What not to do!!!!!!!!!!

gemert wrote:
Opinions are great and appreciated! But...people who represent their opinion as fact and as the only way you or I can do things really irritate me. My problem I know. My point is that whats important to me is Power to climb, a tag axle, continuous hot water, floor plan in that order. I don't care what the floor plan is if I can't take a long hot shower I am going to be miserable. If every time I drive on a hill I am going 15MPH I am going to be miserable. If every time a truck passes me I have to fight the wheel (tag axle) I am going to be miserable. We move a lot so that may have something to do with it. If I have to turn my head a little to watch TV, eh so what! My point is that when someone says that the floor plan is more important than anything else I respect their opinion but tend to "bristle" some because they cannot say that for all of us. They can say it is true for them. It may even be for the majority, I don't know, but not for me. My advice to you is to make a list of your priorities, find some that have what you want, sit in some of them, on a lot, figure out what you like and go from there. I doubt if I would be happy without a tag because of the way I had to fight the wheel every time a truck passes me in the non-tags that I have driven. Anyway, there are lots of different opinions out here, good luck sorting them all out. By the way my Beaver has very low ground clearance but the tag axle is so far to the rear in comparison to the drive axle in non tag 40 ft coaches that I have never scraped the rear undercarriage. Not sure if it would matter on a 45 ft.

Just to give you an example. I don't care about taking long hot showers. A navy shower is fine with me. I would not like to go up a hill at 15 MPH either. But, those huge 600 HP rigs that blast up the steep hills a 70 MPH is not me either. I have a 300 HP Cummins 6.7L ISB. It slows down in the hills to 35-40 MPH. That is fine with me. Takes me a little longer to get up the hills, but no big deal. My rig does not shake when trucks go by. But, I doubt I will ever have or need a tag axle. If I was looking at a 42-45' rig, yes on the tag axle. But not on the 38-40' I am looking for.

Floorplan is important. Not above everything else. But it is up there on the list. Mid ship TV is very important to us. Ability to sleep 3 young adults WITHOUT having to open all the slides is important to us. Large holding tanks. A place for pots and pans. Clothing storage for 5 adults. 4 door refer. Some pass thorough storage for chairs and tables. NOT huge sliding storage trays that slide out both sides. Not needed for us. Good A/C that can cool the coach in 115 degree AZ summer weather. Securely mounted windshield as we just broke our 5th windshield on our Tiffin. I bet that last one is not a priority on anybody elses list!!! ;)

Which brings me to my point. Nobody elses list matters. Figure out what you want and what you can't live without. Because there will almost always be compromises!

Good luck!