Hello all, I'm Jon. I've been watching and looking at Prevost conversions for about 3 years now. I have become very interested in doing a few years full time in an RV, maybe permanently. I first jumped in last year with a 1985 Bluebird Wanderlodge. Spent 8 months living full time in that one and traveling. Went all the way down to Playa del Carmen via TX and then back along the Gulf of California into AZ. After that, I sold the Bluebird, bought a smaller RV (Itasca Navion) and headed back home to Santa Rosa intending to RV on the weekends and go back to work. The Nation gave me an idea of what and how the mass produced coaches were being made.

After 6 months back at home, the want to go full time just continued to grow so I sold my home and made a deal on a 1998 Liberty XL 40. I go to inspect and pickup the bus this Monday.

When I purchased the Bluebird, I knew nothing about RV's or bus conversions. I purchased a Wanderlodge that needed much work to make it even safe to drive down the road. All four rear air bags were shot, all shocks were worn out, and it had air leaks everywhere. I spend the first several months of ownership fixing many of the issues. The seller and the broker representing the seller told me the bus was in great condition. The broker hadn't seen the bus in person. I believed them and ended up regretting it and going way over my budget at that time to get a bus that was safe to travel in.

Now that I have been through that experience, I do not want to have a repeat. The owner of the Liberty coach I am going to look at has been telling me everything is excellent condition on this coach. The broker representing the seller, like the bluebird broker, hasn't actually seen the bus in person. It's low mileage for it's age at under 56,000 which I am told isn't always a good thing. I pulled a vin check on the bus and I can track the title record back as far as August 2005 when it was registered as a Michigan Motorhome with 13,420 miles, from there it went to North Carolina last registered in Sept 2006 with 28,125 miles. The next registration was in January of 2014 in California where it has been to this date.

Although the owner has stressed how amazing the condition of this coach is, in the last conversation things started to come out, he disclosed something about scratches in the paint, in one area through the clear coat, and the roof clear coat needing to be redone as it is all peeling. This may all be normal for a 20 year old bus and it is supposed to be Prevost original paint. One of the things a dealer to me to check was the leveling system but when I asked about the leveling system he stated he never used it so has no idea if it works. I also now know that it has been sitting for the last year. He states he starts it from time to time, but hasn't pulled it out of the storage lot for the last year. It had new tires and batteries in 2014, probably January.

The coach fits exactly what I am looking for, a late model XL 40' with Cruisair and OTR air. The 40' is key to me as one of my favorite places is the coast line from Sonoma north into OR and WA but nothing over 40' is allowed on those roads. From everything I have seen, the price is about $20K more than other coaches of this vintage but I accounted that to the "excellent condition" and low mileage and I believe worth it if nothing turns up wrong with the coach. I really do want this to be the coach, love the exterior paint colors, the interior design etc, but am leery of repeating my experience with the Bluebird. I am using this forum as a guide and the Prevost Community forum for things to look for before purchasing. After purchase I will be taking the coach over to Marathon in Oregon to add some storage drawers in a couple of bays so I can work from the road and a bench cover for the toilet so that if I decide to go with something like a Biolet 65 in the future it will keep the bathroom looking sharp. From there it will go to AM solar in Oregon to do a full solar setup. The solar setup is one of the reasons I wanted Cruisair so there would be plenty of room up top for the solar panels. This will add some weight, but the Victron Lion batteries will reduce some weight over the AGM.

Anyway, long post for an introduction. Any things that owners here can point out that I should be checking would be appreciated. Even better, if there is someone local to the Placerville, CA area that has time on Monday and has the required experience to do a PDI on a vehicle like this I would be willing to hire someone to help me check the coach out. It's a lot of money and I want it to be a good experience, not another 6 months of expensive repairs on top of the purchase price.

Looking forward to many years of fun and Prevost ownership.