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Old 03-13-2006, 05:33 PM   #1
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Having second thoughts about purchasing the APEX. At first I thought it was a lot of money for the (almost) same thing as our 03 40fdts. Spent a few hours at Gurantee in Gilroy with the coach and now after looking at all the new systems, I like it....... the new bay doors are what finally put it over the top for me.
Am a bit concerned about the" Expanded Silver Leaf monitor system" I dont mean the normal things that the silver leaf system does. I mean it looks to me like everything electric in the coach is controlled by the silver leaf. What happens if the silver leaf takes a ###. How do you get the quad slide in? How do you get the jadcks down? Just wondering..
might be selling a great 03 40fdts soon!!
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Old 03-13-2006, 05:33 PM   #2
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Having second thoughts about purchasing the APEX. At first I thought it was a lot of money for the (almost) same thing as our 03 40fdts. Spent a few hours at Gurantee in Gilroy with the coach and now after looking at all the new systems, I like it....... the new bay doors are what finally put it over the top for me.
Am a bit concerned about the" Expanded Silver Leaf monitor system" I dont mean the normal things that the silver leaf system does. I mean it looks to me like everything electric in the coach is controlled by the silver leaf. What happens if the silver leaf takes a ###. How do you get the quad slide in? How do you get the jadcks down? Just wondering..
might be selling a great 03 40fdts soon!!
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Old 03-14-2006, 12:53 PM   #3
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Stretch:

Had the opportunity to view an APEX at the Borrego Springs rally. Nice and very impressive, and I would love to have those basement sliders in my 04.

Yet, I'm the kind of guy that likes to turn things on/off with the old fashion switch. Because I'm simple. I like things simple. Seems the more computer based the systems become, the more problematic they are.

............ just my opinion, maybe guys like EngineerMike would understand them and love it.

Take care,

Walt
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Old 03-17-2006, 08:06 AM   #4
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There are at least on set of back-up switches scattered around the coach. Although they are not as convenient they are there in case of failure. Never had to use them yet, knock on wood.

Lyle
APEX1
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Old 03-20-2006, 09:39 AM   #5
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I took in the Apex @ Aguanga; Guaranty had 3 of them on their way to FMCA.
Apex basement drawers- WOW!!! That's a real innovation, real cool, and seriously handy. They glide neatly out past the upper slides for easy full access to your stuff. The Apex reclaims much of the dead space behind the galley slide skirt, for storing tall stuff. Good work WRV!!!

The only drawback I see is lack of full cross-bed (8') storage, tho you could operate two drawers in unison to accomplish this in line, as opposed to cross bed. Thru the grapevine I heard that running 2 drawers @ once taxed the initial hydraulic configuration, but that has been solved w/an automatic secondary pump; don't know how trully that issue was conveyed; lots of rumors get embellished & passed along, and this may be one such.

Apex has a motorized front window screen instead of drapes; nice. My wife didn't like the loss of kitchen drawers to the Fisher-Pakel dish washer; you lose 2 below the stove-top, and she'd rather have the storage. I had a chat w/Ron Doyle on storage & ways to improve it. My wife complains that we had more kitchen storage in our 28' Trek (with those demeaning formica counters) than in our coach (same kitchen as the 40' Apex essentially), and there are lots of ways to improve storage.

The Apex is light on CCC, IMO, YMMV. I like the extra 1000#/axle safety factor when I really load up my coach. One area where CCC is generally inderstated tho, is in folks. IIRC, there's about 800# of folks considered in a "standard calculation" for CCC, leaving a lot of room for expansion for a few of us IYKWIM.
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Old 03-20-2006, 06:01 PM   #6
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Ok Mike you got me.

"YMMV", You Mike May Vault?

"IYKWIM", Interesting Young Kind Women Intimidate Men?

I give up.

Wish we could have made Aguanga and FMCA
Thanks for the gear head info in the other post
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Old 03-21-2006, 09:37 AM   #7
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YMMV= Your Mileage May Vary
IYKWIM= If you know what I mean
GKW= God Knows What, Which, Why
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Old 03-21-2006, 02:25 PM   #8
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Mike: You discussed the fact that the new APEX is quite close to being so heavy that it legally does not leave much for people and "stuff" It kind of reminds me of Some private aircraft I have had the pleasure to own/fly. Some had been modified by aircraft "remanufacturers" so that they would fly faster or higher or farther or all of the above. When one looked carefully at the new specs after modification there was just enough carring capacity left for the pilot and some books, after filling the tanks with fuel. Of course we loaded up the plane anyway, but technically, if we had an "incident" the insurance company or the FAA could have come after us.
Maybe Rons next move will be to modify the Peak chassis to make room for a tag axle and/or lengthen the chassis and and then add a tag axle. Maybe a 42 or 454 footer is in the works?
What do you think?
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Old 03-22-2006, 09:21 AM   #9
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Tag axle, IMO, would be a mistake. The rigs that get favorable quality of ride comparisons to the Alpine have all been tag axle units. Being able to sell both the quality ride and the 3.5 feet of cargo room (that doesn't need to be relegated to tag axle space) is a big competitive advantage for WRV, also IMO.
Two courses of action seem prudent- first, find every available ounce that has heretofore been abdicated to heavier-than-necessary stuff (because w/excess CCC it was easy to use heavy stuff), and trade it out for lighter componentry to reclaim CCC. E.g. what many may not know about the Apex drawer design is that the heavy steel-angle cargo floor has been replaced by a lighter structure (the steel floor isn't needed as the drawers are carried on the chassis frame). So WRV is onto this first approach.
Second, use heavier rated axles that do not affect quality of ride. That takes some time & testing, since indiscriminant monkeying w/the ride would endanger the sexiest selling point of the Alpine coach. I venture a guess WRV will head that way also, tho cautiously & being verrry cognizant of ride quality.

Along these same lines, but w/different ramifications, are ceiling height, radiant floor heating option, updated storage in the coach, functional side-swing basement doors, etc... Motorhomes in the Apex trim level are seeing a lot of innovation to get folks to part w/that much dough. So far as I'm aware, the Apex drawers are in a class all alone at this point, so "props to WRV" as Randy would say.
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