Well, I'm about to decide I'm just not going to find a no slide 36' 320 and thinking on some upgrades to my 295. As some may recall, I bought this coach damaged from a blowout and offroad excursion in Mexico, and while it has been repaired, it will never be a candidate for a high end restoration. On the positive side, it has been, and remains, rock solid mechanically, totally leak free, so I'm going to go for new airbags, Konis and probably pull in new fuel lines. I would like to address the exterior appearance, peeling decals etc., so thinking about a paint job and some pro glass repair.
Figuring 5K for chips, dings and general repair, and 25K for Xtreme fbp is just not a good decision. I'd like to keep my investment low enough to sell it inexpensively to someone who is looking for a solid ride if and when a 320 presents itself. That's the one I'll take to Xtreme. Sooo....how about Mexico for paint and body? I'm comfortable dealing with the folks south though I don't habla much, and have a good measure of respect for their craftsmanship.
Anyone have any experience or insights on this? Thanks for your help, as always.
Dave M has talked about selling his 36 ft U320. Have you checked with him?
I have paperwork from a firm in Phoenix that stripped, painted and re-striped our's for 12CBs + change. Perfect job!
Chuck,
Dave M's 2001 36' U320 has a slide. I know many worry about the extra complexity, weight, maintenance and potential problems. We have the same coach as Dave, just a few build numbers away and our slide has been 100% reliable. We had a bladder deflate valve issue that HWH fixed for about $200. The slide mechanism in the 2001 is different from the 2002 and later models. Is it better? Ours has been great. If you are sticking with a 36' the slide adds about 22 sq ft of very useful comfortable space.
I got my slide rooms fixed up after a bit of work and they have been very good since. Dave's coach is a great buy for someone.
The Navarro brothers outside Yuma in Mexico sound like a good match for your work. 5 - 7 FBP. They have a good rep and googling them brings up different users. Another option is using European detailing in Phoenix to do a great job restoring gel coat and Steve at RV graphics in Apache Junction to replace decals. Total of about 4300.
I had my 88 done there in 2011.. before selling it in 2013 about the same $$$$
I know Chuck looked hard at Dave's weeks ago.
Is this a selling or painting thread??? Just wondering!
Can someone please point me to Dave's listing?
I think he's taking it to consignment at Motorhomes of Texas soon..... Luxury Pre-Owned Motorhome Dealer for Foretravel Newell Country Coach. (http://www.motorhomesoftexas.com) ...send him a PM & see when that might happen then maybe get in touch with them if you can get over to NAC to see it?
I think Dave has taken it to MOT already as that was his comment to me in a PM. I have been trying to sell it to a neighbour here recently but they take a lot of time to make their minds up on if they need to go to bathroom so this could be drawn out.
PM him as this one of his has had mucho work done out of preventative maintenance NOT because it needed it. Many great things done and lots of money spent just to make it the best it can be, and safest.
JohnH
The painters in Playa Bonita RV Park, Puerto Penasco, will do a full body paint job with DuPont urethane paint and clear coat for 5k. At your site. Including any graphic design you come up with. Only 65 miles into Mexico from Arizona.
I've seen their work, primo! Plus you get to go to Rocky Point and eat great food, and on the return, stay at our park in Ajo and get a pic on the forum! ^.^d
"Do What Makes You Happy" might just take on a whole new meaning after a message swap with Dave last night. Hold on to your butt.
If anyone wants Dave's coach they better be a MOT tomorrow, I don't think it will last a week.
My 1996 U320 had the decals replaced with Emron paint in 2003.
By 2014 some blemishes were bothering me, so I had the stripes repainted by Chui at Playa Bonita Park, in Puerto Penasco. The cost was $2400 USD, and the date was March, 2014.
By May, 2014, some vertical cracks were starting to show in the maroon paint above the level of the floor (the sidewall). By September, 2014, a bubble of water appeared in the Maroon paint near the top of the wall. By October, this bubble had burst and the paint under the clear coat was exposed. In March 2015, Chui repainted the bubble damage for a cost of a couple hundred dollars, but the colour is not quite the same as the rest.
By January 2016, the vertical cracks on the passenger side (sunny side when in California) had grown in length and width such that these cracks were very visible near the rear. I stopped at Playa Bonita and talked with Chui, who wanted $900 USD to repaint the passenger side above the level of the floor, quoting that the problem was caused by the gelcoat and not the paint or preparation.
I travelled to San Carlos to be with friends and had George repaint the small part with the worst vertical cracks. The cracks had penetrated into the gel coat.
Note: that there have been no vertical cracks below the level of the floor and that the cracks on the passenger side are much worse then the cracks on the driver side. I believe that the gelcoat used to make the cargo doors and the side panels below the floor is some how different then the gelcoat used when manufacturing the walls.
The other advice I can provide is if you hire Chui to paint your motorhome, do not tell him when you are leaving because he will not work on your coach until the last few days before you leave. It took Chui 5 weeks to paint my coach, because he kept getting diverted to other coaches which were leaving in a couple days.
I would recommend Navarros Shop in Los Algodones, who painted Sam's coach in circa 2012, which is currently owned by someone else. It is the blue and white 1992 U300 which is pictured on the Foreforums collage. Anyone know how well this paint has aged?
That fits in with my understanding. The wall fiberglass is purchased as finished sheets from a vendor and then laminated to the wall structure by Foretravel. The caps and everything below the floor line is made from Foretravel custom molds where the gelcoat is sprayed in as the first step in the fiberglass construction. When I worked at Country Coach in 2008 they always used a beige colored gelcoat and I think this is done at other manufactures too where the coach will have full body paint. I can only think of two reasons for this:
1) Surface imperfections might be more easily seen on the beige during sanding prep for paint.
2) Since no gloss is necessary in the gelcoat, the formula for it might be changed a little to give better properties like resistance to cracking. I have heard there is a trade off between high gloss (which needs the material to be hard) and crack resistance (which requires a softer material) - that is, if my memory serves me correctly.
Foretravel used to make their own fiberglass sidewalls in house. They were probably grandfathered in for product liability insurance as they had a long safe record of building them.
Plus saved money. Foretravel parts were made by a seperate in house company FMK fiberglass.
C.m Fore, don Moore, the Vice President and king who was the accountant. FMK.....
They only looked like dumb farmers.
Did not country coach make their own skins in the 90's as did beaver?
John, are you sure that Foretravel uses finished sheets made by someone else? I had many conversations with Rance and Greg while at Xtreme, and unless I misunderstood them, Foretravel handlayed up the fiberglass for everything but the basement section which is a filon sheet material.
Don
Any other reports on the long-term quality of work? Their price is certainly tempting!
Interesting discussion on layup and panels. When we had our gel coat restored, I was surprised at the depth of the gel. It looks to be thicker than sailboats I restored. When I stupidly made a small crack in the engine hatch noted it was a nice layup with what appeared to be some layers of chopper gun. The quality supported our decision to stay original.
What you are describing is true also for the endcaps and, I believe the hatches as well. No question that the sidewalls are done differently, since the endcaps and hatches are not "infused" with metal framing like the roof and sidewalls. Obviously, the steel sidewalls and aluminum roof structure is welded up first and then the foam board insulation fitted in-between the frame members. The question in my mind is how the outer skin is applied and laminated to the framing and to the rigid insulation underneath. I think perhaps the layer under the gel coat comes as a sheet of resin infused fiberglass mesh and possibly Foretravel would outsource that component as smaller individual sheets could be glued to the wall assembly and the joints glassed over to make a seamless substrate to which FOT would apply the outer Gel coat. The roof is a bit different since the roof has plywood decking over the aluminum frame and then the fiberglass substrate and Gel coated over that. I could be wrong... but that is my guess. Here are a couple of pictures. The first picture is the roof structure at the refrigerator vent opening where you can clearly see the plywood roof decking. The second picture is a 4" diameter plug from the dryer vent hole I drilled when I installed the Splendide 2100XC. The gelcoat is on top and there is two different types of rigid foam insulation and the luan inside paneling is the bottom layer. I call this my "Foretravel Sandwich".
Don
Edit: Oops! It appears I have taken this subject away from the original topic... Moderators feel free to remove or move it. I will try to be good from now on.
Not sure how to move either but those pictures should be searchable so a new thread is a good idea. Thanks for posting those two pictures. They will be very valuable in the next two weeks. First the roof picture helps me understand how I may want to proceed to fix the holes from the original satellite dish. I had it replaced as part of a rework of the AV in Nac. When the new dish was added they left all the old holes open. During three days of rain, water started coming into the interior thru the front ceiling light. I own it because I did not check the work. I will probe and probably seal the wood ends with west system and redrill for small stainless bolts and then caulk.
The second, sandwich, will also be helpful. We are having windows resealed next week in Hudson FL. I noted two fiberglass repairs, after the buff out, next to two windows on the passenger side. They were professionally done as they end in proper angles but the gelcoat was not of the same quality. Not sure what I will see when they come out but knowing the original layup will be very helpful.
Wyatt is this the paint job you are referring to, it has held up well always getting compliments on what a great paint job we have.
Yes that is the one.
I visited Navarro's a couple times while it was being done, very interesting process with many workers.
Sam was proud of that paint job, and I spent many hours in that coach at "The Slabs" in California.
We were down at Rocky Point for Mother's Day weekend. We stayed at the Reef and they were busy trying to paint a couple coaches when we were there. The wind was insane so they didn't get much done. One guy wanted his painted the same color combination that our coach is so the paint store guy came out to match it. Turns out the RV owner lives only a couple miles from us in Phoenix so I will get to see the finished coach when we are both home at the same time.