Palazzo review
I just got back from my shakedown trip with my new Palazzo 33.3 and since I have seen several questions/comments about this model here I thought that I would share what I have learned so far. First o...
Forum Discussion
Mine has not come down while traveling but I realized early on that you cannot rely the motors to hold it up. It must be secured somehow. I mentioned earlier that I purchased some cargo braces off Ebay for $30 and they let me position the bed where I want it then hold it securely in place. So far that has worked. I do wish that they would strengthen the motors or put some lower brackets in for the pins. The lower brackets would be easy at the factory but I don't want to weld on the track in the in the coach.
I have made another trip of about 700 miles and overall fuel economy measured was 10.1mpg but that includes about 24hrs of running the generator as we were boondocking. If you assume that the generator burned 12 gallons then the coach is back up around the 12mpg the trip computer indicates. Do you guys feel that generator fuel consumption should be included in fuel economy calculations or not?
The biggest surprise I had this trip was that I checked water levels shortly after arrival(2 showers had already taken place) and found that my fresh water was only reading 1/3 full. I had filled the tank at home until it overflowed. To be honest I panicked a little becuase I was afraid of giving out of fresh water and overrunnig with gray water long before my 3 day trip was up. I was at a convention where moving or dumping on site were not good options. I removed the covers from the fresh water tank and found that we were just below the 2/3 level sensor so the water level was not nearly as bad the gage showed but it was still down a solid 25 gallons. So now the question was "Where did the water go?" Both holding tanks showed empty. Where they really empty, where the gages broken or did the water do somewhere else. The holding tanks were too opaque to see the actual level. The gages started coming up a day later and seemed to work well and I did not find any leaks anywhere so my conclusion is that the water simply went out the overflow. The fresh tank is 5 feet wide with the overflow all the way to one side just doing straight down and out. It is easy for me to imagine the water sloshing on a trip and everytime it goes into the corner with the overflow some goes out and is gone. I purchased about $20 worth of plumbing from Home Depot to run the overlow lines up to the top of the compartment before going down to see if I can reduce the amount of loss while traveling. I have a trip planned in a few weeks and hope to test this out then.
Other findings: The dash radio is nearly useless for the driver. Very poor speaker placement. I have purchased some box speakers for boat installations from Overtons for $50 and plan to install them on the dash near the A posts. I plan to disconnect the speakers in the back bedroom and use their leads for the front. I plan to use the TVs in the bedroom and outside for music when needed. My smart phone has a radio built in as well as offering Pandora. The best way I have found to connect to the TVs is with a micro USB to HDMI cable. In the little village I live in the only place I have found the cable is at Home Depot. I will have to remove an access panel behind the toilet to plug in the HDMI for the outside television.
The closet door for the bunks kept coming open and banging around and one of the kitchen drawers won't stay shut so I need to beef up the holding devices for them.
I commented to a friend that I have some wind noise coming from the slideout just behind the driver. He said that his Thor Outlaw (same builder, 1/3 less money) does not have this problem but that his slideout pulls in tighter. I am going to have to talk with Thor about this. I got some serius envy going on with the outside lights and radio that coach has. Considering how much more I paid for mine I think Thor could have come much closer to what the Outlaw has in this area.
I want to be able to look in one spot and get a good and quick assessment of what is going one all around the coach while in traffic so I am planning to give each outside camera its own monitor. I believe that there is room on the dash for 3 Pyle 9" monitors (I got mine from Tiger Direct for about $75 each) without excessive restriction of front vision. The dash is huge in this rig. The adapter wires to hook the cameras to the monitors can be purchased straight from Voyager for about $25 per camera. My wife has me rebuilding a deck now for a big event in Oct. so installing some of these changes has taken a back seat but I will give a better report when that happens. Maybe I am just a gadget freak but when I read in the chassis manual the part about how to use the adaptive cruise control I thought that I should check into it. When I called Freightliner the rep first did not even know what I was talking about but did some hunting and found that it is still in the prototype stage and is being tested by Newmar. He suggested that I call be in a year to see if a retrofit kit has been made available and affordable. After being quoted $141 for a brake controller cable I am not optimistice on the affordable part.
The coach seemed to drive much better on this trip. I cannot say whether it really did or if I am just getting the hang of it. I did use a Genturi stack on the generator exhaust and was pleased with getting the diesel exhaust up where I could not smell it. I probably will not mess with it for most overnight stays but since I was staying 3 full days in a crowded area I thought it was worthwhile. An a previous trip I did notice diesel fumes coming in through some windows when I cranked the genny to recharge the batteries and run the coffee maker in the morning without using the stack. We did not have any fumes in the coach with the stack installed.
I have made another trip of about 700 miles and overall fuel economy measured was 10.1mpg but that includes about 24hrs of running the generator as we were boondocking. If you assume that the generator burned 12 gallons then the coach is back up around the 12mpg the trip computer indicates. Do you guys feel that generator fuel consumption should be included in fuel economy calculations or not?
The biggest surprise I had this trip was that I checked water levels shortly after arrival(2 showers had already taken place) and found that my fresh water was only reading 1/3 full. I had filled the tank at home until it overflowed. To be honest I panicked a little becuase I was afraid of giving out of fresh water and overrunnig with gray water long before my 3 day trip was up. I was at a convention where moving or dumping on site were not good options. I removed the covers from the fresh water tank and found that we were just below the 2/3 level sensor so the water level was not nearly as bad the gage showed but it was still down a solid 25 gallons. So now the question was "Where did the water go?" Both holding tanks showed empty. Where they really empty, where the gages broken or did the water do somewhere else. The holding tanks were too opaque to see the actual level. The gages started coming up a day later and seemed to work well and I did not find any leaks anywhere so my conclusion is that the water simply went out the overflow. The fresh tank is 5 feet wide with the overflow all the way to one side just doing straight down and out. It is easy for me to imagine the water sloshing on a trip and everytime it goes into the corner with the overflow some goes out and is gone. I purchased about $20 worth of plumbing from Home Depot to run the overlow lines up to the top of the compartment before going down to see if I can reduce the amount of loss while traveling. I have a trip planned in a few weeks and hope to test this out then.
Other findings: The dash radio is nearly useless for the driver. Very poor speaker placement. I have purchased some box speakers for boat installations from Overtons for $50 and plan to install them on the dash near the A posts. I plan to disconnect the speakers in the back bedroom and use their leads for the front. I plan to use the TVs in the bedroom and outside for music when needed. My smart phone has a radio built in as well as offering Pandora. The best way I have found to connect to the TVs is with a micro USB to HDMI cable. In the little village I live in the only place I have found the cable is at Home Depot. I will have to remove an access panel behind the toilet to plug in the HDMI for the outside television.
The closet door for the bunks kept coming open and banging around and one of the kitchen drawers won't stay shut so I need to beef up the holding devices for them.
I commented to a friend that I have some wind noise coming from the slideout just behind the driver. He said that his Thor Outlaw (same builder, 1/3 less money) does not have this problem but that his slideout pulls in tighter. I am going to have to talk with Thor about this. I got some serius envy going on with the outside lights and radio that coach has. Considering how much more I paid for mine I think Thor could have come much closer to what the Outlaw has in this area.
I want to be able to look in one spot and get a good and quick assessment of what is going one all around the coach while in traffic so I am planning to give each outside camera its own monitor. I believe that there is room on the dash for 3 Pyle 9" monitors (I got mine from Tiger Direct for about $75 each) without excessive restriction of front vision. The dash is huge in this rig. The adapter wires to hook the cameras to the monitors can be purchased straight from Voyager for about $25 per camera. My wife has me rebuilding a deck now for a big event in Oct. so installing some of these changes has taken a back seat but I will give a better report when that happens. Maybe I am just a gadget freak but when I read in the chassis manual the part about how to use the adaptive cruise control I thought that I should check into it. When I called Freightliner the rep first did not even know what I was talking about but did some hunting and found that it is still in the prototype stage and is being tested by Newmar. He suggested that I call be in a year to see if a retrofit kit has been made available and affordable. After being quoted $141 for a brake controller cable I am not optimistice on the affordable part.
The coach seemed to drive much better on this trip. I cannot say whether it really did or if I am just getting the hang of it. I did use a Genturi stack on the generator exhaust and was pleased with getting the diesel exhaust up where I could not smell it. I probably will not mess with it for most overnight stays but since I was staying 3 full days in a crowded area I thought it was worthwhile. An a previous trip I did notice diesel fumes coming in through some windows when I cranked the genny to recharge the batteries and run the coffee maker in the morning without using the stack. We did not have any fumes in the coach with the stack installed.
