[jack]

Vantare would be an excellent choice. Over the years I have had 6 coaches custom built by Vantare. I am a major fan of their systems and coaches.

You asked about changing out the two chairs and table for a sleeper sofa. There should be plenty of room for a 6′ or longer sleeper sofa in their place. Should be a very easy change.

You also were concerned about leveling. I think you will find the air system will take care of most normal leveling situations. However, there are times you will need more. I carry (8) 2″x12″x12″ wood blocks for the few times I need more. Back in the 80’s when I first started rving I owned two bluebirds. I carried (4) 12’x12′ blocks in the bluebird to put under the jacks in muddy areas or fresh asphalt. Over time I really believe you will learn to like air leveling over jacks.

if you purchase a Vantare there are two people you should ge to know.

First is Donnie Myers at DMRV Service in Sanford, FL. Donnie was one of the top service techs at Vantare before he went off on his own and started his service facility. He has a state of the art facility and a great team of service pros. He knows every inch of a Vantare and has been there and done that on any challenge that you might have. He just completed a total remodel on my coach and I was blown away with the results. Donnie does it right the first time which is rare in the rv industry. He comes with my unqualifed recommendation from myself and many other very satisfied Vantare owners. If you find a Vantare coach call Donnie before you buy it. Likely he knows the coach and it’s maintenace.

Second is Jim Marsh. Check his website out at: https://www.viplcc.com/about Jim has tremendous experience and offers a very reasonble cost for your peace of mind and 24/7 help.

Hope this helps.

[Archived]

David,

I cannot speak about Vantare but the previous post gave some excellent advice.

I can tell you the leveling system has limitations of about 4″ up or 4″ down, all three positions. So as long as the side to side or front to rear slope on a site is less than 8″ between the wheel footprints you are gong to be able to level the coach.

Having said that I have dealt with owners who have had their coaches for quite a while, like a year or more and who were unaware they could level it, or how to go about doing that. The only reason I even found this out was when we did the two production runs of stands I needed some owners to give me dimensions with the coach raised up. Some did not know how to do that, and others when getting the stands did not know how to get the stands under because the driving height wasn’t high enough. That might explain the lumber yard in the bay or it might be as simple as the folks go to some primitive campgrounds where a level site is non-existent.

[Jerry]

David, Dave’s post was right on. You can add Ben Cumming and Rick May to the list of know hows for Vantare. They have extensive knowledge and experience with that conversion. They are at Parliament in Clearwater, Fl. I don’t know where you are located, but between Clearwater and Sanford(90mi) there is all the support you need. We have just purchased an H series Vantare and had Ben and Rick do the inspection. BTW Brad at The Motorcoach Store in Bradenton has a very nice 01 H Vantare, We looked at that coach pretty thoroughly and almost bought it.

[Archived]

Congrats on the new purchase. How about some photos and a revised signature line?

Does this mean the purchase of a toad begins again so the colors match???????

[Peter]

Jon, Don’t have it yet, soon. Even though Corey’s a Designer, I’m a hillbilly. So Tom’s redneck truck stays.

[jack]

David

Vantare H 3 was my first pick but the wife overrulled me because of all the steps.

Rick May is an outstanding resource and can fix any thing Prevost made, I do not know Ben but I am sure he is very good as well.

There are three build that I would go with Marathon, Liberty and Vantare all three are in business and support their product.

Best of luck on any one of the three you pick, you can count on the support and part supplies both from Prevost and the convertors.

You know how Bluebird Wanderlodge left in the dust.

[Archived]

Thanks everyone for the outstanding information and response. I’m feeling very comfortable that Vantare is still a top contender. I spent the afternoon at Burke Christian Tours, NC, yesterday (getting steer axle
tires on my BB). While there I viewed and drove a 2000 Vantare H3-Series. It was
impressive; hence, my questions to the folks here relative to Vantare’s serviceability and Amadas. From what I can tell Vantare built a very high quality motorhome. I’m still searching about looking for a write-up of the typical Vantare feature set; if anyone has a pdf they can share I’d very much apprecieate it. Driving the H3 was indescribable. This particular bus has 2 CruiseAirs and one RVAC. Can anyone explain to me how the RVAC differs from CruiseAirs? Thanks again for the invaluable information.

[Ted]

David,

One thing I have found over the years is regardless of the converter you will spend most of your maintenance and repair efforts on the Prevost side of the conversion. I think others will agree our conversions are remarkably trouble free especially considering we are driving them down the road attempting to shake them to death.

I do not know Donny Meyers, but I do know both Rick and Ben. All have been highly regarded and I suspect every one of them will make the time to discuss with your their experience regarding frequency of repairs and how the systems function. Vantare runs 100% of the 120 volt circuits through the inverters which is a departure from the way most others set up the electrical systems. But nobody on any forum I have been on has criticized the Vantare way of doing things. Ben would be the go-to guy to discuss the electrical systems.

Almost every converter avoids merging house systems with the chassis, so you are going to find the only two areas the Prevost and conversion meet is at the alternator(s) or at the designated converter fitting for the pneumatic or aux air system. Regardless of what coach you settle on, you will have a fairly steep learning curve but with your background I don’t think you are going to find anything to scare you away from any conversion.

I believe the use of the Cruise Airs combined with the RVAC was common with Vantare. The RVAC was a “package unit” of around 26,000 BTU and as installed it would be the equivalent to 2 Cruise Airs in performance. I would think (but don’t know) that is would be relatively quiet and unless it was exceptionally hot that Vantare owners would use that as their primary, bringing on the Cruise Airs when additional cooling was required

[Dean]

Ben and Rick sound like great resources. Donnie Myers DMRV Services is Vantare’s recommended Florida service center. That should tell you a lot about his abilities.

Part of the remodeling that Donnie did on my coach was getting rid of the AMX system which was starting to cause problems and install a total new system. The new system has been flawless. My wife, who is not tech savy, picked up the remote after the new system was installed and operated all of the coach systems without instruction. We left on a four month trip and did not call Donnie once with system problems. That is impressive from my experience.

[Terry]

David,

The RVAC unit operates just like the A/C in your home. It is very quiet, and will cool the whole coach, unless it’s 95 or hotter, then you will have to use the Cruise Air too. You should have a High boost fan to go with that RVAC unit. When you turn that on, it will really circulate the air.

Other than an abnormal Generator issue, I have not had any problems with Vantare’s electrical system. Everything goes through the inverters, and the panels are easy to operate. Just make sure your inverters are set up properly.

Good luck and have fun!

[Peter]

For some reason, I can’t edit the previous post. Typing on my iPad I didn’t catch auto-corrects. Below is the “corrected” version.

We have a ’99 Vantare H3. We’ve had it about three years and love it.

We have Over The Road (OTR) air, basement air and 2 Cruisairs. One
Cruisair in the bedroom and one behind the driver. Going down the road
we use OTR air and it doesn’t matter how hot, it is cold inside. If
it isn’t real hot, we run the basment unit and the bedroom cruisair. The
basment unit leaves the bedroom a little stuffy without the cruisair
running. When it is hot, over 85 – 90 or we are 100% sun all day, we
also run front cruisair. Living in Florida and South Carolina it seems
like most of our trips involve some type of hot and we are happy with
our setup.

The original basement unit is a RVAC unit. That unit is no longer
made. We had luck babying ours for a couple years with off-the-shelf
parts. Once in Maine, we used a home HVAC repairman to fix the unit, so
it is definitely serviceable. Last year we replaced the unit with a new
Coleman-Mach unit. Parliament in Clearwater did the work. We are very
happy with the new unit and the price wasn’t bad.

Let me know if there’s anything I can try to answer for you.

Happy hunting!

[Archived]

Guys, thanks again for all the excellent info. Do any of you know this coach or do you have any comments on it?

http://panterracoach.com/coaches/2004-prevost-featherlite-h3-45-ds-king-bed/

When driving the H3 Vantare I found the transmission retarder to be interesting. I see it has around 6 stages but I think it only engages when the service brakes are applied, and the proportion of retarder engaged is dependent upon the selection made at the stalk. With my Wanderlodge S60 jake brakes I can engage the jake for long descents without touching the service brakes. Can the same be done with the transmission retarder? If not, what’s the preferred method of using the retarder w/o excessively engaging the service brakes?

[Archived]

David, the retarder is proportional to the brakes when you have the switch on. To get the retarder to function when descending a hill, lift your foot from the accelerator and make sure the stalk on the RH side of the steering column is in any of the six positions. The upper position is “off” but as you pull the stalk down through the various positions the effectiveness increases to the point you can descend a very steep hill and never touch the brakes.

[Archived]

It sure looks like the coach I traded for my current coach. The only thing that throws me is that I seem to remember carpet in the salon, but not sure.

I will try to check the vin against that in my files today to confirm. If it was mine I bought it new. I put about 60,000 miles on it and traded it in 2006. I live 5 miles from where Vantare was located and it went back there after every trip to take care of anything needed. It was exceptionally maintained and stored inside when not in use by me.

Vantare also built a second one with that paint job.

[Davy]

The spec sheet says it is vin 2PCV3349431014681. My paperwork says mine was 2PCV3349431014581. I am guessing that one or the other paperwork has a digit wrong and this was my coach. Looks like they did change some of the upolstery.

Was a great coach when I traded it. Have little knowledge where it went or it’s life after I owned it.