michelb
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Re: Importing 2006 Monaco Camelot 42DSQ to Canada
Just to add a bit of information to the thread (even if it's been buried for almost a year), one of the requirements to import into Canada is that you need a Recall Clearance Letter from the chassis manufacturer. For most Class As, that's Spartan or Freightliner so it's not an issue but you have to be careful as some coaches use custom chassis (E.g. CC, Monaco / Holiday Rambler, some National RVs, Western RV / Alpine, etc) - if you can't get the Recall Clearance letter, you can't import the RV to Canada. Monaco is still around after being bought out a few times but I'm not sure if they issue Recall Letters for Roadmaster chassis so you'd want to confirm that before purchasing (I thought I had read somewhere that they do not). On a related note, there's a debate on whether you need it from just the chassis manufacturer or both the chassis manufacturer and the coach builder. I've imported 4 class A's since around 2006. For the first one I had recall letters from both but since then, I've only had the one from the chassis manufacturer and it's never been a problem (including importing a National Tradewinds on a Freightliner chassis from a manufacturer (National RV) that was no longer in business).577Views0likes0CommentsRe: NEW ENGLAND STATES - Maine/Massachusetts
Thanks for all the info in the thread. We're looking for a summer ocean / beach vacation so will look into Salisbury Beach SR and Hampton Beach SP. Any other recommendations? Any beachfront State Parks or County Parks near Old Orchard? Let us know. Thanks.534Views0likes0CommentsRe: Suggestions for older pickup to tow 18k lbs 40'+ FW
Thanks again for the information. I'm finding more options for BH FW that we like but looking at floorplans, the ones we like are 40'+ and in the 16k lbs range (I said 18k lbs to give me some buffer space but it looks like that's around where I need to go from large truck to very large truck! Looking closer at the weights, we can probably do 16k which might give us more cheaper options). The reason we don't like any of the 37' ones is that all the ones we've seen don't have the 'living rm / kitchen' space we want to comfortably sit 5+. They seem to all have the dinette or stand alone chair and a sofa (often only 2 seater) inline against the far wall (and the travel trailers are similar). The 40'+ ones have another sofa or euro recliners perpendicular to the sofa. Travel Trailers also don't have the storage space we'd like. As far as towing a smaller travel trailer or tenting, it just doesn't work with our family. Our kids are not old enough to stay in tent by themselves so wife or I have to stay in the tent and many of the campgrounds we go to won't let us have a tent. As far as a small TT, we'd need to get 2 sites and again, we'd have to split up. Spending more on the truck is certainly an option but I don't think I need to (since I think I can find something in my budget) and as mentioned, I don't want to as the truck will only be used to pull the trailer so I don't want to spend $20k-30k on it. Ideally, I'd just rent a truck when we camp but I'm not even sure if we can rent a suitable truck but more importantly, it doesn't really work for us as we drive and leave our rv in Florida every winter so we'd have to do a one-way rental twice / year (or do the return trip). As we all know, with RVs often comes compromise (budget, space, style, storage, etc) and we just have to decide what the best option is for us. We really like our class A for the living room space but we kind of need more sleeping options so we're looking at large fifth wheel. Obviously, for us, getting a FW means we need to compromise on the tow vehicle and it also means giving up driving in the class A which we prefer. We haven't seen any TT that we like as much as our current setup but we haven't given up.1.1KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Suggestions for older pickup to tow 18k lbs 40'+ FW
Thanks for the extra info. I was budgeting about $35-$40k for the trailer (used) - New MSRP is around $80k but you can buy them for around $60k and the floorplan has been around for since 2010 so I think I can probably find one for $35k (I've seen 2012s for low 40s asking). I've looked a bit online in my area and I think if I take my time, I might be able to find a truck in my budget. While many are more, it looks like there are 01-04 3500 duallies for under $10k but obviously the condition varies so ... Thanks again517Views0likes0CommentsRe: Suggestions for older pickup to tow 18k lbs 40'+ FW
Thanks for the reality check. I had no idea that a used truck would be so much (I was sure a 10-12 yr old truck with 250k miles would be easy to find in our budget). Also had no idea I needed so much truck. 2003silverado wrote: ... Out of curiosity why do you feel a truck/fifth wheel combo would be more family friendly than the motor home with a toad? Seems like the comfort of a motor home while going down the road would be more family friendly than being crammed in a truck for long periods of time. I agree that on the road, the class A is much nicer but once we're parked / setup, the class A just doesn't have the sleeping / living capacity that we'd like (we'd really like to have 6 dedicated sleeping spots (i.e. not sofas in living room)) schlep1967 wrote: What 5th wheel are you figuring on? I'm guessing it has to be a toy hauler. You can get a 2015 open range 3X 427 BHS (the 3x is well insulated and the BHS stands for bunkhouse it has the capacity to sleep 8) whith a max weight of just over 16K. ... That's actually the model we're looking at (or something similar if it exists). There seems to be a bit of a range in the GVWRs I've seen for it (as low at 14k on the new 2015s (now only 2 axles) and as high as 17.5k on the older ones (was 3 axles before) but I just thought I'd give myself a buffer so went with 18k towing. In any case, thanks again for the all the info. I'll have to re-assess our budget and see if it's something we want to do (I don't really if I want to spend more than $10k on a truck that we'll probably only drive 9 weeks / year).516Views0likes0CommentsSuggestions for older pickup to tow 18k lbs 40'+ FW
Because of our growing family, we're looking at trading our 40' DP for more family friendly FW so I need to get a tow vehicle. The truck would pretty much just be used to pull the trailer and we'd drive it for in-city transportation when we're on vacation. I'm not a truck guy and don't know much about them or what I should be looking at. I'd like to spend $5k-$10k (or less). Need to be able to sit 5 comfortably. I'd rather not get a DRW since I'd rather drive a SRW when we're not towing. Do I need 4x4 or is 4x2 okay? I'd like to get a diesel but would consider gasoline. With diesel, I'd like to get an exhaust brake. My first thought is something like a 04-07 Dodge Ram 3500 Megacab (not sure if it's even in my budget) but I'm open to suggestions. Please don't make this into a brand X is better than brand Y. I'm really looking for something like "Brand X, model Y with this engine would fit your needs and budget ...". Thanks13KViews0likes39CommentsRe: warranty secrets revealed
Tntman wrote: ... You bought a Tiffin motorhome, Bob Tiffin WILL take care of ANY problems you may have PERIOD. ... Unfortunately, that is not my experience. A few years ago, we purchased a used 2003 Phaeton 40RH (which might make it more of a 'pre-04' as the 40RH wasn't listed a model available in 2003). Last summer, I noticed that it suffers from the wet bay problem but unfortunately Tiffin will not repair it since it is older than 8 years old and they only repair 04s and up (they tell me 03s were constructed differently and did not suffer the problem ...) I understand that Tiffin certainly doesn't have to repair my unit but on the other hand, I don't think anybody will disagree that it's a design / manufacturing defect and since they don't actually contact owners to inform them of the problem and instead only fix it at their cost when the owners notice and ask them to fix it, I would have not expected them to impose an strict age limit. Is it unreasonable to expect that a motor home costing over $150k should last more than 8 years?345Views0likes0CommentsRe: Great beach camping in FL
You don't mention what time of the year you are travelling but personally, I'd only go to the Florida pan handle in the summer. For the rest of the year, you could also do North Beach Campground (or something like that) near St Augustine or Outdoor Resorts in Melbourne Beach. There's also Red Coconut in Fort Myers Beach but it's pretty expensive / cramped so we've never stayed there.141Views0likes0CommentsRe: Is there anything other than Disney to do in Orlando?
Road Runners wrote: If you like airplane museum one of the best is Fantasy of Flight right off I-4 at exit 44. This is 20 west of Disney World. It won't break the bank to go there. If you like airplanes, there's also Florida Air Museum at Sun n Fun http://www.sun-n-fun.org/museum.aspx which isn't that far away (in Lakeland, FL). April 1st-6th is actually their air show dates (http://www.sun-n-fun.org/FlyIn.aspx). I've never been but it looks to be pretty huge (Blue Angels are flying Friday to Sunday). We thought of trying to go but the dates just don't really work for us.355Views0likes0Comments
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