day or so an will be back with more questions. I am hoping that this be a good coach for full timing.
Thank you. Brian. Mission BC. Canada.

[toadog]

Hi , I have a 36 with the 460 Ford, and I get 7.3 at 65mph. 23000 miles
Bob Bazley

[GreatWhite]

Before you chose.. drive them all. Not badmouthing Bounder because I know a number of folks who like them... However, we tried on before settling on our newest RV.. The Bounder was well named.. this one bounded all over the place.. the one you are looking at may be quite different.

The ONLY thing we didn't like about the Dolphin and the few other National RV products we looked at was the SMALL toilet area. One of the first things we check, because we are tall people is both the shower an toilet.. If we feel scrunched on the pot and can't get up easily.. we move on.. Same with the shower.. we have to be able to stand up and turn around when soaping up and rinsing off.

Good luck in your search and don't just look at cost or how "pretty" it looks.. It HAD to be functional as well.

[zzjea]

Hi Brian,

This rig looks almost identical to ours. The comment regarding the bathroom area is the opposite in our view. We felt the bath area was so much better than most other designs because you can shut both pocket doors and still have a large bath. I am about 5'8" and have no issues with height in the shower and there is adequate room to get around. It is a motorhome so I don't expect exactly what I have at the stick house.

I wouldn't worry too much about the fading of decals if it were me. Mine has a little too. In worst case you can peel them off and body paint the rig ($$$). You may also get someone to paint over the faded decal to give it a fresh look.

If the decals are cracked badly, you could peel them off. It will leave some "ghosting" effect but some of that can be buffed out. Since we bought our rig, I am a little less concerned about those things. It still looks great from a little distance. Any rig is going to get weathered and scuffed up no matter how much it costs to buy.

Remember, the newer and better looking it is on the outside, the sadder you will be the first time you or that stupid limb scratches it up. I've already had a few minor bloopers.

If you are buying a new rig from a dealer, the only real advantage ($) is the warranty. A good used rig if well maintained can be almost as reliable as a new one. New ones also have issues. I've read many forum threads of new rigs problems. Often, these have to be taken to a specific location to be fixed even in warranty. There is the inconvenience and downtime to fix. If you are a full-timer, then that is still expensive.

All the manufacturers use most of the same suppliers to build their units. So the fact they are no longer in business makes little difference unless it was in warranty. You can find RV parts all over the place including Home Depot, etc. (faucets...).

Whenever and whichever rig you buy used, change the belts, filters, etc. unless they had just been done. Hoses should be checked and maybe replaced anyway if you are going to travel a lot.

My experience with National is that they made solid, well-constructed coaches and can be purchased for a reasonable $. We just got lucky and found ours by accident, low miles (26K) locally. We like the layout which is essentially identical to the one in the pictures. Our decals are a little different but it's similar.

Hope this helps and keep in touch. It's been about 104 here in the Houston area lately, hope it's cooler up there. I do love the mountains, just not any down here.

Regards,

John

[96 Wideglide]

Gota wonder why they would install a 30A service in a 36' coach with 2 AC's !

[zzjea]

I don't know either, but I solved that one too. I installed an adapter from Power Solutions (I think) that allows me to connect my 30A as normal and also 20A to the rear AC from its own 20A shore line. Thus 2 shore lines, 30A and 20A.

Most CGs have 50/30/20 service at each box. So for about $100 spent on adapter and 20A power cord, I can now use around 50A when I need to run both ACs at full capacity and still have power for the main circuits for other things I want running. It's like I'm running everything off the Genset (~50A) even though it's not running, it's all shore power. If the shore pole is wired according to code, this will work like a charm. If they messed it up and there is not 100A service to the box, then there won't be enough amps at all the connectors. I have not found this to be an issue and have been almost too cold at times in the MH in HOT Texas this summer.

In the winter I can also connect an elec. heater to the 20A shore line and use elec. instead of my lpg for heating. Saves some $$. It was mostly for convenience though so the EMS would not trip on just 30A service.

John

[Wanabee FTer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zzjea I don't know either, but I solved that one too. I installed an adapter from Power Solutions (I think) that allows me to connect my 30A as normal and also 20A to the rear AC from its own 20A shore line. Thus 2 shore lines, 30A and 20A. John

Keep in mind that Power Solutions is now out of business, but a home made version can be built with parts obtained from a home improvement store.

[96 Wideglide]

Ahhhhh, now I get it .

I thought with a 30A coach you were restricted to either front or back A/C, even when powered by genset .

[zzjea]

Actually, our Dolphin like any 30A rig that has 2 ac's and an EMS, will run both ac's off the 30A service most of the time. However, if you have the fridge going on 110v, and the TV etc., you will overload the 30 A service and EMS will start shutting down specific elec. components until the load drops below 30A.

When the Genset is running, it provides ~50A, 30A to main coach and 20A to rear ac. The changes I made do the same thing when connected to shore power. Kinda best of both worlds.

If they had put in 50A to start with, we would not be having this discussion. Must have been cheaper at the time. Even a 50A coach can get maxed out if you have too many hi amp devices going at the same time. Coaches are not 150-200A stick houses so there are limits.

John

[toadog]

Thanks zzjea, I had a post asking this question, know I have my answer. I will look into your fix have done, have done the same to boats in the past. Power management is the same problem in RVs .
Bob Bazley