A few Quick Questions

[tdelorme]

What a great forum for new folks like us to get up to speed on Prevost conversions. Thanks in advance to everyone.
OK, here we go:
1. Over the road/ bus air. Is this a must have? Seeing a number of coaches that only have roof air, but one of the reasons we are switching from our current coach is the noise from our ducted roof air. And, what is Country Coach OTR air? Seems there are a number of options in the AC arena and we want nice cold air and as little noise as possible.

2. One of the units we are looking at is a Country Coach conversion. Any drawbacks or issues to be concerned about with these conversions.

3. Another interesting unit is a conversion done by "Clements." No one I have talked to has ever heard of a Clements. The current owner says the company was located in NC and only did about thirty units before Mr. Clements died.

We have owned Foretravels for twenty years and currently have a nice Country Coach Intrigue. But, the bus bug has bitten both of us and we are real excited about making the switch.

Thanks to Jim Scoggins for telling me about the POG. Looking forward to learning from all you folks.

[garyde]

The question regarding Country Coach and OTr depends on which year. The new 2006 and 2007 are apparently OTR. But , I still see a Unit on the roof so I am not sure. The older CC's had roof Air.
There have been long debates regarding OTR air so you should read up on previous posts regarding the Pro's and Con's. My Coach is OTR and keeps us very Cool when traveling in hot climates. I have a variable speed control to adjust fan speed, and its quieter than roof air units.
Country Coach is a good Coach.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

If you do not like roof air the question you should be asking is about cruise airs?

Concidering the cost and or shortcomings of both systems I think its long overdue that someome comes out with a better option for what are supposto be the best conversions available.

The OTR A/C is a whole nother issue.

[MangoMike]

Welcome:

I've had OTR in the last 2 busses it's been trouble free, cool and quiet.

Here's an informative thread over on Stuff.com about OTR. Hope it helps.

Mike

http://www.prevost-stuff.com/cgi-bin/_ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000186#000000

[bluevost]

tdelorme,

Welcome to the forum. I own a '95 CC. We have two a/c for going down the road. One compressor for the dash air, and one for the galley and bedroom air. We also have 3 roof airs which can be run going down the road when the gen set is running. We all have different levels of tolerance when it comes to noise, etc. My roof airs don't bother me, but may well bother others. Rattles drive me crazy, may not bother others.

The guys you really need to connect with regarding Country Coach are Coloradobus, Jim and Chris. They know more about Country Coach than anybody I know. They would be happy to share info with you. If they don't respond here, give them a private message with your questions.

Good luck in persuit of a bus,

Ken

[Joe Cannarozzi]

On our vintage 86XL when we turn on the OTR A/C there is no way that it could be described as quiet. Sounds like there is a large turbine opporating in the basement and there is also a significant amount of noise created where the register on the floor for the air intake is.

Cruise airs are quiet. Very overpriced but quiet.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

The short answer is if you live in east Texas and expect to travel in the southwest in the summer, get OTR. If you opt to get a coach without OTR at the very least get a coach with roof airs, with at least four on a 45.

Contrary to what Joe has found with his, both of our coaches with OTR were quiet when it was operating inside the coach. There is no faster way to cool down a coach than with OTR, and it uniformly maintains the temperature throughout the coach while traveling.

[mike kerley]

We have a 93 CC conversion and we love it.

Ours has three Cruise air units and three evaporators for OTR air and one compressor (engine driven) for those three units. The are quiet and work well, but do need topping off on occasion. R134 is still pretty cheap (what ozone layer?).

Both systems work well and each have there own merits. I start the generator and run the cruise airs when in stop and go traffic, otherwise use the OTR air while cruising. Both are quiet.

On a side note, CC does not get my vote for being the most attentive company for after warrenty service, but asside from that, its a great coach and they (factory service) seldom are called on for anything.

[Loc]

tdelorme,

We have OTR air and would not be without it living in Houston. Outside the coach, the OTR system creates a bit of noise when running. Inside the coach, it is fine. I like the redundancy of having the OTR system and the roof airs. My only complaint with the OTR system is that there is not a way to operate only the dash air without the full OTR system. In other words, if you want cool dash air, you need to run OTR system - this is overkill is some situations. I have seen a few Clements coaches. Most have the same paint job just in different colors. They also had a strange pod on the roof that I think was an air conditioning system like on some of the city buses that operate in Houston. I don't know much about them.

Good Luck with the search.

Loc

[Toy Box]

So far, three prevost buses. The first two had cruisair units... very good when parked , but not cool enough when under way. Current bus has factory bus air. You can be sure this baby will cool down to the low 60's even when in west Texas or New Mexico on a 100 plus day. If you are going to be traveling in hot weather and want to be cool. bus air is the only option. FWIW.