medico

Great looking rig. That is super. You will have a ball. Congrats!

Welcome to FMCA Forum. Glad to meet you.

Great looking rig, enjoy and congrats!

Tiffin makes a fine MH. I would not be disappointed with them. When we were looking we concentrated on Tiffin, Newmar and Winnie, all DP. We however are living FT in our coach, having sold our home. We wanted a little more room than a low to mid 30 footer would give us, plus we are pulling a toad and felt better with the added torque available from a diesel motor. However, the annual maintenance tends to be higher with diesel. We anticipated a Tiffin Allegro Bus when our present coach was pointed out to us by our dealer. We could not have afforded our coach new, but used put it within our range and the rest, as they say, is history.

Boy that is one fine looking rig. Congrats on it's acquisition, and have a load of fun!

Your opinion only. When we were looking at new (prior to our used CC purchase) the Tiffin beat the Entegra hands down. Just push on the cabinet walls in both. The custom chassis on the Tiffin was far superior to the Entegra (IMO). So you see there are different opinions. Your best bet is to test drive and investigate all models you are considering. Go to a show (Hershey coming up in Sept.) and compare and test drive all models to see which feels and looks better.

I always sit while I'm leveling the coach prior to shutting down. My automatic level system takes a few minutes to finalize the leveling. Once that is done, I figure the proper cool down period has been completed. When I drove truck, my employer required us to idle for 5 to 10 minutes prior to shutting down.

Welcome to the FMCA Forum. Nice to meet you. This lifestyle is fantastic and I welcome you to it! I have found the monthly and or seasonal rates are far easier to swallow than the nightly rates. For example the seasonal rate I'm paying in Western NY (May 2nd to Oct 20th) was $1900 which works out to just over $10 per night for a 173 night stay (I think I calculated the number of nights correctly). Add to this the cost of electricity (most monthly or higher rentals also have to pay their own electric) and maintenance (mowing and trimming grass). The park we are in charge what we consider a high electric rate of $0.20 per KW. Even adding this cost we are still within the $20 you specify. Monthly rentals are higher than seasonal, but allow a little more flexibility in moving around. I found with my coach, it is more expensive moving around than staying for a while in one place. Plus this gives us much more opportunities in seeing the sites where we are staying.

On diesel engines, it is the torque, not the HP that moves a MH. I suspect you will see NO CHANGE in performance even if this increase in HP is possible. The torque remains the same.

Seat belts can be added by using some sort of lag bolt directly into the floor. Most manufacturers do have these belts available for sale. I just secured a belt for my coach directly from Country Coach. Cost about $35.00

Welcome to this glorious lifestyle. Remember, when you visit friends or family they will always ask "Come on in and have a real home cooked meal, and wouldn't it be nice to finally sleep in a real bed?" LOL. Little do they know we take our "real" bed with us and eat as many real home cooked meals as we wish to. LOL Welcome and enjoy!

Congrats on getting through an exciting first trip, especially with all the unplanned exciting adventures. Tires are recommended to be replaced every 7 or 8 years, no matter the mileage as unseen problems begin occurring. You found out just how bad it can get. Glad nothing more serious happened during the blowouts. Enjoy your now repaired MH. Seven kids, whewwww! must be exciting just eating! Bathroom time must be fun as well, Whewwww!

Nice Job! It's not my "cup of tea", but tastefully done. Congrats and enjoy!

We have stayed at 2 Wal-Marts recently and both said sure, open your slides. No problem! I have not yet stayed at a PFJ. Next time you fuel, ask them and post back.

A hearty welcome to you from Western NY!

There is a PFJ app for Android smart phones. I suspect it's also available for Apple. This app gives locations and prices. You can also Google PFJ and/or Camping World to find their locations.

Many Pilot-Flying J's have dump stations. Also some Camping World's have dump stations. There are lots of PFJs on your route. I suspect you will also find Camping Worlds.

The Essex is a high end Newmar second only to the King Aire. I have never owned a Newmar, but when searching for a MH Newmar, Tiffin and Winnies were high on my list. They were all very well made. The Essex model should be very well appointed and would be a great coach to own. I am not sure if those age coaches would have the Newmar Comfort Steer system, but if so you are in for a treat while driving. I suspect they might be tag axle models which should make them a smoother ride. Good luck in your search.

Be advised the Patriot is NOT flat towable except with manual shift.

Jim, There are many from Hong Kong and China on eBay, although a few are from the USA. Are there any specifically you would recommend?

I am also interested. We will be attending the Good Sam Rally in Syracuse in less than 2 weeks. We plan on looking there. I cannot see if the indication on the bulb I pulled is C6 or 06. I suspect the C6 is correct. If I find a source there and nothing comes up here I will post back.

Done, thanks

Just wanted to add a BIG thank you to FMCA for having a 15 site campground at FMCA Mail Forwarding facility. We availed ourselves of this campground on Saturday evening. There were only about 8 MH's here that night. This site was suggested by another member when he read we were headed for Cincinnati for an overnight stay. The link to this site (it is somewhat hard to find on the FMCA main website). For those that have not used this "Camp Ground," in one night our entire FMCA membership fee was fulfilled. THANK YOU FMCA!

For those that could use the link (it is not easy to find on the FMCA site) Check Here. We arrived earlier today. There were only 4 other RV's here at that time with no sites reserved. There are now 8 of us here. Very nice with full 50A/30A hookups with H2O and Dump station, and best of all it's FREE 2 days a month for members. mrboyer, thanks for this valuable info.

Thanks, I will stop by there and see if there are any openings Sat. night. If not my original plan to go to a Wal-Mart store will work. I did not know about this, I do appreciate it.