[Bill]

California Vehicle Code section 260 provides:

(a) “A “commerical vehicle” is a vehicle which is used or maintained for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation or profit or designed, used or maintained primarily for the transport of property (for example, trucks and pickups).

(b) Passenger vehicles and house cars that are not used for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation or profit are not commercial vehicles. …

(c) Any vanpool vehicle is not a commercial vehicle. …”

In California Career Schools v. Dept. of Motor Vehicles, (2004) 120 Cal.App.4th, 10 interpreting this section, the court of appeal said “A commerical vehicle does not mean that it is used in business.” In that case the court looked to the original purpose of the vehicle. The court then went on to find that the vehicle in question, a bobtail truck that had been converted to an RV by the addition of beds, a kitchen and bathroom, was still a “commercial vehicle” that required commercial registration, apparently on the strength of testimony of a highway patrol officer that the sleeper berths on most big rigs are nicer than the “RV” in question.

Our buses fall squarely within the definition of “house cars.”

I don’t intend to give legal or tax advice, but at least in California I see no reason that a business entity cannot own and register a non-commercial vehicle as long as it is not used to transport people for “hire, compensation or profit.” In fact, the vanpool example imbedded in the statute shows that they can.

By the way, I am very well aware of all of the various registration schemes available, yet my bus is registered in California as a non-commercial house car, in my own name at my own address. To each his/her own.

Again, no legal or tax advice is intended by this post.

[Bill]

John,

Your Comfort Control (I assume you don’t have SMX) may have been set with each of the 3 zones to both AC and Heat. I don’t remember from my single thermostat Comfort Control if it has the capabilities of activating both heat and AC, but that could be what happened. As you mentioned, at 30 degree’s the heat pump function will fail and when it does, the fans will run.

[Bill]

You will need a set of gauges that can be purchased through any HVAC distributor as well as R22 freon which is only sold to techs that have a freon license,but Craigs List usually has R22 for sale to anyone.If the unit is leaking you need to find the leak before you recharge,the gland at the lo and hi valves are usually the problem,a 7/16 wrench will tighten them up and usually stop the leak.If you have a IR temperature gun you can wedge it in to shoot the low side(larger line)just at the valve and charge the unit until the temperature reaches the lowest point(usually 43-32 degrees) this will give you very good performance.If you have never done this before it would be wise to have someone explain how to not introduce any air and only freon into the system.If the unit is really out of freon I would recomend someone with cruise air knowledge do the service.

[Bill]

We have the pockets in two of our doors and Tom is right on about needing heavier door openers/struts. I bought all new ones direct from Prevost last year, not knowing that they would not be strong enough with the chairs in the pockets. They seem just ok when it’s really warm out, but the doors do not stay up with both pockets in use. How do I know what strength struts to order when I really don’t know what the factory replacements are rated at?

[Bill]

what % of coaches with dryers have non vented units, are they common. Never knew they made non vented condensing units. Another item learned that seems to be real important in my mind.

I think vented would be on the must have list, otherwise the potential for issue’s would seem to be greater.

How much do members actually use the washers and dryers, I read here a few people having them removed to create storage space.

[Bill]

Tom beat me to the answer but I would like to add that there is an on/off switch on the right side of the steering wheel with the choice of ‘1’ or ‘2’. The OFF button is in between the two numbers. If you don’t hit anything when you start the coach, it stays in the off mode. 🙂

Mark

[Bill]

If lots of mountain driving will be your norm, I would want a Jake as opposed to a Retarder. Out west in the big mountains, the Retarder will heat the tranny temp big time. My Liberty had the high temp light come on going west from the Eisenhower tunnel, even though I geared way down at the top and used a good speed for the downhill. It may have just been the nature of that bus, I know others don’t have that problem.

[Bill]

Do any of the newer Prevosts come with a 10K hitch anymore (XLll era) I think most seem to be the 20k since around 99 or so… anyways, pulling a stacker with the Prevost is more work but it is fine with a proper setup.

Lotta guys here do not seem to have the Allison retarder. My bus with retarder and triple axle stacker stops fast for what it is.

I have a 40 footer so with a 24ft stacker very close to legal (although you would probably have to work real har dto ever get a ticket) and in the 2 RV parks I have been in it was no issue at pull through sites.

At about 70 feet you are a bit longer than your average semi….if you see them getting in and out of places, so can you.

Cameras are key, one on back of trailer for backing up, also nice to have a couple inside to keep an eye on things.

If you get the right stacker, and load it correctly and have the 20K hitch you should not have problems.

I will post up details and photos of mine all setup and weighed…I am at 1380lbs hitch weight when I have the trailer completey loaded…and that is not often

[Bill]

I didn’t realize an explanation of what
to do when power is off for a long period of time was needed. Melissa
didn’t need to do anything since the power was quickly restored and
the Marathon didn’t need any kind of attention, all was restored as
soon as power came back on.

If I lost power for an extended period,
what I would do based on my situation may not be the same for others
because I keep the fridge going, we don’t empty it or turn it off.

No Power – Fridge Running

Monitor
battery voltage, when it gets to 12.2, start the gen manually.
Auto-start can be used if absent

from
the bus. If in freezing temps, let the gen run and use all the freeze
protection available. I assume

everyone
knows not to use the gen or auto-start inside a garage.

No Power – Fridge Off

The
inverters will shut down at LBCO (my low battery cut-off) at 11.5
volts, but batteries will

continue
to discharge from parasitic loads and kill the house batteries. Put
the bus asleep by turning off

the
inverters, turn inverter disconnect switches to off, turn house 12 &
24 master disconnects to off. If

freezing
temps, winterize the bus.

[Bill]

There is a buliton out Number 14541 that is a supplement to your curent owners manual that gives detail instruction to tow My 2015 went to neutral would not come out had to be towed to dealer again I ask them to check for service buliton they checked gave me buliton Number PIP5217A that works on the ones with Key I informed it ask me to do things that is not possible with keyless they called back gave new buliton for 2015s only haven’t tried yet will go to dealer and try it in their presence to see if it works I have towed mine three times problems each time looks good behind Prevost even if it is not usable any questions give me a call 580 695 7043 Thanks Dan

[Bill]

Mark,

Prevost Prouds a Chapter of the FMCA and is pretty much just a social club that has 2 big Rallies every year, unlike PC they do not have information sharing online or anything like that.

I think you do have to be a member and the dues are $50 a year. Their Rallies are usually very well organized with a few vendors like Liberty present… lots to do and maybe one seminar or two.

Not to be compared to PC as there is no info available about the Prevosts etc… PC is like a big family….everyone just waiting to share their info and knowledge to help anyone who has a question or problem… the Prouds don’t offer anything like this… strictly social !!

I would bet that 95% of the members do not work on their own coaches !!

Go to http://www.prevostprouds.com and see for yourself.

Cheers, Diane

[Bill]

Bill,

You may want to rethink leaving the auto start on while in the garage, it could cause you serious problems with diesel smoke.

If you had a brief loss of shore power and low batteries, that may have started the gen. That’s assuming your auto start is set for voltage to start.

[Bill]

Saw the Liberty site photos. Spec-tac-ular!!!!!

[Bill]

Thanks for jumping in Kevin.

And yes it would be a good idea for you and Rick to compare notes. I am not slamming Marathon because you both may be having completely unrelated issues, and some are very difficult to sort out. But if all who have problems are willing to share information (maybe not publicly) you likely are not only going to help yourselves, but you may actually help Marathon who appears to be blind sided by this also.

[Bill]

Hello Chuck,

I just have to ask, was that “Pin” more fun than your last “Pin”.