Amadas Purchases Featherlite,Inc.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Been there, done that. I saved a lot of bankrupt businesses and they still exist today, but the last one I started from scratch. It was a whole lot more fun than cleaning up after someone.

But not as much fun as sitting around the house in the morning drinking coffee and giving out bad answers to Prevost questions.

[Yankee802]

So when I asked if there was ANYONE in my area that could work on my coach, nobody knew about this place?!? Would they not be an option (and probably my ONLY option) for any kind of service for me here in the Norfolk/Suffolk area?! My montly runs are very close to their location. And to think I was considering driving all the way to Jacksonville to take my coach to Prevost there just for maintenance. I mean a conversion company has to know about the shell and it's systems and be able to do maintenance, right? At the very least they should be able to help me with my roof and awnings, I should think.

Geoff

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Geoff,

I come at this from a different perspective because I do all my own work with only a few exceptions. I won't pull a transmission or engine, but apart from that I will tackle most jobs. However I am pretty well equipped to handle the work.

You have to evaluate what needs to be done, and then decide if it something you can do, or if someone else should do. Let's use your roof awnings as an example. Assuming you are going to install a set of ZipDee manual awnings you need a helper, two ladders, a pop rivet gun, a drill with sharp drill bits, and sealer(s). I am sure ZipDee has specific installation instructions so following them eliminates any questions. In half a day the big awning can be installed. If you do not want to do it yourself, at least study the instructions before finding an RV dealer willing to do the installation so you can monitor the procedure and make sure it is done properly.

The same applies to everything else. Get familiar with what you want done and find the best place to take the coach. Prevost is real good at building buses, but likely not so good at hanging an awning. Prevost can do a good job with hub seals and air bag replacement. But they are unlikely to repair a transmission. Detroit and Allison dealers are the go-to folks for the engine and transmission.

Problems with the house portion that you do not want to tackle are best left to someone with experience. A Marathon of your vintage is not likely to have computerized systems requiring special knowledge so a competent RV dealer can likely fix anything in the house.

What you have to decide is what you want others to do, and then monitor their work. You don't need to go to Prevost in Jacksonville for routine maintenance. A good truck maintenance facility should be able to handle oil changes, lube jobs, coolant changes, and simple repairs, including air bags and brake chambers. They should also be able to diagnose and repair alternator problems, air compressor problems, power steering problems, etc.

What you need to do is learn your coach so you do not become a victim. When you get the leans for example it is almost like everybody out there wants to take all your money, and the pain does not stop until all of you money is gone. Stuff like that requires you to either be proactive in directing the repairs, or just leave your wallet and all credit cards.

I know from experience that learning the system and doing my own work may take significantly more time than letting an expert do the work, but I get the benefit of learning more about my bus, saving the huge costs of travel to the expert, and not experiencing the frustration of having to return the coach to repair the repairs.

[Will Garner]

Geoff,

OK, I did not think of Amadas in Suffolk as a possibility for your service needs. In my defense it may have been the result of my experience this June. In case I have not told you, Carole and I went on a 7,000 mile trip around America vacation. Well not all vacation, I had work to do for the Men's U. S. Open Golf Championship. It was held in San Diego so NC to SD was one leg done in just under four days. Not much time to see anything but enough time and temperatures to burn out the two control switches for the Galley and Bedroom Country Coach OTR air conditioning. It went something like this: Carole makes walks to the bedroom in the early days of the first leg and says, "Wow its cold enough back here to kill hogs!" Good thing I was driving or I could have been in trouble. Well maybe on the third day while in Arizona the walk results in a comment "Its hot back here now." Of course we had the dash air conditioning keeping us cool up front so did not know the other two units had quit working. I guess that is what happens when you leave the switches on wide open cool (high fan).

But hey, our plan was to go north on I-5 after SD which meant we were going right through Junction City, home of who else, Country Coach. Surely they would be able to do the repair (service) work and send me on down the road home in cool comfort. Well was I ever shocked. Turns out that CC was only doing warranty repairs and of course my CC is well beyond any warranty considerations.

So now for the moral of the story, "Just because they are a converter doesn't automatically mean they will do service or modifications on any coaches not covered by a warranty".

If I recall, your coach falls into the same category as mine, "As is, No warranty!" Hey Roger, wake up, that is what stickers say on used vehicles isn't it?!

[flyu2there]

Will,

I have had similar experiences with Country Coach, their problem seems to be that they required appointments months in advance. While their facility is very large, 30 or so bays I do recall, so is their backlog. Another issue is finding someone to repair the older Prevosts, most of their mechanics that did those repairs have either retired or died off, unfortunately their manuals seem to have sufferred the same fate. I took my coach back when it was 4 years old for a computer (motherboard issue) and all the service people could say is that they wern't sure if they had all the necessary books for old coaches! Finally found someone who new the busses and problem was solved but not without a good deal of agony. Country Coach does, on the other hand, have a couple of tech support guys that really do know all of their busses and have access to most of the drawings and vendor lists....next time either call or have your favorite mechanic call Jim Craig in technical support, he is a Marathon transplant who can answer just about every question.

John

[truk4u]

Yank,

Talk to Mango, he's north of you and spends plenty of money taking care of two buses, so he may be able to point you in the right direction.

[Yankee802]

All good advice, appreciate it. Thankfully, except for a small leak, everything is fine with my coach (to my knowledge anyway), but just want to secure sources for any problems that may pop up down the road, and for the maintenance I can't do. Of course if I had the facilities and tools, I'd try to do a lot more then I can now. Unfortunately living in a campground prevents me from doing a lot. I can/will probably seal the roof, I would just rather a pro do it so it's done right and pretty. I tend to go too slow due to my anal nature in wanting thigs as close to perfect as I am able, and not having facilities, tools or knowledge slows me down even more.

[Will Garner]

John,

As the title says. I was in Junction City this June. I went to CC for repair/replacement of the Galley and Bedroom A/C. Nope, not here, go to Guarantee RV six blocks away. I did as directed. I then had to personally go from the RV repair shop I was referred to by CC back to CC because they were not returning phone calls to the RV repair shop. Remember, I was on the far left coast trying to go home to the far east coast. I met Jim Craig in person and he was very helpful.

After getting home and having the replacement switches installed by Carrier TransiCold techs I was told it would be good to have spares because these were really cheap switches. Great, so I got back in touch with Jim Craig and was summarily told they could not take direct orders for parts. I was directed to go through their representative dealer closest to me. Well that is Carolina Coach in Clermont NC, about two hours west of here. I went past their shop in early September and gave them a copy of the wiring diagram with the part number for the switch. That should be a pretty easy order. Well, TransiCold had broken one of the illuminated toggles so I took them to the coach and showed them the broken one. I also asked them to see if I could obtain a replacement panel as it had been cracked and chipped with each tech that had to go behind it. It was the first week of December when I got the three switches.

Miles is trying to help me locate a fab drawing of the panel I need through a personal contact inside CC. If he can get his hands on it I'll send it to Custom Instrument Panels in Carson California to get one made. If he can't, I'll have to take the panel I have out of the coach and send it to CIP.

Thanks for the advice anyway.

[garyde]

Hi Geoff.
When I lost my Zip Dee last year on the Hwy in Nevada, I called Zip Dee and they ordered a new one and shipped it to their nearest authorized installer which happened to be a Gulfstream Dealer in LA. So call Zip Dee and find out where the nearest authorized intaller is located.

[lewpopp]

They gave me their closest Zip Dee dealer and they were not better than an ordinary shop. I'd do it myself.

I have the 3 window awning completely off with the exception of the rail permenately attached to the coach. Mine need re-sewing. Am ready to re-assemble it this week and away we go.

Just a reminder: take a close look st your "flexible link" on your manual shades. That is normally the first to go. Of course my coach is a vintage and if the awning materail was put on 19 years ago, it's awesome material. Not that cheap crap in the plastic coaches.