[AL]

Ditto on opening slides in the road or driving position. Level after the slides have extended.

The reason for opening a window or the the door is because when the slides are in motion, in or out a huge amount of air pressure change occurs unless the coach has some way of allowing air to enter or escape.

In fact in my Liberty the air flow is so great when I sit in the driver’s seat to close the front slide I need my seat belt on or I will be blown out of the small toll window.

[AL]

Since our marriage in 1968 we have moved numerous times. No we paid our bills and mortgarges. The jobs just came and went so we went with them.

Motorcycles. Bought a 1974 Superglide Harley when no license was required. Then the Feds decided that everyone riding motorcycles must take the test or be “grandfathered” if they had been riding for more than two years. NC did not put out specifics, just come on down and pay up. Went down to pay up at lunch one winter day in Rocky Mount. Lots of people in the line ahead of me. I waited patiently finally getting to the Examiner only to find out I had to get a form notorized in order to get a “grandfathered” M endorsement. Remember the M, it will come up in the second motorcycle license story in Indiana.

So I take the form, telling the Examiner when I return I have no intention of going to the end of the line. Went to a car dealer, it was much closer than any motorcycle dealer, and simply said I had to have this for notorarized. No question asked, they just sealed it and I was off to the DMV Office. I got there and did exactly what I said I would, walked right up to the desk and waited for him to finish with the current victim. I then handed him the paper and he typed up a new license and asked me to sign it. Told him no way because he had misspelled my name. OK, second try he botched the address. Not signing. Finally on the third try he hit all the correct keys. I signed, he took my picture, made the new license and gave it to me. He also gave me back my old license which in those days was supposed to be retained by the DMV.

OK, so its off to Indiana. I rode the Harley to Evansville from Wilson, NC stopping only for fuel and “relief.” That’s 965 miles in case anyone is wondering. Got to Indiana and went to get my Indiana Driver’s license. Examiner there said they did not have any “M” endorsement and they never would. OK, so how about making a typo and include an M on the license. No way that was going to happen. In one year Indiana succumbed to the Feds threat of withholding highway funding until they had a requirement for licensing motorcyclists.

Back I go to their DMV. I take the written test, which by the way was obviously also written by some desk jockey beureacrat that had never straddled a moving motorcycle. Sure I would be passing the written test, I went and stood in line behind this very mature lady. She had not answered any of the sign recognition questions. The Examiner “coached” her through every one by stating a sentence which had the name of the sign in it. For example, this round sign with the black X and two R’s would be found where you see trains. Duh? On it went until she got a pass. Up I step, the Examiner grades the written test and fails me. Not being happy I asked her to give me the same treatment she had just afforded the old lady in front of me. No way. So I looked at the answers they wanted, went back and gave them those answers. After getting the license, I told the Examiner not to expect me to ride the way their manual said to since I really wanted to live.

OK, so job in Indiana is over and off we got to New York City, well actually Long Island. Springtime comes and I decide it is time to go get the big “M” again. Now, New York actually requires a road test as they did not recognize any other state’s license. So should I ride the Harley to the DMV test site or should I get someone to ride it over for me. That was a big decision since I never let others operate the Harley. I had a NYCPD officer down the street that rode motorcycles and was a friendly type. He rode it and I drove a “cage” to the DMV. Now there were a dozen others that had arrived before us. All had the smallest rice burner they could find to take the riding test. They even laughed at me and told me I’d never pass the riding test on that thing! The Examiner, a female came out and explained the riding test. There would be several laps through a cone chicane clockwise, then she would signal me to go counterclockwise, and finally to come to the curb after which there would be a riding test on the road in actual traffic. Well I had so much fun doing the chicane I forgot to watch for her signal and turned several laps more than she wanted. I did the same going the opposite direction. When I got over to the curb she told me, “You don’t need to be here!” My response, so pass me and we can all get on to more important things. Oh yeah, the 250 cc crowd that remained was simply flabbergasted that I had actually done the laps without dragging the exhaust pipe or pegs. Did the road part without problems and got my NYC “M” endorsement.

Now for the Prevost. I wanted to get a Class A CDL. Not possible in NC unless you can seat more than 16 people. The highest license above a Class C was what they call a Classified B. I could have gotten a CDL if I was going to pulling a trailer with a gross vehicle weight in excess of 10,000 pounds. Nope, was not going to be doing that. So on to the written test without cracking a manual. It consisted of 50 questions, mostly all related to tractor trailers. The requirement was to answer 40 out of the 50 correctly before going on to the road test part of the exam. So I sit down and am on a roll. The machine kept dinging and say right answer. I was focused on how the DMV writes their questions in a counter intuitive manner. Curiosty got the best of me and I looked to see how many correct answers, and questions asked/answered. Turned out I was 30 for 30. I let my guard down and only got 10 more correct answers, but that was all I needed. I scheduled the road test for the next day. I got a lady examiner, much nicer than the one in Indiana or New York, that had never given a road test in one of these things. I asked her where she wanted me to drive and was told Myrtle Beach, SC. I said OK, I’ve got a full load of fuel so here we go. I hit the door lock and she thought I was really going to take her to Myrtle Beach – no way! I passed the road test also. This was much easier than getting any of my “M” endorsements.

One other story. We moved from Virginia to Winston-Salem in 1971. I did some mechanic work at a friend’s house and was, well, greasy. Carole drove me home. Well on the way home there was a license checkpoint near where we lived. I had gotten my NC license but Carole had put off getting her’s. The State Trooper looked at her license and the registration, which had my info on it and he asked her if her address was correct? I leaned over and told the Trooper this was my sister from Virginia that was visiting the area for a week. Oh, OK off we go. Carole went to the DMV the next morning!

That’s All Folks! Bet you are glad to hear that.

[AL]

Here is a handy little reference chart I ran across in follow-up…

http://www.rvupgradestore.com/Articles.asp?ID=279

Thanks for the pointers ande advice.

[AL]

Many thanks for all these additional tips.

I have been trying to post a follow-up question about a check valve and been having bad luck posting pictures. Here goes a third or fourth try….

No…no luck. I keep getting this error message:

The following error(s) occured:

• (21) An error has occurred while saving the file ‘rad8A5DC.tmp’ in folder C:Inetpubvhostsprevostcommunity.comhttpdocsforumUserPics. Maybe you don’t have the proper permissions.

I had “proper permissions” day before yesterday. ??? And I am logged in. Oh well…I will keep trying. I have turned off my Mac laptop (not just restarted). No dice. I thought it was because I renamed the picture files…hm…but I’ve done that before. Oh well. I will keep trying…

Meantime, let me just say that I removed the hose and (numerous) fittings yesterday and took them to NAPA. They had everything except the check valve. I looked online at WW Grainger and they don’t have one that looks like mine.

I managed to break mine while twisting it off yesterday. So I must get a new one (would have wanted one anyway). I am not sure which of the ones offered at Grainger would be good. They don’t resemble mine in any obvious way (size, shape). The one I have is a 1/4″ T check valve with a little ball on a spring that sits inside a plastic piece.

Could anyone recommend a replacement just from this description?

I will keep trying to send a picture of the one I have….grrrrr….dealing with computer interfaces can be as frustrating as chasing leaks. 🙂

Susan

[AL]

Signature Coachworks is at 101 S. California Ave. in Beaumont, CA. They are actually located where Marathon used to have a facility. Their techs are extremely knowledgeable, and they really seem to care about their customers. We have a cat, and they were careful about keeping us hooked up with AC’s running even while in the garage. They let their customers remain with the coach, and have an open door policy. We felt very comfortable asking questions of them as they worked on the bus, and never got that feeling you often get at shops when you feel like you’re really annoying them. Their website is under development, but in the meantime you can reach Roger Beauchemin via phone at (951) 845-8056 or email at roger@signaturecoachworks.com. They have full hook ups for you at their facility as well, and it is a gated lot.

They went through our bus with a fine toothed comb and picked up every little thing that needed to be repaired prior to us taking posession of it. They also did an amazing upgrade with our TV in the bedroom, and put a 40″ TV over the window (the bottom of the window is still vented and the blinds still operate). The TV looks like it was always there (see photo). They reprogramed the Crestron system for us to fit our specific requests, and also added the auto dump feature for us. At the last minute as we were hooking up our dingy to leave, we realized we didn’t have the correct electrical hook ups. Within 15 minutes they had wired the correct end to our cable (John would know the real names but hey, I’m a science teacher!) and had us on our way.

[AL]

Thank you everyone for your encouraging posts. We’ve spent the last few days at Signature Coachworks in Beaumont, CA. They did an excellent walk through for us over 2 days, took us for a drive to gas up so John could get the feel of the coach with an experienced driver with him, and even did some quick upgrades we decided we’d like. We just navigated our way to our first park, and settled in.

I have to say, Roger Beauchemin and his crew at Signature Coachworks were terrific. Very knowledgable, helpful, and when it came down to paying for the upgrades we’d ordered a month ago and the new ones we decided to do, there were zero surprises with the invoice.

One question for co-pilots — is there any way to adjust your seat so your feet rest on a floor?! The pneumatic floor that comes out is well below my feet. I may be a little short (5′ 4″) but the dangling feet thing for hours at a stretch is not terribly comfortable. The only solution I found was to use the foot rest — not a bad solution, but I wondered if anyone had found another one.

Thanks! 🙂

[AL]

Instead of a resistor, you should try a three terminal regulator. They couldn’t be simpler. With three pins (left to right), input, ground, output. They are internally set to output 12.6 volts. Search eBay for LM7812 and you’ll get lots of hits. One seller has them for $.2.88 for 10 pieces (28 cents each).

The device is rated at 1.5A which is more than enough for most LED strips up to 15 feet. Turn it on and see if the package gets hot. Warm is OK. If it gets too hot to touch, attach it to a piece of metal with a small screw to dissipate the heat. There are larger versions too.

Resistors are problematic. You have to get a size that will yield the current appropriate for your string, at the brightness you want. Then, measure the current and use ohm’s law to determine the wattage that will be required for the part. Yes, it will work, but no single size resistor will work for all light string lengths.

The other option is the LM338T which is adjustable. With this, you can add just a small pot and set the brightness to your liking! It’s also rated at 5 Amps which is huge for an LED application. see http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm138.pdf and http://www.futurlec.com/ICLinearRegulators.shtml

There’s a lot you can do with a soldering iron and a few simple parts!

[AL]

I forgot to mention the Pressure Pro will alert at high pressure as well as low.

Low Pressure – 12.5 – 25% of baseline

High Pressure – 10 – 45% of baseline – adjustable

High Temp – 200

[AL]

Jon,

I agree completely with you. We need to act responsibly to maximize our own safety.

My goal in the blog is to raise awareness of safety issues which many people may not have considered.

Thanks for your response.

Lee

[AL]

Thomas,

Jon has notified our web guy, but I don’t recconize anything
except Firefox and I’m on version 22, you’re on 3.4. It’s well
beyond my pay grade, but he is trying.

[AL]

I think someone is talking out of the wrong orifice when he says “the value of an XLII is being affected by this problem regardless of the state of repair”

Since this process is fairly new, and no great numbers of coaches have had it done yet, we have no idea if pricing will be impacted. But, as one who is getting mine repaired as I type this, and one that has seen the final product after repairs were made, I see no reason for the price to be lower at all. In fact I would bet that the prices will be higher due to the fact that #1, the repairs are done and #2 the bus looks like new when done.

Only time will tell, and when you consider the total ownership expense of a Prevost, even if you had to pay for paint, it isn’t any worse than a set of tires or batteries as has been stated here before.

[AL]

Taking the car to TBay makes good sense. There are plenty of hotels, motels in TBay to stay at. The trip over to Fort Francis, (the other side of the border with International Falls) isn’t bad with a car. It is only about a three hour drive from Ifalls back to Duluth. That would make an interesting side trip if you so desire.

Highway 2 going west to Grand Forks is a good road. It is what MNDOT considers a super 2 for the 2 lane portion. When you get to Cass Lake it turns into a 4 lane all the rest of the way to Grand Forks and is a good road, although it does go through some towns where you have to slow down. Not a big deal as you can still make good time. I have gone over there many times as I have relatives in Crookston, about 25 miles east of Grand Forks.

I think you will like the trip up to Thunder Bay. The North Shore is very nice this time of year. You have many things to see on the way up, such as Goosberry Falls State Park, and many other places that may interest you. There are plenty of places to stop and eat along the way.

I hope this answers your questions, but if you need more info, ask away…

[AL]

Send me the Pic Dan, I’ll post it for you.

[AL]

Look at the Calendar Gary, it’s in September and I don’t remember who was trying to get that going, hope they jump in here. Rick might know…

[AL]

The coach may not be in a warehouse, but may be in a site……….

.into a facility…open air but under a roof….concrete slab with power to plug into….it had other coaches parked in it…..looked like it was in the country….it was outside Nashville”

Is there anyone in the Nashville area that can point us towards sites that match or are as described above?