One Year with ourThor/Four Winds 35SK Motorhome

[jwhalen457]

One Year with our 2014 Thor/Four Winds 35SK Motorhome

My wife and I bought a new 2014 Four Winds 35SK one year ago. We now have over 12,000 miles on it and have lived and traveled in it for over 6 months. We are very pleased with our motor home. The floor plan and power plant were just what we had been looking for. Yes we did have some issues since the motor home did not come perfect from the factory/dealer – none of them do, no matter the manufacturer. Most issues were minor and I repaired almost all of the issues myself - both at home and on the road. We are both seniors but of sound mind and body (most of the time). I have attached a list of the bigger annoying issues we had. We had no issues that shut us down or prevented our use of the vehicle. Minor issues included adjustments to drawer latches and slides and fixing drips in drain pipe fittings. I travel with basic tools and an electric drill and drill bits.

Keep in mind that this is a 19,500 lb GVWR chassis. If you want tile floors and showers, granite countertops, and top quality wood cabinets, move up to a 36 ft class A built on a 32,000 lb + chassis and pay at double or triple what we paid for this motor home.

This is a reasonably priced motor home that meets our needs. Fit and finish are not top-notch but are what we expected for what we paid.

Things that we really like are:
Diesel power plant (rarely downshifts or slows down on hills)
Super capacity cab AC
Ford 5 year/60,000 mile power train warranty
Virtually unaffected by side winds and buffeting from passing vehicles (really)
Fuel mileage – 10.5 MPG while towing a Honda CR-V (small SUV)
Lots of exterior storage space
Towing capacity
Stainless steel wheels with tire air fill extensions
Large residential 110 volt refrigerator (but we do very little dry camping)
Generous closets and dresser drawer space
Kitchen pantry and general storage space
Double AC’s which are relatively quiet
Overall comfort
King size walk-around bed
Solid construction with few squeaks and rattles
Quiet Onan diesel generator
Quality components (inverter, toilet, water pump, furnace, generator, leveling jacks)

Annoying Problems (the factory is aware of these issues and I expect they are resolved in current factory production)

Front diesel fuel tank filling problem (shouldn’t be a problem on any newer motor homes)

The longer window shade assemblies fall down while traveling with a large crash (solution – assure all shade assembly mounting brackets are attached to the walls with 3 screws going into wall studs)
As a side note – I would prefer to have accordion style day/night shades.

Chassis running light fuse would blow due to a short caused by a side running light wire getting pinched in a rear wheel leaf spring (cut out affected wiring, shortened wiring run to side running light)

Front mud flaps on rear wheels contact the wheel (replaced mud flaps with stiffer black ABS plastic cut to size of original mud flaps)

Sound deadening around shower water pipes fell out of position, causing quite a banging when any water faucet was operated (solved by buying 5 feet of large diameter foam pipe insulation and sliding it up over the shower pipes from the access hatch below the shower)

Refrigerator door swings open on right turns (solved by adding child proof buckle latches to outside of frig)

Needs a better solution for curtaining off the cab

Modifications We Made

Added a Vizio sound bar just below TV to improve TV sound quality
Added a three tier stand alone rack to the driver’s side rear storage compartment

Happily looking forward to more travels in our Thor/Four Winds 35SK.

[pstandiford]

Originally Posted by jwhalen457

As a side note – I would prefer to have accordion style day/night shades.



Needs a better solution for curtaining off the cab

Our previous Class A and the 5th wheel before that had the accordion style shades and we hated them. They would never seem to fold straight.
Agree 100% on the need for a better curtain for the cab. Let me know if you find one.

[KCook]

Nice post!!

[Fred g]

Jim,

We purchased a 2015 35SK in August of this year. I contacted Coverquest and they are sending me a windshield cover that should work. It was $67.00. Magne Shade also has one but it is $300.00 and you can see in at night.

With regards to the front fuel fill, I have been to Ford and they say it is the responsibility of the coach manufacturer. I called Thor, and because there are 2 90 degree turns on the fill line, they suggested shortening the hose and making it steeper. I am still looking for a better solution for it.

Fred

[blw2]

My 31L is the gas E-450 version of the same floor plan. We've enjoyed ours too, but sure would have liked the upgrade to the 35SK!

[Fred g]

The windshield cover from Coverquest did not fit. It is too small and we are thinking of taking it to a canvas shop for alterations.

Fred