[Dave]

Stretch,

You cannot unring a bell, but now you are in a position to know better what works, doesn’t work, or should have been serviced. Start a list. Do a highly detailed inspection so you reveal things you may not already have found. Take your time and be methodical.

Rely heavily on the Marathon owners on this forum to help you understand how things are supposed to work. Some issues may be because you aren’t using the right switches, others may be because something just is not right.

When you return to Marathon, as upset as you might be, compare what they said they did or fixed or serviced with what you have found and give them the opportunity to make things right. Converters have generally bent over backwards to help their customers and if they said they did something, and it is not correct it is entirely possible they are going to correct it at their expense. Give them the opportunity to satisfy your needs.

I would strongly urge you to try to avoid confrontation. You may report the results of your efforts to get the coach fixed here. As long as what you post is constructive we will allow it because we all can learn from the experiences of others. Marathon has gotten high praise in the past. We hope you can add to that.

[Dave]

We are really sorry to be missing Oysterfest. We had a ball last year. Can you substitute in for me as a Country Coach? Michael may need some support if the Liberty and Marathon guys start to gang up. Hi to Jean and safe travels.

[Dave]

Peter,

The guy on the right in the Cow Camp picture looks a little suspicious! I would keep an eye on him:)

[Dave]

Will a tire pressure monitoring system screw on to and function properly on the flow thru caps you use, Jon?

Davy

[Dave]

WOW! That was fast!

Congrats on the new bus Tim and Cindy! Can’t wait to see it in person!

Mark

[Dave]

I suspect anyone that tells you the color of the hoses doesn;t mean anything is repeating what they have been told to say.

I will order a large size portion of crow to eat if anyone can show me a temperature rating of a color other than the orange / red color that is rated for 500 degrees F.Post it here so all will know I am wrong.

If you have an EGR coach the outlet temp from the turbo is around 500 degrees and the pressure is about 50 PSI. If the wrong hose is installed, and it ruptures your coach is going nowhere.

[Dave]

Hi Chuck, Hope you and Barb are doing well. I have access to the inside of out windshield as well. I am not sure what you would do with the cabinet there unless there is some access behind it. We would have not been able to get ours out without pushing from inside.

[Dave]

I found out why it failed.

Apparently the previous owner had both sides of the coach changed from double pane to single.

Looked at the right side (door) and sure enough the bottom of the window is unglued…..but why ? Well….I think that whomever installed them screwed up….

The custom panels of glass, made for each side, had a 3/4″ band around the perimeter, painted black to probably hide the adhesive showing underneath…well …the technician must have flipped the sides and actually glued the glass on the painteed side on both sides…..That means that the Sikaflex actually stuck to paint instead of glass…I have black paint stuck to Sika all the way around on the pane that flew away while driving.

I have to take the door fixed glass panel off as well and re-do the whole thing on both sides.

A bit of clarification still needed for this process, please….

Does the frame of the window have to come off the bus to take out the double pane, moving window, on each side to get it rebuilt and cleaned inbetween the panes ? Both sides of the sliders are fogged and need to be cleaned. Is there a way to remove the slider on the XL without removing the frame ?

I understand that if I get a flexible utility knife I can cut out the fixed pane of glass out of the frame and reglue it after all the old Sika is removed. I will use the door fixed panel to model the driver side and order 3-4 tubes of Sika from Prevost. Will put a bead on inside and then after that is dry, a bead on the outside to hold that pane tight and fill the gaps in the frame nicely.

Do I have that right ?

Thanks

[Dave]

Got it…. I believe I will go back with only four house batteries instead of eight… I do not see the need for eight… I am always hooked up, on invert for the ice box and microwave or have the generator running….

Thank you. I will see what condition the batteries appear to be in at this time…

Pres

[Dave]

I had a new-line that worked perfect for 30 years in a wanderlodge

[Dave]

Thanks for the tips and photos.

I really appreciate it!

[Dave]

Regarding dual tanks vs. single tank. At most dry camping events you are not allowed to dump gray water. However, late at night I understand some people drain their gray tanks. This allows them to get substantial longer times between dumping or getting pump outs. While I would never do this…. the opportunity to do so would be very important to me. With a single tank there is no flexibility in this situation. Therefore, it would be a deal killer for me.

[Dave]

Andy, it’s not quite like rejecting a bus over its TV. That can be easily swapped out. I’ve done it. Reconfiguring the plumbing system on a bus however would take a little more time and money.

Jon, for me it’s a deal killer because of the benefits associated with how I use my coach. For example, over this summer the coach was approaching full on the grey tank and a load of laundry was being done, no sewer connections were available. We can all see where this scenario is going…the tank was full just as the washer decided to dump. So I had a few options: (1) let the tank backflow into the coach (big mess) or (2) open the grey tank for a few seconds and let it go on the ground. If I had a single tank option 2 might not have been an option.

I also use my coach without reservations. Meaning I might decide to head to CO and not make any reservations along the way. Now I might stop in rv parks or I might stop at a rest stop. Depends on my mood. But the ability to hold all my waste, black and grey, with the option of discharging only the grey water is a necessity for me. Therefore a single tank would be an inconvenience for how I use my coach.

Both configurations work without hiccup. Simply put they hold waste for disposal at later time. I just like the option to dispose of the grey water while holding the black until I get to a sewer connection.

Similar to the bus air debate. Seems to be a deal breaker for many coach owners. While at the end of the day all coaches have the ability to cool themselves going down the road.

[Dave]

My local NAPA is not a company store. All my attempts to use the card were met with “we don’t accept that”. But each time I went in I would try. Finally on my last visit a new guy was behind the counter. I ask him very nicely to follow the instructions on the back of the card and he was amazed. It worked and saved me a lot of money. So keep trying, you never know when you might get a counter person that is willing to try something new.

Thanks Al, when it works it really is a great benifit for us. Every dollar saved on parts is another dollar for fuel.

[Dave]

I can tell you it took Jeff a life time to know what he knows , and he is the best, the young men working there are great too they are learning also ,

I bet when you started to build houses you knew everything, I doubt it you learned along the way also

Nobody starts at the top we all work are way from the bottom up

Thats not true if you dig a outhouse hole you start at the top and work your way down

And all of this smells just like what we put in the outhouse

good luck !!!!!!! PS about all the emails flys will all go to the smell !!!!!!!

Just leave Jeff alone and the young men !!!! Pick on Me if you want too.