Suffering From Prevost Fever!

[Beardog]

Hello everyone, my wife and I just joined the forum a couple of days ago. We are 50 years old, and probably about 8-10 years away from retirement. My name is Sam, and she is Kim. Our 13 year old dog is named "Bear", hence my forum name of "Beardog".

We bought a 2003 Holiday Rambler Navigator about 4 years ago, as our first RV. For the ensuing 3 years and 11 months, we have wished that we had known about bus conversions!

We have looked at Prevosts off and on, but are seriously looking now. We listed the Navigator for sale today (http://www.rvt.com/rvshdetail4971461.htm?hm=top), and plan to look at the possibility of trading, as well. No matter what, we will take a big hit on the Navigator, but everytime we see a Prevost on the road, we look at each other and sigh, so the quest begins in earnest!

We are so used to the Aqua Hot system, stacked washer/dryer, automatic Girard patio awning, etc., that it is hard to imagine a Prevost without those features (the wife could get by without a Girard awning, but a stacked, residential washer/dryer set is a must for her). We are not familiar with the Webasto system, or whether it is a move up, down or sideways from the Aqua Hot. Also, we are used to having 2 slides, but we think that perhaps a no-slide bus would be OK. We gravitate toward the apperance of the XL/XLII's, but are not adverse to an H3 body style. Also, we don't have a set opinion on 40 vs. 45 ft. length yet. The wife probably will push for 45, if we buy a no slide bus.

I am having a hard time determining which conversion companies are still in business, and which ones are no longer with us. Since we are in central Arkansas, and live nowhere close to a conversion company, I am not sure how much that matters, however. My wife seems to prefer the Liberty Coach interiors, followed by Millennium, Country Coach, and Marathon, not in any particular order.

We camp frequently in open fields and grassy parks, so the heat/exhaust out the roof appeals to me on the Millennium coaches. I have always been a little concerned about all that heat from the generator and Aqua Hot blasting down on dry grass and leaves under the edge of our Navigator (although I don't know if it has ever been a problem).

I think that financially, we need to be looking at buses in the 1995-2002 range, as I don't want to mortgage our life away on a bus. We paid cash for our Navigator, but man, do I wish I had all of that money back to go toward a Prevost now! I know that we will need to borrow some money over whatever we get out of our Navigator, either by direct sale, or trade.

From what we know at this point, we think that we definitely want OTR, but have no definite feelings about Cruse air vs. top mounted A/C units. We do notice how noisy the roof units on our Navigator are, however.

I don't know the turning radius on our 41 ft. Navigator, but we have no problem with it. My wife drives it as much, perhaps more than I do. So, I don't know if we would really appreciate the better turning radius of a Prevost with IFS, or not. It sounds like maintenance and repair costs are lower for the straight axle buses.

We hope to get out of town to look at and drive a few Prevosts in a couple of weeks. It looks like we may need to drive 6-12 hours, or fly to Florida or California to look at a good selection of buses all in one place.

We are used to the maintenance and repair costs of a large motor home, so the $2.5-$5K per year average costs don't scare us, but we sure hope to find a bus that doesn't surprise us with thousands of dollars of unplanned repairs in the first year.

Any suggestions and all advice is a appreciated. We have spent about 12-15 hours perusing the forums here already!

Best Regards,

Sam & Kim Vallery
Hot Springs, Arkansas

[coreygrubb]

welcome Sam & Kim, Any of the broker/dealers listed as sponsors on the POG are great. We have personally dealt with Coachworks, Florida Luxury Coach and just recently purchased a 2000 CC from Scott and Wayne (Waynes Coach Sales) and could not be more pleased. I agree with Jon that a 45 non slide is best for a travel coach, while a 1 or 2 slide coach might be better if you park and stay alot. Look closley at layouts in non-slide coachs to avoid pinchpoints.Good Luck
Corey Grubb & George Prentice 2000 CC Will & Grace

[johnbrowder]

If you want OTR air, you have basically limited yourself to Liberty, which is not a bad thing. I own a Liberty, and would never own anything else.

[jack14r]

I doubt that you will find a Millennium of that vintage because they started converting around 2000,I purchased a 2001 Marathon in 2006 and spent about 20K fixing all the glitches so good records and a complete inspection are well worth the money.I have heard that Marathon has been looking for a buyer so if that is true Liberty,Millennium and possibly Featherlite (Amadas) are the only converters that seem to be in good financial shape.The rivet coaches which are prior to 2001 seem to be great values but I would not consider anything that did not have a Detroit series 60,that will limit you to 1995-2000.There is a real nice 2000 Liberty that Paul owns and he has records with great documentation,being a Liberty it has bus air and Cruise airs which many of us think are the ultimate.

[coreygrubb]

Jack makes all good points. In an XL, 2000 and prior are rivet coaches, but that's a good thing as 2001-2005 XL's can have de-lamination issues. If you look at non-slide coaches, the onlly issue with Liberty's of that era is trying to find one with a cross bed and you lose the large rear closet in a 45. Marathon and CC rear and dash AC woks just fine unless yoy spend a lot of time in the desert, also properly ducted roof airs have certain advantages over cruise airs. they leave you with more storage space,much less expensive to repair or replace and give you a little more control flexibility. I would be a little hesitant about cruise airs in a 10-15 yr old bus. As usual Jon is right about see,feel,touch and smell-so you might want to think about going to Fla where in 2 or 3 days you can see a lot of various coaches in a small radius. Just go see Coachworks, Parliment, Florida Luxry Coach, Millenium and Liberty as all are pretty close to each other.

[garyde]

Welcome to POG Beardog, aka Sam & Kim. The great position you are in at this point is you have a lot of great coaches available
right now at reasonable prices. So, take your time and get to know the market. The first thing to remember is that
the coaches are Prevost first and foremost. The converter is important to a certain point. Some converters like Country Coach designed
their own electrical systems into the mid 2000's which can be a problem finding parts. However, many converters use many of the same systems.
Liberty has some specific differences, they have one waste tank for both grey and black. They use stainless steel tanks.
They have OTR on almost all of their Coaches.
So, enjoy the journey , its definately part of the fun.

[Jamie Bradford]

Hi Sam & Kim,

Based upon Current Listings on Prevost-Stuff.com here is a breakdown of the number of coaches listed for sale by the state in which they are located:

Florida 45

California 10

Indiana 10

Minnesota 7

Texas 6

Arizona 5

Oregon 5

If you opted to go to Florida , all coaches listed are within +/- 2 hours driving time of Orlando.

If you would like to join us at the Rally in Vegas you will be within striking distance of 20-30 coaches for sale.

Please let me know if I can be of any assistance.

Thanks

Jamie

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Welcome Sam and Kim, my recommendation is to not be in a hurry. Formulate a plan and stick to it.
Go with your present coach to the rally and see the diversity there and meet the POGers to get first hand information as to what it is all about.
You never know what you will want to buy until you actually see it and enter it, it's what is known here as "the magic moment". Who knows you may fall for an H3-45.

I like an east west bed and an open bath with separate washer and dryer.

If you make the sales lot tour, be sure to call ahead to verify the vintage and model are on hand on the lot.


JIM

[TG Transport]

I would recommend using either Tampa or Orlando as a base to see as many coaches as possible in the shortest time possible. Within a 90 minute radius of either drop point you can visit Marathon, Parliament, Millenium, Coachworx and others. Good luck. You know the right one when you see it.

[Beardog]

Based on the voluminous amount of reading that we have done, and our list of "musts, wants, and maybes", I think that we are going to concentrate our search toward XL buses without slides. If we decide that we must have a slide coach, then our priorities may need to change to accommodate the higher cost of slide equipped coaches, since most of them are newer. I don't know if we are willing to pay the premium for a Liberty conversion if we decide that slides are a "must", but at this point, we arel leaning toward the Liberty conversions.

We are really trying to heed everyone's advice to forget about mileage, and focus on maintenance history of each bus, but I must admit that is a hard pill to swallow!

Could someone chime in and explain what differences we should expect if we buy a bus with a Webasto system rather than Aqua Hot? We are used to our Aqua Hot, but have no experience with a Webasto system.

Also, I read a thread somewhere talking about what to expect, cost wise, if one decides to put all new tires, new fluids, filters, belts, air bags, Norgren valves, etc. on a coach at the time of purchase. Now I can't seem to locate that thread. Our biggest concern is that we don't want to get into a bunch of repairs/replacements that we "should have expected". We want a bus that we can move our stuff into, take off, and just continue with recommended maintenance. As current "high -end" plastic coach owners, we know there is no utopia, and that repairs and costs crop up that nobody could have predicted, but we also know that making sure everything is right at first is vitally important.

Sam & Kim