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Thread: Suffering From Prevost Fever!

  1. #11
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Hot Springs, Arkansas
    Posts
    10

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    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??

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Sealy, Texas (50 miles west of Houston on I-10)
    Posts
    836

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


    Pete & EJ Petree
    2001 Prevost Featherlite Vantare
    2008 Ford Explorer Sport Trac 4x4
    Sealy, Texas

  3. #13
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Port St. Lucie, FL
    Posts
    1,745

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    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!

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Tavares
    Posts
    1,088

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    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
    2005 Marathon H3-45 # 0867

    2013 Chevy Avalanche

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    ON THE ROAD IN THE SOUTH
    Posts
    2,825

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    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

  6. #16

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    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.
    Towson Engsberg
    2006 Legendary XLii DS

  7. #17
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Hot Springs, Arkansas
    Posts
    10

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    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
    Last edited by Beardog; 05-25-2012 at 08:28 AM. Reason: spelling errors

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    thomasville,nc
    Posts
    1,209

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    The Aqua Hot has a Webasto burner in it,in a Liberty there is a 20 gallon domestic water heater that has a heat exchanger in it.the water in the hot water can be heated by 110 volt electricity,or the Webasto or the Detroit Diesel.The Webasto also has heat exchangers with thermostats in the coach and also in the water bay with thermostats to prevent freezing if you are in very cold weather.I think that both systems work very well,when parked the Liberty does not need the webasto for domestic hot water therefore it does not burn any diesel,but on cold days both the Webasto or the Aqua Hot would normally be running to heat the interior of the coach.

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Santa Barbara
    Posts
    3,177

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    8 Tires will run about $5800.00 mounted and balanced. Air Bags about $4000.00 plus or minus with labor., Norgren valves; there are different types; maybe $3000.00 with labor. Shocks $ 1000.00-1500.00 with labor.
    Seals, bushings, etc. can run up a couple of thousand more.
    Change out coolant, Oils, filters, and lube. $2000.00
    These are off the top of my head so , each coach will have their own issues and costs.
    Gary & Lise Deinhard, 2003 Elegant Lady Liberty, Dbl slide

  10. #20
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Port St. Lucie, FL
    Posts
    1,745

    Default

    Sounds like good round numbers to me, Gary, having "been there, done that"...

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