Suffering From Prevost Fever!

[Gil_J]

Sam & Kim,

We just went through what you are about to go through. We had a 2008 Beaver Contessa 42. It was a beautiful coach with tons of room having 4 slides. King bed, over/under washer dryer, large screen TV, etc... So for my wife moving to a 99 Country Coach had its moments. Queen bed, dual function washer/dryer, much smaller kitchen, laminates, and far too many mirrors. However, the ride is awesome! Even compared to our 10 bag tag axle Beaver coach (not a bus conversion). Now we are getting ready for our first real trip (Tampa to Anchorage).

I would highly recommend spending some time with the service guru, Rick May, at Coach Worrx in Clearwater, FL. Even if you don't buy a bus there, you will leave knowing tons about the different conversion companies and options. Don't overlook eBay and RVT.com. There appear to be some good deals on eBay. We found ours on RVT.com. Tires and batteries are expensive! With discount, expect a set of Michelin tires to run you about $6K. Those 8D AGM house batteries are about $575 each and some buses have 8 of them! Bus air or over the road air have pros and cons. We have OTR air and dash air. Dash air is the same as any car in that cold air is delivered to the dash. Our OTR air uses a very similar engine compressor to that of the dash air with air vents in the middle and rear of the bus at floor level. Bus air has a huge engine driven compressor, air is typically discharged at the windows, and you lose a storage bay. Also keep in mind what refrigerant is used. I understand converting a bus air for the new refrigerant is a very expensive conversion. Cruise air or roof toop units... Cruise air split systems are common place in larger boats. There biggest advantage is they are quieter and don't require holes in your roof. There disadvantage is repair costs, loss of storage space, and refregerant conversion. The roof top units are now common place. They are relatively inexpensive and easy to change out. I too loved my Aqua Hot! I haven't turned on the Webasto unit but expect similar heating. For hot water I have 2 10 gallon electric hot water heaters.

When it comes to looks, I favor the riveted XL. BTW, late 90s XLIIs have independent front ends. Although it probably improves the ride, I've been told it was done to carry the extra weight.

This is what I've learned in the few monthes I was looking and based on what I purchased.

[Pete]

Be aware that the "Prevost Bus Air" and the Country Coach "Bus Air" are two different things. The Prevost bus air is designed to produce much more cold air. Although I have never owned a Country Coach with their system, I have owned one with the Prevost bus air and they are a wonderful system to have. You will never be hot in a coach equipped with the Prevost bus air.
The Prevost bus air can be found on some though not all conversions. As mentioned previously, most Liberty conversions have it, some American, some Marathon, some Angola, and others do as well. If you plan on travel mostly in the southern states, the temps can be brute hot in the summer months.

I presently own a Vision conversion with 4 Roof airs, and dash air, and it is sufficient in summer months, but can not hold a candle to Prevost bus air.

[Danss]

For every one who has or is looking for abus.


MY PREVOST STORY

WHEN YOU FIND THE BUS THAT’S RIGHT
IT WILL PROBALY BE LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
SOMETIMES YOU MUST TAKE A CHANCE
DON’T LIVE YOUR LIFE LISTENING TO CAN’T’S

STICKS AND STAPLES ARE IN MY PAST
FINALLY GOT SOMETHING THAT WILL LAST
WE FINALLY DID IT NOW I CAN BOAST
WE WENT OUT AND BOUGHT US A PREVOST

OWNING ONE IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART
CAUSE THE PURCHASE PRICE IS JUST THE START
GOING TO THE PREVOST SHOP THE FIRST TIME
YOU’LL FIND YOU NEED A CREDIT LINE

MADE GREAT FRIENDS ALONG THE WAY
HOW MANY THEIR ARE ITS HARD TO SAY
BUT IN THIS NEW BUS GROUP I FOUND
THEIR KNOWLEDGE HAS NO BOUNDS

ITS ALWAYS BEEN A DREAM OF MINE
TO RIDE THE HIWAY IN SOMETHING SO FINE
ALL SLICK AND SHINY I WAS SO PROUD
I WAS NOW WAY ABOVE THE CROWD

ON THE HIWAY FOLLOWING THAT LINE
GOING NOWHERE BUT MAKING GOOD TIME
WE FOUND THAT THE THRILL OF THE RIDE
IS PART OF THE THRILL OF THE DRIVE

( FOUR LINES NOT ORIGINAL UNDERLINED)

[Beardog]

Thanks to all for the great advice, so far.

Also, thanks to all who have private messaged me with advice and/or available buses out there.

Keep the information coming!

It seems to be a crap shoot with so many things, when purchasing a used bus (possible expensive repairs on cruse air units, replacing airbags/valves, etc.). My wife is looking strictly at cosmetics and interior design, and leaving the mechanical/physical plant stuff to me, so hopefully we will find a coach that suits us both, without too many compromises and things marked off "THE LIST". We hope to be able to get away for 2-3 days in a couple of weeks, just to look at buses. We wold love to drive, so we can take our Navigator with us (for possible trade), but it looks like we may need to fly to southern Florida to be able to look at lots of buses all in one area.

What if we drove the Navigator to Texas or Tennessee, and then used our Toad to drive about a 50-100 mile radius in all directions from our "home base". Are there enough available coaches to look at around Nashville, Dallas, or Houston to make that worthwhile and cost effective, vs. flying to southern Florida (West Palm Beach Airport??) and paying for a hotel and rental car for 2-3 nights? We really need to both drive and see some coaches with slides, without slides, and perhaps a 40 footer, too. My wife seems to have a real problem with not knowing if she would like an "east-west" or "north-south" bed. She seems to gravitate toward coaches with a "north-south" set up of the bed in the back of the coach. So, we need to look at both bed setups, too.

We would be driving out of Hot Springs, Arkansas, or flying out of Little Rock, Arkansas. Should we think about flying to California instead of Florida??

Opinions/advice??

[Pete]

Ok Dan, get out that guitar, put it to music, and we will see you on "AMERICAN IDOL"

[phorner]

First and foremost, full disclosure: I have a 2000 Liberty Coach for sale, so some may view my comments as biased, although I'll try hard not to be.

When we were shopping for our first (and, as it turned out, our only) bus, we tried very hard to make a list of "must have", "should have" and "would be nice to have" items. For us, a north/south oriented bed, a private toilet, genuine Prevost bus air, stacked washer and dryer, and a series 60 engine were "must have". Our "should have" list included IFS, an outside entertainment system that included a TV, refrigerator and grill, and appropriate miles/generator hours for it's age. We DID NOT want a bus that spent most of its life sitting idle as that is a direct path to potential problems. Since we lived full time in our bus, it also had to have abundant storage and a "livable" floor plan for us.

Automatic patio awning, pleasing cosmetic colors and polished stainless that was in excellent condition rounded out our criteria.

All that being said, what I would add to that list if I were shopping today would be copies of maintenance records and receipts in order that both immediate and future maintenance requirements could be more accurately and readily identified. I did a pretty good job of creating my first "to do" list after buying our Liberty, but there was much more to do than I originally thought. That was only because I didn't have a good understanding of some of the complexities of of a Prevost conversion versus the motorhomes I had owned in the past.

Good luck with your shopping. When you find the right one, you'll know it! We were looking at a Marathon when we purchased our Liberty.... it simply "wowed" us!

Now, to shamelessly promote our bus.... I highly recommend that you make South Florida a destination for your shopping trip. Even if you decide on another bus (hard to imagine, but I suppose it's possible), it's a great place to visit!