New Member and "drinking from the firehose"

[GWHunter]

New to the site and new to RVing. My wife and I just finished 4.5 years of cruising full time aboard out 53’ trawler (90K lbs. displacement). After logging 30,000 miles we sold our trawler and are looking for another lifestyle for a while. We have a home in the Houston area and will use the bus for 30-45 day excursions to NW and NE US primarily. We have looked as several Class A builders coaches, Monoco, Country Coach, Foretravel to name a few and then we found the Prevost-Stuff site, WOW. Next step was to join POG and as several members posted it is like drinking from a firehose which I have been doing for a couple of weeks. We are planning to attend the Prevost event in W Palm next February and are planning a trip to Legacy and Trawick in the Dallas area in the next several weeks. May try to get to Olympia before Thanksgiving. We are looking for a bus with a chassis and drivetrain that are very robust along with systems that don’t require proprietary hardware/software to diagnose and repair. The late 90’s early 2000’s seem to fit and they are in the price range we want to be in. One of the problems we saw with other Class A coaches is “paint checking” especially those that have spent a lot of time in the SE sun. It is believed to not be an issue with the paint but with the underlying fiberglass skin and is most pronounced in the dark paint color areas. This would not be an issue with the XL’s with stainless and aluminum riveted skins but for those with fiberglass skins is this also seen on the Prevost? I have reviewed many of the threads on the subject of delamination and have an appreciation of the issues involved. We like the idea of slides but the HWH slides with air bladder seals used by some of the converters we would avoid. We are open to having no slides to keep maintenance and operation as simple as possible. Looking forward to participating in the POG community. Thanks for any comments on the paint checking and other information you might be able to share.

[georgew]

The Royale conversion is the most simplistic conversion and a very solid built coach. The wood trim is a plus as the vitron material will crack and delaminate in heat. East Tennessee luxury Coach will not let a coach sit on his lot without air conditoning running. I asked him why he runs AC on all the coaches waiting for repair and he said he was not going to be responsible for a repair to laminate issues while the coasch was at his location.
Of the orphaned conversions Royale has quite an extensive number of coaches still being traveled and traded. The POG will have quite a number of responders for an issue an owner may post up. Orphaned coaches can get good support at a number of facilities besides Prevost. Prevost can service the chassis but for conversion items it is best to find a shop that has a reputation for coach repair. The forum will respond with reccomendations for your requested geographic area.
Suggest you look at the Facebook Prevost specific groups. Prevost XL, Prevost Owners Group.
Pasit cracking or fading is not a real issue with an XL or XLII. My coach is a 98 and it was garaged for it entire life and still is garaged. Yhe only place with paint issues is the front road debris caused nicks. Tge Prevost is the most solid coach on the road. These chassises are the same as the passanger busses. They have pass a rollover test to be certified to carry passengers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMFRnif7emc to see video of roll over test.
Thoses who drive Prevost call all other RVs sticks and stapels. Look at the results of other coaches accidentss in many cases they are loaded into a rolloff.

[GWHunter]

George thanks for the reply. I have seen a number of the Royale coach listings and they check a lot of boxes. We moved on to the Prevost as it is the only recreational coach out there that has a true monocoque structure and the DDEC 60 series is as bullet proof as it gets and its ride and handling is what the others strive for. Our preference is for a traditional interior with lighter colored wood in the cabinets and trim with all hard surface floors. You mention a term I am not familiar with "vitron", could you elaborate? I could not find a suitable description in a google search. Another comment about "Pasit cracking" maybe "Paint cracking".

[georgew]

It is Vitricore that used in a lot of coaches in 2000 era

[Gil_J]

Robert,

If you have any questions, feel free to call me. We too were trawler owners. One was a Nordhavn 35 we bought in your area.

Prevost slides and Valid slides all use air bladders. Most high end class A RVs do too now. I'd look for Prevost slides, although Valid slides used by Marathon are of little risk.

[Fratto]

Good Morning Hunter;

I am not a paint expert. However, I imagine that most of the Prevost paint is a step above the normal class A. I am also in the keep it simple camp and we do not have slides. We are normally not the "party" bus and so really have never missed having them. If you like to have several folks over then that might be a different story. A slide will give you more circulation space, although not normally any more seating.

Parliament is another converter that in the early days used normal relay based control systems as opposed to Crestron or other similar systems. They did use air pocket doors, bed lifts etc. and that can be a maintenance item if you choose to keep them. Otherwise they seem to be pretty basic with nothing proprietary... and they share all of their schematics.

If you are a DIY guy, remember that Marathon will not share any of their electrical diagrams. They have great customer service though.

Legacy Coach and Trawick have both treated me and my family well. I think you will enjoy visiting with them.

[GWHunter]

George thanks for the note. I am researching further with the new spelling.

[GWHunter]

Gil thank you, I will definitely take you up on your offer. I saw several of the Gadget Guy videos and will grab your contact info from them and send you my contact info. With your email address I knew you were a boat guy and since you settled on a Prevost guessed you had a Nordhavn.

[GWHunter]

Good Morning Hunter;

I am not a paint expert. However, I imagine that most of the Prevost paint is a step above the normal class A. I am also in the keep it simple camp and we do not have slides. We are normally not the "party" bus and so really have never missed having them. If you like to have several folks over then that might be a different story. A slide will give you more circulation space, although not normally any more seating.

Parliament is another converter that in the early days used normal relay based control systems as opposed to Crestron or other similar systems. They did use air pocket doors, bed lifts etc. and that can be a maintenance item if you choose to keep them. Otherwise they seem to be pretty basic with nothing proprietary... and they share all of their schematics.

If you are a DIY guy, remember that Marathon will not share any of their electrical diagrams. They have great customer service though.

Legacy Coach and Trawick have both treated me and my family well. I think you will enjoy visiting with them.


Fratto, we too do not expect to be the "center of attention bus" and so slides are not essential but the additional space would be nice to have. We much prefer to be outside and expect to use the outdoor awning/patio as were we spend most of our time. We have seen enough of the south and south west and expect to spend most of out time in cooler climates where the outdoors is more readily enjoyed. Thanks for the useful information on the Parliament converter, I have only seen that converter mentioned a couple of times. Are they still in the conversion business? I am very much hands on with an engineering background. Working on these mechanical/electrical systems is a kind of therapy for me when there is not a RUSH to get it done. A bus primarily controlled by simple mechanically operated switches and relays at this point would be my first choice but we are still early in drinking from the firehose.

[Fratto]

Parliament is no longer in business. However many of the team members are still at Clearwater Motor Coach in Florida where they were built. They have full records of all coaches built and will readily share all of it.

If one of these show up and you are interested, call Rick May at 813-833-2284. He knows everything there is to know about Parliament coaches.

With luck, we will run into each other in West Palm.

[GWHunter]

Parliament is no longer in business. However many of the team members are still at Clearwater Motor Coach in Florida where they were built. They have full records of all coaches built and will readily share all of it.

If one of these show up and you are interested, call Rick May at 813-833-2284. He knows everything there is to know about Parliament coaches.

With luck, we will run into each other in West Palm.


What a lead, Having a company around that is still very familiar with the converter is a big plus. Hope to see you in West Palm. Thanks Fratto

[Hoffman]

Lots of great ideas on this thread.

I encourage you to keep your criteria flexible. Each coach is unique particularly as you get into the older units.

Take a look at our coach. It seems to fit many of your criteria.
https://intelopment.wix.com/prevost/

[georgew]

went to the web presentation but no specifications on the bus maintenance history there.

[Hoffman]

Good point George,
I added a new section called "Care". Check it out.
https://intelopment.wixsite.com/prevost/home/categories/care

[Ck2hans]

Joe:

You have seemed to wonder down the same path I always end up going down. Buy something, spend endless hours and $ to get everything perfect, then sell it.

Chuck

P.S. Wish I was in the market for a newer bus, would buy it in a heartbeat.

[GWHunter]

Lots of great ideas on this thread.

I encourage you to keep your criteria flexible. Each coach is unique particularly as you get into the older units.

Take a look at our coach. It seems to fit many of your criteria.
https://intelopment.wix.com/prevost/
Joe, at this point we are still trying to come up with a list of must haves and want to haves. We are headed up to Trawick and Liberty next week to get some previews of the various layouts. For sure high on the list is a bus that has been "zeroed out", At this point I want to use it rather than work on it.

[Hoffman]

Don't want to ruin your fantasy but there's no such thing as a Prevost that doesn't need work. Even the new ones have a punchlist longer than my arm. But there is a big difference between what NEEDS to be done and things that you WANT to do. Good luck.

[Maverick3316]

I don’t have any advice on Prevost besides the fact I just bought one this past weekend. All of my research lead me to a Prevost that my wife and I will convert ourselves. After the bus project, a trawler is the next project on my radar. We are 30 miles from the Gulf and I would love to have a trawler in a wet slip full time.

[Prodriver]

Gil

My featherlite 2002, is an S1, single slide, I don't think it has air bladers and it uses HWH control w/ the key. What brand is it, seems fairly simple, locks at the top after the slide operation.