blakeloke

George, Welcome to the forum. It sounds like your trip is going to be fun and exciting. Especially if fuel prices stay low for you. I think your side trip to the Grand Canyon is very doable. We see RVs of all sizes and types along that route. Yes, elevations are high so set a pace you are comfortable with. LA/Santa Barbara & Frisco are no problem either. If you chose the Interstate 5 route through the San Joaquin valley it is flat except for the trek over the Grapevine that has one stretch of 7% grade for a few miles. An alternate route to Frisco from Santa Barbara is US 101. That is a beautiful drive along the California coastline....Central Coast wineries are a must do if you like wine. Then back south to Lost Wages is not a problem either......you'll be a seasoned mountain driver by then! Blake

Davo, In colder climates most campgrounds shut down their water systems for the winter. This is to prevent damage to the campground's system. Usually also means the facilities such as shower and laundry are also shuttered. The KOA in Cody shuts down completely for the winter. I believe early October if memory serves me. Depending on what coach you select, you could probably handle it for a period of time. But, I think it would be a major hassle to drain and rollup your water and sewer hoses after using them. Then your basement heat needs to work flawlessly. Otherwise you'll be toast with frozen grey, black and freshwater tanks. Blake

Try Action RV in Conroe TX. We had our coach in there for repair and upgrades. They are very knowledgeable and do excellent work. Their website shows pictures of a roof replacement. Blake http://www.actionrvconroetexas.com/

We thought having a washer/dryer combo would be a hot ticket for traveling. So, we had one installed in our coach before taking delivery. That was 10.5 years ago. We've only used three times since then. With zero times in probably the past eight years or so. What we found is you can only wash one large towel or a pair of jeans at a time and it takes most of the afternoon for that load to get done. As Herman mentions above, our coach's dryer is vented to the outside but we still had to "air-dry" after machine drying. We prefer to use the campground Laundromat which is a lot faster. Welcome to the Forum and thank you for serving our country! Blake

Carl....this happened to us leaving Deming late last year......twist the dimmer knob back and forth several times. I think we had some corrosion that was preventing full contact. Hope that helps.

We too carry extra extensions. You will get voltage loss over distance with a given wire size. You can use this handy calculation to help make sure you don't overload your line. I used the same when installing remote service to our RV parking spot at our last house. http://www.calculator.net/voltage-drop-calculator.html

Jimbo, Similar issue happened to our neighbors (2007 Phaeton). They also experienced surging and then the generator died when a load was put on (air conditioning). He found an additional fuel filter tucked in the chassis that needed changing. His owner's manual did identify the filter. I will ask him the location of the filter tomorrow. Blake

Bill E, You might get a fab shop to engineer, build and certify the hitch. Doing so may be helpful for insurance claims, safety inspections and potential new owner. Remember the rule. Tongue weight should be 10% of gross trailer weight. Anything less and you run the risk of the trailer wagging in the rear. Blake

Jim, Check out this link. Cruiser Lift. http://www.discountramps.com/rv-motorcycle-carrier/p/C-Lift/ You might check to see if your factory hitch is still intact and if the outboard receivers are bolt-ons that are separate from the factory. Blake

The clothes pin idea has worked for us. We have two Standard Poodles that like to "drive" when we are outside or away from the coach. They've never released the brake. We also chock our wheels as added security. Blake

The corrosion you mention could be a normal condition if you live in a humid environment. I would clean the terminals with anti-corrosion lubricant, an old toothbrush and some emery cloth. Check for pitting on the fuse itself. If pitted replace fuse with a new one. As Jim states above, you should have zero voltage on the load side when the fuse is pulled.

One thing to be mindful of when camping in colder temperatures (like the 20's you mention) are your basement temps. Items such as fresh water supply, water pump and waste systems can freeze at those temps. Some coaches have cold weather systems that heat the basement such as ceramic heating and heat blankets under water and waste storage tanks. You'll need to check if your coach is equipped with same. Even if so equipped, make sure your dump lines are liquid free so you don't get an ice plug. It may be best to turn off fresh water supply when it gets really cold so that your "white" hose doesn't freeze up. Drain the water and stow it and use your fresh water tank and water pump. Check with your destination campground to see if their freshwater systems are still on for the winter. Some campgrounds will shut off their systems to prevent freeze damage. If that's the case you may want to travel with full fresh water. Welcome to the world of motorhoming and the Forum. Blake

Wow....those seats are awesome! Please keep us posted on how you installed and of course, a product review. Blake

Bob, I'd also check your exhaust system to see if you detect evidence of a leak. If you have a leak, it'll be noticeable in the form of black soot. I know your coach is new but the possibility exists that there may a small leak around a flange or hose clamp. if so, exhaust could be venting inside your coach from the rear. You also might check for soot around any floor access panels to the engine compartment. Blake

Bill.....check this out. http://tandem-tow.com/Gallery.htm http://tandem-tow.com/index.html

Thanks for the heads up. Will ours as soon as possible as our coach is now 10 years old.

I had a similar problem with one of the slides on our coach. However, we don't have a full wall slide. I used heavy duty ratchet straps and found secure spots to attach the hooks to on the underside of the slide out. With my wife pressing the button I inched the ratchet straps along until the slide-out would move on it's own (about 3/4 of the way in). Once back home I ordered a new slide motor. No more trouble since then and we've had this new motor for ~5 years now. Please let us know how you solved. Blake

Hey Gang, I wanted to share an experience we had recently on a trip from the Houston area to Lake Fork Texas a few months back. I really should have shared this earlier so apologies for the delay. We've been motor homing for over 10 years now and have made a habit to perform a walk around of our coach and toad each time we stop for a break. The walk around usually includes a tire check and always includes an inspection of the toad connection, hitch and drawbar. On this particular walk around we just happened to stop at the Lowe's in Lufkin Texas to water the pups and take a stretch break. Lo and behold when I was looking over the hitch I noticed the tumbler lock missing from the lock pin on the hitch and the pin had started working it's way out of the receiver and hitch. Fortunately we were at Lowes and were able to buy a new pin and lock. On our way again and reflecting on what we found, and what could have happened (our toad is a Dodge 3500), we realized that our walk around habit is invaluable as we could have had a significant event that may have caused harm to someone else. I'm pretty good about checking and double checking things before we head out on the road and it could have been I didn't check the lock to ensure it was secure......dunno for sure if the lock failed or it was me. Safe travels folks and remember to do a walk around at every opportunity. Blake

Welcome to the Forum. You'll need to look at coaches with higher HP options to tow your 12k trailer. For example: our Monaco is rated to tow 10k. It has a Cummins 400. But the new Monaco Dynasty with the 600 HP Cummins is rated to tow 15k. We test drove a new Dynasty a couple of months ago and in just my opinion, it did not ride and handle as well as our current coach. You might look at the Entegra line of coaches. The Cornerstone and Anthem are beautiful coaches and I believe they are rated to tow a trailer as heavy as yours. Newmar also makes a line of coaches that are top notch. Lurk around this website and go kick tires at your local dealers when you get a chance. www.mhsrv.com Blake

Bummer on your tires. Can you tell us the date code on your tires? Personal experience here. I would stay away from the Goodyear tires. Our coach came with them (brand new) and I was really never happy with the ride. Upon we replacement of the Goodyears to Michelin we could not believe the difference in ride. Our Michelins are now 5 years old with no visible sign of cracking. But, given the age we will replace then within next 18 months. Blake

Hi David, Hope all goes well with your dad and you get some needed rest. Once you get the retirement thing worked out please let us know. We did same in September and have been non-stop since then. I often wonder how we ever found the time to work! Gung Hay Fat Choy (Happy New Year)! Blake

Our coach is at the RV repair facility now undergoing some updates including removal of the 3M coating. The technician, who said he has removed many of these coatings, warned us that we may lose some of the darker paint. We'll cross that bridge if it happens, and if it does, we may take that opportunity to freshen up the look of the front end by having more modern graphics painted on and blended into the existing graphics. We didn't have any mildew build-up on ours but the tech did show us a coach that was in for repairs that had a considerable amount of green cancer on it's front end. I took some "before" pictures and will try to post the "after" pictures when completed. Will keep you all posted. On the lighter side: Carl mentions above that the "Blake Bra looks funky". Since my name is Blake, and I had never heard of a Blake Bra, I Googled it......hahaha.....you'd be amazed of what the search came up with! Happy New Year folks........Blake

Kirby and Marilyn, Congratulations on your "new to you" coach! At this time of year, staying as far south as possible is a wise idea. You may encounter ice and snow along Interstate 10 in the higher elevations. Just watch the forecast and plan accordingly. For example, El Paso (elevation 3,800') is expecting snow today. There are plenty of campgrounds to stay at.....if you don't have a campground guide you can use Google to help. We prefer to stay in KOA's just because we know what to expect. Tucson has a great KOA that offers a restaurant, bar and nice shop. Lazy Days RV is right next store. You can get camper supplies and parts there if needed. However, there are a lot of other campgrounds that offer nice sites at great prices. If you have the time you might try Tombstone and Carlsbad Caverns. They are in the neighborhood of your route and a lot of fun to visit. Be safe, watch the weather and hunker down if there's a chance of ice, sleet or snow. Happy New Year.....! Blake

The Entegra Cornerstone has a 20,000 lb. rated hitch. Engine is a Cummins ISX 600hp.

We've seen many RV'rs with ladders and camp chairs strapped to their roof ladders. A couple of months ago we met a couple, with a household ladder attached to their RV ladder, and they had painted the ladder to match the color scheme of the coach......most unique!