Community Forums

Powmia · 12-29-2021, 01:37 AM

Hello everyone, We just put a deposit on a 2007 Seabreeze last evening. We hope to pick it up one evening next week if the weather here in central Pennsylvania cooperates. We currently have a 27 foot toy hauler travel trailer so we're not new to camping by any means. However the transition to a class A will definitely be a learning curve for both of us. Overall the motorhome appears to have been well maintained by the original owners. But at the same time there are a few things that will definitely need attention in the near future (awning fabric, broken mirror glass ect). Within the last year it has had both steer tires and all 3 batteries replaced. Our plans are to replace the drive tires due to age, and change all the fluids including the generator once we get it home. Unfortunately because we live where we are not blessed with warm winters, our first " shakedown" trip will probably be 900+ miles to Daytona beach in March towing 2 motorcycles on a trailer. If anyone has any suggestions whatsoever as to things we should or should not do to help prepare ourselves for our new class A adventure we'd love to hear them! Thanks.

lenjen · 12-29-2021, 10:16 AM

Welcome to National RVs. It looks like you are on the right path. I hope you enjoy your National RV as much as I have enjoyed mine.

MSHappyCampers · 12-29-2021, 10:18 AM

Congrats on the new rig! Have fun and keep her between the ditches!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

CamJam1 · 12-29-2021, 10:49 AM

Mine is a 2004 Dolphin, so there may be some differences, but National built good quality coaches and I believe you'll be very happy with your choice.

If your water heater is like mine it will work off both gas and electric. You can even run both together to heat the water up very quickly. Just be sure your switches are off whenever the water heater is empty. Easy to forget with the electric as you don't hear it running like you do the gas. The light on the switch of my electric element was burned out and it was hard to know whether it was on or off. Turned out it didn't matter as the element itself was burned out too. Cost less than $40 to replace both that and the switch myself.

Many models of both Norcold and Dometic gas refrigerators of the era had recalls, so make sure yours have been done. My local RV dealer did the recall work on my Dometic at no charge, even though I didn't buy the coach from them.

Is yours a Ford or a Workhorse? Seems to me that most Seabreeze were Fords.

Hopefully the previous owner has already put some suspension upgrades on the coach for you. Most need "trac" bars, at a minimum, to keep passing trucks from pushing you around. My Workhorse was transformed by a combination of trac bars, anti-sway bars and a steering stabilizer, all of which served to make the coach much more enjoyable to drive. Fords have a front sway bar upgrade available that will cost you nothing. Do a search on this forum for "cheap handling fix", aka "CHF".

Might seem obvious, but make sure you have fresh batteries in the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. I personally know of a father and his daughter locally who died in their sleep from carbon monoxide poisoning when the furnace in their travel trailer malfunctioned. My own father was potentially saved by the detector in his house when the manifold on his gas furnace cracked.

Enjoy your new coach! 900 miles will make for a nice shake-down cruise.

Powmia · 12-29-2021, 03:46 PM

Thanks for the recommendations. The current owner said the cooling unit was replaced in the refrigerator roughly 2 years ago. I'm assuming that would have taken care of any previous recall issues. As for the chassis it is a Ford. The only upgrade I noticed was what appears to be an aftermarket steering stabilizer. I was running out of daylight to look for much more than that underneath the coach. I do however have a brand new set of rear air bags that fit the F53. As luck would have it they showed up on Craigslist this morning for $50 new in the box. Not sure how much improvement they may or may not make, but I figured it was worth the gamble. I saw the switch for the electric hot water heater. I'm not familiar with that arrangement at all but it sounds convenient and inexpensive to fix so that's right up my alley. All smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors will not only get new batteries they will be replaced completely. I consider that very cheap life insurance! Thanks again for your responses. If you have any thing else to add I'm all ears...

CamJam1 · 12-29-2021, 06:32 PM

That steering stabilizer is a great upgrade-- just about as important as the trac bars in my book-- so it sounds like you're off to a good start.

rjsupersonic · 12-31-2021, 08:52 AM

You made a great choice our Sea Breeze has never left us stranded no engine or chassis issues in the 9 years we had it. Build with a steel frame very strong. We currently have ours up for sale and upgraded to Diesel for a washer and dryer and more storage. Safe Travels.

fredbon · 12-31-2021, 12:57 PM

The best thing to inusure a good trip is preparation. Like any new/used unit using it will expose short comings, and help you familiarize you with the various systems.

Fred

Isaac-1 · 12-31-2021, 01:32 PM

Be aware a large number of later National coaches were built with defective fiberglass sidewalls, this was one of the main things that put the company out of business, not their fault, the problem was with their fiberglass supplier. Hopefully yours was built after the problems were addressed, I know the lawsuit between National and Crane Composites was settled in early 2008

craigd853 · 12-31-2021, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Powmia

Hello everyone, We just put a deposit on a 2007 Seabreeze last evening. We hope to pick it up one evening next week if the weather here in central Pennsylvania cooperates. We currently have a 27 foot toy hauler travel trailer so we're not new to camping by any means. However the transition to a class A will definitely be a learning curve for both of us. Overall the motorhome appears to have been well maintained by the original owners. But at the same time there are a few things that will definitely need attention in the near future (awning fabric, broken mirror glass ect). Within the last year it has had both steer tires and all 3 batteries replaced. Our plans are to replace the drive tires due to age, and change all the fluids including the generator once we get it home. Unfortunately because we live where we are not blessed with warm winters, our first " shakedown" trip will probably be 900+ miles to Daytona beach in March towing 2 motorcycles on a trailer. If anyone has any suggestions whatsoever as to things we should or should not do to help prepare ourselves for our new class A adventure we'd love to hear them! Thanks.

I assume that this is a diesel? If it is make sure you change the fuel filters as well just as a piece of mind thing. Traveling that far and not going on short trips first should be interesting but good luck in your endeavors and have a great time on your trip

CamJam1 · 12-31-2021, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigd853

I assume that this is a diesel? If it is make sure you change the fuel filters as well just as a piece of mind thing. Traveling that far and not going on short trips first should be interesting but good luck in your endeavors and have a great time on your trip

Seabreeze are gas coaches, but good advice in any case.

Powmia · 01-01-2022, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Isaac-1

Be aware a large number of later National coaches were built with defective fiberglass sidewalls, this was one of the main things that put the company out of business, not their fault, the problem was with their fiberglass supplier. Hopefully yours was built after the problems were addressed, I know the lawsuit between National and Crane Composites was settled in early 2008

According to the original owner, this unit did in fact have a sidewall issue earlier in its life that was addressed under warranty. It currently shows no signs of damage whatsoever.

Powmia · 01-03-2022, 05:24 AM

Finally brought it home yesterday. Even managed to give her a quick bath even though it was only 45 degrees here yesterday. 😊

FLRosebud · 01-03-2022, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Powmia

Finally brought it home yesterday. Even managed to give her a quick bath even though it was only 45 degrees here yesterday. 😊

Looks great!! Let me know if you're interested in joining our Eastern National club. We try and do a couple small rallies a year. The next scheduled one is in August in the NC Mountains.

Al