Community Forums

hardball28 · 12-31-2014, 07:23 PM

Happy New Years Eve,
We are seriously considering a Flair or Bounder 33R and would like to hear the good and bad points from some past or current owners. We specially like the pre '04 version on the Ford chassis with the rear window, but do not know if there were any significant chassis improvements made that year. We do like the centering within the frame of the tanks, and are not sure if that started in '04, or was that a feature with the earlier models.
Hope 2015 treats you all well. We are off to a wild start, with Sandy asleep in her Lazy Boy and me asking questions via an online forum.
Thanks,
Sam

pushtrk99 · 01-01-2015, 09:03 AM

We also have a Flair but only a 30' 2000 with F-53 ford chassis v-10 & we love it, we have made two trips to Fl with another two 6 wks trips on the calendar we have stiffened the sway bars and made our own trac bar , rig drives well and handles super good,we added driveshaft carrier bearing (pm),had roof replaced because tree was stronger than roof but insurance covered it ($6300.oo) upgraded air from 13,500 14 yrs old to 15,000 new as long as roof was opened, two steer tires two yrs ago & 4 rear tires last year,modified exhaust with turbo muffler,Prev Main we feel is very important, we feel that our Flair is as good as any other high buck MH & it is paid for. Rich
pauperspride.blogspot.com

George Schweikle · 01-01-2015, 09:24 AM

Hi Sam,

I don't have any specific Flair or Bounder information, other than these being good, mid-range cost, motorhomes. I will alert you to the posts soon to occur from those wanting to convince you to buy a diesel pusher. While DP's can be wonderful coaches, some of us actually prefer smaller RV's, and it appears you are in this group. The most common advice I have seen on this forum is to be sure to choose a floor plan you like, and there should be considerable variation to choose in the length you are considering.

Enjoy your search, and welcome to IRV2.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hardball28

Happy New Years Eve,
We are seriously considering a Flair or Bounder 33R and would like to hear the good and bad points from some past or current owners. We specially like the pre '04 version on the Ford chassis with the rear window, but do not know if there were any significant chassis improvements made that year. We do like the centering within the frame of the tanks, and are not sure if that started in '04, or was that a feature with the earlier models.
Hope 2015 treats you all well. We are off to a wild start, with Sandy asleep in her Lazy Boy and me asking questions via an online forum.
Thanks,
Sam

RandalVV · 01-01-2015, 10:30 AM

We bought a 2003 Flair 33R about a year ago. We looked at coaches for a few years to replace our 30 foot 5th wheel. We also loved the floor plan of the 33r. It is on the F 53 but that really would not have been a deal breaker if it was on a workhorse. In my opinion, it is more of an entry leval coach but that is fine with me. It has everything that we need without a bunch of bells and wistles to break down. It is a little louder than I would like with the V10 motor when going up the mountain passes out of Seattle. The V10 has smaller pistons and will run at higher rpms in those situations. The Highway 2 pass is fairly steep the last few miles but I was able to maintain 45 mph while pulling a Suzuki Grand Vitara so I was pretty happy with that.
We have only put about 1000 miles on so far so I really cannot comment much on reliability. I missed the fact that even though the tires looked great, they were the original tires and so they were 12 years old. Needless to say, we did have one of the duals blow out coming home from our last trip. Luckily we had no damage because the tir held together. Also, our microwave started to come on all by itself. Found out that this was one of the recalled units, so I had to replace that. One last thing about the coach is that it only has a 30 amp service, so you can only run 1 of the 2 AC units at time. That has not been a problem with us so far. So far I will say that we LOVE it and I will never go back to pulling a 5th wheel.

sehunter · 01-02-2015, 12:02 AM

I would suggest you download the two brochures from Fleetwood and compare the two. There is significant differences between the two. The downloads are free and you probably won't learn all the differences from the forum.

Stan

wildmanbaker · 01-05-2015, 05:19 AM

We have a 04 Flair, bought it new. The holding tanks, and much of the electrical panels say Bounder on them. The Bounder came with dual pane windows, sat. dish, swivel rocker, upgraded driver/passenger seats. These are add-ons for the Flair, otherwise they are identical. The 33R is a great floor plan, with lots of room in the bedroom. The F53 chassis is real soft spurn and will need help. A rear track bar is a must. The drive train seems to be near bullet proof. The ford and Chevy red lines are within 100 RPM of each other, depending on how the ECUs are set.

cwit · 01-05-2015, 07:14 AM

We bought an 04 Flair last year and love it. Just finished a trip from Upstate NYA to Fl and it ran and drove great. Ours is the 33 r. I think the big bedroom slide is great.

hardball28 · 01-06-2015, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildmanbaker

We have a 04 Flair, bought it new. The holding tanks, and much of the electrical panels say Bounder on them. The Bounder came with dual pane windows, sat. dish, swivel rocker, upgraded driver/passenger seats. These are add-ons for the Flair, otherwise they are identical. The 33R is a great floor plan, with lots of room in the bedroom. The F53 chassis is real soft spurn and will need help. A rear track bar is a must. The drive train seems to be near bullet proof. The ford and Chevy red lines are within 100 RPM of each other, depending on how the ECUs are set.

Hi Wild Man,
Is it your understanding that all of the Bounder 33Rs will have the dual pane windows and most of the Flairs will not? That would be a significant issue for us, not a deal breaker, but significant. Have any of your dual pane windows experienced a broken seal and thus fogged?
Thanks for your response,
Sam

hardball28 · 01-06-2015, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sehunter

I would suggest you download the two brochures from Fleetwood and compare the two. There is significant differences between the two. The downloads are free and you probably won't learn all the differences from the forum.

Stan

Good morning Stan,
Thanks for the input, and I will download and compare.
Sam

wildmanbaker · 01-06-2015, 11:10 AM

Sam,
Ours came with all the bounder standard features, including dual pane windows. Yes, both driver and passenger side windows failed first. Now 4 others have started to get some moisture into them. I believe the problems stem from lack of QC at the window manufacturing plant. Using the wrong sealant, and not properly caring for the unused portions of the spacer, before being used in the windows. It would be hard to have another RV without dual pane windows, as it is quieter, warmer and cooler with them, despite the problems.

RandalVV · 01-06-2015, 10:31 PM

I think the window failures are probably due to a combination of factors. One is that the spacer used has to be "flexible" in order to make a radius corner. Second is that the sealant with desicant matrix that is used is a hot melt butyl which can soften when it gets hot. This is especially a problem with tinted glass since the glass will get hotter in sunlight that non-tinted glass. A third is the vibration and flexing from going down the road. All of these factors put stress on the spacer. The pressure in the air space will go up and down with both heat and cold as well as with altitude changes.

wildmanbaker · 01-07-2015, 08:43 AM

Randal,
The desiccant is actually in the spacer. I really doubt that they used "hot melt" sealer during assembly. I believe they used a CLR product to seal the edges, which also has a shelf life of 6 months. Windshield sealer should have been used, as it is better suited for the use than the CLR sealer. The reason the window repair people can guarantee their work for 5 years is because of the control they have over their products.

RandalVV · 01-07-2015, 10:17 PM

Do not want ti hi-jack the thread. Just stating what I have seen after running an independent test lab that tested IG units for 19 years.

wildmanbaker · 01-10-2018, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandalVV

Do not want ti hi-jack the thread. Just stating what I have seen after running an independent test lab that tested IG units for 19 years.

Randal, I have since found 2 widows that were hot melt sealed. They were both the same size from different MHs. All others seemed to be the CLR type sealers. I have had one failure with the CLR sealer, but is was a slider and got a lot of use. The windshield sealer/adhesive seems to be the best sealer to use on these repairs.
Don't worry about hi-jacking a thread, experience and onions are all welcome, and no offence is taken. Help is help. Thank you.