Community Forums

DeeGee · 03-08-2018, 03:51 PM

IIRC you pay for the inspection, but if there is work done as a result, they waive the fee. Don't quote me on that....

Conchdog · 03-08-2018, 05:15 PM

The course is awesome and you will learn so much about your chassis.

I think you are doing it right going so soon after taking delivery. We did the same thing and returned the following year for the advanced course.

Have a great time and be prepared to strap on the feedbag at lunch!

wnytaxman · 03-08-2018, 05:25 PM

Thanks for all your replies but something else occurred to me. I am told to make sure the tanks are drained before we arrive. We will be staying in the coach which means the facilities within the coach will be used. So what do you do with the added waste?

Grower15 · 03-08-2018, 05:56 PM

They provide 50 amp power only. So go with full water tanks and empty black/grey. There is a dump station not far away if needed. We used water conservation and were able to stay the entire time without dumping. They feed you very well at lunch so diet ahead of time. Also, everyone loved the driving class.

RubiconTrail · 03-08-2018, 06:18 PM

You can dump your tanks at the fairgrounds. It's just a few blocks away and easy to get in and out.

Eaton County Fair
1025 Cochran Ave
Charlotte, MI 48813

You can get water from Spartan, just have to pull around by the front door after hours.

timjet · 03-09-2018, 04:38 AM

We arrived with full fuel and water and empty waste tanks. They will weigh your coach - all corners.

We did not need more water or to empty waste tanks while there. Kinda amazing due to all the food they serve.

hdgoldie · 03-09-2018, 07:27 AM

We will be doing the course later this year - what do you do about the furkids while they are working on your coach?

Tim Fox · 03-09-2018, 07:59 AM

Dogs can go with you. Class is very informal. Unless they find something unusual or you are scheduling something major, they probably won't have your coach for more than half day. Great time, both Laura and I enjoyed it. We followed it up with our 2 year PDI or AIR, if that's what it is called now. They provide a pass to a local gym for the week if you eat to much.

EVsCoach · 03-11-2018, 03:28 PM

Conchdog how was the advanced course? I understand 3 full days?

hogdriver · 03-12-2018, 12:21 AM

The Spartan guys do a great class. I know the slots fill up fast but I think it helps to attend the class tailored for your coach. For example the Entegra sessions. If you can’t go to whenever you can but you might end up with a long discussion about things like a Comfort Drive if the class is primarily Newmar.

The other thing is they provide notebooks with dividers on the various subjects to take notes on and they gave us a small USB stick with all their presentation slides. They also run your VIN and provide you with a VIN specific parts list which is great. They offer their 44 point inspection which is worth it. Their service department is big and offers hundreds of a la Carte services. Their shop rates were cheaper than my shops in Florida so if you’ve been delaying maintenance on something, it’s a good place to catch up while you are in class. One service I recommend if never performed is to get the box beam bolts retorqued. I saw a coach there that had over $30,000 damage because it was never done. The one service I do not recommend is the radiator cleaning. My coach was about a year old and they used some crazy powerful power washer on the radiator and the factory paint on it was shredded. Do this yourself at home.

If they are still doing the Entegra part at the course hang on it moves fast. Bring a list of your top questions because there are probably four other people in there wondering the same. As for the spouse, mine was of course a little bored but occasionally she’d hear something of interest or a story or issue from another couple and learn something, so in the end she thought it was worth it.

wnytaxman · 04-23-2018, 08:44 AM

We had to switch our Spartan Training to October 15th from June 18th. Moving one of our daughters from Buffalo to Cedar Rapids and then doing the training the following week just wasn't going to cut it. Along with that, our other twin is getting married in September so it's going to be another hectic summer.

Just out of curiosity, how much duplication is there between the Homecoming in Elkhart and the Spartan Training? It seems like there might be a certain amount of crossover.

Gary.Jones · 04-23-2018, 09:18 AM

I never hear this on IRV2 so I am going to just throw this out there for everyone to chew on. I have met quite a few coach owners in my travels and at Quartzsite and a pretty good percentage of those have attended the Spartan class. What has been unusual for me given the generally quite positive review we usually see here on IRV2, virtually all of the people who have attended that express an opinion in an informal discussion tell me something like this: 1). You get way too much way too technical information about things which you will never encounter in coach ownership and is probably very important for some dealer tech who is going to service Spartan chassis but is largely irrelevant to an owner who is going to drive that coach and make maintenance decisions. The view was that this might be a version of presentations done for service techs rather than owners. This was true of classes offered early in this series. 2). You get a lot of technical information that again is something that few, if any owners, will ever use or need such as wiring diagrams and other “factory stuff”. 3). At least for the long form of these classes which were held at Charlotte, people felt the charge for the class and what was delivered was somewhat excessive. People who have attended classes which were shorter and had more contribution from Middlebury (e.g. PJ) were more satisfied with the expenditure of time and money, and some other issues. 3. There have been grumbles about feeling that owners got talked into repairs that they were not sure really needed to be done, 4. and some concerns over price versus value. The theme I get generally from listening to comments is that they felt the class could have been shorter, and they would have been happy with less probably irrelevant information.

Now, there have been others on here who have argued the exact opposite and seemingly have been quite happy about their expenditure and time. I have not attended so cannot speak from personal experience, but I have been potentially interested and to this point, have not been convinced that I will need to take the course. There is an old saying about pleasing all of the people some of the time.....Etc. But I just thought that someone needed to provide less rosey comments for others to consider. I have “no dog in this fight”... just an interest in others opinions and discussion.

Gary

Victory Blue · 04-23-2018, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wnytaxman

We had to switch our Spartan Training to October 15th from June 18th. Moving one of our daughters from Buffalo to Cedar Rapids and then doing the training the following week just wasn't going to cut it. Along with that, our other twin is getting married in September so it's going to be another hectic summer.

Just out of curiosity, how much duplication is there between the Homecoming in Elkhart and the Spartan Training? It seems like there might be a certain amount of crossover.

Similar topics in some cases but Spartan chassis training is much more detailed. If you're going to Entegra specific Spartan training the day and a half with PJ is much more intensive than are the Homecoming classes. Class size is much smaller at Spartan so you'll have a lot more opportunity to ask specific questions.

I think of Homecoming as a great rally with many opportunities to meet other owners and a chance to refresh my knowledge on some issues. IMO, Homecoming is not the place for anyone to start on their learning curve.

wnytaxman · 04-23-2018, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Victory Blue

Similar topics in some cases but Spartan chassis training is much more detailed. If you're going to Entegra specific Spartan training the day and a half with PJ is much more intensive than are the Homecoming classes. Class size is much smaller at Spartan so you'll have a lot more opportunity to ask specific questions.

I think of Homecoming as a great rally with many opportunities to meet other owners and a chance to refresh my knowledge on some issues. IMO, Homecoming is not the place for anyone to start on their learning curve.

Bill, we are signed up for both Homecoming and Spartan Training. This is our fifth motorhome so we are not total novices. However, I'm about as mechanically astute as you would expect a CPA to be. For me both sessions are to find out what I don't know so that I can at least be aware of when I may have an issue and perhaps find out what I need to do to avoid a disaster.