Foretravel Owners' Forum

At 9 am this morning, we will go start the process of picking up our 1996 Foretravel U 295 40' and officially become Foretravel owners. By the end of the day, everything should be moved from one coach to another. At least I sure hope everything is moved!

We ARE excited, as you might imagine. Any last minute advice? (I probably won't see it in time for it to make any difference, but I wonder what people might say.) Thanks to all of you who have helped me in various ways on this journey. Of course, the journey continues and I hope to meet some of you down the road and across the campground!

Congratulations on finding the "Right One".  Hope everything works out exactly as you planned!  Now that you are "out of the hunt" our chances have improved ever so slightly, so we have two reasons to celebrate your success.

LO. Thanks, Chuck! And good luck in your search.

Have a great time Forrest.    Welcome to the community.  If you decide you need to get out of "tornado alley", you might consider the Pacific Northwest.  Ted H and myself are currently residing in the Pioneer Trails RV just South of Anacortes Washington.  I'm including a photo I took yesterday of a nearby beach at Deception Pass state park.  Don't forget to use that new retarder ...... it's a wonderful tool.    Have fun.

Dave VanAmburg

I'm so excited for you! We are jealous that you are already living on the road. Glad you found the coach you were seeking. I'm sitting here looking at our coach in the yard, anticipating the day we can drive off.

Awwww ... have fun moving in!!  See ya down the road! 

Welcome to Foretravel ownership, Forrest.

You will love it. I remember moving into my first FT. I had a wrangler stuffed to the gills it was an easy transition.  The last move almost killed me with all the stuff i had to move.

Congrats and have fun.

By now you are in the Foretravel, and probably too pooped to post. That's okay. Put up a few pictures later in the week, and be sure to include at least one with the big grin!

My advice is to just ENJOY.  Congrats,  David

Thanks to everyone for their greetings. Unfortunately we are NOT in our Foretravel. It's a long story but it seems someone left something on which drained the battery and it had to be charged and then there was trouble starting the engine (air in the fuel line since I asked for a fluid analysis). So it was 2 p.m. before we could start moving and we had decided to get an upgrade to the tvs and ... Well, we're in a motel for the night since we had too many things in different places to have a comfortable night. TOMORROW for sure. It's only a minor setback and will give us something to laugh about in the future. However, we are still excited and really enjoyed the walk-through (and enjoyed realizing we had learned something from the forum and its people, both online and face-to-face). We knew things the walk-through guy didn't know. Obviously they don't get a lot of Foretravels to sell but were impressed with it interest it got!

Take your time, patience and deep inspection are your friends at delivery

Well, we all have hiccups and but they are usually minor and you will be on the road soon.  Enjoy the ride.

Carol and I just finished getting all of the packing and repacking done not to mention the numerous trips to Good Will and leagal stuff done.  We are officially on the road and heading North to the mountains.  Sometimes it did seem like we would never get there/here but we completed one thing at a time and kept moving forward.  As major or even a minor milestones were completed Carol and I would look at each other and say - CHECK!  :D

 ^.^d ^.^d

Have a great trip.

Well, today REALLY IS the day we became Foretravel owners. We bought the 1996 Foretravel U295 40' WTBI that Wade's RV Clinic in Sapulpa, OK, had for sale. They made buying a motor home a pleasant experience. Yes, yesterday had it's glitches, but the end result were things fixed, upgrades made (at OUR expense, of course, but I asked for them), and new lessons learned. Tonight we are camped in the Tulsa RV Ranch campground and trying to fit our 20 lbs of $?!# into a 10 lb. bag (of course, it used to be packed in a 7 lb bag). It's a matter of readjusting where things fit. And we're working at it.

One of the interesting things today was actually getting the coach UP on a hoist and carefully examining the underneath. Amazing! This coach has been housed indoors and used in New Mexico and Arizona. NO significant rust. And just a little rust at the bulkheads. Really nice!

Of course, there are a few toggles and buttons and boxes I don't know what they are (and some I don't know where they are) but none of them seem necessary to successful use of the coach or driving. I may have to post a picture or two to the forums to see if anyone can suggest a use for the mystery switches or the location of the missing ones.

Thanks to everyone for congratulations and encouragement. I look forward to meeting more of you down the road.

Congratulations! Looking forward to some pictures.

Hey Forest and Mary,

We are now just over two years into owning our Foretravel and one of the best things about it is the other FT owners we have met in person and on this forum.  The help and aupport we have gotten has been invaluable, timely and honest.  I hope I can give some back as well.  So travel safely and enjoy your FT and the great folks you will meet along the way.

Roger and Susan

Congratulations on your coach and many happy travelling in the future and as has been said before, don't be afraid to poast questions about the coach and how to operate it.

I just sent 12 pictures of our new coach to the album "1996 U295 40ft WTBI" for those who like visuals.

Congrats and welcome. I am a new owner too, and with all the help here it is a lot easier to figure everything out. Welcome, Mark

Welcome aboard, now the fun begins

Sweet looking coach.

Thanks, John S! It is a sweet looking coach and a sweet living one. NOW if I can just figure out how to get the water heater to light! (My current issue.)

Air in line.  Might take ten try's

Thanks, Bob. That's what I was hoping. Still haven't got it going, BUT there is electrical element AND hot water assist from the engine so ended the day with hot water to keep warm with the electrical even if the gas isn't working. But I will keep trying the gas. Nothing is coming out to fire off, but if is air in line then that's what would happen, isn't it?

If your other gas appliances are working maybe the orfice is plugged. Are you getting sparking at the probe? Also check the burner tube to see if maybe there is a spider web stopping the flow

The stove eyes work fine. Good flame. I checked the tube, no obstructions. I need to find a good fine pin for the orifice to see if it is needs clearing. I didn't see any sparking at the probe so tried cleaning it off. Thanks for your suggestions. I welcome all thoughts!

If you are not getting any sparking it will not light. That could be caused by a bad circuit board. Check if the gas valve is getting 12 volts when the switch is first turned on, if it is not getting 12 volts see if 12 volts are coming out of the circuit board and if 12 volts there, could have a bad thermostat or eco. Sound like you need some help on this job. Do not stick anything into the orfice as it is supposed to be a certain size. If you screw the orfice out of the gas valve, you ca look at the inside of the orfice and might find some gnats have plugged it up, I don't know how they get in there, but you can use air pressure to blow them out and then reinstall the orfice. You can pm me or call me at 813-215-3463 and I can walk you through how to troubleshoot the water heater

Thanks, Red Tractor! When we get settled today, I'll give you a call. It might be tomorrow before I get to call but I'll be talking to you!

Don't know if you have one, but on our '89 GV the water heater wouldn't light and it turned out the thermocouple had to be replaced--a $6 item at FOT-- for two in a pack!!

I thought of the thermocouple, but that wasn't it. Unfortunately, it was a bad control board. I'm back in home state of WI for a visit and stopped by my favorite local service shop and sure enough he had a control board in stock. Back in service!

Good to hear that the water heater is operating. When you said no spark and no gas, sort of sounded like a bad circuit board

Yep. Hot water is working. Just to celebrate, we woke up this morning and discovered that overnight the passenger's side windshield had developed a crack from top to bottom. Don't know why. Just know that it'll take a week to get in a replacement and cost me $500 (lest than half of total cost due to insurance covering glass). Ah, well. Such is life!