First want to thank a lot of you for making comments about my first posts in Early December about our inquiry into Foretravel including my new friend Brad Metzger.
We own a nice 43 DP bath and half "other brand" but have had high interest in Foretravel as our potential next coach.
So....when we took our Christmas vacation trip....we made our first stop for 4 days to Nacadoches and did the Monday Factory Tour, met with Tyle Fore and also got to visit several owners who were parked in the lot with us during the weekend.
Im not sure what was best, the talking to owners and getting their opinions or the factory tour.
Im the RV Geek/gearhead, my wife enjoys it but mostly goes along. But by the time we were done, she too was very impressed with how they build them and would discuss the differences at length with me. Wow!
I have to say, their process is impressive. I was left with several thoughts to share.
1. They are truly hand made by people who care what they build. The chassis guys gave us so much attention and answered every question that I posed to our tour host Andrew ( a very worthy young man) with enthusiasm. The techniques and attention to detail that they use to attach components to the chassis is above reproach.
I have seen others and there seem to be hardly no comparison.
I particularly loved the 8 air inlets precisely mounted for easy access so that if the need to add air the air bags arises, you just open a bay and pick the number of bag you need to inflate (or deflate). Never seen that before.
2. The wire/electrical Harness dept. We met Jerry who had been there about 30 years. FT makes there own wiring systems and wire. If you ever look at your wire insulation, the number of the specific wire is numbered all along the wire casing for easy identification and repair from one end of the wire to another. Jerry by hand, makes every wire harness connection using a paper template with a ton of personal notes on it. He showed us the older battery cable wires and discussed how the new cable was developed so the cable would not melt if the battery go hot. Every wiring harness system has a specific place in the coach and they install them with "purpose" and don't just lay them across beams. Again, extremely impressed.
3. Wall and floor construction: They lay and insulate each floor as the coach is ordered. One of the things that I noted was the welding that the frame and floors get is as perfect as I have ever seen. Welds are smooth and strong and if you have ever seen a poor welding connection... I don't think you will ever find one on a FT. They hand install all insulation sections between the floor frame then top it with sub structure.
4. Cabinet Shop: This is where we saw the most number of Craftsmen. Probably 10-12 (Where Chasis had about 4-5 the morning we were there). THese guys are true professionals. It is AMAZING what they do. Because the new coaches are mostly custom order, every cabinet job is unique. The curves, the joints, the slide mechanisims, are all first class. Then the staining and finish are incredible. If one were a woodworker, you would really appreciate what they do. They also make and assemble all the slide outs prior to installation of the slide in the coach.
5. Front and rear Caps: One concern and question I had is how do they inventory parts for all the older coaches etc. There were two examples. On electronics and circuit boards I was told if they don't have a configuration in stock they will just make a new one. That would take 2-3 days, no matter what year model. This they can do because....THEY MAKE MANY of there own parts, circuit boards et.
But back to CAPS ....Many of you have heard about the 45 footer that took a Bridge counter weight to it and crushed the front cap.
That coach was there getting repaired. It was an 09 costing around 900k when new. They did not have a Cap in stock but they had the mold and there in front of us was that cap waiting to be installed. And on this rig, they had miles of wire hanging everywhere that need to be re-connected. Remember what I said about the numbering of every wire....talk about making it easy...
6. Paint: Foretravels are probably known for as much about their paint jobs as anything else. While there I met Mike who had a 2002 he bought New. When it drove in on Friday, I thought, man, he's had a new paint job. Well turns out its all original . It was beautiful. Of course Mike told us he stores it inside but certainly a testament to the quality of what they do. So in the paint dept we saw about 3 coaches in different levels of prep and paint. Asked them about how many coats they do.
"Well, we do five, then we do our finish sanding then put on two more." To me that says it all.
7: Body fit and finish: For me, whenever I would see photos on the website before I saw one in person, This is what got my attention. The bay doors fit just so. The degree of space between two sets of bay doors is close to exact. The space between slide outs seems always perfect. Much of this goes to the craftsman who build these, but to the next section.......Quality Control.
8: Quality Control: Now, the brand I currently (a family owned company) is known for standing behind their product and fixing almost anything for almost as long as you own it. A lot of times you would have to drive to their factory. Sometimes they will pay for you to take it elsewhere. While this is all great. I mean who wouldn't want after sale service like this.....But a lot of us maintain that if they had better QC during the build, you wouldn't have to do this. ANd personally, I don't have 5-7 weeks to sit around waiting for repairs. But at FT, there QC people are very meticulous about sending something back. THey are the biggest users of "blue tape" I have ever seen. ONce the coach goes to QC, they go up and down and just mark the heck out of it. Inside and out!
So.....sorry for the length of this, but I just thought there is enough of a difference here that I needed to share it. THey truly do a professional job. ANd not that there aren't issues that arise. I don't think THAT coach exists. But FT really seems to stay true to there mission. Another reason why so many of you wouldn't go anywhere else.
And in closing, I would encourage anyone who has never been there for a tour, or is considering this brand, it is a must see. It will make you proud if your an owner and if you are not, it will make you want to be.
Thanks for the time,
Sal
Now you know why FT has so many repeat buyers.
There is also remodel shop. They can do anything to your coach if you find you want or need it.
Red Bay AL would be my guess. Have a friend bought new Allegro bus. Three trips from Phoenix back to Red Bay, plus 5 dealer visits in first year for Warranty. Big dealer told me that warranty keeps their service dept. very busy.
No knock on them or anyone else's product, we are just fortunate to have FT quality and ongoing support.
Amen. While we were still researching we toured several factories. Keep in mind that we could not afford ANY new coach that is capable of full-timing, but we figured that the quality we would see would be more or less representative of what was built in the past. One particular brand really impressed us with the quality control. However, today that same brand has publicly admitted that their QC people aren't really doing their jobs, and their expensive coaches are going out the door with some obvious major flaws. I'm glad we went the way we did.
I could not possibly afford a new RV. I therefore shopped used. I could not possibly afford a money pit. I therefore bought a FT. It is in far better shape, and needs less babysitting than SOB's half its age...
Thanks for that very long ... and very wonderful ... post that describes things in such detail. Many of us have had the same experience, and that it why we just can't seem to get excited about another brand. We are on our 3rd coach, and we just couldn't be happier. Coming to the Factory feels like coming home ... many of the folks working there feel like real friends. I can't imagine owning a different brand!
Sal ; glad you had a great tour . You described it to the point that it sounded like myself having written it . Now you know why I'm on my forth Forteravel . Hoping to run into you while in Pheonix . Brad Metzger
Same quality I noticed in 1984 when I first started selling Foretravels. Helped many customers who told me they could not afford the new coaches get into a used coach.
Re carpeted, new furniture, new window treatments. Probably did twenty or more.
Mike grimes remembers the stuff I ordered then when we talked the other day.
Every one of them thanked me. Was fun. Yes it was profitable for our store.
I wanted to get it right the first time when we decided to buy our first class A. I am not disappointed in our choice.
Hi Sal, nice to see on the Forum. I'm the guy in the 2002 U320 that was parked next to you in Beaumont. Sorry we didn't get talk more.
Of course! Me too. It was looking forward to it. But our schedule just got carried away. Good
to hear from you. Where you going Next? Think we are going to do a long weekend Friday just to get out maybe Lampassas.
Sal
Sal, excellent description of why we all love our Foretravels. If I was Foretravel I would certainly publish a testimonial like that, right after you bough your new Foretravel of course.
Hope to see you down the road with your new FT.
Former Foretravel owner here and I just have to chime in.
How many other products made in America could get that kind of testimonial from a prospective customer?
You will not be making a mistake in buying a Foretravel.
Sal
...AND there is certainly something to be said for that!!! Thanks George
Sal, it seems that you just talked yourself into trading your Tiffin in on a new FT.
I will pull no punches about our terrible experience with a Tiffin product, so I was sold on Foretravels after reading posts on this forum for about two weeks.
Sal
Thank you for your detailed post! I can't wait to my my pilgrimage to the factory. As the DW and I couldn't have bought new so we also were looking for quality. We had almost bought a '03 Allego Bay...we liked it and the quality was far better than the SOB that we had seen so far. That deal fell though and thank God it did because we found our FT 3 months later.
What you say about the factory is impressive and reinforces to us our dissison. The factory is right now making a fender well for our '89 that is in the body shop here in MI. What other company would make a part from scratch for an 1989?? My body guy at my shop said he was planning on making it himself but the factory told him that "they" wanted to make it "right", and would make it and ship it here for installation. Amazing company!!
Jeff,
I think visiting the factory will certainly reinforce your decision to own a Foretravel.
For me I may be waiting for the right coach to come along in a newer year model with the floorplan we need. So..... I check FT and MOT every day.
Oh YEah, and I price I am willing to pay! :)
Thanks
Sal
It took us 3 years to find the first one, 4 years to find the second one and 2 days to find the third one. Lesson learned...know what you want and when you find it , BUY IT.
Sal, if you know what you want call them at FOT and MOT and tell them. The best coaches never make it to the lot, even now with a slow market for class As.
John S is right on point. We had looked and looked for our first coach,finally knew exactly what we wanted and went to our sales person and he said he had one coming in on trade. Long story short,we were writing the contract as the previous owner was transferring their belongings to their new coach. Total time on FOT lot, less than 8 hours.
Several people here have purchased their coaches directly from the previous owner. We're part of that group. If you know what you need/want and can afford, and are willing to accept a less-than-perfect coach (but one that can be made perfect) and are willing/able to do some work yourself, you may well be better off buying from a private party. Discovering a problem and asking the experts here can really help you learn your coach. These coaches really are well-made and not all that difficult to work on. Yes, they are complex machines but so far I haven't found anything that was too daunting. Of course, I DO know my limitations and I'm not afraid to take the coach to someone who knows what they are doing and has the proper equipment to do the job correctly. I'm having a ball learning about our coach and upgrading things.
Ron, based on the story you told me, your wife probably needs to keep you away from incoming units that get serviced! :)
Like John S said, be sure FOT and MOT know what you're looking for. We are on our fourth Foretravel and two of them we bought before they made it to the Internet.