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hayesfamily

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Posts posted by hayesfamily

  2. Posted · Report reply

    I miss talking to you rlbarkleyii ... I promise to call you later this week when I get to Delaware and we will catch up. Got some exciting stuff to tell you. 

    More on that touchy subject, my friend Jim belongs to the Capital Area chapter or whatever the chapter is between Baltimore and DC and I reached out to them. I've heard nothing from them. I've sent several emails and I've got nothing.

    Now, I looked at the website and I looked at the demographic and I'm going to be very honest with you, I got three strikes against me going and it's not necessarily A Prejudice issue, but let's face it it's going to be a little tough to relate.

    When you look at the demographics of that club the three strikes I have against me

    1. I am a black guy  

    2. I am a young black guy with locs down his shoulders and I'm under 60

    3. My coach is a late 90s, gas guzzling, home away from home

    I'm not exactly sure how they would perceive a 38 year old black guy (actually I'm biracial but you'll never find that out until you get to know me) hip hop listening to, dreadlock, cowboy boot wearing, country boy with a 1999 gas Bounder ... it's so not there demographic but does that mean you never return my email? Absolutely not and even if they were accepting the fact that they never responded leaves me to assume things that may or may not be true. 

    The only thing I can assume based on their actions and behavior is that their Club caters to somebody 75 years old with a diesel pusher that's relatively new built in the last ten to fifteen years period if you have a gas they might let you hang out with them but the conversation is going to be about how gas motorhomes take forever to go up a hill and how they got rid of their gas because they got tired of being passed by empty tractor trailers. I wish I were making this conversation up but this is exactly the conversation I witnessed from some FMCA members that belongs to this particular chapter. The only thing I had in common with these Rascals is that I prefer to Tow 4 down instead of a dolly ... but even that conversation was short-lived because they had a Blue Ox tow bar and I was subpar because I have a Demco. 

    When I was in my early 20s I met a lady 15 years my senior and if she didn't teach me anything she taught me this one thing that I will never forget, it's never what you say or what you do but it is the appearance that makes the difference of whether or not you're guilty or whether you're not when it comes to the eyes of public opinion. 

    Unfortunately when it comes to those subjects and those things that are outside of the box of stereotypical motorhome America ( old, white, grandma and grandpa, with two dogs that travel with them and they're huge Diesel Pusher 3 months out of the year) the local chapters unless they are specialty groups do not accommodate or make folks feel welcome. Towables or no towables FMCA has to correct that or they will lose a tremendous demographic that quite frankly is untouched. 

     

  3. Posted · Report reply

    17 hours ago, dons2346 said:

    Keon, by your post and your comments about those you talked to, it sounds like they still have the egg on the coach but dropped their membership. Question is why haven't they removed the egg?

    The answer to that question is simple. They have not removed the egg because of the prestige that FMCA carries.  Just because it has the prestige doesn't necessarily mean it has the benefit to pay every year.

  4. Posted · Report reply

    I happen to be out and about this week in the coach and while at the campground I decided to do a little bit of research and ask some questions. Not sure if this information is beneficial one way or the other but I'm going to put it out there anyway just for some general conversation and possibly some thought.

    Currently I'm spending the week in Williamsburg Virginia at a relatively busy RV Park.

    The dog and I took a moment to walk the park and I took notice of maybe seven or eight motor homes that have FMCA insignia.

    I got an opportunity to talk to five of them and I opened up the dialogue by simply asking how they enjoyed their FMCA membership. Five out of five said they got the plaque, they looked at the magazines but after two or three years of membership decided it was not worth the renewal so various reasons.

    The gentleman beside me happened to have a FMCA number on his coach and we've talked several times today. He like Joe and I are both working young under 60 year old folks that happened to have a motorhome. He flat out told me that he saw no benefit other than having the number and hoping someone would see it if he was stuck on the side of the road and help him because he had it. Other than that there was absolutely no real benefit to him that Good Sam or some other organization could not provide cheaper and more beneficial.

    I'm saying all of this to say I don't think our problem is recruitment because there a lot of people with a number out there. The question is what can we do to retain the ones that we currently have and I think that's going to be easier than recruitment all day everyday. It's always Cheaper to Keep something that you already have and make it work unless it's just a lost cause and in this case I think everyone can agree that keeping members for FMCA is going to be of greater value then trying to spend a lot of money recruiting.

     

    My $.02

  5. Posted · Report reply

    8 hours ago, manholt said:

    Majority of Snow Birders that I see rolling down I-95 or I-75 or I-35 to Hwy 77S are not in big Class A's!  Lot's of B's, some C's and also Class A gassers.  

    Iinteresting you say that.  It supports my theory about B and C coaches in a way.  I think there is a "regional" thing because in this neck of the woods the B and C market tend to be single/ young couples (with/without small children) who are nomadic weekend warriors in a sense (city dwellers) and/or older couples not looking to take much with them and looking for something simple and easy to drive.  

    8 hours ago, manholt said:

     Maybe 15% are DP's of 40 foot plus!  That's of the Motor Homes...Towable is 4 to one against Coaches!  Back to demographics!

    So with this information from Manholt and my personal theory the question remains, what benefit does FMCA have for these folks who gravitate to smaller coach units much less towables? The benefits that are offered are gold to those who have larger coaches who made travel over great distances. The benefits will help him and or get them out of trouble. For someone who travels a lot on the weekend close to home or their coach may move three or four times a year it doesn't help them very much. 

    To capture the market of Class B and Class C coaches the benefit for tires has to be a partnership with Walmart or some type of National Tire chain not necessarily Michelin. 

    These people are probably going to go with some type of roadside assistance that covers their car and their motor coach for a reasonable price. Triple-A probably can handle that aspect of life for them a bit less expensive than FMCA.

    The glass coverage and some of the insurance may or may not be what these people are looking for. The FMCA assist may be the only thing some of the older families would take advantage of but again you have to justify the cost of FMCA membership versus that one benefit.

    I'm not exactly sure if it's possible simply because of the size of FMCA but the biggest benefit to everybody specifically your younger families and those who have your smaller B and C coaches is a fuel discount with a major supplier. That comes with a cost I am sure membership cost would rise, but if that attracts enough new members, it may not.  

  6. Posted · Report reply

    10 hours ago, dons2346 said:

    Think about this for a minute. Look how this has been presented to the membership and the governing board. It has been presented as a "must have to do" or we will fail. As far as I know, there has been zero studies done to determine even if towables want or will join.

    The reason why I asked about the squawking is because of an experience I had this past weekend. This past weekend I went camping and everybody who had a fifth wheel trailer or some type of towable trailer looked at me and kind of treated me as if I was the third world citizen because my coach was an all-in-one unit. I'm not sure if they felt that I felt I was better than them or they may have felt that they were better than me I don't know but the bottom line is allowing towables seems like that would be asinine with all due respect to the board, not trying to say that they are idiots by any means. However, it is very obvious that we do not have any similarities with a towable other than the fact that some of our systems that may mirror one another but the lifestyle is completely different. I'm not saying one is any better than the other but I'm pretty sure the response I got from the guys with the fifth wheels and the towable trailers is a response that everybody has gotten over the years they have had a Class A B or C RV.

    It's almost the equivalent of inviting a Democrat nominee to the Republican National Convention knowing that they're not going to share the same ideologies political interest that a republican would so in other words I guess what I'm saying is you're asking for trouble.

  7. Posted · Report reply

    On 5/26/2017 at 5:58 AM, manholt said:

    Said it before, we have not had a noticeable decline in revenue, in the past 4 years

    So Carl I have to ask the question, if we have not had a decline in income what is the point of voting to allow towables or not?

    I was under the impression that FMCA was on a ridiculous decline as far as membership dues thus voting to allow towables was the way to solve that.

    Are there are several reasons to increase membership, one being Revenue, the other being membership numbers to maybe say we're the biggest, but the other very crucial reason is so that you have a knowledge database. If FMCA is not hurting for money and not really being too affected by the reduction in numbers what is the real reason that people are squawking?

  8. Posted · Report reply

    According to a gentleman that works for the State Attorney's Office in Maryland any vehicle is subject to be pulled onto the scales that is greater than 5 tons however, the only ones that are required to pull onto the scales when they are open and operational are those vehicle which are considered to be commercial greater than 10000 lb where a DOT card is required. Buses who have passengers are not required to pull on the scales however, if they are empty they must hold on to the scales.

    If a motorhome has any type of commercial signage or is pulling a trailer that has commercial signage such as the name of a business a phone number a website or representing a commercial entity such as Bank of America or NASCAR it must pull on the stairs because at that point it is considered commercial and the driver that are possessed a valid commercial driver's license and Dot card. 

     

    Keons Thoughts: 

    Agosh honestly don't know what to say because some of this rhetoric is goulash. I do not know why the state of Maryland is so complicated as if they are hurting for money or what but the writing on the website and the way that the law is worried it is super confusing and leaves a whole lot of Grey area to be interpreted. Unfortunately the person that gets to interpret is not required to have a law degree therefore their interpretation can change depending on who took a whiz in their Wheaties that particular day.

  9. Posted · Report reply

    After my last post I ended up doing some more research. The more research I did the more I realize that the state of Maryland has a severe flaw in its system when it comes to registering motorhomes.

    After lengthy arguing with the motor vehicle administration it has been determined that any motorhome that weighs over 3,700 lb is considered multi-purpose and it does not have a cap per se on the weight of the coach.

    So I say the system is flawed because how do you have enforcement for those whose coach comes in and greater than 26,000 gross because the driver's license class only has to match the weight dictated on the title and registration so as long as it says multi purpose greater than 3700 lb I can drive a 35,000 lb coach with air brakes on a Class C license which everybody knows is a big No-No.

    Needless to say I got my registration feed down to $93.50 a year versus $263 per year. I would throw a political sidebar however I do not wish to get thrown out of the forum.

     

  10. Posted · Report reply

    There are so many things I can say about HOA environment that I don't even know where to start.

    I did not have a chance to read each and every comment but the original answer to your question is relative. It all depends on who's interpreting. To some parking its 3 hours to others it could be 3 days it just depends.

    I really do not know how much FMCA gets involved when it comes to legislative issues like this but I do know large organizations such as the ARRL with us amateur radio operators have lobbyists that tried to curb some of that craziness.

    The one thing I will say is find a lawyer that may be willing to fight for clarification. It's definitely cheaper to get clarification than it is to overturn what has been written in the books. Turning over something could take an act of Congress ... it's probably cheaper to sell your house and move somewhere else.

    I do not live in an HOA but I do have a neighborhood association which I've told to shove off on several occasions with various things. The latest has been my motorhome because they don't feel I should park it on the street if I'm getting ready to leave. I actually had one neighbor call local law enforcement which I ended up telling them to go shove it, in turn they told my neighbor to go shove it, which led to my neighbor deciding to get her boyfriend involved. This Rascal wanted to go fist to cuff until he found out that Roscoe P Coletrain lives in my house and he's meaner than the sheriff on the Dukes of Hazzard (so 12g worth). 

    I shared that story to say nice is always better. I tried to make nice with everybody in the block because that typically keeps down issues problems and law enforcement concerns. It does not always work if you have a crazy neighbor but 90% of the time it will prevail. And for those situations where you have a crazy neighbor, sometimes it pays for you to be crazier but I do not recommend that and this message will self-destruct in 10 seconds. 

  11. Posted · Report reply

    5 hours ago, rfsod48 said:

    I would hate to see us become another Good Sam Club. I think our target audience is the 50 and older group, not to say that younger members should be discouraged but our current benefits favor the older member.

    Fair statement but not that fair.

    You target audience is fine being at 50 as those are the people that can typically can afford a $100K+ coach and have the vacation time to use it. But what about those 38 year olds like ME that is willing to learn how to do this whole MOTORCOACH thing with an older less expensive but just as nice coach that needs mentoring so one day I can WANT to hang with the big boys in a 40ft DP? 

    So am I supposed to be left out? Cause lets be honest, in so many ways I am and it is discouraging. 

    In other words, we have to find balance. The reason I have my coach is because my pops got tired of me taking his, Herman and Joe and Bill and a bunch of folks talked to me and made me think about everything I did when it came to my purchase. They told me which coaches to stay away from, and what ones to look for because of the reps they had and how well the hold up. They guided me and now I have the most awesome Coach for the money I had. Not the newest but not nearly as problematic as it could have been. THATS what FMCA has to become in order to draw the youngins like me. 

    We have to turn FMCA into a organizations that fosters growth by mentoring, and being friendly campers. Let everyone that we come in contact with know that the Egg with the number in it is the BEST club because of the people in it.  

  14. Posted · Report reply

    Hey Yall - Thanks for the encouragement

    I didnt get into this lifestyle not to meet folks and not to be friendly. I want to meet new people and get new perspectives.  SO I figured I would put the information out and maybe someone will join us. If they dont, Ill convenience the people next to me to come on the forums and give FMCA a try. 

    I dont want to be one who talks a good talk but dont walk the walk. I said I would be open to getting my age group and special interest together and I mean it. So, here is my contribution to the world of Motorcoach camping --- come out and lets EAT!

    17 hours ago, WILDEBILL308 said:


    Keon, I hope things work and you get a good turn out. This is what it takes to get started.

    Bill

    Speaking of Turn out, maybe the wrong forum and I am sure Ill get busted if it is, but there was rumor of opening FMCA up to 5th Wheel and Bumper Pull campers. Is this true?

  15. Posted · Report reply

    June 2nd -4th Ramblin Pines - Woodbine MD

    July 27-30th Harrisburg East Campground

    August 11-13th Merry Meadows Freeland MD

    In a couple of weeks I will be talking to my new RV buddy from Pennsylvania ... We will probably talk about this so Ill put this out now.  

    In the Mid-Atlantic area specifically Maryland, Delaware, Central and Eastern Pennsylvania, and Northern and Western Virginia there has to be families that do a lot of weekend camping because they work for a living.

    At least once a month I will do some weekend camping and I want to open that opportunity up to anyone else who may be available. The folks that call our Bounder home when away from home ... we are some of the nicest down-to-earth people you will ever meet. We don't bite and we are more than willing to try what you have when your grill and share what may be on ours.  

    I figured this forum would be a way for me to extend the invitation for anybody that wants to come out. Please message me and ill give you any info on the campgrounds we have.  

  16. Posted · Report reply

    Does a chapter have to be "Regional" or can it be broad in the sense that anyone anywhere can join?  The reason I am asking is because it would be really nice to split the country and half and have a chapter covering west of the Mississippi and one covering East. This way it allows for families that only get 7 to 8 days of vacation some Regional options versus trying to get people from the west coast to come all the way over East and vice versa. 

    I am like Jleamont, weekends are our thing as we try to camp 2 weekends out of the month. We will do 2 nice 10 days a year and sneak off for a quick 5 to 7 day if we can. 

    My situation with children differs from most because we homeschool. So places like Disney is an option during non peak times but the summer is when most people my age (37) with school age children can travel with education not being interrupted.  We are willing to explore options during the summer as well. 

     I would like to do a fun week with a bunch of of families with children during the summer even if central Florida is the choice of destination. Between International Blvd, 192 in Kissimmee, Cape Canaveral, the beach, Tampa ... Disney wouldn't have to be an option. AND prices are ok. 

    It seems that most folk on here are from the mid Atlantic area and South (could be wrong) so places like New Orleans would be awesome, for those who like northern climates Niagara Falls is awesome for children and families with reasonable prices campgrounds. 

    Cedar Point is an awesome getaway option from what I'm told. I also think Mount Rushmore is a possibility for families but that's far for those in the south east to do a week their. 

    Everything that I have mentioned would be the type of Journeys people can take that would not be three and four day drives. Even if someone came from Florida let's say to Niagara Falls you're looking at leaving bright and early Saturday morning and getting into Niagara Falls late Sunday to turn around and do it again the very next weekend in reverse.

  17. Posted · Report reply

    2 hours ago, jleamont said:

    Good to know! How was it otherwise, everyone have a good time?

    I was down for business so the coach stayed home.  While in he area I did a recon trip to see the campsites and figure out the easy way in. 

    All roads in Disney are big rig friendly and the campsites are 2nd to NOBODY. I have "interviewed" a few campsites in the last 3 months and by far this is the Waldorf Astoria of campgrounds. 

    I had dinner at trails end and this guy told me they pulled into their site and the coach was level enough hop in the shower and get dressed for dinner with out hooking up or fear of falling (he was like in His 80s) so needless to say the DW was impressed. 

  18. Posted · Report reply

    2 hours ago, jleamont said:

    My guess, probably some law on the books in MD, that state is out of control with its crazy laws.

    I will be the first to admit that Maryland has some of the craziest and stupidest legislation but when it comes to this type of business I'm not exactly sure this one is Maryland's fault if it's indeed true. If that's the case Good Sam, Triple A and some of the other smaller outfits would not do business here either and all of them gladly accepted me and my older coach. I went with Good Sam for some money saving reasons but ... Never the less coach net was competitive they just did not offer a multi year deal at the time.  

  20. Posted · Report reply

    Just finished a journey to Disney and I want to give a quick update on a few things. 

    1. CONSTRUCTION is everywhere near Disney Springs (Downtown Disney for is old folk)  Be careful

    2. Because of construction it is best to enter Disney from 192 off of I4 and come up World Drive. Stay to the right as you go through the toll booth for Magic Kingdom Parking and take the first Public Right onto Vista Blvd and then you can make a left onto Fort Wilderness Trail. 

    3. BOOK NOW for anything October through January. They are pretty Tight for good premium and preferred spaces.

    4. The different between. Preferred and Full hook is location location location. THAT IT. 

    5. PREMIUM SPACES - if you have
    Slides on both sides of you Coach/Trailer this gives you width BUT length is determined Where you are in the loop and it varies.  

    6. Golf carts are best renting from an outside company because Disney's are always sold out it seems. 

    7. Reservations are open thru November I thinks, make them early. 

    8. The water pressure is about 110psi coming out of some of the campground sites, a good regulator is a must (as told from a camper)

  21. Posted · Report reply

    So this is what I did, i disconnected the positive wire from the fuel pump and probed it. Probe light came on so I know I'm getting voltage to the fuel pump. I checked all of the grounds and my ground is solid.

     

    From there I disconnected the fuel line from the filter connected to the carburetor and hit the starter. I got little dribbles of fuel coming out.  I'm going to stick a hose down into a gallon of gas to see if the fuel pump will suck it out of there but my gas tank on the coach is full and I don't believe that the line coming from the gas tank to the generator fuel pump is bad so if that does not produce results than the fuel pump has to come out.

    Now that you mention that the coaches 18 years old you're right I'm going to go ahead and replace all of the fuel lines but here is the thing, to replace the fuel line going to the copyright of the pump has to come out anyway so it probably is in my best interest to just go ahead and replace the pump for 30 bucks. It keeps me from having to go back in there. 

  22. Posted · Report reply

    Onan Generators

    this is one of those where I should have gone with my gut feeling

    Couple days ago I posted about replacing the starter motor on this generator. When I took the starter out everything in me said replace the fuel pump. With the starter removed the fuel pump wiring and everything else is 100% visible so replacement is about 3 minutes. Typically when I do a job like this on my car I will replace everything that is difficult to get to simply because I don't feel like going back in there. This was one of those instances where I should have followed my instinct.

    Yesterday I start the generator just to exercise it and it cut off on me. It was obviously starving because it ran perfectly up to that point. I look at the motor coach and I have a half of tank of fuel so fuel quantity is not a problem. I tried to start the genny again and this time it starts and runs for two and a half hours. I'm thinking in my problems are solved but what I quickly learned is that fuel pumps sometimes will come back to life only to fool you and play games with you. Today I go to start the generator and nothing. I pulled the hose off of the filter going into the carburetor and when I hit the start button fuel dribbled out with no pressure at all. Guess we found the problem ...

    Only other generator I've ever had to deal with was a Gentech I believe was the name so I have to ask a question is this type failure common and the Onan genset because it is obvious to me that somebody has been in this generator before doing the same job I'm about to do?

    I am really going out of my way not to have to remove the generator from the coach so off the top of anyone's head is there anything else I need to deal with before it becomes problematic while I have my hands stuck in this coach's rear?

     

  24. Posted · Report reply

    Onan Generators

    For those of us who happen to have Onan generators in their coaches there's something I found out about the starters specifically that I just want to pass on.

    The other day I posted my starter failure and what I did to remove it. Today I took it to a reputable place in Baltimore that does Starter Alternator carburetor type repairs. In the process of the repair they called me to inform me that the starter is not repairable and I need to replace it.

    The parts and that starter are starting to become discontinued. The brush holder in my case melted and that has been discontinued as well.

    The only thing we are left with at this point are a lot of the starters made in China but the good news is they appear to be decent quality. A lot of them come with a 1 year warranty and the guy at my local shop says he very rarely sees them come back. He also informed me that the OEM stuff is also being manufactured in China so do not be tricked into thinking you're getting a better product by buying OEM because it's the same product in a different wrapping.

    I will post a picture of the new starter compared to the old one when I get it in the morning. 

    0410171513.jpg

  25. Posted · Report reply

    Went to hit the generator Sunday after church and it didn't start. Thought to myself this can't be good and indeed it is not.

    Figured I would post this in the event someone else experiences what I'm about to go through and maybe can give experiances, encouragement or help.

    I have to replace the starter on this generator because time corrosion and heat got the best of it and the bolt on the starter motor that carries the 12 volts melted and is no longer usable. The wire going from the solenoid to the starter seems to be fine except it needs a new end nevertheless the starter has to come out. The generator is mounted on the driver side rear of a 99 Fleetwood Bounder. The generator is not in a slide section and though it seems like the generator has to come out to access the starter it does not. Little back story ...

    I shot an email to someone asking Had he ever pulled out a generator to access the starter or is there another way to do it without pulling the entire generator out. I am not interested in giving Cummins $700 to do it for a $30 starter. Never-the-less he said no so I'm thinking I have to pay somebody to do this.

    After a few minutes of oh God why me something just told me to see if I could physically touch the starter. Once I realized I could physically touch it the rest kind of progressed easy ... just make sure you disconnect whatever source of power you have so you don't mistakenly electrocute yourself.

    1. If there's clearance above the starter where you can lift it above the generator or bring it to the side, stick a ratchet an appropriate sized socket on the top bolt and loosen the bolt but be careful not to drop the nut on the other side. 

    2. From the bottom you should be able to see the bottom bolt. In my case there were two access holes where I could put a 14-inch extension on the appropriate socket and loosen that Bolt.

    3. Once the bottom bolt was ready to come out I made sure that I caught the nut and remove that bolt setting it to the side.

    4. Next I went back to the top of the generator and remove the top bolt catching that nut. At this point the starter is going to drop into your hand

    5. At that point I gently brought the starter around to the side of the generator and it was out.

    6. That wire that corroded is attached to the solenoid that sits right behind the Run Stop button. Take that panel off and the solenoid sits right there. One side is marked battery the other side is marked starter.

    CAUTION  if you have to change the 12 volt wire going to the starter my suggestion is to bolt it to the starter first and melt the starter because it is easier to mount that wire to the starter while it's in your hand then it is to do it while it's attached to the generator. If you do not have to change the wire then you may be able to get away with leaving it attach to the Phil annoyed but if it becomes a headache a problem or a hassle or if there's any corrosion that will prevent it from being removed then you may have to disconnect that wire at the solenoid.

    Hope this helps.bounder (8).jpg

    0410171307.jpg

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    bounder (37).jpg

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