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

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.

Before I bought mine, I visited with other folks at various RV parks.
They are all quite willing to talk with you.

Welcome to the forums and congrats on saving several steps (not like me) and going with a tag DP right out of the box. The ONLY con of a tag is two more tires, $1200... in my case every 10 years. For $120/year I get great handling, 9,000 lbs of CCC, plenty of room... 40+feet.

Bill S is correct that the longer the coach the more it's going to drag the hitch and the tag will only help some... it will only support the amount of weight that it's in it's air bags. This is usually around 40 psi or 6000+/- lbs when traveling. With air leveling I'm able to raise the coach up about 4" which I have to do to get it into my MH bay. This increase the psi in the all the airbags increasing their load carrying... for the tag, probably above 10,000 lbs. Having gotten hung up trying to get to a friends house with the coach already raised up there is one more trick. I manually raised the back of the coach and lowered the front... giving the drive tires enough traction to move ahead.

While I'm partial to the Monaco/Beaver RR10S suspension (do a search RR10S) your other two brands have a good rep but they do not use the outboard air bag suspension. I think you will find the wood work is superior in Beaver's and a close second in Monaco's.

I doubt you will find much difference in floor plans unless you think you need two baths or a front kitchen. About the only other difference (major for some) is the TV location. Some do not like the TV above the front seats (sorry, they are not Pilot and Copilot seats found only in airplanes, but I digress). I like laying on the J couch to watch and DW likes the Euro chair and rarely are there more than two of us watching the TV inside. I'm sorry, but the DW is along for the ride... I do 99 percent of the driving, all of the repairs, all of the blue jobs, and most of the planning of what, where, and when. Man up, the handling and reliability is more important than the floor plan.

Good luck in your search, take your time, this site is a good place to get educated... lots of info in that search box at the top, especially if you will search in the archives... more than a year ago.

Do Not be in a hurry to buy. Take your time and do your homework.

Ask around about the pros and cons of tag axles first before you pull the trigger on one.

Since you are not familiar with Class A coaches, I think it would be a good idea to hire a qualified mechanic to thoroughly inspect any coach that you may be interested in. You are looking for someone that will give an honest inspection of the coach without letting his emotions, or flashy interior, get in the way.
Nothing worse than buying a rig that turns out to be a money pit.

Bill.Satellite wrote:
Buy it for the floor plan ONLY! If you are not happy with the floor plan, nothing else will make it better.
By the way, a tag is likely going to make things worse for your sloped driveway as it is the longer coaches that have the tag axle. Ground clearance is generally pretty low in the larger coaches as well.

+1. If the floor plan does not suit you will soon have a large unused yard ornament.
Don't ask me how I know this. Us guys get hung up on brands and mechanical stuff. Mamma focuses on floor plan and all things inside. If mamma ain't happy.........

Buy it for the floor plan ONLY! If you are not happy with the floor plan, nothing else will make it better.
By the way, a tag is likely going to make things worse for your sloped driveway as it is the longer coaches that have the tag axle. Ground clearance is generally pretty low in the larger coaches as well.