Leaving for my first trip tomorrow morning to Talladega for the spring race. Since getting this beast home I have been tinkering with all the amazing features and think I have most figured out ..... at least enough to enjoy this upcoming week. At the track campsite I have 50amp service and water. I've kept the coach pretty much plugged in since I bought it and need to spend some time to see how long I can run off of the house batteries and see how the solar panels (3) charge the batteries. This will be a neat trip with 2 buddies who both have SOB's that I've traveled with for years.
Staying on the hill at C&C campground just outside the track. Hopefully I will see other Foretravels at Talladega.
See is all cleaned up and ready to go.
Congrats on your new to you rig! Enjoy the race!
Congratulations on your new ride. Is the 2008 Phœnix a UniCoach or is it a Spartan chassis?
It would be a Foretravel Chassis. Foretravel did not go to Spartan until 2018 model year. There are some (maybe only 1) that was still build with the Foretravel Chassis and the rest were the Spartan. Foretravel was calling the IH45 Spartan Chassis TravelrRide III which was special build by Spartan to equal the Foretravel build TravelRide II. The Realm Presidential which they say is the equal to the IH45 is only using the Spartan K4 which is a step (or multi steps) down. In my opinion all of the newer coaches will not ride anywhere as good as the IH45 does with either the Foretravel or Spartan TravelRide chassis with HWH Active Air.
Thanks Turbojack. Where I was heading with this is that a Foretravel UniCoach chassis is an appropriate ride for the track. People who have never driven a bare chassis have no idea how much the body is relied upon for stiffness in the finished vehicle.
JeffW and his friends are probably unaware that his Phœnix is built with truss bridge construction and that the load bearing is in the side walls, not underneath the floor.
Don't know about the late coaches but our 36 foot U300 coach has only about 13 feet of the truss bridge construction in the middle with 9 feet of conventional frame rail construction in the front and 14 feet in the back with no steel above the rails. That's why they creak, break windshields and as one member found out, twist the front suspension when off road enough so they needed a tow.
Pierce
Turbojack knows it, it has a foretravel chassis. Had a great ride down towing a F150 with a golf cart. The only issue so far is when hooked to the city water supply the fresh water tank slowly filled and over filled. Running off of house water pump with no problems. Not sure if I had a switch off. See pic of water fill bypass switch, LED's are off, sun was bright.
Somewhat recent (2017) factory tour photos that show some of the Foretravel chassis construction: Foretravel Coach Plant Tour – Nacogdoches, TX – RV'ing with Herb & Kathy (https://herbnkathy.com/2017/11/27/foretravel-coach-plant-tour-nacogdoches-tx/)
I think of the front and rear steel extensions as footings for the bridge. As far as I can see on mine, the the trusses run between the bulkheads. Plus with the Torsionaire suspension I don't have that giant steel mattress the air bag models have for the front suspension.
Congrats, enjoy both the coach and the race.