[Paul]

Guys,

I have located a 1998 Prevost Vogue 40′. It is located in Tampa florida. I am heading down there to go over the coach from front to back. I have a gut feeling that something is just not right with the guy brokering the deal.

His name is Robert Dingle. Does anyone here know him? Has anyone here dealt with him?

Thanks

[Paul]

I think for the most part, any Prevost converted by anybody will serve us well.

I’m just proud to have anyone of them.

Great rally and I am ready for the next one.

[Paul]

OK, thanks. I will give them a call and see about getting the ball rolling. However I don’t look forward to install one of the parts, the dust boot (both of them have fallen apart) on the lower control arm on a 2002 H3-45, looks simple enough but still you never know what is going to crop up doing a simple task such as that.

[Paul]

If you will be at an RV park for an extended stay, say all winter, a reasonable option is to have the car transported to you by someone in the business.

JIM

[Paul]

haven’t seen ya since 2010 Kerville. Our 21 year old coach now has exactly 94,999 arriving home from Branson yestetday

[Paul]

no—-end in sight$$$ But!!! the guys with new coaches are replacing CAC at maybe $4,000 a shot and getting less mpg than us. soooooo is there a balance?? Life has its — no real point there. I’ll watch for your next problem I have redone abour everything on this 98. Bob

[Paul]

Looks great! Have fun, learn a lot and share the knowledge with us here.

DKO

[Paul]

Here are a few pictures………

Maybe some others can put up some of the photos they’ve taken. More to follow.

[Paul]

Rob, LOL you’re right about the salvage wt. After failed attempts to sell the seats out of the coach, I finally realized their fate was to be scrap metal. 4 Days later after stripping them I think I got $200 for the metal. Oh well, at least they didn’t wind up in a landfill and I did help the enivorment. Thanks for the tip on where to begin with the overhead compartment removal. Hope to get started today!

[Paul]

Busman,

You will have to remove the doors and the fridge is counter depth. I did it for my XL and the windshield had to come out, no big deal, but the XLII windshield is big and heavy. What I did was take accurate measurements and then matched up the fridge that fit the best in order to eliminate any trim issues. There are lots of different fridges out there that will work. Mine is also an Amana, same year as yours and parts are available. I just did the defrost timer, heater and thermostat and it was easy.

Do you know what’s wrong with yours?

[Paul]

Bryan,

You are probably right, I think. But Van Hool makes both two and three axle buses. And for quite a number of years.

As it happens, I too had a front tire blowout/explosion, left, that took me into the median strip which was relatively flat, fortunately for us, with no guardrail. I posted on it last year. The sandy desert terrain almost took the wheel out of my hands and nearly rolled the coach. I imagine where this accident took place the ground was softer. If so, I can understand why it went as it did.

[Paul]

Lots of interesting thoughts here.

First, Jon said “As an owner you have an obligation to understand your systems because over the years it seems a lot of problems relate to owners lacking a detailed understanding of their coach’s systems.”

I think that the word “expense” can be substituted for “problems” in the above. After 3 years of ownership and 2 very different coaches, it’s become clear that I’ve saved myself a ton of money by being my own mechanic and handyman. Among us, Jon is perhaps one of the most all-round general experts in this arena that I’ve ever met. There seems to be no problem that he doesn’t feel confident in tackling, and with that ability and willingness to turn a wrench or a screwdriver comes a considerable reduction in expense. I share some of his traits and hope to cultivate more of them as time goes by. Indeed, when I consider what would happen if I needed to call a mechanic for every issue that came up, I would likely drop out of coach ownership altogether. This is because that at any given moment during a coach’s life, some part or system is always in need of repair or adjustment. With this many components and interactions, its unavoidable.

And then there there are those who aren’t concerned with the expense and/or don’t necessarily have the knowledge and/or the desire to perform their own general maintenance. These are the ones that buy brand new coaches, and the ones that we handymen buy our coaches from. God bless them for taking the heaviest share of depriciation off of our backs, for as we pick up where they left off, the maintenance curve has hopefully just begun to stabilize.

In the end, driving down the highway in high gear, watching the scenery drift by, is the pleasure that we all share, regardless of the circumstances of ownership.

[Paul]

I hope Corey does not mind, I moved this from rallies to general discussisons.

All of us who have had coaches for any length of time, and acted like the typical owner by comparing coaches during that time know that there is no perfect coach. But we also know some are better suited to what we want and need than others.

A coach that suited our needs as recently as 10 years ago is not what we want today because we have changed and along with our change goes the need to have a coach nore suited to us today. We drive fewer miles today than when we were using our coach to do trade shows and seminars. We spent little time in the coach, but put miles on the coach. Back then if we weren’t driving the coach, it was only a place to sleep. As a result the important items for us were the ability to dry camp when necessary, and comfort while driving.

Today our coach is our second home and we get to a campground and live in it for longer periods. We like the open space we get with slides.

But the change from a 40 foot non slide to a 45 foot no slide to a 45 foot 2 slide, despite the extra length and increased floor space has actually cost us a substantial amount of storage. Slides take up room both upstairs costing about 25 to 30 inches of space along a wall (the equivalent of a large closet) and the structure for the slides costs us bay storage space. That is the compromise Corey talks about. We have to give up something to get something.

But we are not contemplating going back to a non-slide coach. We both like the extra roominess for moving around inside the coach that slides provide. To us that is more valuable than being able to carry more stuff.

Everyone can do the same evaluation of what works best for them. As wants and needs and budgets are developed it really sharpens one’s focus on the best coach for them.

But to go even further, a person has to define their character as well. Di and I don’t trade often. We hang on to our “stuff” and our coach is no different. So we not only consider how we use a coach, we consider price and because we don’t flip a coach often we expect to pay more for a coach we really find fits our needs because we are going to live with it for a long time. If we flipped a coach often, we could afford to make an error in buying a coach that wasn’t exactly what we wanted because we know we won’t have to live with it for very long. In that situation we need to by a coach as cheap as possible because we don’t want to lose as much money in a trade or resale.

As to the cost of maintenance, plan on it. The more you use the coach, the cheaper on a per mile basis the cost is, but you still have to recognize a bus is not cheap to maintain. No more expensive than a similar sized RV, but still expensive. Depreciation is by far the greatest expense, but just routine preventive maintenance can easily run into thousands of dollars per year. In fact it is hard if not impossible to even justify a Prevost conversion. But there are few among us that will even try. We own them because they are the best there is and just the enjoyment traveling in one is all it takes to make the purchase of one seem reasonable.

[Paul]

Dean and Heidi, We’d love to see you guys Tues in Branson(or longer). Because we’re travelers and not sitters and don’t have a large dog, we actually prefer a non-slide coach. The right floor plan/layout can provide more than ample room and storage. Everything in a coach is in some respect a compromise. You get nothing without giving up something. How you plan to use your coach should determine what you want/need in a particular unit, then you begin to prioritize from that point. Find us and we’ll show you a non-slide with a side aisle, roof tops and CC OTR AC that gives you the maximum amount of inside and basement room and storage. Looking forward to meeting the two of you.

[Paul]

That demonstrates to me you in fact do have two issues to address. The left side rear from the 5 port Norgren back through the 3 port Norgren to the tag axle air bag needs to be checked for leaks.

The aux air system also needs to have the leaks fixed.

Sounds simple. It is not. Every one of us that has chased leaks will tell you it is time consuming, frustrating and a slow detailed process requiring multiple methods to identify leaks.

Our resident leak and pneumatic system expert Hector says it best. Start with the low hanging fruit. Those are leaks you can hear, or see with bubbles in a soapy solution. After that it gets harder and more time consuming.

You can treat this as a project you want to do or at least participate in, or you can turn it over to someone who is absolutely going to drain your wallet. I have yet to have anyone with air leaks get away with less than 4 figures on the invoice.

I know your reluctance to get under the coach, but as a fellow senior I can tell you that you do have some options. If I were in your shoes I would seek out a truck stop or service facility with a pit and ask to borrow or rent it. From the pit, with soapy solution (air conditioning leak detector is very good, but so is the kids solution for blowing bubbles) spending a half day under the bus in the pit will likely yield some results. The key is to be methodical and systematic to follow the flow of air. Once you or someone has identified those you can hear or see blowing bubbles then the process to find more leaks gets more difficult and Hector has developed methods to find those hiding from you.