Community Forums

kandb3293 · 09-21-2011, 12:54 PM

So, my wife and I just returned from our first real trip in our 2008 Monaco Cayman XL 35SBD, nice coach, no issues to speak of at all.

Why were able to use this trip to write down pros and cons of our Coach and our travel experience.

Coach performed extremely well
Decided the modified Sleep number queen bed is just not quite big enough for my 6' frame
Cummins performed extremely well
Jeep towed wonderfully behind it
All in all great trip

My wife and I own a business so we of course had to spend some time each day working, our biggest issue in our coach is that there are only two slides and not a lot of space.

We have decided that we really like RVing, enjoyed seeing some of the country but we need a bigger RV.

I am a big fan of Monaco so we have been looking at used Monaco's, we found a 2008 Monaco Cayman XL 37PDQ, four slides, 8700 miles, nice upgrades, etc. Basically two ft longer and two extra slides. Huge difference inside.
We also found a 2006 Monaco Knight 40' not sure of the exact model but it has a king bed and an actual desk area in the bedroom. 24k miles, a bit dated, priced $15k less than the 2008 Cayman 37PDQ.

I guess I am just soliciting your views, especially if you own EITHER of these models. Pros and Cons. I am not in a huge hurry to buy a new one, but if the price is good and seems like a fair deal.... well I should probably jump on it.

JeepnChief · 09-21-2011, 05:53 PM

Hello there! My wife and I own a 2008 Cayman XL 37PDQ and we are quite happy with it. I just upgraded the trailing arms and suspension with the products from Source Engineering (lots of info on why in the forum) and would highly recommend doing the same if you choose any of the rr4r chassis.
We spent 9 months in our rig last year and enjoyed every minute. Drove the Alaska Highway and plan to do it again in 2012.
Other than the known issues with the stock trailing arms, we have found the quality of the coach to be just great.
Good luck.

fansill · 09-21-2011, 06:05 PM

Welcome to the Group...

Although I have not had any experience with the Monaco Brand, we really love our new to us 2005 Fleetwood Revolution. Having 4 slides makes a huge difference and even though I did not think that the slightly longer length of the regular queen bed in this coach would be a huge difference over our previous "short queen"....it is remarkable how much we notice that extra 5 inches. We are both tall people and needed that extra few inches to sleep well.

Best of luck in your search and keep us posted.

Faith

JDT · 09-21-2011, 07:24 PM

The 06 Knight would be a 40PLQ and is one notch above the Cayman. The advantage would be a larger 8.3 liter Cummins ISC 330 hp engine and the 8 air bag RR8R chassis. Not sure what transmission the Cayman has but the Knight would have the 6 speed Allison. No trailing arms issue to deal with as could be possible with the Cayman, unless it has already been done. The Knight would need tires in the next couple of years if you use the 7 year change rule. 24K miles would not be a factor for me as that is only about 4 or 5K per year.

Not sure about the pricing. You need to get the NADA prices for wholesale, without options, so I read here, and go from there.

Thought I would chime in on the Knight's side as my Ambassador is its corporate twin and we have had very good luck with it, other than the Norcold 1200LRIM fridge, which is another whole story. In short, a number of us have had problems with them and replaced them with residential fridges.

kandb3293 · 09-21-2011, 11:22 PM

Thanks to those of you who took some time to respond. You know you can just get overwhelmed with all the Coach's out there and I cannot fathom buying one new.

We are just really torn between the two, and I have heard much about the trailing arms, I need to follow up on that even with my current Coach.

Well, we will keep looking a bit more. Nada is a good place to look for pricing as well.

thx again to all!

JimM68 · 09-22-2011, 10:15 PM

We have an 08 knight, 40 ft 4 slide, and we love it. I bought it over competing manufacturers for the rr8r chassis, the outboard mounted air bags make it ride and handle much better than anything else out there.

The r4 chassis is flawed. I wouldn't touch one with someone elses 10 foot pole, new trailing arms or not.

Just mho of course.

nodine · 09-23-2011, 04:34 AM

I am with Jim (JDT) on the miles thing. A big diesel is not even broke in at 24K. We now have 32K on ours and have seen steady fuel mileage improvement in the last 15K. I think it is just about broke in now. These are over the road truck engines and considered to have a million mile life before overhaul is required. I want even go 7 years on the tires. We have 6 new tires on our 2006. We have read to many stories about tires that looked good but blew out at 60+ MPH. Yes they are costly, but you and your wife are priceless!

Bob

RVRon · 09-23-2011, 08:21 AM

40 feet and the king bed make a huge difference in the livability for us. I'm a big guy (long, not wide) and the queen was just a tad too over-populated (me-wife-cat-other cat). You will find however that the campground maneuvering is a tad more "interesting" in some of the older CG's. I do agree with everyone that the RR8 is the better chassis and moving from the B series Cummins to either the C or I series is a big plus.

bigdomino · 09-23-2011, 08:56 AM

We have 2008 Knight 38 PDQ. Have full timed in it for over 4 years. Generally has been a good coach. Minor leak issues. Having to replace slide seals and have replaced toilet 3 times. Ride is great. CUMMINS 330 engine is good. Plenty of power. I would stay away from the 4 air bag system. Knight has 8. Good luck.