Bren53 wrote:
We are looking at Coachman Freelanders. Any pros cons on those?
We have a Freelander 21qb (24ft) on the Chevy chassis.
Pros:
-Large Cargo carrying capacity on the shorter unit with the 4500 chevy chassis. We have over 4500 lbs. capacity. With every single tank full (including waste, fresh water, fuel (57 gals), propane), plus 4 of us and all our stuff we still have almost 2000 lbs left.
-Large fresh water tank for an rv this size at 50 gallons. We like to be where hookups aren't. Plus room in the battery box for a second battery.
-Larger inside storage closet than the comparable-sized Thor unit.
- U-shaped dinette when made into a bed is nice and large. Actually usable for an adult. The main bed is also nice at 60X80.
-Nice large outside storage area with large door on the side. Not much we can't fit in there.
-24 foot length: we could get everywhere we wanted to with it. Never felt uncomfortable with size in any parking lot, gas station, Park, etc.. Got a fantastic spot in Glacier NP practically by ourselves due to it's size combined with a "hard-side unit only" restriction due to bears.
-A pro for us is no slide.
Cons:
-Being a more budget-minded camper it is missing a few things. It has non-ducted Air Conditioning (a little louder). No radio or even speakers in the house section. 2-way versus 3-way refrigerator (it barely sips gas on propane tho). Gas DSI water heater only, no electric element. Rubber type roof versus fiberglass. No standard vent fans except the dinky one in the bathroom. There is an option for some to be added. Look through the listed standards and options and you'll see some of the differences compared to the more expensive units.
-The table for the dinette is not the most stable at times. You do not want to physically lean on it at the left/right edges. We added small curtain tension rods to firm it up. Don't get me wrong, it isn't wobbly loose.
Build quality is on par with most others, no better and certainly no worse. If the stories about the Thor units are to be believed, I would say it may be a tad better than those. We had ours out on a roughly 20 day trip immediately after we took delivery of it and had no failures of anything at all. A few warranty issues to take care of but nothing that has left us stranded or without the use of some system (knocking on wood...). Next long trip coming up, so we'll see how it holds up.
