OK I'm a (Relative) Newbie compared to these guys above but we've owned our 2000 Eagle for just about two years now and although I followed most of the above rules for buying our Rig and I have some diesel experience we Still got plenty of surprises that no-one could have foreseen and a few we should have !!!
For the most part everything said is 100% correct, These coaches are seriously overbuilt and aside from some parts that will have to be replaced due to wear you won't outlive this Rig Period !
But there are things like the Battery pack and the Electrical system and the Plumbing that are hard to judge, no matter how much you know or how many hours you spend !
A; because a lot is hidden from sight ! and B; a lot more is just not fore-see-able (is that a word?) !
And unfortunately we found that out the hard way, The unit we bought had virtually new batteries and all electronics worked great except for a few of the Fans that we knew about and we had counted on replacing those !
When we got the MoHo home we actually managed to fix and restore all of the Fans in question saving us a bunch of money BUT within month's it became apperent that the "NEW" batteries where less then stellar and did not hold a charge very well ? these where Standard RV Deep Cycle 2C 6volt units and there where 4 of them, they should not go down in such a short time. we barely made it through the summer on these.
After the first winter with these batteries we Had to replace them !
Then there is the electrical system in the American Coach line of that Era, they had the all in one boxes where the Inverter, the Charger and the Auto Transfer Switch are all in one unit, Great idea ! till one of them breaks and you need repairs.
Of coarse it is fourteen years old but it hasn't got many hrs on it.
There's no replacement's and rebuilds cost around $2800-US plus shipping (that box is heavyyyyy!) +in our case they had to go across the country and across the border and that all adds up !!! And then there is the question do you want it again all in one???
As you might have guessed Ours went on the Fritz and I tried to fix it, I Thought I Fixed it, Three or Four times, but I got fooled every time !!!!! It's not so easy, these parts are delicate and the design is weak.
So Finally I am giving in and ordered $4700- Can. in parts to rebuild the whole system NOW That includes parts for an expansion of the Solar system that I started building last year.
Bigger Controller, 4 more panels (not included in price), better safeguards with breakers and lightning protectors and surge protectors etc.
Heavier cables and connectors and more isolation switches to isolate different sections of the system for times when working on it.
Of coarse there where many small things we found that needed our attention that normal on a rig so complicated but all that did not bother me that much even the above stuff is well worth the effort for owning such a beautiful coach !
But this next surprise was less easy to swallow!
I really thought I had done my job going over the coach checking it out, High and Low, on the roof and under floor, in the Basement and in the engine compartment ! This wasn't my first Rodeo I had bought trucks before, Big ones, Busses, Cars, Van's, Motorhomes no I'm not a curb dealer or a pro but I like changing vehicles and I do help others buy their's so I got pretty good at it and since this was my first Class A I knew I had to do a very thorough job.
I knew about delamination I had seen it plenty of times in smaller units so I looked very carefully allover the whole rig for any sign but found nothing, absolutely nothing !
Then at the end of the first summer we where cleaning up some stuff around the passenger seat against the wall where there is a magazine rack and above where the bottom of the valance is fastened, I decided to take the magazine rack of and took the screws out, to my surprise and horror there was virtually nothing left of them and these were brass screws ? This was just above the floor so I decided to look a bit farther and as I went up I found more rotten screws in the valence and lots of moisture in the foam around the seatbelt bolt halfway up the wall !
It looks like that whole section between the two windows from ceiling to floor is soaked,but just between the outside fibreglass and the inside panel, there was no sign of it anywhere and I have no Idea How or How Long or How to fix this !
Then of coarse there are the windows that are soso and the basement doors that have been adjusted twice and need to be adjusted again and two pieces of furniture that we'd love to replace with something more comfortable But that is all stuff that is supposed to be ongoing maintenance, Right ?
We're Still NOT unhappy with our MOHO and we can see a good future with it, but it isn't always that simple !
OK, What I am saying is that no matter how thorough you or any expert you bring can be it's potentially a 12 to 15 year old coach that Will hold a bunch of surprises of which hopefully the sum of those surprises will not be more than is reasonable to spend on the coach in question to bring it up to snuff for you to enjoy it for another couple of decades or so, (or at least 1 of those) ;-) !
I thought pretty hard about posting this but I think this is a fair assesment of what's Real !
Best regards,
Ed
Linear Mode
