Brought coat from Port Richey FL to NAC last week. Got there on Thursday, met with everyone on Friday. (MOT, Xtreme, FOT, Infinity and Bernd).
First up - Xtreme - the slide rooms in the 2000 models are prone to delamination. According to Rance - the glue FT used in the manufacture actually melted the foam that the fiberglass was to adhere to (At least that is what I think he said) - in any event - the 2000 model slide rooms need to come out of the coach (usually via forklift). So Coach is at Xtreme, MOT will come by and remove the slide out, and Rance will work his magic. He is also doing the Step conversion, that is really what I went there for in the first place, plus a couple of odds and ends.
If something else works out, we will have a little fun surprise for those who have converted to a residential refrigerator - stay tuned
Next stop MOT for a short punch list of Maintenance items - and then over to FOT to go into David Flanigan's shop for a remodel - more on that later - but I will have a 72" villa off white leather scissor sofa and J lounge available at FOT if someone is interested in about 2-3 weeks.
OK, brought Coach, not coat.......next time I proof better
Hi, Tim-- are you in town now? We're camping at MOT one more day with a new windshield in place. Waiting on AC replacement today. Maybe I can buy you a cup of coffee if you're still in town? I'd like to talk about your J-lounge. Take care--Paul
Coach is at Xtreme - you can see the J-lounge there, I flew back to Chicago early Saturday.
call me at six three Oh 240 Ninety-one thirty-nine if you want to discuss
Tim, you will find that Rance has experience on doing that very thing on the slide rooms. I am living proof of it. They will do the job right and it will last. The remods at FT now interest me. I have not done the step yet but I have done the inside.
Tim,
Good to hear about the updates on your coach. Great stuff keeping up a Foretravel.
Yup, Rance used Penske Board to repair my weak slide, was weak on front slide, side when put air to the bladder, it pushed the side in more than a little, so asked about it, Rance fixed it right up, been a strong wall since. Rance always seems to have the correct answer to any fiberglass question.
Delam and steps and odds and ends and a
mystery project at Xtreme will be about 12 coach bucks - r and r the slide is 10 -12 hours of MOT labor in that bill
Remod with Mr Flanagan is a little north of the Xtreme $$ on the coach buck scale -
- scissor couch out, 72" hide a bed in - he had a take out hide a bed, just paying to recover
- j lounge out, wood dinette table with two benches in. Showed DW John S breakfast bar, but she preferred old school Dinette - current table being used (corian) to fabricate some needed parts for the Dinette install.
- New flooring coing in - will be high end vinyl from one of the big three, tile look alike, glued and grouted install
Odds and Ends at MOT
Guess I'm like Dave M now - going to keep it....
I might have gone for the wooded dinette setup if I did not have a double galley. I was told I could not put tile down in the LR as the slide would scratch it.
Interesting they said that they put felt in mine so it wouldn't scratch but you and I have different slides
I thnk we have the same slide. I asked about felt and they said it would scratch if I got dirt under the felt at all.
They changed the slide out in 02
Tim,
Peggy and I will be at MOT on Monday for a couple of days of work. Annual maintenance, windshield, water heater, and a few small things. Then Extreme a week from Monday for slide wall delam repair. My brother had all four sides done on his. I'm hoping I have less of a problem. I'll try to check your progress and give you a report if you'd like.
Rich
Mine is all four as well....thanks!!
I had only three sides done. They decided that it would be ok if they only tighten up by the window on one side.
John I was told the only flight that needs to be removed from the coach is in 00. In the 01 the slide room pushes into the coach. So I don't think we have the same slide room.
Just going by what I was told at MOT.
Nope, I have to have mine pulled too. It is 02 that changes. It is common mistake as they changed over in 02 for one year then another slide in 03.
So...is the '03 an innie or an outtie? How do you recognize one from another ?
03 is innie
I'm not sure what repair you are referring to when you say innie and outie. On my 2002, you can push it in to replace the seal bladder. You have to remove it to repair slide delamination. Extreme actually removes and replaces the side/top/bottom material with new. That's what they did on my brothers.
FOT said they would try to cut holes in the sides/top/bottom and spray in glue and then patch the holes.
Rich
While at FOT getting my large slide bladder replaced, over a year ago, they pointed out the delamination on the bottom of my slide. I was told the only real fix was to cut the bad area away and reskin it. The second option was to remove the slide and some how insert glue between skin and foam. I chose the second option. They did not drill any holes. After gluing the slide was set on a hard foam pad overnight. I'm sure that there are some areas the glue did not reach. Now I've got hard ripples on the bottom instead of soft ones. If I had it to do over again I would reskin the bad spots and have it done right. One day in the future I will have it repaired right.
I was saying for bladder replacement 02 on gets pushed in and 01 to 99 gets pulled. I also had to decide between FT way and the full cutting and replacing. I went with Xtremes way as it seemed that there was no way to get good seal but inserting glue as the stuff had to be scraped down so the glue would stick and not break loose the first hot day.
Tim, you will like the steps. Pretty sturdy, not perfect, but the extra depth is great. If you have a 3 switch plate on the panel in front of the pass seat see if you can get a 4 hole plate and have Rance put the step switch in the 4 hole plate. Probably looks better than a single switch below the three. If not, try to find a single Foretravel labeled plate somewhere else (like under the BR vanity light) to us up front where it shows. I had a rocker switch with a 1 and a 0 (on/off) on the switch. Wired it up so that it now means in or out with the engine off and the door closed.
These steps hang down an extra inch or so. Use some caution going over dips and such with the front end.
Waiting for the revelation of the mystery project. All in good time.
Roger
Coach in Meccadoches for about 45 days, right at two weeks in - if everyone could work on it at once, it would be done in 30 days at about a coach buck a day - but as it turns out - the bill will be $25 large, at the end of 45 calendar days. - (or thereabouts).
Right now still at Xtreme for step, slide delamitation (huge amount on my slide) and "mystery project" ala Rance. Hope by next week to MOT for a couple of days after Xtreme. Perhaps the big "unveil" of the mystery project next week as well.
Have some pictures of slide work in progress, will try to post when I get time - Slide room out - working on three sides of delam, then they will have to flip the slide over to finish fourth side. Have had the delam since I bought the coach, but ignored it - if you do that TOO long, it wreaks havoc with your slide bladder and forces the fix - luckily (knock wood) my bladder still fine.
I can hear the non-slide contingent saying "wow, we sure are smart not to have a slide". Had it both ways with this coach and the a non-slide 1999 U-270. The slide works way better for me, but we all need to do "what makes us feel good", with proper homage to Dave M.
not going to do it this year - but like Dave M will be back at Meccadoches on a future trip (one year)? expect steering to be spruced up, 8 air bags, and all fuel lines at Bernd.
Final phase will be recover or new Pilot/copilot seats, dash/valance recover and maybe silver leaf dash conversion. Why not - hope this is the last coach I ever have. I can do all these mods for one years depreciation on a new coach, or maybe three years depreciation on a 5 year old high end coach.
I agree Tim, Keep what works and keep it working. We can spend lots of $ on our coach and never come close to what it would cost to buy a five year newer coach and jump back into the deeper end of depreciation pool asuming there was one out there that we would buy. We like what we have. And the mystery project is ??
Roger
Tim, Thanks for the chance to see your J Lounge last week. DW decided the lounge is just beautiful, but won't work in our coach due to color conflict or something like that. What a project you must have up your sleeve! Keep us posted. We are heading Back-to-Nac in a couple of weeks for new valences and hope to catch a peek at your progress.
All the best! Paul
Just haul it back to Orlando and hand it to me...