Hello All,
I finally picked up my new coach ( 99 Marathon) in Coburg and headed back to Florida. I want to thank the POG memebers who wanted to help me get started, especially Jim and Gary. I left the Marathon Factory after a 3 month upgrade on March 14th. The trip went pretty smoothly with a few mouments of complete stupity along the way. I might have faired better if I had taken notes about the operation of the coach before heading out on the road. On my first night I stayed in Grants Pass. Hooked up the coach to the 50 amp power and relaxed feeling pretty good about the first day on the road. I woke up in the middle of the night to the generator running, decided to let it go as the Wx outside was pretty nasty. The next morning I investigated the problem to find that I had never turned the main breaker to the coach on. It took me about two days to figure out where the windshield washer button was. I was blinking my way across America instead of using the inner button. Even looked in the bay door to see what was wrong before I finally figured it out.
The trip took me about 3600 miles, averaged almost 7 MPG (6.97 Avg.) at 70 mph, used the cruise control a lot. never used any oil, I mean none at all (30,600 miles on coach) . The Prevost side ran great. I did make a few conclusions about dry camping at Wallmarts etc. I decided that it was cheaper to stay at a RV park, rates in the BIG RIG guide book for campgrounds where about $22 to $37 and in many cases never saw anyone at these fine locations. The reason for this decison was based on the amount of diesell fuel that was needed to operate the Genset when it came on in the early hours of the am. to charge up the house batteries. At $4 plus X's the hourly burn rate X's the total hours did not make sense after a while verses a campground.
I used my Pro Drivers computer to log my trip, fuel comsumption etc. and noticed that I was adding a fair amount of extra fuel beyond the total fuel burn that The Pro Drivers Computer was showing and assumed it was the Genset.
Fuel Prices: The least expensive was in the West, with Florida topping out at $4.11, I decidecd it best to lock the fuel doors after a few $650 fuel stops. While I was driving I liked to calculate the saving and distance covered in my Prevost vereses my boat. If I could cover 70 mph on 7 gallons verses 12 mph on 10 gallons, not bad.
Travel: I hit some interesting wx. Hail in Salt Lake, snow storms in Wyoming, saw some neat country sides, took some back roads, made some hairy U-turns to head in the right direction, but overall very satisfied with the Prevost lifestyle.
Had a few questions about the operation of the coach, both from the Marathon and the Prevost side of things.
1. Prevost: After a full day of running and when I was entering the RV park I noticed that the steering would get a little stiff a slow speeds, and made a squeeking noise when I turned the wheel, it did not do this in the morning when I started out on the road. There are no leaks and nothing looks out of the ordinary inside the D/S bay door where the steering box is.
2 Had a few mysteries with equipment: My spotlight/camera did not work even after it had been tested and was operational at the factory. It is both a camera and spotlight, original equipment that was used to see both forward and backward and to view the obstructions above the coach. have a small problem with my slide out, but think I have figured this out and it is being solved as we speak.
3. One of my invertor readout displays would somtimes display an odd series of numbers and letters when I would either unhook or hookup to shore power. I would reset the buttons and the problem would be solved. It never interfered with the operation of the invertors, Genset.
4. The frig was cold at the factory when I tested it in November, made ice and looked a good as new. It was cold when I left Coburg , but as the days passed it seemed to be getting less cold, no ice but water in the door. I had a lot done inside the coach, floors sanded, headliner replaced and think the coils might be dirty or possibly a leak in the refrigerant. I'm betting on dirty coils.
All in all it was a good trip. The coach is in San Antonio Fl. with Joe Stefanczuk the service manager having a few odds and end addressed.
Regards,
Bruce