aztec7fan

Here's a link to the story: http://www.rvbusiness.com/2010/08/rv-owner...-2006-shooting/ Reading it makes them look even more stupid. The guy had been loitering around in the parking lot most of the day and displaying questionable behavior already. Why open the door to him? Also, notice it took them 4 years to file the lawsuit. Why?

I too have a 33' Fleetwood Southwind (1989), and I too was confused by what pressure I should set my tires to. The sticker on the inside of my coach says inflate to 70psi, but if I followed the inflation charts for my tires, they should be set to 65psi. The maximum PSI stamped on my tires also say 95 maximum psi. I took Bretts advise and err'd on the high side and inflate them to 70. No problems so far.

Our Fitzjohn Roadrunner was 100% electric and we never seemed to have any problems. We had a 3 burner cooktop and also used one of those plug-in casserole cookers with a top. We actually found some benifits from not having propane on board such as no restrictions about driving through tunnels, and no potential for propane leaks. We didn't have any fancy auto start on our generator. There were a couple of times we did drain the batteries enough that we couldn't even start the generator, but on our antique Kholer generator, it had a crank start (like an old model A) for just such an occasion. The only drawback we had was camping in cold climates in the mountains of Colorado. My dad taught skiing, and so we would spend the entire weekend at the ski area. At night we had to run the generator to keep the electric heaters going, but a couple of times, the weather created an "inversion" situation where there was no breeze and so the carbon monoxide built up around the coach. The only way we noticed was that our dogs started throwing up which woke us up to realize there was a problem. The 2nd time, my dad had tried to vent the exhause trhough a long tube away from the coach, but there was still a leak. Please be careful if you run your generator at night!

Hello, My wife and I are starting a new RV-related business and need some legal documents written and maybe some legal advise as well. We would like to have someone help us with these who has some legal expertise as well as some background with RVs. If interested, please write to me offline at aztec7fan@yahoo.com. Thank you, Chris G.

I think I'll go with 70 PSI since this is reccommended by Fleetwood for the coach and it's 5psi higher than on the reccomendation chart, which should be acceptable. A little history: I did own a 34' 1991 Tiffen Allegro Bay which is very similar to my current coach about 10 years ago. BUT, I did everything wrong and paid for it. I stored the coach on a dirt/mud pad for months at a time, with the tires not covered from the sun. I only checked the pressure once before a long trip and NEVER weighed the coach. I never even knew about tire ages and so they were probably around 10+ years old. I also drove at the posed speed limits, including 75mph. Because of this ignorance, I had 4 tires fail in 3 years, most were where the tread seperated from the tire, and one blowout. Thank goodness I never had a situation where the coach was damaged or someone was injured, but I spent too much time stranded on the side of the road, waiting for assistance, never again!!!! Thank you for educating me! I learned everything above was wrong in just this last year of belonging to FMCA and reading articles on FMCA.com.

I have a 1989 Southwind 33-foot Class A and I've learned a lot in the last year about tire weight, pressures and age, thanks to FMCA. I actually weighed the coach for the first time last week and found it was 400 pounds overweight in the back, which I rectified (dumped holding tanks). The sticker on the inside of the coach from Fleetwood says the pressure in all the tires should be 70 PSI. When looking at the Michelin inflation tables for the 225/70 R19.5 XRV tires it says the pressure should be around 65 PSI. Which is accurate/best? Thanks for any info, Chris G.

Welcome to the FMCA! It's true that the majority of the coaches here are class A type, but the other styles are well represented also. If you visit a local rally or a rally in some place you are visiting, I think you will find the people very friendly and helpful, no matter what type of motorhome you have. This is truly a "family" not just a club or organization. Chris G.

I've owned two motor homes and lived in a third as a kid, and all of these didn't have slide outs, so I have some questions about them. I'm asking, since in the next few years, we may have to replace our current '89 Southwind and I'd like to know more about them. 1) Do you ever get to a destination and leave your slide outs in, since you will just be there for a short while? Can you function easily in your coach with them in? 2) When dry camping, do you ever worry that the batteries will be drained too much, and you won't be able to get your slides in? Is there a safety feature(s) that prevent this? 3) Are there any Class A motorhomes made currently that don't have any slide-outs? Thanks for any info you can provide, Chris G.

I thought I'd chime in regarding the 100 years of RVing that most of the RV magazines (including FMC) have commented on. Although the magazines have touched on the major contributors to the RV lifestyle, such as early trailers and converted cars, teardrops, Winnebegos (sorry for bad spelling), Fleetwoods and such, they missed some of the minor players that I feel are important: the converted coaches. Names such as Flex (Flexible), Silver Siders, Golden Eagle, GMC and such proliferated the motorhomes of the 1960s and 1970s and there was a large number of converted school busses as well. These were true "bus nuts" and most of the work the owners did them selves, some very well and some not so well. I remember seeing busses with working dishwashers, wood burning stoves, and even real grass on the roof. There was even one FMCA member (his name and number escapes me) whos wife had kidney failure. They didn't let that stop them from traveling. He installed two generators, a very intricate water filtration system, and she was able to do here treatments in the bed in the back of the RV, long before any type of portable system was invented. Our own 1957 Fitzjohn had it's own "querks." It was built with no propane appliances and only electric. We thought this was great since we didn't have to turn anything off to travel through tunnels. It had it's problems though, because batteries do get drained at times (it had a bank of 8 batteries in back next to the gas rear-engine). The old Kholer generator had a great backup system though, if you could not start it with battery power, it had a crank start (not pull start, but crank like an old Model T!). This never failed, except for the time my dad parked too close to a tree and couldn't get the compartment door open to get to the generator! He had to crawl through and take the door off from inside to get it started. Chris Guenther F3508-S 1989 Southwind

Sean, Your leak sounds like a frustrating problem to troubleshoot. Since you already hired one professional, you might be willing to hire another to use a thermal imaging camera to possibly locate the leak. These cameras can show you minute temperature variations and might show you somewhere the coolant is spraying out with a fine mist or pinhole leak. Asfar as finding a company that does this, try the phone book (or internet or other sources) possibly for restoration companies that do water/fire damage restoration (thats what my company does, and how I know about these cameras). Good luck, Chris Guenther Westminster, CO F3508-S

I heard rumors that in some areas of the country, you cannot bring firewood from another state. How widespread is this? Does this apply only to natural wood or also processed wood such as old 2 x 4's and scrap wood? I assume it's to reduce the spread of the pine beetles, so does it only apply to pine firewood? Thanks, Chris Guenther F3508-S 1989 33' Southwind

Last year we stayed at the Trailer Village campground which is the only campground with hookups right next to the park. I would call it adequate for your needs with most sites fairly level and ok hookups. The nice thing is that the park shuttle has a stop at the entrance to this park so you can see most of the canyon without having to rent a car or tow one. I thnk the cost is a little steep, but again, you're paying for the convience for hookups and being close. I didn't pay attention to the size of the sites, so I don't know how many will accomodate your rig, but I know there were many large 5th wheels parked there and they seemed to have plenty of room. Chris Guenther F3508S 33' Southwind. p.s. You may have seen photos/video of the canyon, but you'll still be amazed once you see it in person!!

I live in Colorado and have gone over the passes (there are several) on I-70. Don't worry about them. The scenery is beautiful and just today, I saw a herd of bighorn sheep grazing on the side of the highway outside of Vail. With your gas engine, expect to climb the passes at about 35 mph in places so keep this speed in mind as you plan the trip. When you get to any of the downgrades on the opposite sides, be sure to down shift so you are going about the same speed you were going up the pass, without having to hit your brakes frequently. If you have an exhaust brake, retarder or other supplemental braking system, use it! The advise about stops along the way from the previous posters are good suggestions. You might not think of a highway as being beautiful, but the highway they built through Glenwood Canyon is absolutely stunning, as well as the canyon itself. Enjoy your trip, and feel free to ask more questions if any pop up. Chris Guenther 1989 33' Southwind (gas 454 Chevy engine) F3508-S

Last year we were looking for a motorhome on Craigslist and other sources. We finally purchased a 33-foot 1989 Southwind, which we are really happy with. While we were looking, I noticed that many of the motorhomes for sale had rebuilt engines in the 60,000 to 80,000 mile range. This seems low considering these are heavyduty truck engines. I was wondering if there is an underlying reason why some motorhome engines need to be rebuilt so soon? Are the engines underpowered? Is it due to poor maintenance? Is it due to the fact that they sit idle for long periods of time? Are they just not built as well as car engines? I have a personal interest since our Southwind (gas Chevy 454) engine is at 79,000 miles and I would like to prevent any failures if at all possible. Thanks, Chris Guenther f3508-s

If anyone remembers the song "Convoy" sung by C.W. McCall in the 1970s, you'll remember that it started, "On the dark of the moon on the 6th of June ..." Well, a few fans of C.W. McCall will be re-creating this trip and calling it Convoy 2KX (2010). It will follow the same route they used in 2000 when they did it the first time, from Santa Cruz, California, to Wildwood, New Jersey, with a stop in Ouray, Colorado, to possibly meet with Bill Fries (aka C.W. McCall). For more info, see their website here: http://www.cw-mccall.com/convoys/convoy2kx/ Although not FMCA related, maybe some of you might want to meet up with these folks along a portion of their route and dust off your CB Radio. Chris Guenther F3508-S

We also have two children (two boys, ages 9 & 13), and I was wondering what you folks do to keep your kids entertained on longer driving trips? If we are in a new area, we insist they look out the window and take in the scenery, but in some areas they've seen many times, they have to keep themselves entertained with hand-held games and such. Chris Guenther f3508-S Westminster, CO

One of my favorite FMCA members was Ed Martel and his wife, Dot. He had a classic Marmon-Herrington coach that he converted himself, and he had chromed out everything he could in this coach until it shined. While most guys have hot rods that they chrome out, Ed chromed out his home on wheels, including the engine and much of the interior. Women would frequently joke that they could put their makeup on while looking at the engine. Wherever he couldn't cover it with chrome, he used polished alluminum or stainless steel. He was very meticulous about everything on his coach. One time at an FMCA rally some guys poured some oil under Ed's coach. When he came back they told Ed they thought he had a leak. He quickly crawled under the coach, felt and sniffed the offending oil stain and finally came out as serious as could be saying, "That's not my oil, it's too dirty."

I agree with other posts that it's really a personal decision depending on your needs for accommodations, floorplan, etc. My personal decision is that I would never drive anything more than 35'. My parents had a 35' unit we lived in full time for 8 months and 3 months every summer through the 1970's. Room was never an issue, even with a family of 4. When I purchased a motor home for my family, our first one was a 1991 34' Tiffin Allegro Bay, which we enjoyed quite a bit. We now have a 33' Southwind, which fits our needs fine, again with a family of 4. As mentioned before, you will need to check ahead with campgrounds to see if they can accommodate a larger coach, and also some scenic areas may have length restrictions. I know that Independence Pass in Colorado will not allow anything over 35'. Chris Guenther

At one FMCA rally, my dad pulled in late Friday afternoon, after most of the sites with hookups were taken. He asked the rally coordinator (who was standing around with others from the same chapter) where to park and they told him there was a great spot with plenty of power at the end of the row. Of course, they had decided to play a trick on him since they all knew that that site's hookups were dead! As they stood around and watched, my dad quickly figured out there was no power, but he made himself look busy by hooking up extension cords and a trouble light. He rerouted the power through his inverter to make the light come on, appearing to have power from the outlet. Then he routed hoses from the water pump around to the non-working spigot and began hosing off our coach. He had the last laugh.

My parents joined the FMCA around 1969, after purchasing their first motorhome, a converted city bus. This first bus had no power, and my dad was constantly working on the thing, but we loved the motorhoming life anyway. They decided that a larger coach was needed, so in 1970 they purchased a 35-foot 1957 Fitzjohn Roadrunner. Soon after, they sold our home in Connecticut and we travled around the country for eight months. We finally settled in Colorado, but since my parents were both teachers, we had the three months of summer vacations to travel the country. We stopped at as many FMCA rallies that we could and quite a few national conventions. We had a lot of fun being members of FMCA when I was a kid, and now I have a motorhome and my family is part of FMCA. In this blog, I hope to recount some of the fun we had with FMCA. Chris Guenther F3508-s

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I thought of creating a webpage of FMCA and motorhoming memories. If I doo, I'll post a link here. I don't think I could convince my wife to ever camp in a tent again ever since we struck our tent in a rain storm and woke up the next moring with a "moat" around the air mattress. When the weather's nice, they are appealing though, since you are much closer to nature. Another quick story: We pulled into a FMCA rally late one day, and all the good spots were taken. A couple of campers decided to pull a joke on my dad and told him there was one more spot with hookups at the end of the row (neglecting to tell him that they knew none of the utilities were hooked up on the pole!). he pulled in and somehow quickly assesed that the pole was dead, but he spent several munutes hooking up wires and hoses and within a few minutes he had somehow wired it with a touble light so it looked like the powere WAS working and set up a hose with running water so the pluming looked like it WAS running as well. He had the last laugh. --Chris G.