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Topic: What We Did When We Purchased Our Coach (Read 753 times) previous topic - next topic

What We Did When We Purchased Our Coach

There have been an number of "newbies" posting lately.  We've only been around a couple of years but I thought it would be worth posting what we invested in after buying our 2000 U270 (no slide) to make her ready for some serious miles in retirement.  Coach came with about 135,000 miles and about 1,100 hours on genny.  This is strictly what we chose to do, not necessarily what others may choose to do.  Also important to say that we are NOT mechanically inclined so what we did means we PAID others to do for us.  Our coach came with tires that were within 2 years.  In addition to below, all fluids (genny and engine) were sampled and replaced (except tranny which had been converted to synthetic recently by previous owner)

1.  New fuel lines to engine and generator
2.  New hoses and belts
3.  New airbags
4.  Whatever air leveling items were leaking/needed
5.  Rear Koni FSD's (previous owner installed new in front)
6.  Air line to propane bay to fill bicycle tires
7.  Proper brake service (and maintained annually)
8.  New radiator and associated plumbing (fixable leak from old radiator but we decided to replace)
9.  Carpet in bedroom and entry and along "sides" (previous owner installed laminate from front to bedroom)
10.  Resealed front caps, installed new fridge vent, and sealed all other thru roof fittings
11.  New fridge (Dometic as original)
12.  New ice maker (as original)
13.  New start batteries (Redtops were working but 10 years old)
14.  Progressive Industries EMS-LCHW50 to protect electrical system (installed display in utility bay and second display inside coach)
15.  See Level tank monitors (battery, fresh, grey, black and lp) in utility bay and inside coach
16.  Smart Plug 50 amp connectors (new coach receptacle and connector on existing 50 amp cord)
17.  Additional 50 amp cord and water (50 foot)
18.  Sediment water filter
19.  Water splitter and regulator with pressure gauge
20.  New grey and black sewer dump valves
21.  3rd sewer dump valve at outlet
22.  Extra sewer hose extensions
23.  MCD shades (night and day throughout).  Power in front and manual elsewhere
24.  Solar film on all windows
25.  New walnut cabinet by passenger chair where previous magazine rack was installed.
26.  New walnut (2019) plate cabinet adjacent to microwave
27.  Replaced cone washers on all water fittings
28.  Replaced all air admittance valves

Coach came with VMSpc, 640 watts of solar and charge controller, new coach batteries (3 x 225 aH).

All in we have 30-50% less invested (coach and improvements) than a new, far less quality, V10 gas coach would cost.  And, for us, a coach that we feel confident we can take anywhere without fear of "common" 20 year old coach failures.  Doesn't mean we can't still be stuck at the side of the road with a flat tire/other....but we've eliminated a lot of the common things you'll see here failing on coaches of this age.

Can you do it for less....YES!  And much less if you choose to do the work yourself.  But for us...and any others who are thinking like we did...here's what we chose to do.  Have others paid less...and invested less....YES.  We simply wanted to reduce the number of surprises.  Do we expect to recover our costs of improvements....NO.  But we do expect lots of years of fun and less "surprises" on the road.

Our 2 cents.




Re: What We Did When We Purchased Our Coach

Reply #1 –
Quote from: floridarandy –
There have been an number of "newbies" posting lately.  We've only been around a couple of years but I thought it would be worth posting what we invested in after buying our 2000 U270 (no slide) to make her ready for some serious miles in retirement.  Coach came with about 135,000 miles and about 1,100 hours on genny.  This is strictly what we chose to do, not necessarily what others may choose to do.  Also important to say that we are NOT mechanically inclined so what we did means we PAID others to do for us.  Our coach came with tires that were within 2 years.  In addition to below, all fluids (genny and engine) were sampled and replaced (except tranny which had been converted to synthetic recently by previous owner)

1.  New fuel lines to engine and generator
2.  New hoses and belts
3.  New airbags
4.  Whatever air leveling items were leaking/needed
5.  Rear Koni FSD's (previous owner installed new in front)
6.  Air line to propane bay to fill bicycle tires
7.  Proper brake service (and maintained annually)
8.  New radiator and associated plumbing (fixable leak from old radiator but we decided to replace)
9.  Carpet in bedroom and entry and along "sides" (previous owner installed laminate from front to bedroom)
10.  Resealed front caps, installed new fridge vent, and sealed all other thru roof fittings
11.  New fridge (Dometic as original)
12.  New ice maker (as original)
13.  New start batteries (Redtops were working but 10 years old)
14.  Progressive Industries EMS-LCHW50 to protect electrical system (installed display in utility bay and second display inside coach)
15.  See Level tank monitors (battery, fresh, grey, black and lp) in utility bay and inside coach
16.  Smart Plug 50 amp connectors (new coach receptacle and connector on existing 50 amp cord)
17.  Additional 50 amp cord and water (50 foot)
18.  Sediment water filter
19.  Water splitter and regulator with pressure gauge
20.  New grey and black sewer dump valves
21.  3rd sewer dump valve at outlet
22.  Extra sewer hose extensions
23.  MCD shades (night and day throughout).  Power in front and manual elsewhere
24.  Solar film on all windows
25.  New walnut cabinet by passenger chair where previous magazine rack was installed.
26.  New walnut (2019) plate cabinet adjacent to microwave
27.  Replaced cone washers on all water fittings
28.  Replaced all air admittance valves

Coach came with VMSpc, 640 watts of solar and charge controller, new coach batteries (3 x 225 aH).

All in we have 30-50% less invested (coach and improvements) than a new, far less quality, V10 gas coach would cost.  And, for us, a coach that we feel confident we can take anywhere without fear of "common" 20 year old coach failures.  Doesn't mean we can't still be stuck at the side of the road with a flat tire/other....but we've eliminated a lot of the common things you'll see here failing on coaches of this age.

Can you do it for less....YES!  And much less if you choose to do the work yourself.  But for us...and any others who are thinking like we did...here's what we chose to do.  Have others paid less...and invested less....YES.  We simply wanted to reduce the number of surprises.  Do we expect to recover our costs of improvements....NO.  But we do expect lots of years of fun and less "surprises" on the road.

Our 2 cents.
So what did all that cost you...Asking for a friend

Re: What We Did When We Purchased Our Coach

Reply #2 –
I should have added that virtually all we did was motivated by what others here had experienced and recommended. This forum is all you need to have fun (and associated CB's)!

Re: What We Did When We Purchased Our Coach

Reply #3 –
Nice job

Re: What We Did When We Purchased Our Coach

Reply #4 –
To date we invested a bit less than $50k.  Not saying this is what anyone else would "need" or "choose" to do...but what we did to have the confidence we could do what we wanted without fear of "old age" breakdowns.

The only other "big" investment will be new Flexsteel captains chairs later this year.

Remember that we bought a solid coach with a great history and really smart previous owners. There were NO issues with the coach when we bought it...just things that were going to need replacement during our ownership which we decided to proactively replace upfront. All of which will not only serve us but make a future owner feel confident they can buy and drive without a lot of 20 year stuff to replace.

Re: What We Did When We Purchased Our Coach

Reply #5 –
Well said Randy!

Re: What We Did When We Purchased Our Coach

Reply #6 –
Randy,
I think you definitely made the right choice, you have a much higher quality coach and for a considerably less investment. We did many of the same improvements to ours except that I have done all the work myself. Therefore less dollars invested at the cost of A LOT of my spare time, can't say it was all enjoyable work as I have probably used a few words that the DW wouldn't approve of. On the other hand I have enjoyed doing most of the work and the satisfaction of knowing exactly what was done makes it worthwhile to me. Perhaps I will post a list like yours of the improvements and maintenance that we have done.

You need a solid foundation to build on...........and the Foretravel is.......
doesn't matter if you talking about building construction or an education. Start with a solid foundation.

Safe travels and Happy Trails!        ^.^d



 

Re: What We Did When We Purchased Our Coach

Reply #7 –
Doing the work yourself, may have an even much greater hidden benefit than just labor involved. You get up close and personal with systems and components, you can do it well (maybe but the forum helps). And become intimate with the coach, once you gain some self sufficiently, knowledge, skills, and maybe limited tools and abilities you may not be "stuck" somewhere relying on a "green" tech frantically searching YouTube videos in the back room at $100+ an hour. Service center does not pay for their training, you do!