Re: Year 2000 to 2005 U320 questions
Reply #18 –
Good factual info here.
My time with Foretravel as a manager was well before the dates you are interested in unfortunately for me but I am a big fan of gel coated exteriors.
But that is for a reason. And we may use our coach differently than the majority here.
In my orginal presentation to prospective Foretravel owners I highly stressed the gel coats much tougher surface than paint. And the much less heat gain in the sun.
I had them touch the exterior in direct sun then touch a painted coaches exterior. Big difference.
Especially dark paint.
That being said most newer coach owners run their gens constantly while using the coach.
Or drive from power pedestal to power pedestal.
Over the years we have driven around countless campgrounds looking at prospective sites and love the ability to not need the hookups as much and to have the flexibility to dry camp weather permitting.
The gel coat in white displays almost no visible marks from small tree branches and such and allows some flexibility in selecting small forest service campgrounds with tighter clearances.
I know this is not exactly what you asked about so I hope you factor this in.
Every boat in the harbor is white gel coat for a reason.
Was in our closed up coach in storage yesterday and our areas temps have been up,to the high 80's and the refers doors were open inside the coach. The refer has exterior temp indicators over the doors. They record the current and max temps inside.
I noticed the max was at 78 degrees.
Dark paint would have had the gauge much hotter.
Different idea maybe from what you originally asked for and depending on your wants and where you live and its climate you may need/want a coach that's prettier painted and to run the gen more.
My comment long ago before painted Foretravels was that one mark of how "good" an Rv is is how well does it dry camp?
At least to us as we live in Southern California and over the last four years we have owned this coach the industry has sold several million Rvs.
Parks are much more crowded and reservstions are done seven months in advance.
Almost all the pretty new coaches require a lot of gen time and have tender exteriors.
We like more quiet. Less neighbors in more open campgrounds.
The majority of current owners can not or do not use their coaches this way.
A lot of prospective owners envisioning the "Rv lifestyle" want the social life and to meet new people and be part of a group which while fun was not our reason for having a coach.
We went through a so cal campground in the early afternoon tenatively looking at camp sites and we noticed a group of campers gathered in a site and several golf carts parked in the area and all of the group had a large probably adult beverage in their hands at two pm.
Not our style. But is very normal.
I sold bluebirds in the late 80's and early 90's and the painted metal body required the gen on at most times.
Not so the Foretravel. None of the older Rvs high line coaches were darkly painted, light pastel colors at most.
Good luck in your search as this will be fun. I would seriously think about even older years if you like the flexibility the early coaches offer.
Just a thought. we would not want a less dry campable Rv than we have now.
We are into nature not necessarily the Rv lifestyle so your wants are probably different.
Interested to see what you find.
Topic: Year 2000 to 2005 U320 questions