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Topic: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy (Read 2336 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #20 –
Quote from: twobus –
Agreed. Birds are also too heavy for hill country. Beavers are awful close to FT in overall build and you can tell thry have an honest electrical engineer on staff. But to answer the question, there is a very good chance that if there were no old inexpensive Foretravels, I probably wouldn't have any RV a'tall at the moment.
Right on! Don't settle!
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I've lived in tents before. I could take the money I'd a spent on SOB & buy some plane or train tickets to really cool places in the world & write a blog about tent camping across the world. Write some books  get really famous& rich like Hemingway, Lamour & Clemens... :D

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #21 –
The only way we'd be moving from one practically perfect Foretravel to something else would be downsizing, probably a B or B+. Canadian brands seem to be well built.

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #22 –
Newell Coach or Prevost. In the Prevost converter line would be Parliament, Country Coach, Royale, Vantare, or Millennium. Prefer the XLII to the H3-45.
Reese

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #24 –
If we're talking about older used units, and I couldn't buy a Foretravel, I'd look for a Bluebird Wanderlodge of perhaps a Vogue...although the Vogue has little basement space.

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #25 –
I have down loaded all the reply's and will pass them along to my buddie.
 Thanks Bill W.

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #26 –
In case you're still interested, I'd add Monaco Dynasty and higher to the list. Probably 2002-2008 years. They're semi-monocoque and have allot of the same features. Someday I'll get my Foretravel, but I consider my current unit the next best thing. (2004 Dynasty)

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #27 –
It was down to dynasty and my FT for my first.

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #28 –
Three top quality brand possibilities this time last year: Coach House, Leisure Travel Vans sprinter, or FT.  After all input was exhausted, FT won....decided on more space to begin with, (& more value, with an older coach) rather than hoping for more space later on.  Now hoping for an upgrade to an even larger FT (with a slide or two?) in the fall.  Already spoiled, couldn't go back to another brand now.   

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #29 –
Quote from: chazb11 –
If we're talking about older used units, and I couldn't buy a Foretravel, I'd look for a Bluebird Wanderlodge of perhaps a Vogue...although the Vogue has little basement space.

Liked the vogues for the crown chassis.  Eight airbag ridewell suspension does exactly that.  More body roll.  Disconcerting.  My guru buddy was vogues factory electrical guy. 

He was checking in a x aerospace engineers 2000 42' bird last week and the owner had 45 questions or issues on his list.  and my buddy had already undone previously done incorrect work.

Bob

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #30 –
I love my recently purchased 2003 Foretravel 34', it's lighter, faster, and more nimble than my 'ol 1987 Bluebird Wanderlodge. But the Bluebird was right up there in quality, and had many features I miss in the FT. Things like 29 different gauges to monitor everything, generator included. A dash switch to turn on the cooling fan before you hit the hills. Absolute road stability with 40 feet long, 44,000 lbs and a tag axle. The huge 300 gallon fuel tank. At least twelve different space heaters. That riveted steel body with Imron paint. Massive hydraulic leveling jacks that would lift the coach off the ground for changing tires or getting unstuck. Aluminum diamond plate roof. Ultra heavy duty, quality construction, ready for the zombie apocalypse.

But I don't miss the air leaks from pneumatic dump valves, pneumatic steps, pneumatic actuated driving lights(!), pneumatic vents, and pneumatic step covers, and whatever else they could adapt to air power. I don't miss when leaving a stop light, I would blow people off the bus stop benches with a huge belch of black smoke from the monster Detroit 8V92. I don't miss fumbling through a couple of dozen identical switches on the dash trying to find the one you want. The terrible fuel mileage. Noisy generator. Complex, unintuitive switches and controls everywhere. No way in hell my wife or anyone else would be able to jump in and drive the thing.

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #31 –
It is interesting that most of the 'competition' SOBs of choice are manufacturers that are not in business at this time. . .

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #32 –
I'm taking the original poster's question to mean "If you wanted a Foretravel but were hesitant to spend the money for a Foretravel, what would be an acceptable second choice?"

That is sort of the boat I'm in.  I have a 1994 U-240 to which I have done some upgrades, but I know it will never have some of the features I now want such as a diesel generator, air-bag suspension, transmission retarder, wide-body or a slide, etc.  I have the proverbial champagne taste and beer-budget syndrome.  We would prefer one or two slides, so in a Foretravel that means probably a 2002 or later coach for 2 slides.  We enjoy looking at all the Foretravels in Meccadoches that meet our wish list, but so far I am unwilling to spend that kind of dollars for a vacation machine that I would use 4 or 5 times a year for the next 3 or 4 years until I'm too old to enjoy it.  My wife keeps asking "Why does it have to be a Foretravel?"

For example, during our last visit to MOT we looked at a clean 40' single-slide 1999 CC Magna that appeared to have most of my wish list (except a Jake brake instead of a retarder) for $85,000.  We have an acquaintance who bought a nice 2004 Beaver for much less than the cost of a 2004 Foretravel.  I'm having a hard time convincing my wife that it has to a Foretravel or nothing. 

I'm hoping that this thread will either point out some acceptable alternatives for a vacationer motorhome, or convince me that I should either get a Foretravel or a motel room for travel.

Glen

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #33 –
Well Glen, if Brett and Diane Wolfe can change brands and be happy, you can too. 

I'll take a happy wife over a Foretravel any day!  Well, most days. :-)

Chris

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #34 –
Glen

It is what you can not see that makes a difference.  The Magna can only open a small area in back to access the engine.  The air dryer is up in front of the drive axle so any maintenance requires being under the coach on your back reaching as high as you can to remove the dryer.

But sure scores well on bling and pleasing DW.

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #35 –
The original post simply asked what would you buy if you could not buy a Foretravel, but without mentioning why.

If the reason is price, I would look for an older Foretravel.

If  the reason is none are available here, I would look where the are available, cooker to Nac.

If the reason is downsizing, I would look at the class B, B+, and C models already mentioned here.

I see no reason to consider orphaned brands that are very similar to Foretravel, except missing factory support, outboard air bags for stability, semi monocoque construction for strength and safety, the retarder, and air disc brakes on all corners.

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #36 –
I see no reason to consider orphaned brands that are very similar to Foretravel, except missing factory support, outboard air bags for stability, semi monocoque construction for strength and safety, the retarder, and air disc brakes on all corners.

Well, mine would be considered and orphan being a Monaco. I have 10 outboard air bags, semi-mono construction, no retarder and no disc brakes, but it works just fine. I haven't had any problem getting info from Monaco, even though they've been sold again. Just saying... :)

The reason we don't have an FT is one, there were none in this area to look at and we don't have the time right now to go to Texas to look. Two, for what we wanted we couldn't afford. There are many nice older units, but we wanted a certain size and layout. Not going to settle on a smaller unit or layout we didn't like just to have the name. We still look and maybe someday the right deal will come along, but for now I'll enjoy what we have. I wish FT would start making the 320 series again, so there would be more available for us entry level people. ^.^d

I think this speaks to the current state of the RV industry and why only older units from somewhat defunct companies can compare. Why make quality when you can make quantity?

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #37 –
Glen take it from someone who had a Fortravel on his list for 14 years. In those 14 years I started with a 38' George Boy went to a 34' Vectra to a 40' Damon with three slide and Now I have a 68 Eagle Bus Conversion.  The Eagle has been the best by far, but it's time to move to my last Coach which will be if God willing my last Coach and it will be a Foretravel

You could say that during that time we learned a lot about owning and driving a Motor Home So now in my opinion I will own the best Coach Built.

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #38 –
Quote from: Bill Willett –
I ask this as one of my buddies asked me that question,and I could not give him an answer.
I suppose the answer all depends on the reason why you could not buy a Foretravel.

Re: If you could not buy a Foretravel what would you buy

Reply #39 –
We would buy a Newell or a Prevost, but we're not sure which converter we would use if we bought a Prevost.

If we bought a used version of either one (which is undoubtedly all that we could afford) then we would have to shop very carefully. We really don't care for what seems (at least to us) to be the "industrial white" interior of most used Newells, and we also don't care for what seems (at least to us) to be the "rolling bordello" interior of so many of the Prevost conversions.

Obviously, we believe Foretravel makes the most-nearly-perfect motorhomes!