[Archived]

Kurt,

It is nice to see your wife appreciates quality.

You have a tall order. I think your price is well within reason, but from there the requirements start to add a degree of difficulty. A 40 footer, with Series 60 is not completely off the charts. IFS is a late 96 chassis change so you lose those with the solid axle and that cuts down the size of the field.

If you want solar which is not unreasonable you want an open roof. Eliminating those that do not have roof airs really cuts down the field because you have taken Royales and CC out of the mix.

Almost every Prevost and possibly every Prevost with a series 60 is going to have a conventional house refrigerator so you are going to have a demand on your batteries. I think living off the grid such as dry camping is viewed as either being an opportunity to crank up our under utilized generators and live in luxury with all of our energy consuming devices working for us all the time, or it can mean living with the windows open trying to stretch the time frame between generator starts. Count me in the first category because to me a Prevost is a really lousy RV for trying to live without hook ups or the generator singing 24/7.

Finding a highly maintained coach is what everyone wants, but we know as coaches age a lot of owners start to experience problems beyond the scope of good routine maintenance such as air bags, brake chambers and stuff just wearing out like the refrigerator, suspension parts, etc. Unless an owner is proactive and replaces good parts based on age you might have to accept a coach that will be nicely cared for, but still in need of future repairs or maintenance.

If you can add 10 feet to your garage you significantly expand your choices.

[Archived]

Do any 40′ XL’s have IFS ? Geo.

[Archived]

Yes. The problem is when the 45 footers were introduced the number of 40’s produced went from 100% down to almost 0% in a very short period of time. We have seen the same thing happen with slide versus no slide coaches.

[Archived]

No offence intended to Jon, but since he has little interest in dry camping, I recognize his opinions are base on his limited experience.

While I have a SOB coach, it is all-electric with similar appliances/equipment as Prevost conversions. It also has roof air conditioners with 4 solar panels (two controllers and prewired for 8 solar panels). While the roof is a bit cluttered, it is in no way “full”.

We dry camp about 50% of the time, predominantly in the Southeast. We find that the solar panels are most effective in cooler weather when we have no air conditioning demands or cold weather when the AquaHot takes care of heating needs. Our coach is not configured to run air conditioners off the inverters/batteries, nor would I ever want to be able to do that.

Our generator is 12,500 watt and produces the same 240V/50 amp power as is available from campground shore power. Many Prevost conversions have 20,000 watt generators, with the newer coaches capable of drawing more power than a 50 amp campground shore power hookup can provide.

Regardless of your power source, in order to dry camp or use shore power, you will need to be cognizant of your power loads.

All that said, it is easy to “live in luxury” and dry camp, you just need to apply a little intelligence.

[Tim]

Welcome Kurt, we already like your wife, she’s on the right track.:) There are 40 footers out there, be sure to visit our Coach for Sale section. Don’t discount non IFS coaches, they’re rock solid with less maintenance and the only difference is turn radius.

Geo – 97 was the change over years for IFS, I had 3 97’s and none had IFS. As I recall, it was late in 97 for the change.

[Tim]

Kurt, when I began my coach search I also was specifically looking for a forty footer. My search lasted about a year. I further complicated my search with a preference for XLII ‘s and a nonslide unit. I was EXTREMELY lucky. Even after reading every post available I realize now I was without the knowledge necessary and didn’t take the steps I should have to properly evaluate the coach. I like you started looking for a nice Foretravel because I had previously owned one and had a good experience. Like you my wife was drawn to Prevost. We test drove an XL and the windows were all it took for Becky to be sold . For me even that poorly cared for unit showed me there was no comparison between Prevost and a fiberglass coach. My coach lived in Nevada and spent much of it’s time in Las Vegas. It was equipped with 8 solar panels that match the long rectangular panel in the excellent picture Les posted . My roof needed to be resealed and I made the decision not to reinstall them after the roof was completed. They worked well and had controls mounted in the rear closet to control the power but were not relevant to my use of the coach and the mounts were a source of potential leaks. I have never regretted my decision but I’m not shy to run the generator. Like most things Prevost the importance of features are very personal. It sounds like you have a good handle on what features are important to you and they sound very obtainable. Long story short Prevost is the way to go and all your features can be found. FYI my 40’ is also a CC and another example of a lucky choice which has proven to be a good one.

[Archived]

Tom is correct, but in the context of chassis year Prevost introduced the IFS at the tail end of the 96 Prevost chassis year, but that would be a coach likely titled and registered as a 97. I think the VIN would have been T-5880 or near there.

[Michael]

I knew the 45′ XL’s got IFS in 96 shell yr, but thought the 40’s did not until the XL11. Guess I was mistaken. Geo.

[Archived]

Geo, It has been hard to track some of the changes. I think a solid axle was even optional on some coaches even after IFS wss introduced. You might be right because the 45 with the longer wheelbase needed it to keep the turn radius reasonable.

Anybody have a 40′ coach after T5880 that has IFS and is an XL, not an XLI?

[Jackson]

Tom, how much does IFS improve the turning radius. My 1990 obviously does not have IFS and I’m happy as can be with the ride and handling. My smile is always very big whenever I’m behind the wheel. I’ve never driven a Prevost with IFS. Can it really be that much better? Less moving parts seems ok to me too.

[DON]

Jon is correct, the 97’s I had were 96 chassis not 97’s.

Bill, other than the turning radius, I couldn’t tell any difference.

[Bill]

IFS began at vin #T-5873. Both 40’s and 45’s. Our new 40 ft coach, a1999, is X-6742 has IFS

[Per]

Kurt,

Phil Cooper has a 99 – 40′ Marathon that looks nice.

I bought my 98 Liberty from him last year, he was a great guy to work with.

http://philcooper.com/inventory/99-40-marathon/#.VfDhk8uCOrU

Good luck, and welcome to the family.

Jackson

[Corey]

Thank you all for feedback! I read your responses to my wife and it only added fuel to the fire 🙂 She says I need to figure out how much it would cost to extend the garage now. We would be fine without IFS, we don’t have it now and I would think because of the tag, the turning radius of a Prevost 40 will be close to my CC 36.

George,

What size tanks do you have on your CC?

All,

Was told all the Liberty XL40s have 165 Fresh and 165 Combined Waste, and a Marathon I read about had 160 Fresh, 100 Gray, and 70 Black. Are these standard sizes for Liberty and Marathon of late 90’s vintage? It would be a welcome step up from my 100, 75, and 50.

Jackson,

We really like the 99 Phil has (exterior, interior laminate color, etc.) but decided the private toilet was a minimum requirement. Ideally we would like the L Booth as well. We are planning to reupholster, front to back tile, and change out TVs/fixtures/window treatments as required with any coach we get. Talked to Phil last week and, like you said, he sounds like a great guy.

Thanks all!

Kurt

[Craig]

Kurt,

It sounds like your wife is a very smart lady…. go with the bigger garage…. it’s only money…. your money…

Welcome!

Jon / Tom I would like to suggest that Kurt’s wife is a keynote speaker at the next Rally.

Bill