bottieri

wolfe10 I changed my original post about the charge circuit to using a 6 ohm, 50 watt resister in line, instead of a bulb. That should limit the amperage to 2 amps and not overload the tail light circuit fuse. Connecting to the battery directly isn't always convenient. In my Prevost H3 it isn't possible as the batteries are behind the fender above the drive wheels. Connecting to the tail light wire out of the coach trailer plug using bullet connecters was the simplest for my situation. Surely there are many ways of accomplishing the same goal. In my situation, running the coach batteries down is not a concern. Another benefit: You could run the parking lights on in the Jeep while running the lights on the RV since there will be additional amperage from the RV keeping the battery up. In that case I'd use a 3 ohm resister to double the amperage (to 4 amps) moving from the RV to the car battery. Even an 18 gauge wire will handle 4 or 5 amps over 10 to 15 feet in length, but I used a 16 gauge.

I have a 2014 Wrangler set up for towing. When I read in the book that the battery must be disconnected, I decided to eliminate that step so as not to lose all the electronic settings of clock and radio, blue tooth and what-not. Here's what I did: I connected a wire at the battery positive post directly to a marine inline fuse holder and to the "out" side of a tail light diode. From the "in" side of the diode I ran a wire down to the base plate area that will be connected to the tail light wire coming from the RV. CAUTION: install a resister (6 ohm, 50 watt) in line, to limit the current flow or you'll burn the fuse in the RV tail light circuit as the battery will suck up more amperage than the fuse and wire can handle. Because of the diode there is no power in the wire when not connected to the RV. This shows the connections at the battery and the black 'stuff' is Velcro. This system will keep the car battery charging as long as the tail lights in the RV are on, so you can supply power to a brake unit without killing the battery and not lose your settings because of a disconnected battery. Of course after doing all this I found there is no steering wheel lock so the key can be removed, but for those of you who must leave a key in to unlock the steering wheel, this is a great alternative to disconnecting the battery.

To get three quotes on a Marathon Coach proprietary item (window blind) is impossible. Their request is just to give me the run-around. You read both sides of the story - look at the photos and you decide. They weren't asked to look at the coach at another facility, I "offered" it for their benefit - not mine. There's nothing to work out. They weren't asked to repair anything. They offered to replace the blind if I could accomplish the impossible. I will repair my coach at my own expense.

They'll never get a complimentary post from me. See the whole story that I just posted along with a link to photos.

Recently I had a bad experience with Suncoast Designs glass company. Here is the transcript of the email conversation with their manager. It's not about the workmanship as much as it is about the attitude of the management. You can draw your own conclusion. As you can see, I never asked them for anything! You can see the same compound on the blind in the background as well as on the paint and glass. Please start reading from the bottom (the start of the correspondence). >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Photos are here: http://bottieri.com/remote/Bottieri/Vehicles/Pages/Suncoast_Designers.html#1 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> End: We are concerned with the quality of work coming out of our facility. If you desire us to look at the work, then you will have to bring the coach back to our facility. We do not have a mobile team of any sort and therefore only work out of our facility. We are also aware that Marathon produces a quality product, however we have worked on many Prevosts and this is not a typical issue. We are not accusing Marathon, it is whomever is responsible for the paint, whether it is Marathon or someone else. Regardless of whether it was raining or not, you signed off on it, it is not our fault that you did not more closely inspect your coach. In regards to the blind, we will require three quotes from three separate companies. Thank you, JEFF HEYENGeneral Manager jheyen@ccwindow.com SUNCOAST DESIGNERS *Custom Windows*RV Window Repair 15050 Labor Place Hudson, FL 34667 727-868-2773 Office 727-862-4732 Fax www.suncoastdesigners.com AMERICA'S #1 RV GLASS SPECIALISTS Subject: Re: Lousy workmanship From: bottieri@me.com Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 10:43:08 -0700 To: jheyen@ccwindow.com Jeff I didn't ask you to repair the paint. I've brought this all to your attention because It was my impression that you are concerned with quality and would be interested in seeing some of what leaves your business if it wasn't top quality. Your comment about my touching up stone chips has no relation to peeling off paint, and Marathon Coach does not put out shoddy paint jobs. I don't know what the technical term is for the compound that is on my paint and blind, but it's also on the glass. I called it cement, but regardless of what you call it - it's there and got put there by your people. Take a good look at the photos and you'll see it smeared on the glass and down onto the paint. Yes, I signed off on the job - in the rain which made it impossible to see the problems. I've invited you to come see for yourself. If you really care about what your shop is producing, you should take that offer before claiming it wasn't done by your people. I've contacted Marathon about a new blind and will get back to you with the cost. Joe Bottieri Sent from my iPad On Dec 18, 2014, at 10:12 AM, Jeff Heyen <jheyen@ccwindow.com> wrote: First, i want to inform you that it clearly states in your warranty about the responsibility for paint damages, which you signed stating your understanding of this warranty agreement. In addition, you signed our checklist stating that you were satisfied with the work done prior to you leaving our facility. Due to the damages to the paint, it is clear that you have a very shotty paint job, which is an issue to take up with those responsible for your paint job, not us. In addition, the fact that you touched up the paint yourself, you have already admitted that you had damage to the paint, prior to ever entering our facility. Therefore we are not responsible for any of the damages mentioned. In lite of this, and the fact that we do not use cement, nor anything like cement, we have still offered to replace those blinds, despite the fact that it is not our responsibility. Thank you, JEFF HEYENGeneral Manager jheyen@ccwindow.com SUNCOAST DESIGNERS *Custom Windows*RV Window Repair 15050 Labor Place Hudson, FL 34667 727-868-2773 Office 727-862-4732 Fax www.suncoastdesigners.com AMERICA'S #1 RV GLASS SPECIALISTS Subject: Re: Lousy workmanship From: bottieri@me.com Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 14:59:39 -0700 To: jheyen@ccwindow.com First, I'll inform Marathon about their paint quality. Second, the paint chips weren't there before you worked on the coach as I had personally touched up every nick and chip the weekend before heading to Hudson. Third, the cement on the blind is exactly the same as what is smeared on the paint below the window. It's not caulk. It won't come off either place. I plan to be in Clearwater at Parliament coach the afternoon of the 8th of January. You are welcome to come see the job in person. There's more mess than visible in the photos. Joe Bottieri Sent from my iPad On Dec 17, 2014, at 9:57 AM, Jeff Heyen < jheyen@ccwindow.com> wrote: Mr. Bottieri, I want to apologize for the damages caused during the repairs. I do want to inform you that based on the picture, it looks like it could be black caulk on the blinds, there would be no reason for cement to be in your RV, however I brought this to my managers attention and he has informed me to request that you go ahead and send us the bill for the blind replacement. In regards to the paint, what we use for the window template is painters tape, if your paint job was done correctly it wouldn't remove any of the paint. Therefore, unfortunately , there is nothing we are able to do for the paint. If there is anything else i can help you with, please, do not hesitate to ask. Thank you, Taylor JEFF HEYENGeneral Manager jheyen@ccwindow.com SUNCOAST DESIGNERS *Custom Windows*RV Window Repair 15050 Labor Place Hudson, FL 34667 727-868-2773 Office 727-862-4732 Fax www.suncoastdesigners.com AMERICA'S #1 RV GLASS SPECIALISTS From: contactus@suncoastdesigners.com To: jheyen@ccwindow.com Subject: FW: Lousy workmanship Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 10:10:48 -0500 Suncoast Designers, Inc. 15050 Labor Place Hudson, FL 34667 727-868-2773 Subject: Lousy workmanship From: bottieri@me.com Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 17:19:17 -0700 To: contactus@suncoastdesigners.com Cement on my blind, peeled paint, chipped paint, sloppy finish on the sealant, etc. Very sloppy and damaging workmanship! Joe

There seems to be a few OLD posts about Suncoast for window reairs that are quite complimentary. However, my recent experience there was very disappointing. The workmanship wasn't good, but worse of all is the arrogant attitude of the management. In a couple of weeks when I have access to my desktop computer, I'll post the entire transcript of our communications and photos of the lousy workmanship and damage to me coach.