New to us!! 1998 Intrigue

[DTS]

Took it for a quick 1-night "shake down" this weekend, just to get familiar with the coach and try to identify any potential issues before venturing too far from home. I'm a Moose member, and the lodge just a couple blocks from my house has a couple of RV hookups so my wife and I took it over there Saturday night, stayed the night in it and got up Sunday morning for Mothers Day breakfast just a few steps away in the lodge







That's my Jeep that I'm going to have to learn all about flat towing behind the CC, so I'll probably be asking questions about that. I have a car trailer that I haul my Early Bronco on when we go out to the desert. I could haul the Jeep on it too but I think it will be much more convenient to just use a tow bar on the Jeep, for most trips.

One noobie mistake is that I didn't have a 50-30 amp adapter. The shore cable that came with the coach is 50A, the hookups at the Moose only 30A. It wasn't a problem as we were only there for one night. But I have an adapter on order from Amazon now. Hooked up to city water, that was nice, not having to keep the pump switch on like we used to in our trailer.

We had a problem with the Zip-Dee awning. On the main strut at the front of the coach, the little knurled knob you pull on to release the pin to telescope the strut, pulled clean off (threads were stripped) and the pin retracted inside so I couldn't get it out, so we didn't deploy the awning. I looked on Zip-Dee's site after I got home and it looks like that hex-shaped thingy can be un-screwed and replaced. So I'll need to order a new one of those.

Another noobie moment I had was at the house before we drove it over. I was trying to cool down the fridge before putting anything inside it. The fridge would work on generator power (110), but wouldn't work when switching to gas, after shutting down the generator. I fiddled with it for a while then my brother showed up and said maybe it needed to be level. So I leveled the coach and voila, the fridge was running on gas.

I'ts fun as hell learning about this thing! I'll post up a few interior shots in a bit...

[DTS]

Some interior shots. Overall the interior seems to be in great shape for 18 years old. We're not too crazy about the green carpet or the floral pattern on the sofa. I think I'll keep my eye out for a good condition used sofa with leather.



I think the Euro Recliner was added after the factory by a previous owner. There's an invoice for it and the ottoman among the paperwork in the accordion file. And I think that big file cabinet is aftermarket also. I'm not sure what was there originally. Either an opposing sofa or two chairs and a smaller occasional table is my guess.



The captains chairs are in excellent shape. 6-way power. I love that they swing around to function as living room chairs. I wish they were a little tighter when locked into driving position.



The flat screen TV was jimmy-rigged by a previous owner. They pulled the OG tube TV out, then just mounted the flat screen on a wall mount hanging from the cieling inside the TV cabinet. It was a little wobbly so the dealer I bought the coach from put those straps on there just as a temporary safety measure. I need to look in to finding an RV cabinet guy who can re-do the overhead, cut down the head-banger TV box and re-do it for a slim LCD. Anybody have any suggestions for someone in Southern California who can do that?



The banana hammock was a gift from a previous owner, I doubt its stock LOL... Corian is in pretty good shape except for a small crack at the corner of the cooktop.



The quality of the woodwork in these CC's is so impressive. Everything is so solid. The pocket doors are all solid, heavy, and slide smoothly and latches all work.



Hard to get a good shot of the bedroom without a fisheye lens. There's another tube TV that needs to be swapped out and cabinetry re-worked for a flat screen. Not sure if it was stock but it has a memory foam mattress that was very comfortable. And it has a safe under the bed, I need to open it up and see if the PO left any goodies behind LOL...



BTW I find the gas struts the hold up the bed aren't strong enough. Not sure if they're just worn out or if the mattress is non-stock and heavier than the struts were meant for. That's why I haven't opened the safe yet, I need to find a suitable stick to hold the bed up while working the dial.

[DTS]

Just an update on a couple of things with the Intrigue. First of all I want to let everyone know how great the people at Zip-Dee Awnings are. I had a busted knob on one of the adjuster pins so I called them and ordered a new one, plus a few other hardware pieces that needed replacing. The items arrived only a couple days later. I'm so happy they're still around and we can use them as a resource for our 20-year old awnings. I wish I could say the same for Coach Armor.





I also discovered that my propane tank already had a high pressure outlet for a BBQ grill. Maybe its factory and you guys all have them already LOL...sort of a luxury for a guy who just upgraded from a trailer. So I bought the right hose to hook it up to a Coleman Roadtrip grill, and say goodbye to the 1 lb. canisters





The previous owner had left a nice set of sunshade screens for the windshield and driver's window. I'd noticed them sitting in a bad in one of the basement bays there when we were inspecting it prior to purchase but didn't realize they were like new. So on they went, to help keep the interior cool while its sitting in the sun. I also bought a set of ADCO tire covers for it.





Don't laugh, that's not an actual campsite LOL...just where its sitting on my property for now while I work on it.

[Bluefoot53]

DTS,
We just bought a 2001 Intrigue and the Samsung LCD TVs had been installed by
Davis Cabinets in Junction City Oregon and you can not tell it didn't come that way from the factory.
Our coach

[CountryFit]

this is a nice unit. before we bought ours in 2012, i was particularly looking for one with kitchen "not on slide", as that part is heavy better not to be on a moving section. guess what, i couldn't find one with that layout and ended up with one "on slide"... luckily, my slide has not caused any trouble yet. now i saw yours meeting my criteria

take your time to get familiar with it and do some upgrades, you will enjoy it for many years to come. congrats!

[DTS]

Originally Posted by Bluefoot53

DTS,
We just bought a 2001 Intrigue and the Samsung LCD TVs had been installed by
Davis Cabinets in Junction City Oregon and you can not tell it didn't come that way from the factory.
Our coach

Thanks for the tip Bluefoot53. Yours is beautiful! I find it interesting that the exterior graphics are nearly identical between my 98 and your 01. That awning in yours looks pretty fancy, and you're not missing the lower part of your Coach Armor like mine is LOL...also I like the single latches for your compartment doors. I wonder if there's a way to upgrade mine to those. I'm already getting tired of the two-latch deal where you have to have the barrel key just to latch and un-latch them. Thanks for the tip on Davis Cabinets. I don't get up that way much but if I can't find some place around here, maybe it will be worth a trip.

Originally Posted by CountryFit

this is a nice unit. before we bought ours in 2012, i was particularly looking for one with kitchen "not on slide", as that part is heavy better not to be on a moving section. guess what, i couldn't find one with that layout and ended up with one "on slide"... luckily, my slide has not caused any trouble yet. now i saw yours meeting my criteria

take your time to get familiar with it and do some upgrades, you will enjoy it for many years to come. congrats!

Yeah we just stumbled on this one at a local dealer, sort of lucked into it. I'm also more a fan of lounge slides than kitchen slides (if you have to choose). For me its more of a roominess thing, as the lounge slides move out quite a bit further.

We just took ours out for another one-nighter shake-down last weekend, locally on a friend's farm...



Still very pleased with how much of it works correctly, since we didn't do a very thorough pre-purchase inspection. Still only minor issues. I discovered the windshield washer doesn't squirt but its probably just out of fluid, so I need to hunt down the reservoir and check that out. One of the slide rails on one of the basement slide-out trays is coming apart so I need to work on that. But other than that everything seems to function correctly so far.

I do want to take it into a shop and have it gone over mechanically. The dealer I bought it from did a "service" on it (fluid change and filters on the engine and generator) but I'd like to have a good chassis shop go over it. I've done some research and was pleased to find out that Colton Truck Terminal comes highly recommended in the Country Coach community, which is fortunate because they're only a few miles from the house. I'd like to have them do an alignment on it since it pulls ever so slightly to the passenger side, and just give everything a thorough inspection. Not sure when I'll be able to take it over there but I need to do it before we go out on our first long-distance trip, in late July to Colorado.

[CountryFit]

Originally Posted by DTS

I discovered the windshield washer doesn't squirt but its probably just out of fluid, so I need to hunt down the reservoir and check that out.

the reservoir is in the first bay under the driver seat.

[DTS]

Originally Posted by CountryFit

the reservoir is in the first bay under the driver seat.

Thanks! I'll look for it there.

[Motorhead-54]

Enjoy! We've had our 1997 Intrigue for about 18 months now and it has been a great one. I like to do my own maintenance and have fixed numerous small things with the only semi big ticket item being the replacement of the original air bags on all 4 corners.....they were overdue!

[mike brez]

Awesome coaches. What chassis do you guys have?

[mike brez]

Originally Posted by Motorhead-54

Enjoy! We've had our 1997 Intrigue for about 18 months now and it has been a great one. I like to do my own maintenance and have fixed numerous small things with the only semi big ticket item being the replacement of the original air bags on all 4 corners.....they were overdue!

Love the rope lights. Did you do that or the previous owner. I don't remember seeing them on that year Intruige.

[Motorhead-54]

Originally Posted by mike brez

Awesome coaches. What chassis do you guys have?

My 1997 is on a Gillig chassis with the 325hp Cummins

[Motorhead-54]

Originally Posted by mike brez

Love the rope lights. Did you do that or the previous owner. I don't remember seeing them on that year Intruige.

Pretty sure those lights were installed when new.

[GraySeal65]

Originally Posted by mike brez

Awesome coaches. What chassis do you guys have?

Dynomax 300HP