New (to our family) 1997 Marathon XLV being picked up tomorrow in AZ!

[Matt_in_AZ]

Hello POG Members,

I have "trolled" and perused the forum archives with persistence the past few months learning as much as I could before purchasing our family's first motor coach. Tomorrow I pick up our 1997 Marathon XLV to enjoy as our family motor coach with my wife, son (8), and daughter (almost 6). Being a new owner and only 42 years young I feel a bit like the new kid on the block. I have a friend who has owned a 1992 Royale and now a 2000 Marathon with whom I have travelled across the county (and driven his coach for approximately 50 hours) in recent years. He was instrumental in the pre-puchase inspection.

I will post some photos after taking delivery. We are planning our first trip to Zion National Park staying at Zion River Resort in about 10 days. In the meantime I will be "camping" in front of our home in AZ this weekend while reading through manual after manual. I am sure I may have some questions.

This coach has low miles and has new tires (as of Monday) with a recent service so it is ready to enjoy after a quick recharge of R-22. My first project will be upgrading lighting on the front (I don't like out-running my headlights - all of my vehicles have HID or LED headlights). My next project will be upgrading displays (front salon, MBR, and entertainment bay). I am torn between "great" HDTV from DIRECTV (currently a customer) when parked using the Winegard Trav'ler or sticking with SDTV and having in-motion. I plan to use Apple TV and a small server that will have lots of programming for kids to watch while in motion and then having something exactly like I am accustomed to when parked (different channels on different displays simultaneously, HDTV, DVR). I am in the low voltage systems industry so I know how to design and build multi-million dollar entertainment systems in commercial applications; however, I don't plan to do major coach surgery (a 24-26" display will be fine for the front in lieu of relocating the cruise-air to support a 32" display). Once I can spend some time in the coach with the family I am sure we will figure out what works best for us.

I should mention that my wife and I have set a goal of taking out kids to all 50 states (sorry - no Prevost to HI) via the Prevost before they graduate from high school. I have 10 years to make that a reality. Time to kick the tires and light the fires!

[Gil_J]

Congratulations Matt!

I hope your journeys are everything your children can expect. You've picked a great coach. The XL familiy of chassis, no doubt, have more miles on them than any other bus platform ever built.

You mentioned poor headlights. Here's a thread and article I wrote on an easy conversion to HIDs, (click here).

If you are going the SatTV route, I recommend the HD route. It seems a waste to watch SD broadcast. Of course, if in motion SatTV is a must, then SD is really the only small dish solution. FWIW, I have installed two of the new auto seeking directional ATSC antennas from Winegard and it really is worth the extra money. We are seldom anywhere that we can't get the local broadcast in HD. Most campgrounds have cable, but few have HD cable distribution systems.

We have traveled through most states, to include Alaska, and Canadian provinces. What a great education it will be for children.

When you have questions, feel free to ask. This forum doesn't have any egos that need to be fed. It's just friends helping friends.

Again, welcome and safe travels,

[coreygrubb]

Matt, you can have it all if you want. We have a Winegard Traveler HD when parked , an in-motion (no HD of course) and a digital HD antennae to pick up local. Geo.