[Peter]

I don’t remember the details from when Jon and I were there last year, but they are very nice.

Here’s the site map and they are in red.

[Peter]

I don’t think so other than the wheelbase as a result of the overall length.

[Peter]

Jon,

You may not realize this, but Aqua Hots are diesel and electric. So, no need to turn on the fuel burner if not needed. One cool feature is you can set them for both electric and diesel and it will only go to diesel when electric can’t provide enough heat. I liked this feature on cool evenings where the hot water heat exchangers could get by on electric only.

The one on my last coach was only two years old and had to be replaced because of improper winterization. A new unit was $4,500. I don’t know how that compares to just a Webasto, but though $4,500 to be expensive. Not my expense, but the selling dealer’s.

Biggest plus, lower noise.

Cory, I would allow for replacement cost or having it serviced by a certified Aqua Hot service center.

[Peter]

30 minutes for the windshield. My refrigerator swap was an entire day because the opening had to be modified slightly and there was the work in opening the path through the living room so we could move the old one out and the new one in.

Then there was the work of taking the pieces off the old one so it fit through the window, the same with the new one, and then the reassembly.

But it was worth it.

[Peter]

It’s a standard feature on a Marathon!! Don’t even begin to tell me that you Liberty guys don’t have this.

[Peter]

I am thinking of comming to the lobstah rally. Long way for a Northern LA Coon Ass.

Would I win anything for the longest travelled participant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe some extra butter.

[Peter]

A arms are going to have to be inspected as part of the “clunk” inspection. Prevost is well aware of what constitues a bad A arm bushing.

The general rule about the acceptability is if the bushing looks ugly and failing it does not mean there is an issue, however if the pin is loose or free within the bushing that is a failure. I suspect a lot of A arms or A arm bushings were replaced on early IFS coaches until it became known that just because the bushings look bad does not mean there is an issue.

Entertainer coaches with a lot of miles seem to be getting 400,000 plus miles before the A arm bushings fail. What is not know or at least not discussed is if the bushings age out or wear out.

[Peter]

Bob, nothing wrong with a toter home. Had plenty of them and semi’s when racing professionally. Now we race when we feel like it and tow with a Prevo. There are a few bennies in being an old fart.

[Peter]

Gil, thanks. One of your links got me a clutch out of Fla. Still have a problem though. The clutch will not engage. the wire is re-connected and everything control wise on the dash is lit. What we do have for a tech here in Wi found the fuses for it in the engine compartment and they are good, but there appears to be a resistor and diode of some sort for it also. But neither he nor I really understand the CC way of doing things. Any ideas?

[Peter]

One problem is sorting out what will work. Mine are 24 volt which means normal range of voltage is as low as 24 and as high as 28.2 so I need LEDs rated for at least 30 volts.

Then there is the issue of output. Without trying a bunch to verify we don’t know the required output. The LED replacements are rated as equivalent to XX watts or XXX lumens but we don’t know what that means because we have no standards for the halogen bulbs for output available.

12 volt bulbs are dirt cheap but 24 volt, not so cheap.

That doesn’t consider issues like dimming and polarity. The heat from halogen bulbs along with the power they consume makes a changeover to LEDs a very good project, but when available 24 volt LEDs are in the $10 plus range it can be very expensive. Would I rather have a new tire or a tank of fuel? Or LEDs?

[Peter]

Thanks Jon and Tom, your dedication to making the site a success is amazing. Thank you for all your work.

Greg

[Peter]

There have been a lot of problems of grout failure in showers,I would also investigate that,Donnie Myers in Sanford,FL has repaired many Vantari coaches with this problem.

[Peter]

Jon, might of hit on the cause with the spring pressure to open the check valve.

When I was working on the Aux air system on the Marathon service side the check valve was replaced with an high heat type. When speaking to the valve manufacture on a custom valve one of the questions was how much spring pressure should it have to open the valve ?

In the check valve business they refer to this as… cracking pressure. Based solely on how much air would open the valve. They suggested 3 psi.

So if the incoming water pressure is low and your cracking pressure is high, this would explain the problem.

[Peter]

I don’t know why the general concensus seems to favor low generator hours and low mileage on the chassis.

That is not an opinion exclusive to Prevost buyers. Plane buyers drool when they hear of a 15 year old plane with 500 original hours. I suppose the same holds true for boats.

Our generators are extensively used by entertainer coach operators and it is common to find generators with 30,000 or more hours. Entertainer coaches with 600,000 and 800,000 miles are also common and instead of having to replace front end bushings at 50 to 100,000 miles as a lot of motorhome owners have done, it is likely front end bushings in a high mileage coach are going to see 500,000 miles of service.

When a coach is used regularly everything is being exercised, everything is being lubricated, the working components come up to temperature and moisture is driven out of anything that breathes including our engine. Tires lives are extended in terms of time when used because the chemicals that are released through flexing keep the rubber pliable and cracking is postponed. Obviously things wear out, but the mileages we usually see for used coaches indicates most of us will never outlive our coaches.

[Peter]

The hardest part I think in managing energy is keeping track of what circuit the loads are on, and then remembering the loads we never think about like the HW heater or the water pump.

After a while it becomes second nature.

Since we never dry camp in the sense we run off battery power for extended periods I have the charge rate for our batteries set low, and overnight on shore or generator power even at low settings the batteries get charged. So battery charging is not an issue. What most folks don’t think about however is the tivoli lights and the ceiling lights (unless they are LED) suck a lot of power and if we light up the whole coach our consumption exceeds the charge rate.