Community Forums

deputybubba · 03-04-2017, 03:09 PM

Hello all
Trying to find anyone that has experience with dry camping in a Verona.
Looking to buy but have questions.
Do you have solar installed?
Is it needed to not have to run the genny multiple times per day?
Actually do you have to run the genny to keep the batteries up?
We really like the water capacity and the inverter
Any Verona owner comments will also be very welcomed.
Thanks Bruce

philmack · 03-04-2017, 04:48 PM

Hey Bruce - We have a 2016 Verona. No solar yet. The generator will need to run at least once a day to keep the batteries charged up, it has a residential refrigerator and uses some power, natural gas is not an option. I believe a AGS (Auto Generator Start) is standard on Verona inverter package. You set the AGS to start at 11.4 volts for 30 minutes or an hour and don't have to worry. We just attended the Denver Gift Mart, a gift show for Gift Shop businesses. We parked in the overflow/RV parking area with slides out and did the show daily for 4 days from 9 to 6 PM. The generator would cycle on for 30 minutes when ever the batteries got to 11.4 volts. We also use the LP Heater to stay warm as it was 25 to 35 degrees, the generator would come on during the night because we also used a small 120 volt heater for additional heat. We weren't sure how long the propane tank would last but knew the Diesel tank was full! As it turns out the LP only consumed less than ⅓ of the supply so we had plenty of LP. 100 gallons of fresh water was carried and we only used ½ of that, we traveled from Tucson, AZ to Denver and were gone for 7 days. Black and gray tank were each ⅔ full. The generator is a Cummins that meets the National Park Service decibel level, when it came on at night we could hear it but barely. It is very quiet compared to our previous Coachman RV. We added 4 hours to our generator in those 7 days, we did pull into a rv park in southern New Mexico for a night on the way home.

We will be dry camping again in Northern Arizona in 2 weeks, so far after 6 trips in 4 months we love the Renegade Verona. When we carry minimal water when traveling, we can get 10.4 MPG. This last trip we had 100 gallons on board and winds were 45 MPH gusts +, our MPG dropped to 8.5

Feel free to contact me with questions! Phil Mack

deputybubba · 03-04-2017, 05:04 PM

Wow thanks Mack
Sounds like the genny running in the woods won't be too much of a issue. We are in Phoenix and also go up north of Payson to dry camp.
We have a super c now with a gas 8.1 and it doesn't get close to that mileage so that's a plus.
I have yet to see a used one on the market. Did you order yours in Phoenix? I don't think we have another dealer in AZ.
Thanks again
Bruce

philmack · 03-05-2017, 08:54 AM

We had taken our Coachman Class A, gas 8.1 Ford up to Durango in December and towed a new Jeep Cherokee Limited for a trial run. Needless to say we were not impressed with its towing ability. We had looked at the Renegades in Chandler and knew we wanted the VBH - Verona Bunk House model. I could see online TransWest RV/Freightliner dealer in Grand Junction had a new 2016 on the lot and gave them a call. A guy named Daniel answered and quoted me a price I thought was incredible. MSRP was $283,560 and he said their bottom dollar price would be $213,000. We took the Jeep out for a drive that morning and did the deal immediately. When we walked into the showroom area the sales manager walked up to us and said, "You must be Daniel's family". I said what? My wife said "you bet". I even called a dealer in New Jersey that advertises no-one will beat his price on a Renegade and he said I better take that deal if I can get it, it was close to his cost. The 2017's had started to come in at their Denver locations and they wanted to move the 2016. The only optional equipment it had was the washer/dryer. It comes pretty loaded from the factory.

I did mis-speak in my last thread. I said we carried 100 gallons of water, I forgot the Renegade hold 150 gallons of water when full, we were full but it holds 150 gallons. It did hurt our MPG but we still got better than the Coachman Class A ever did on a good even when dry.

deputybubba · 03-05-2017, 09:31 AM

Thank again Mack,
So we have the same type of tow car ( 89 jeep cherokee ).. It's light enough to tow now but my conquest only has a 5k hitch and I'm sure any upgrade to tow car will put me over that quickly.
sounds like we are looking at the same dealer, Transwest, I'm emailing the store in Denver on a 36VSB they have.
And I appreciate the mileage figures, I think my best on the super c was in the 7's but typically with full water and the tow car going up north of payson I get in the 5's so an improvement will be welcomed.

One item I'm not thrilled with is the flush windows, our rig now has sliders and it really opens up the RV to let it cool down after leaving phx and getting to the woods.
Have you had much experience with yours cooling off after leaving the nice hot heat of the summer ?

Thanks again
Bruce

philmack · 03-05-2017, 02:28 PM

you asked...Have you had much experience with yours cooling off after leaving the nice hot heat of the summer ?

No we have not had to cool the RV yet as we just got the Verona in December and all of our trips have been in cold/snowy weather so far. We live at the top Mt. Lemmon outside of Tucson at 8000' elevation so we have not been concerned with heat.

philmack · 03-05-2017, 02:31 PM

PS - Don't hesitate to email Daniel at daniel.anderson@transwest.com Tell him you want the "Phil & Carol Mack family & friend" special. He can sell any RV on any Tranwest lot in Colorado

deputybubba · 03-05-2017, 02:39 PM

Thanks again Phil,
I'll give daniel an email also.
Do you have experience with towing the jeep with the renegade, I'm assuming it will do MUCH better than the gas based RVs.

Oh and I'm jealous you get to live in the cool all year...

Thanks
Bruce

ragoodspeed · 03-28-2017, 11:17 AM

Like PhilMack I am getting in the mid 10's consitently with my 36 VSB and i am doing 70-72 MPH. the best I could ever get with any of m Ford V-10 was mid 8's! Verona's are very nice, get one if you can. get the washer and dryer they work super!

deputybubba · 03-29-2017, 08:53 AM

I look forward to better mileage. My 8.1 gasser would only get in the mid 5's towing the jeep.
I agree the washer dryer work well, I tried it out when I picked up the unit.

deputybubba · 04-17-2017, 02:26 PM

So had our first dry camping weekend this past weekend.
With some mild coach propane heater usage it appeared that the generator would run 2 hrs. in the morning and another 2 in the early evening.

mostly TV, lights, water pump usage.
I upped the generator run time from 1.5 hrs. to 2 hrs. to try and see if I could get out of ABSORB charging status, looks like I'm still off a bit.

I had it set to come on at 12.1 volts and it was drawing about 25 amps towards the end of the 2 hr. run cycle.

Will have to tweak a bit more, I would feel better if it hit the float part of the charging cycle before shutdown.

Any comments welcome.
Thanks

ragoodspeed · 04-18-2017, 08:17 AM

deputybubba:

Cut to the chase fella! How did the rig run? Did you like the drivabilty of the Freightliner? Are you ready to let the tires out to 105 PSI all around? Did anything not work? Thanks

deputybubba · 04-18-2017, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ragoodsp

deputybubba:

Cut to the chase fella! How did the rig run? Did you like the drivabilty of the Freightliner? Are you ready to let the tires out to 105 PSI all around? Did anything not work? Thanks

LOL, sorry

so the rig ran GREAT, I have no complaints... everything works fine.

I notice it tends to kind of lug in 5th gear and not shift down to 4th when pulling big hills... I'm not sure where the power band in the RPM range, I think I'm in the low 2000's when I manually select 4th...

The clutch fan is AWESOME, it's not hot here in Az. yet, but the rig still gets over 200 deg. fairly easily... but then that clutch fan kicks in and it drops way down... very nice...

I would gain some ride comfort by lowering the tire PSI's ??
I know I would have to weight it otherwise I would be just guessing...

overall very happy, water supply will way outlast our 3 - 4 day weekends we take about once a month...

Thanks for the questions

ragoodspeed · 04-19-2017, 08:54 AM

Glad all ran & operated A-OK. I would have to agree with you that those mid gears can be a little "numb" acting but she makes up nicely in that 60-75 MPH range. Have not heard my fan kick in yet hear in cool NH. Keep us all posted of issues/experiences. Only issue I have and it just showed up this past weekend is the gas heat mode in zone 2 does not operate. All other functions in both zones work. Very weird but most likely the T-stat is bad? Thanks, RAG