Thor Four Winds 31L Thoughts?

Toad Haul · 01-28-2015, 02:55 PM

The DW and I are looking at a Thor Four Winds 31L to replace our 26ft TT. We love the features, floorplan, everything. Does anyone here have one of these?

We have seen the usual negatives about Thor posted here and on other sites and agree with the addage complaints get posted, "likes" usually don't. But, from other owners, I'd like to hear your take on this model.

Any help out there?

D&D

blw2 · 01-28-2015, 03:47 PM

I have had one since June 2014
We like it very much!

It's not much on paper, but in practice it's a pretty good plan.

We went looking at bunkhouse floor plans, but they felt chopped up, limited counter space in most, and they just didn't "fit" us. It's a personal opinion thing.

DW went in the 31L first and she liked it. She sat on the sofa, looked around, and said "this is the one."

We like the longer sofa, the TV location doesn't feel like an afterthought or seem like it will be in the way, there is more cabinet space than we know what to do with, and lots of counter space. Very functional.

We find that our kids, now 9YO, 6YO, and 3YO can all easily fit in the overhead bunk. Eventually we'll have to start using the sofa more but it's big enough for a kid to sleep on without folding out.

As for negatives:
The toilet is not at a comfortable height. Up on the platform it's just too high.

I wanted an enclosed full bath, with a neo angle shower. Didn't care for the shower in bedroom, but in practice it's not bad. the shower is a bit tall, and not suitable for tall folks

Weight capacity is limited, as with any of these larger class C's. If money were no object, I would have considered the super C version of the same plan on the F-550 chassis (35SK).

With three kids, the grey water tank is our limiting capacity. I think it's just a bit too small, but so far it hasn't proven to be too much of an issue. I carry along a 7 gallon aquatainer, thinking that some day I might have to drain some grey water for an emergency shower

Sometimes I wish that the dinette and sofa were on the opposite side, so that you look out on your own campsite rather than the neighbor's.... but then it wouldn't be possible to have such a long sofa. Not a show stopper for us though.

I had the rear wall replaced under warranty. The way they recess these tail light fixtures into the wall exposes wood inside.... or really behind the fixture. The foam gasket eventually leaked and rotted the wood. mine had sat on the dealers lot for approx a year... a year of neglect..... & I didn't catch the water on my PDI. Just something to be aware of and put on a routine recaulk.

Also, the front clearance lights are a poor design and leak, but no indication that the water got past the light fixtures.... not a huge big deal.

Lots of loose and missing screws. Especially the drawer glides. Passed my PDI test of opening and closing, but I soon discovered that many were misaligned, and Thor has a habit of using one screw where two would do..... Just something to watch for in your PDI..... not a show stopper in my opinion.

Oh, a used one we looked at had a jackknife sofa. The one we ended up with ahd the fold out with inflatable mattress. I think that I would have prefered the jackknife..... but then I haven't lived with one of those.....

I think this is typical with these class c's, but I find that the driver's seat doesn't go back far enough. I'm 5-10, and it's ok, but for someone taller it might be an issue.

We have used ours mostly locally, but just came off a 2,600mile 2 week trip over Christmas.... and we're still very happy with her.

Any other questions, just ask!

FW28z · 01-28-2015, 07:53 PM

FWIW, our jackknife sofa is fairly uncomfortable.

JamieGeek · 01-28-2015, 08:26 PM

We had a jackknife sofa in our 5th wheel. It was the most comfortable bed in the thing! LOL

doubravsky · 01-28-2015, 10:04 PM

Our 31W has the jackknife.... the kids find it very comfortable....

bkuz · 02-18-2015, 01:39 PM

We found the kitchen in this Thor Model had a lot of counter space and storage. We also liked the floor plan. Has plenty of room for the grand kids.

SwanRV · 06-02-2015, 02:34 PM

We have a 2015 31L and love it. Just as one of the other members stated my wife sat on the couch and said this is the one. She fell in love with the counter space and the amount of storage in the rig. The only thing I don't like is the way the toilet sits. For someone short like me you have to have a small riser to put your feet on to be comfortable. All in all we love it.

Beacher · 06-02-2015, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blw2

...
Oh, a used one we looked at had a jackknife sofa. The one we ended up with ahd the fold out with inflatable mattress. I think that I would have prefered the jackknife..... but then I haven't lived with one of those........!

I have had both types, with a mattress and the inflatable.

I prefer the inflatable type.

Even on the best mattress type, there is that one spot where the bar crosses, even though you might not feel it when sleeping, it's there when you knee bashes into it! I have never had a problem with the inflatable type. Using sheets or a sleeping bag, it's very easy to inflate to the proper comfort level, and no cross bars to bash into or feel during sleep.

blw2 · 06-02-2015, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beacher

I have had both types, with a mattress and the inflatable.

I prefer the inflatable type.

Even on the best mattress type, there is that one spot where the bar crosses, even though you might not feel it when sleeping, it's there when you knee bashes into it! I have never had a problem with the inflatable type. Using sheets or a sleeping bag, it's very easy to inflate to the proper comfort level, and no cross bars to bash into or feel during sleep.

Yeah, i suppose it depends on need and purpose....
I wasn't writing from the perspective of sleeping.
More like ease of converting back and forth.

To date, we haven't ever even inflated the mattress. It's one of those things I kept meaning to do before warranty ran out, but never got around to.
On my last trip, I discovered that the power cord has been pinched by the sfao hinge mechanism, so danger and a fire hazard that I need to fix.

& I just hate the idea of having to fold up the air mattress to get it to fit nicely again....

Currently we have a kid sleep there occasionally, but with it in sofa mode.
and when we need to tilt the back forward because something fell behind, it's always wonky....

So by my figuring the jack knife would be better in that it's easier to fold out into a bed and would therefore be better for a kid who could just as well sleep on a concrete floor....

JamieGeek · 06-02-2015, 06:33 PM

Our old 5th wheel had a jacknife sofabed in it. All of us at one time or another have slept on it. I never really found it that uncomfortable and our son preferred to sleep on it instead of his bunks in the back! (Yeah spend all the $$ for a bunkhouse and the darn kid won't sleep there! LOL). The only uncomfortable thing about it was the decorative buttons on it.

JoandRandy · 06-05-2015, 01:18 PM

I know this is a ways past the original post. We had the 2014 31L Chateau. We love it. The counter space is awesome and the windows on the 2014 are still the old style and we like those better. We had auto levelers and satellite installed. The only thing I don't care for is the leather couch. I like the cloth better but were thinking about changing it out down the road. There were a few things we had to fix/improve: 1)The roller drawers in the bedroom, the brackets that attach slides had one screw in them. They were bending and three needed replaced. 2) A lot of wasted space behind the TV in the bedroom. We took out the screws of the square wood piece the TV bracket is attached to and moved it back as far as we could and reattached it. It gave us about 6 more inches of "counter space" under the TV. 3) The cabinet under the sink is tall, I think for a square garbage can. We placed a shelf so it gives us more space there. 4) The toilet is too high so we cut some kids foam play mats to size and put a foam rug on top of that and it's so much better. 5) Our other RV had a shelf behind the couch so after the first time the remote was dropped behind there because were used to setting it on the shelf, we put in a 3 inch shelf. Just big enough for the remote, cell phone, and any other thing that fits. There are other little things too but I can't remember them. We love this unit even with the work. I guess that's part of our fun. Fixing it up to fit our liking.

blw2 · 06-05-2015, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoandRandy

I know this is a ways past the original post. We had the 2014 31L Chateau. We love it. The counter space is awesome and the windows on the 2014 are still the old style and we like those better. We had auto levelers and satellite installed. The only thing I don't care for is the leather couch. I like the cloth better but were thinking about changing it out down the road. There were a few things we had to fix/improve: 1)The roller drawers in the bedroom, the brackets that attach slides had one screw in them. They were bending and three needed replaced. 2) A lot of wasted space behind the TV in the bedroom. We took out the screws of the square wood piece the TV bracket is attached to and moved it back as far as we could and reattached it. It gave us about 6 more inches of "counter space" under the TV. 3) The cabinet under the sink is tall, I think for a square garbage can. We placed a shelf so it gives us more space there. 4) The toilet is too high so we cut some kids foam play mats to size and put a foam rug on top of that and it's so much better. 5) Our other RV had a shelf behind the couch so after the first time the remote was dropped behind there because were used to setting it on the shelf, we put in a 3 inch shelf. Just big enough for the remote, cell phone, and any other thing that fits. There are other little things too but I can't remember them. We love this unit even with the work. I guess that's part of our fun. Fixing it up to fit our liking.

hey, good idea for a ledge or shelf behind the sofa! I think I'll put that one on my project list! We struggle for a place to put our drinks when sitting on the sofa, so a shelf would do triple duty there!
I'd love to see some pictures of yours for inspiration!

What do you mean about the "Old Style Windows"?
Mine is a '13. What did they change them to?

JoandRandy · 06-05-2015, 03:26 PM

The 2015 has what they call frameless windows. The outer window goes out I think about maybe 10 inches vertically. (I'm not exact no that) And the window inside even if it's open all the way the outer window in my opinion blocks the breeze. Others like them a lot so each his or her own. They are designed to not have leaks over time like the original ones can. I hope I explained that right. I'll take some photos of our projects hopefully today and post them.

doubravsky · 06-05-2015, 05:19 PM

Ours has the frameless windows. They do seem to inhibit air flow.... if we could pick we'd go with the older style windows....

blw2 · 06-05-2015, 05:48 PM

so do they flip out, awning style?

doubravsky · 06-05-2015, 05:54 PM

yes... but they don't flip out very far.... the plus side was that "you can open them in the rain or any time".

JoandRandy · 06-08-2015, 12:46 PM

If I did this right here are the photos of our projects. The bathroom top rug won't be a wine theme, I was getting an idea of what the rug look and felt like and it's comfortable to stand on. All layers are foam. I didn't like the adjustable shelf in the top cupboard so we just changed it to the permanent one. I would of liked to have a wider shelf behind the couch but we were limited by the height of the couch and the decorative framing around the windows. I have those 3M hooks up all over too. We had them on our other RV for years and they came off with no problems. My husband doesn't like the board to the bathroom accessing the water heater (I think). He's going to put something else there to make it easier to get to. That project isn't fun for me so I'm not involved in what he had in mind.

**EA37TS** · 06-08-2015, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoandRandy

If I did this right here are the photos of our projects. The bathroom top rug won't be a wine theme, I was getting an idea of what the rug look and felt like and it's comfortable to stand on. All layers are foam. I didn't like the adjustable shelf in the top cupboard so we just changed it to the permanent one. I would of liked to have a wider shelf behind the couch but we were limited by the height of the couch and the decorative framing around the windows. I have those 3M hooks up all over too. We had them on our other RV for years and they came off with no problems. My husband doesn't like the board to the bathroom accessing the water heater (I think). He's going to put something else there to make it easier to get to. That project isn't fun for me so I'm not involved in what he had in mind.

Nice work.

Just a thought here, my previous class C had two cup holders in the shelf behind the coach. You could probably use something like the ones in this link.

http://www.amazon.com/Vivid-Black-Al...in+cup+holders

Again, just a thought.

JoandRandy · 06-08-2015, 01:45 PM

Thank you dstankov, I'll look into it but it might interfere with the shade. We'll see.

**EA37TS** · 06-08-2015, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoandRandy

Thank you dstankov, I'll look into it but it might interfere with the shade. We'll see.

They install by drilling a hole in the shelf and the top of the holder fits flush with the top of the shelf. Properly installed they should not interfere with the shades.

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