09-13-2015, 01:23 PM
We drove 6 hours Friday to Kansas hoping to see the coach that night and to meet the owner of #478 and his lovely wife. We had to stop for the night at about 9pm and since it was late were not able to see the coach (I was exhausted). The Rubicon performed flawlessly (we decided to take the Jeep rather than our Wanderlodge since it was going to take too much time to get it out of the site it is wedged into currently). Saturday morning we went to the home of the owner and were able to see the coach first in the barn with the slides in and were able to see the coach interior very well. The coach is very nice inside and had everything we wanted. Karen went through the coach in detail with the owner and felt it had ample storage space for can goods and linens. I helped the owner pull the coach out into the warm Kansas sunshine and was able to get some good pictures and video of the coach exterior. The top is mostly black and the clear coat is coming off on the driver side. The owner did spend some time in the last 10 years sitting in Florida and also had a spot in Colorado so it was not inside all the time but when it was at home in Kansas it did stay in the barn. I will have the top re-clear coated soon. The tires all need replacing - 22.5 on front(2009) (need to change them to the larger tires/wheels/spindles soon) and the rear 24.5 (2004) also. I will do some research and find good pricing on the tires. The drive wheels had Cats Eyes on them but they were non-functional so I will either replace or repair them as I like the functinality of them and especially being able to check and air both tires from one location is nice. The coach drove fine and had a Howard Power Steering that worked well, 2-stage Jake brake that worked, no vibrations and was very quiet (the other coaches we drove all had whining steering boxes). The engine was very smooth and quiet - he showed me the floor of the garage where the coach always set and there was a spot of oil about 10" wide, not bad after sitting in the same spot for 10 years!... The engine was dirty and dusty but nothing out of the ordinary. I will plan to test/replace the batteries if needed - he had regular car batteries (2) in the back where normally 2 8D batteries would go but the coach started right up with them. The other oddity was that the owner had added a spray nozzle in the bathroom toilet area instead of fixing the ($500 Newell cost) valve for the water. To use the toilet you would use the spray nozzle to clean the bowl instead of flushing like normal - I will have to fix this as Karen will not like this too much. At least he kept the old valve so I can match it easily. There was a small bit of water staining on the wall under the bathroom window so I will probably need to
The slides came out easily and he showed me where they had 'fixed' the slides with a couple of dabs of silicone RTV (I read about this on this site already) to fix leaks. I will add the air pumps for the seals asap (also on this site). The only concern I saw was the RTV used down the edge of the slides to cover 1/8 to 1/4" gaps where it looks like the slide room was pulled too far in and pulled the outside skin loose. Maybe there is an adjustment for this - I will be memorizing the HWH slide manual soon I'm sure...
Every single light I tried on this coach worked, simply amazing for a 17 y/o coach! I will change out all those little halogen lights for some LEDs when I find a decent replacement!
The generator started and ran smoothly and the AquaHot system seemed to work fine - we were running on electric but I will check it out after I buy it to be sure as we will be in cold weather frequently. It did concern me that he was using a 12-volt trickle charger on the engine batteries and there were two other cords running into the passenger side bays (not sure why) even though he had it plugged in to 50amp power... either the inverters are not running or the batteries are not staying charged (or both). Speculation abounds... Karen seemed to like this coach as much or more than others as they all seem to have strengths and weaknesses but we both agreed on the floorplan. Our current Wanderlodge (90WB40) seems to have better/more cabinet space/cubbie holes but maybe we missed a bunch of it. Karen was disappointed with the lack of storage under the bed as the slide mechanism seems to take up most of the space, we can always store our bathing suits under there (old Miata trunk joke) ...
The slides came out easily and he showed me where they had 'fixed' the slides with a couple of dabs of silicone RTV (I read about this on this site already) to fix leaks. I will add the air pumps for the seals asap (also on this site). The only concern I saw was the RTV used down the edge of the slides to cover 1/8 to 1/4" gaps where it looks like the slide room was pulled too far in and pulled the outside skin loose. Maybe there is an adjustment for this - I will be memorizing the HWH slide manual soon I'm sure...
Every single light I tried on this coach worked, simply amazing for a 17 y/o coach! I will change out all those little halogen lights for some LEDs when I find a decent replacement!
The generator started and ran smoothly and the AquaHot system seemed to work fine - we were running on electric but I will check it out after I buy it to be sure as we will be in cold weather frequently. It did concern me that he was using a 12-volt trickle charger on the engine batteries and there were two other cords running into the passenger side bays (not sure why) even though he had it plugged in to 50amp power... either the inverters are not running or the batteries are not staying charged (or both). Speculation abounds... Karen seemed to like this coach as much or more than others as they all seem to have strengths and weaknesses but we both agreed on the floorplan. Our current Wanderlodge (90WB40) seems to have better/more cabinet space/cubbie holes but maybe we missed a bunch of it. Karen was disappointed with the lack of storage under the bed as the slide mechanism seems to take up most of the space, we can always store our bathing suits under there (old Miata trunk joke) ...