Factory tour on Voltage and KZ on Tuesday

I hope they still offer the same tour that I got back in 2011, My wife and I were the only ones in the tour, visited various areas through out the plant, I think we were there 4 hours we saw our 3200 in QC as it was coming off the line I was able to walk into each of the areas; chassis, framing, cabinets plumbing, mechanical, & HVAC systems, and see exactly how these units are mfg. and able talk to the production workers. We were also allowed to take lots of pictures. for me it was well worth the trip.

At the Voltage factory, find out who tapes the air conditioning ducts and get him fired.
Also, find out how come the plywood under our bed, was cut 8 inches too narrow. And I'm sure the folks with the cable slides would like to know about the windows in the sides of the slides not being in the proper position for the seal to work. Thanks.

All interesting questions but didn't see them until after the tours. Keep in mind these are just my opinions.
Voltage, factory seemed fairly clean and organized, no running with parts as seen in a couple others. Not open for any changes that change production line. I understand that to a point, but I also think that some changes based on customer wants as long as changes didn't affect the general construction of the RV, could be incorporated. I did comment that I thought they kept most things out of the area of the tires in case of a blowout. Only had one tire brand, Westlake, available. Of course frames are Lippert constructed so that speaks for itself, roof trusses are wood which I didn't care for, seen staples, some in, some out of the wood. Overall fit and finish/construction seemed pretty decent or on par for cookie cuter RVs. Tour guide/salesman agreed with me about being glad they got away from the swin-tec slide system. Cable system is in use now though I prefer hyd on the big slides. I liked the generous use of USB plugs through out the coach.
As for a comment about plywood being too narrow, I would guess they use same cut of wood for queen and king beds. All the AC ducts looked to taped ok too. Mor-ryde 0-gravity ramp door was awesome! I also mentioned that if they are going to use the ramp door as a patio they should seal around the edge of the alum frame so water sitting on door wouldn't seep into to door body.

K-Z, factory wasn't running at 2pm due to the fact workers start at 5am so couldn't get any worker interaction. Factory was also pretty clean. Coach I looked at seemed to have plenty of kitchen storage space which I think is a great thing. Fit and finish looked to be darn good though I did point out a couple cabinet doors that were out of plumb. Use of alum roof trusses was good, also all the alum perimeter tubes, sidewalls and trusses were filled with wood in order to have something substantial to attach to. Serious lack of USB plug ins...like to have those to keep things charged without having to run generator, mentioned I'd like to see some on both sides of master bed, in the kitchen and in the garage area. Also good at keeping wiring and hoses away from tire area. Goodyear tires are an option. The use of residential black threaded pipe for long runs of gas line I thought was pretty heavy duty. Neither company was open to having the option of a larger 7000 onan, let alone a fuel injected model. 7000 gen does away from having to have the energy controller to shut things down when turning on the AC. The use of a 2x2 tube on bottom of I-beam where spring hangers are attached in the axle area was good though I did recommend they run a tie bar from side to side to form a square to tie both sides together. They said they would take that, the caulk around the ramp door and the usb issue under advisement. Didn't like the location of dump valves which were under the frame. Told them they would need to be in a panel location before I would purchase one, they are cable controllers so they can put them wherever they choose within reason of course...getting too old to get on the ground to dump tanks, they said they would look at that also. Hyd slides so that's a great thing in my opinion. The mor-ryde 0-gravity door is also available on KZs. If I had to choose Voltage or KZ, I would probably lean toward the KZ. Again these are just my opinions.

Thank you for your write up. We are looking hard at the KZ 3911 and volatage has a similar floor plan that we have seen already. Haven't walked the KZ yet. Hoping they have one at the Tampa show for us to get to see in person. Few other companies have similar floor plans we are considering but the Dutchman and the KZ are top of our list because of the kitchen and layout seem superior.

Not sure if it is true or not but the KZ seems to have slightly more living room space (in the models we are looking at) and seems a little better constructed on paper.

We saw a 2016 dutchman and have read about their problems on their fan sites. KZ seems to have fewer issues although all manufacturers have problems. I do like the 2 year warranty on KZ though. Seems from your post KZ has a little better construction methods which we've noticed in the literature we've read.

Anyway, thanks for posting your thoughts.

Aridon wrote:
Thank you for your write up. We are looking hard at the KZ 3911 and volatage has a similar floor plan that we have seen already. Haven't walked the KZ yet. Hoping they have one at the Tampa show for us to get to see in person. Few other companies have similar floor plans we are considering but the Dutchman and the KZ are top of our list because of the kitchen and layout seem superior.

Not sure if it is true or not but the KZ seems to have slightly more living room space (in the models we are looking at) and seems a little better constructed on paper.

We saw a 2016 dutchman and have read about their problems on their fan sites. KZ seems to have fewer issues although all manufacturers have problems. I do like the 2 year warranty on KZ though. Seems from your post KZ has a little better construction methods which we've noticed in the literature we've read.

Anyway, thanks for posting your thoughts.

The 3911 is the finished one they had set up for me to look at, was wanting to tour a 4111 but it left the night before. I also like the idea of the 2 yr warranty. They are trying to get a more local dealer to me to start carrying the Venom line so I hope that happens.