aztec7fan

What's everybody doing this weekend? We're in the Walmart parking lot in Salida, CO tonight, and will be in the Sugarloafin' campground in Lwadvill CO for the next 3 days. Regards, Chris

We have taken tge Lake powell boat tour a couple of times, and found it fun and informative. Haven't taken any others, but when you're at Grand Canyon, be sure to take the red shuttle which takes you to many more view sites. Try to take it early in the morning.

My son's jeep. This is us fishing at Barr Lake last weekend.

Just FYI, for a good list of RV service facilities, I'd suggest checking this site: http://rvservicereviews.com/RVServiceMobile/Index.asp?width=412

Also make sure you are looking at as many sources as possible: Rvtrader.com Rvt.com Craigslist.org Facebook marketplace Ebay.com Nextdoor Also check the inventory of local rv stores.

I don't think there will me many upgrades you will need for a while. You can always add accessories like solar panels, outside lighting, who knows what? Since you've already been RVing, you know what is important to you when camping/traveling. Duplicate that "stuff" first, then start thinking what is different about the motorhome. Tools and spare parts might be important, depending on your mechanical ability. You will need to concentrate much more on your tires, their age, condition, and inflation. Check them cold before each trip. Weigh your coach to make sure the tires are inflated properly for your weight. Most important, take time to enjoy your new purchase!

Thanks tireman. I have checked the spacing in the duals, and they look "ok", but I can't confirm if it's a full inch. I'll have to measure it this weekend. The Rv was loaded for a short weekend trip. The fresh water and holding tanks were all about 1/3 full, and fuel was full. Most of our usual "stuff" was loaded, so I would say the weight was typical of most of our trips.

At the parks, does anyone in your family collect the National Park Passport Stamps? It adds a lot of fun for kids and adults and creates a dated record of your visits to look back at. See photo.

I realize this is a post from last year, but thought I'd comment. Removing the dinette will improve usability for you folks, but may reduce the re-sale value down the road. We just upgraded to a newer unit, but as we were searching, we eliminated any coaches without a dinette. We still have guests who may travel with us at times, and the extra sleeping area is important to us. Just my 2 cents.

I agree with wildbill on several of the apps he suggests. Especially campgroundreviews.com (formerly rvparkreviews). Lots of great reviews, and they are paired with the rvlife app which can offer more info, like showing campgrounds along your route.

I suspect you will need to purchase it during the week, so you can go to the DMV in purchase state to show the title and bill of sale and maybe your auto insurance (call your insurance with the vin #) to get a temp tag in that state. You will still need to title and register it in your home state and pay state/county taxes on the purchase. I purchased out of state, but from a dealer, and they got me the temp tag onsite.

Yes, any trips we plan, we start with the paper rand McNally map. We only use the GPS to see if there are any delays and for estimated drive time and milage.

I can't speak on the diesel portion of your post, since we prefer gas units, but I certainly agree with the other posts that layout is the most important thing. We just purchased a 2003 Dolphin, and probably looked at several thousand coaches (online), before falling in love with this unit. We really wanted the corner sink and the full dinette and sleeper couch to have enough room for our kids and/or guests to sleep when they stayed with us. We also love the hard shower and bedroom doors (no curtains).

On the western side, you might try the Jefferson County fairgrounds. They have a campground with hookups as well. There is also standley lake park with rv sites and no hookups. Otherwise, you might just want to Google rv storage in the area and see what you get. Good luck Chris.

Rayin, so what are your thoughts on the current axel weights (sorry no corner weights) on my motorhome and the specifications on the Prinx tire chart. Would you say these tires are under-rated and/or I am over-loaded for these tires given the current weight? Also, at this current weight, my thought is to continue to inflate to max pressure of 130psi. Thanks for allowing me to keep picking your brain(s). Regards, Chris G.

Extended warranties are seldom worth it. A good roadside assistance will have more benefit.

Thanks everyone for the replies and info! I think I learned more about these inflation tables, but can I verify something? So if your corner weight is near the max load for the tire, you should inflate to max pressure, but if your weight is at 75% of max load, you should inflate to 75-80% of max pressure? Is that essentially correct? Thanks, Chris

Load range J.

Thanks for the replies! I did check the clearance on the duals, and that looks fine. I'll have to check the clearance on the steering tires. I looked over their inflation tables but they don't have any reference for the corner weights on the vehicle, just the max pressure. In this case, do I just inflate to max pressure? (Their numbers seem suspect too, 900 PSI for a single tire?) Thanks, Chris g.

So a couple of months ago, we upgraded and purchased a 2003 National Dolphin on the Workhorse W22 chassis. The original tires on it were Michelin XZE 235/80 R22.5 tires, but they were over 14 years old on the date codes. Before driving it from Salt Lake back home to Denver, I insisted we get new tires, and the dealership was able to get me a "deal" on 6 new tires from a local shop. This new size is 275/70 R22.5These are AR602 PrinX tires. I know, no name, but they ride nice and seem to handle well.Just wondering if I will encounter problems with the tire size change? Also, these tires don't have any inflation tables in relation to the vehicle weight, so should I just go by the recommended psi on the coach sticker?Thanks,Chris g.

Just as a follow up, that teenager is now 24 years old, and I let him drive our 35' Dolphin for the first time a couple of weeks ago. He does drive large box trucks for work, so I'm comfortable letting him drive this.

Actually, what about a separate forum thread for buy/sell/trade? I'm currently in the market for a used motorhome 2000-2005 gasser. I'd be looking there if there were ads.

Maybe totally different, but on several Isuzu box truck we used in our fleet, we encountered this problem, and it turned out to be the king pins.

Ross, I know most of my suggestions might appeal to a small portion of the membership (or none at all), but the idea is, if you (fmca), keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same results. These ideas are just examples how fmca needs to think outside the box. You said the gaming room wouldn't work since there are very few kids at the events, but how many 20 and 30 year olds play video games after work? If you have a sporting event at a convention, and only 20 people participate,all you need is half those people to post on social media how much fun they had at an fmca event and it's amazing free advertising. Thanks for listening, Chris g

I am old school, (f3508-s), so my ideas are old school too. I'm 54 years old and still work,so have limited time to go Rally's and conventions. Make fmca budget scaleable, so, no matter if you have 10,000 members or 100,000 members, it doesn't lose money. Remember, in the 1960s and 1970s, there were only a few thousand members, yet there was still a glossy magazine and great conventions (and points you could earn by recruiting new members that could be redeemed for prises). Make conventions interesting for all ages. I've looked over the activities, and frankly, they are boring. Knitting and painting, and crafts may appeal to some,but not me. I have an old 1989 southwind, so most of the how to's don't apply to me. How about procedures on tire changing, installing chains in the winter, locating all the chassis grease points, would really appeal to me. How about some outdoor activities? Stage a football, basketball or volleyball game(s) between competing chapters? In 1972 we had tug of wars over a nasty mud pit, and I still remember it. Set up an outdoor theater and show somewhat recent movies like avengers or star wars? Set up a gaming room with x-boxes and play stations and have various competitions. If a track is nearby, have a pulling competition to see which chassis has more power. Try to recruit more of these people who are converting busses and vans into "tiny home". You see articles on these folks all the time online. All these arguments about losing members is just a re-hash from 5 years ago. Adding towables wasn't the big boon everybody said it would be, just a band-aid. Heck, I'd almost like to go back to being motorhome only if we could then just focus on our core membership. Chris g.