Community Forums

B Bob · 04-01-2015, 06:54 PM

kro1957 - There are lots of great motorhomes out there. You mentioned Beaver a couple of times. A storied great brand from Oregon. It was bought by Monaco a few years back. They are currently not making any new Beavers that I know of. Not positive. But Monaco could at any time. Beaver was always known for their interior wood work. In my opinion the nicest of any of the "production" (meaning not the made to order stuff like Newell, Marathon, and so on.) coaches. Since the owner of the Beaver line is still very much in business I would not hesitate to take a look at those coaches. The top of the line Marquis models were like top top end furniture. Beautiful.

In my opinion Beaver is one of the top motorhomes of the last 20 years.

The other comparable motorhomes, again in my opinion are

Country Coach
Monaco
Foretravel
American Coach
Travel Supreme (Now owned by Entegra)
Blue Bird Wanderlodge

Just below these brands in overall component quality and cost are the very good

Newmar
Tiffin
Fleetwood
and Winnebago
and Entegra

Look at a whole bunch and drive them. Buy what you like.

PDR John · 04-01-2015, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by B Bob

kro1957 - There are lots of great motorhomes out there. You mentioned Beaver a couple of times. A storied great brand from Oregon. It was bought by Monaco a few years back. They are currently not making any new Beavers that I know of. Not positive. But Monaco could at any time. Beaver was always known for their interior wood work. In my opinion the nicest of any of the "production" (meaning not the made to order stuff like Newell, Marathon, and so on.) coaches. Since the owner of the Beaver line is still very much in business I would not hesitate to take a look at those coaches. The top of the line Marquis models were like top top end furniture. Beautiful.

In my opinion Beaver is one of the top motorhomes of the last 20 years.

The other comparable motorhomes, again in my opinion are

Country Coach
Monaco
Foretravel
American Coach
Travel Supreme (Now owned by Entegra)
Blue Bird Wanderlodge

Just below these brands in overall component quality and cost are the very good

Newmar
Tiffin
Fleetwood
and Winnebago
and Entegra

Look at a whole bunch and drive them. Buy what you like.

The only thing I would add on your list involves Monaco.

When it comes to new, they are not they same as they used to be. We just stopped and looked a Diplomat over heavily. It is just another Fleetwood now, none of what made Monaco unique is there now.

B Bob · 04-01-2015, 09:37 PM

PDR John - Be careful when you use fleetwood in a disparaging way. I believe there are more Fleetwood class A motorhomes on the road than any other brand. Plus the American Heritage is a million dollar coach and one of the best made. This is a Fleetwood company I believe.

When we looked at the 2000-2005 Monaco high end coaches like the Executive and the Signature a few years back my wife and I thought they were very similar to the Country Coach lines. The higher end Monaco motorhomes combined a custom built chassis with very high end components. It has been about a year since I looked at a Monaco in an RV show. It seemed at least comparable with other coaches of similar price.

If our coach would burn to the ground and we were to look for another one here are the things I would look for.

1. Semimonocoque custom chassis made for that specific motor home. To me this is much stronger, resistant to flexing, and much safer than any rail chassis where the house is attached with bolts or welds. This means that you get steel tubes surrounding you instead of something much weaker. Only a few really good rigs have this.

2. An excellent rating from the RVCG. When we looked at motorhomes all of our finalists rated over 90% handling and excellent quality.

3. Two stage exterior paint like what goes on boats with a thick clear coat. This means that after 12 1/2 years of being outside the maroon color on part of our coach exterior has not faded. The paint used on the exterior of our motor home is the same brand used on our last sailboat.

4. Durable heavy duty interior components for things like upholstery, floor and carpet, counter and table tops, solid well made hardwood cabinets. Our motor home uses the same brass cabinet latches our Herreshoff Sail boat used. They don't wear out often and rarely break.

5. All electric. I don't like carrying propane. Plus fridges like house fridges are a must.

6. Preferably with a tag axle.

7. Large block motor in the 12-15 litre range. Cat, Cummins, or Detroit.

8. No DEF if possible. I don't like the smell.

9. Independent front suspension.

10. Leveling using the wheels not jacks.

11. Dual pane glass.

12. High R factor on walls. Our roof is 20.

13. Three heat pump/air conditioners on the roof. No basement air. 3 airs work much better than 2.

14. Actual gauges on the dash not a computer. A computer to operate systems is fine, but I want round dial speedo, tach, oil temp, trans temp and so on.

Can't think of anything more right now.

PDR John · 04-01-2015, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by B Bob

PDR John - Be careful when you use fleetwood in a disparaging way. I believe there are more Fleetwood class A motorhomes on the road than any other brand. Plus the American Heritage is a million dollar coach and one of the best made. This is a Fleetwood company I believe.

Not using it in a disparaging way at all. Just pointing out they are no longer different. The parts used to put it in that spot on your list are no longer used.

No Roadmaster chassis

No semi-monochromatic build structure

Now just the name.

I have no problems with anything Fleetwood builds. Our first coach was a Fleetwood and still is an awesome coach.

But we're (consumers) loosing competition. IE, Only Ford gas chassis, down to only Freightliner and Spartan for diesels, Cummins engine for anything under 500 hp.

Monaco was something different, not so much anymore.

B Bob · 04-02-2015, 10:04 AM

PDR John - I agree with your comments on Monaco. I hated driving past their old factory in Junction City Oregon last year and not seeing any RVs in the lot for the first time. The year previously we saw towables in it.

I would guess that without a large volume of coaches being built a custom chassis is likely very expensive. Too bad, the Roadmaster chassis with 8 air bags was one of the best. With the RV industry expanding for 4 years in a row plus fuel costs going down maybe just maybe some of the old style high quality extras will be added again.

In the mean time we are keeping our 12 1/2 years young Country Coach. We still really enjoy using it. We hope to see the brand new Country Coach Allure when we go by Junction City OR this summer. They are starting production of new motorhomes again. With the custom Country Coach chassis I will add.

PDR John · 04-02-2015, 10:21 AM

I really want to see how Country Coach does coming out of the gate. Hope they build something that continues their reputation.

Good competition only makes for better products.

Big Dude · 04-02-2015, 12:01 PM

I have a 45' class A and, in addition to some of the others, my suggestions would be that it's bigger than needed for two folks (works well for the 3 of us). I would get a tag axle and I would not buy another new one as there were too many growing pains and I understand this is common with all of the normal mfgs. (don't know about Prevost, Newell, etc)

Czar Of Poop · 04-02-2015, 12:11 PM

Don't forget Holiday Rambler(04-08) Monaco(04-08) Great years!

cucotx · 04-02-2015, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gordon Dewald

There is an issue with the ISX 650. Engine is vulnerable on older chassis, apparently been fixed on newer. There is a repair but is around 30,000.

Thanks for the heads up on the ISX650. I just read up on it. Dropping valves. Not good. I wonder if the ISX600 has the same problem?

If they redesigned the ISX650 to fix the valve problem for future engines, it may be good to check the serial number of an engine with Cummins, before buying a used RV, to see if has the fix.

cucotx · 04-02-2015, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gordon Dewald

We have an ISL 450 pulling 48,000. Works very well. Not sure what it will do on big grades as we are not in a rush so do not push it. More aggresive shifting and foot would likely perform very well but can see no need.

I'm also considering pulling a stacker. But, true, I don't know if others are pulling stackers with a 45' MH and a 450 HP engine successfully. I do know that some here have commented that 600 HP does well with 45' MH while pulling a stacker up and down the big hills out west.

PDR John · 04-02-2015, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cucotx

I'm also considering pulling a stacker. But, true, I don't know if others are pulling stackers with a 45' MH and a 450 HP engine successfully. I do know that some here have commented that 600 HP does well with 45' MH while pulling a stacker up and down the big hills out west.

A iRV2 member named zman pulls a stacker and traded his ISL 450 hp for an ISX 650.

Search his user name and you find his threads about it.

MCJones · 04-02-2015, 04:03 PM

We left 5th wheels after 20 years and are in year two of a 6 year old Newmar. I wish we could have done it sooner. It has not been trouble free but you take care of issues as they come along and realize that there will always be maintenance/fixes as you use the coach. The coach was well taken care of buy we have replaced: inverter/charger, Dometic control board on the fridge, water pump, fantastic fan wall controllers, oasis connections. I recommend as stated that your used coach has an oasis (hydronic) heat system - mostly because it is so cheap to run, gives endless hot water, and doesn't leave you cold up front driving. What you end up with is largely personal but we have been very happy with our Newmar Dutch star (08 tag 4354)bought used. hope this helps. mark

Gordon Dewald · 04-03-2015, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cucotx

I'm also considering pulling a stacker. But, true, I don't know if others are pulling stackers with a 45' MH and a 450 HP engine successfully. I do know that some here have commented that 600 HP does well with 45' MH while pulling a stacker up and down the big hills out west.

We pull as 13000 stacker with the 450 and seem to have few if any issues. We have pulled some fairly steep grades but was not pushing it as the engine is new and we are not in a hurry. We get we are going well within the time frame we have allotted for travel.

More power is always good but where is the line when there is enough? If you have 650 do you want 800 or 1000? For the time being 450 will get us to the top of the hill and across the flats. We coast downhill regardless of power!!

Kro1957 · 04-26-2015, 12:09 PM

We have been out looking at Motorhomes a few new but mostly used.

Your comments mentioned "stackers" So I have to ask, what is a stacker?

2nd. What are your thoughts on a Damon Tuscany? Only has a 350 hp.

The brands you mentioned are ones we have been trying to find, including the Beaver. One that really stands out is Tiffin. Like the Allegro Bus and had a line on one and it got sold. Really like the family company and how they stand behind their product. Tiffin Owners we spoke to could not say enough about how well the service at the factory is also. Back to the Tuscany, waiting to hear your comments....