[Archived]

As a blanket statement, any conversion is going to have all you might want and even stuff you did not know you wanted and the quality level of all conversions is very good.

People choose one conversion over another usually because they like how a particular converter sets up the systems, or the decor or just how the conversion “feels” to them. If you are looking for a ranking of how the market values different conversions then look at all conversions listed for sale of a given year, and if there are enough examples you will likely see the market votes with its wallet, giving a little more value to one conversion over another.

[Cliff]

Brett,

I have owned Marathon, Royale, CC and Liberty, but I would not hesitate to buy a Featherlite. They do things a little different, but I’ve not heard much in the complaint department.

You’ll hear from Featherlite owners here, so stand by..

[Dan]

My 2 cents

We have owned two Featherlites, 1998 40′ XL and our current 2001 45′ H3.

Both have been excellent coaches with few problems and understandable systems. Our lack of problems has been a result of initial design/quality AND the care & maintenance provided by previous owners. Both coaches, by the way, have Over The Road “bus” air a big plus for us and found on many Featherlite conversions.

[Peter]

I bought a 2000 H Featherlite non slide in 1999. Great coach, the only system I didn’t like was the RVAC or basement A/C system. Doesn’t cool as well as cruise air or roof air. I have had all three systems. RVAC my least favorite. That’s my 2 cents worth.

Bill

[Archived]

One of the first things we look for in a Prevost conversion is the floorplan, the next one is owner care and general condition. If we get serious we’ll go more in depth. We have seen a Featherlite where we loved the floorplan except for the toilet open to the bedroom, but the roof ACs did a significanty worse job at cooling the coach than our current coach. And that was before the non-working refrigerator and dishwasher and fogged windows!. A Featherlite in Ft Worth had pull-out hanging closets behind the bed that were not easily accessible, but otherwise the floor plan was not bad. Another Featherlite also in Ft Worth had been trashed by previous owners, and the shop was still working on putting it back together. What they all had in common was cracked Vitricor, from minor to pretty major. Wade Staley in Nashville stated that a Vitricor coach needs to be warmed up before going on the road. I saw pictures of a Featherlite in Florida that we were entused about, but it disappeared pretty quickly. ALthough with the above comment about basement AC, that may have been for the best. Featherlite owners will have to chime in, but I would not hesitate buying a Featherlite if it checked most, if not all the boxes.

[Archived]

Without sounding stupid, what is Vitricor?

[Archived]

Found this online.

“We are actually the inventors of Vitricor. In 2002 we withdrew the license agreements that we had with Nevamar Div. of International Paper and re-launched the product as NUVACOR (they wouldn’t give us our Vitricor name back). In the interim time, there have been numerous product improvements. We acn be reached at http://www.nuvacor.com (http://www.nuvacor.com/) or at (201) 413-1776. We do not sell through distributors but rather sell directly to the end user. There is also a link to an online Fanrication video which may be of interest to you: http://www.nuvacor.com/videos.htm“

Vitricor

[Archived]

Vitricor is a product that is used on the vertical surfaces of cabinet doors, drawer faces, cabinet framing, etc. in Prevost coach conversions. I’m not aware that its been used as horizontal sufaces where Corian (and more recently granite) is typically used. I know that Vitricor was used well back in the 1990’s (possibly earlier) in many coaches.

I checked out the link to NUVACOR in the post above and its very interesting. Explains why Nuvacor (apparently what we knew as Vitricor) is so wonderful.

We looked at primarily coaches from the late 1990’s and most of them had Vitricor and it appears to wear and age well. The only drawback that I can see is that it has a tendency to crack. As I might have said in a previous post, we have cracks in our Vitricor and Jeff Rowe said cracks are not uncommon in older coaches. Someone posted a service facility or coach dealer told them that the inside of a coach with Vitricor should be warmed up first before it is moved and driven. That makes sense to me; the colder it is the more brittle it probably is and a tiny amount of flexing would lead to cracking. I’ve also been counciled to try to maintain a reasonable amount of temperature in the coach during the winter … which is hard to do in Wisconsin when the coach is parked outside … but I do nonetheless.

Once you’ve seen Vitricor, you’ll understand what it is.

Has any one ever had the Vitricor in their coach replaced in an effort to update the decor? I would imagine its a case of figureing out a way to release the existing Vitricor, cleaning the surface behind the Vitricor (probably plywood), and then attaching new Nuvacor. Easy? Hard? Not worth the effort? Wonderful results?

Maybe some of the Forum members who have a number of coaches will confirm or correct what I’ve said about Vitricor and now Nuvacor. It would be interesting to know if Tom has a preference for surface finishes for his next coach given the experience he has had with all the coaches he has owned over the millenia.

Mr. Mark … what kind of surface finishes does your new Liberty have? Are they using Nuvacor?

[Archived]

I have Viticor on cabinets,refer doors,all drawers,bathroom walls,doors,everywhere. The only cracks I have are the bathroom walls. The only way I knew it wasViticor was from the advertisement when I purchased the coach.So after much search I found who was making Viticor, unfortunately my color is cracked white ice that they discontinued.Im crossing my fingers the rest stays nice.As far as the cold,I brought from warm year round country to the Tundra,it was not happy!! The bathroom ceiling started to drop,Viticor would come unglued in places,and of course it started leaning.Ive found it best not touch anything in the coach when it’s below freezing.

[Fred]

Dick, it installs just like Formica and then comes the highly labor intensive part…instead of routing the edges like formica you polish them by using ever decreasing grit sand paper til they are like glass. Geo.

[Reagan]

“Mr. Mark … what kind of surface finishes does your new Liberty have? Are they using Nuvacor?”

Dick, we have wood veneer walnut cabinets and walnut covered walls and trim, padded walls, tiled backsplash behind the kitchen sink and tile and wood wall in the 1/2 bath and fabric trim around the living room windows.

When we ordered our wood, Liberty wanted us to pick it out asap as it takes awhile to get it.

I looked up Nuvacor and I don’t think we have that product in our coach.

Mark

[Marius]

Mr. Mark: We’ve seen the woods that Liberty uses on the current model coaches and its beautiful.

Geo wrote: “Dick, it installs just like Formica and then comes the highly labor intensive
part…instead of routing the edges like formica you polish them by using ever
decreasing grit sand paper til they are like glass. Geo.”

When I was in the coach a few hours ago, I looked at the Vitricor closely and notices the edges are rounded, not to a point or bevel like Formica. The progressive sanding must do that.

Are you between sessions? Weather good at Daytona? We’re head to the South Eastern Wisconsin Short Track Hall of Fame induction banquet tonight. Bill Prietzel, Johnny Ziegler, Lowell Bennett, Dave Watson, Rick Bickle and a few others are being inducted..

[Dick]

We recently saw a coach with extensive vitricor cracking. So much so we didn’t pursue the coach any further. I know this may be a rare thing, but the coaches with laminate we’ve looked have had no cracking problems.

[Bill]

Dick, arriving Daytona Tues. Test Wed, qualify Thur and race (2) Fri and Sat (1). Trans-Am finale Sat. Geo.

---

2005 XL Thompson Coach

Rarely tow anything behind us.

Sold: 1993 Liberty that we loved for 12 years.

[Larry]

Geo: Johnny Ziegler was inducted into the SEWSTHOF Saturday night. In his acceptance speech he mentioned he drove a car or cars for you.