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Foretravel’s New H3
As a former Foretravel owner, I was aware that Foretravel was converting a Prevost. Had not heard anything for about an year, here is a link to there new coach:
Roy
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10 Replies
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That is interesting I went to the Foretravel site did not see anything.
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I sent that to Prevost just for clarification.
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While this is not confirmed, I’m to understand that Foretravel has owned this chassis for quite a few years. While it’s being called a 2020 model, I’m curious as to the chassis year.
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Given the complexity of the new conversions and the massive amount of engineering and development time required I would be surprised if their first conversion didn’t take years of effort so an older chassis would be expected.
A great part of the cost of conversions has to be amortization of the engineering and development costs which must run into millions of dollars spread over a limited number of production units. Very deep pockets are required for a company to enter the bus conversion market, and the growth rate of sales of those coaches is very slow until the market begins to see the company has legs. Nobody wants to be stuck with a complicated coach whose converter couldn’t make it leaving them with a orphan, and sometimes no source for support for all the programming that is now a central part of coaches.
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I am curious why a company that has been building coaches from the ground up for many, many years would have any interest or need to convert some other manufacturers coach? I have toured the Foretravel facility and don’t see anything that they do that would deter a Foretravel buyer from buying a Foretravel. The build a great chassis with high quality throughout the build out process. If this is true, is Foretravel saying the Prevost name/chassis is better for their reputation than the chassis Foretravel has built from the ground up?
I believe it was my very first RV rally in TN (near Knoxville) in the 1995-6 range. I didn’t own a Foretravel but was open to all RVers. I did not own a Prevost but rather a very entry level diesel pusher. I was treated like I was a complete equal to those who were Foretravel owners and with unlimited respect (despite what I was driving!). I still have the Foretravel knife set they gave out at that rally and the rosen baked potatoes where some of the best I have ever eaten and have never seen anything similar since.
I have tremendous respect for the Foretravel brand and the folks responsible for the coaches they build so it will be very interesting to see where this story goes.
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All current Foretravels are on a Spartan chassis. No more monocock, built from ground up for several years
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This is an uneducated opinion that might explain why Foretravel might wish to enter the conversion market.
The Prevost chassis cannot be compared to any conventional RV chassis. It is built for heavy, hard commercial service and any weak points or areas that could prove to be service problems are quickly found and resolved. Commercial operators are putting on so many miles so fast service issues are identified and resolved and we are the beneficiaries of that commercial use.
But it goes beyond have millions and millions of miles of on the road experience to find weak points. The chassis and its suspension and steering are fine tuned to such a degree that our commercial chassis are easier to drive than anything else that is in the RV market. We don’t have to struggle to keep our coaches in the lane, we aren’t fighting the steering wheel every time we pass a truck or the crown in the road changes a little.
And most of all, unless an RV has the entire chassis that consists of a fully welded cage (monocoque chassis as mentioned by Rudy) the driver and passengers lack the protection we have in an accident.
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I’m with Bill, went to a mini Fortravel rally in Kodak, TN near Sevierville back in the day and bought a U280. Kodak at the time was Fortravels sales location. Production is in Nacogdoches, TX and I toured the plant one time and was impressed with the quality. They had bulk walnut wood being turned into cabinets all by hand. The sales guy 200+ lbs would pull open a small galley bottom drawer and stand on it to show it’s strength.
Best non Prevost coach I ever owned and factory support was second to none.
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The Foretravel H3 conversion is now listed in RVTrader with 298 pictures. Looks very high tech (8 pictures of the touchscreen controlled toilet). Hope this link works:
1999 XLV X-6872, liberty #440 -
My wife refuses to let me buy it. No commode in the main bathroom in the back is a deal killer. Oh well, I must be content with our last bus I suppose.
Davy
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