RV Newbie

corey823 · 08-24-2015, 03:08 PM

Hi everyone.

My name is Corey and I am brand new to the RV community. I just purchased my first RV, Thor Ace 29.4. It will be arriving in about 3 weeks. I am a little nervous about all the negative RV posts out there, but I decided to take the plunge anyway.
I live in Michigan with my wife and 2 cats. We are still both employed, but plan on taking long weekends and some weeks to travel out west with the new toy.
I will probably be asking some routine questions, but I will search the forums for answers.
I will also reveiw the 29.4 when it arrives as I do not see any reviews in this forum.
Speak to everyone soon.

Corey

rskrbina · 08-24-2015, 03:22 PM

Hello Corey and welcome to the forum. You will love it here. Lots of great people and information. Congrats on the new Ace.

Daveht · 08-24-2015, 03:51 PM

Welcome to the Forum! Hope you and the wife have many happy adventures!

Dave

Beacher · 08-24-2015, 04:17 PM

Congratulations!

I have never ordered an RV and waited for it to arrive. I can see how that can be nerve-racking.

Based on my experiences purchasing off-the-lot RVs, (they are bad enough), I will not sign any documents taking possession of an RV before I have walked though the unit and inspected it.

This applies to any brand or model of RV, not just Thor. Any obvious necessary repairs from the factory are handled as part of the dealer's preparation, not my warranty, (I'll catch all those little things later).

belfastboy · 08-24-2015, 04:34 PM

Welcome Corey. For a newbie as of a year ago, I found this site to be an invaluable resource. Now that I am out of warranty I expect it will continue to grow in value.
I hope you enjoy your motorhome as much as we enjoy ours and continue to be thrilled with the freedom and comfort ours affords.

pstandiford · 08-24-2015, 04:41 PM

Welcome to the forum. I was also quite concerned about the negative press. But I think the ones that like their units don't go on the forums and gush about how great they are and how much they love it. I have had minor (and some major) issues on every RV I have had. But I was able to fix most of them. And some of my problems were by own fault. (In my younger years I didn't do a great job of maintaining them.)

Marine By Choice · 08-24-2015, 04:50 PM

Welcome!
Hope you have many carefree miles!

corey823 · 08-24-2015, 07:23 PM

Thanks for all of the welcomes. I plan to do a thorough inspection once it arrives. I like overkill so I was thinking of having the RV dealer install a second house battery. Any thoughts, necessary or not?

Corey

belfastboy · 08-24-2015, 07:56 PM

Ours came with a second so have no experience of just the one. We can dry camp for a number of days with the two house batteries and not have to run the gen to recharge. Double check to see if the one you have is maintenance free. We were told it was during the inspection, turned out to require maintenance and half the cells ran dry. The dealer replaced under warranty but it would have been good to know the truth up front.

**EA37TS** · 08-24-2015, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by corey823

Thanks for all of the welcomes. I plan to do a thorough inspection once it arrives. I like overkill so I was thinking of having the RV dealer install a second house battery. Any thoughts, necessary or not?

Corey

Just my opinion here.

Whether or not you will need an additional house battery de3pends on how you plan to camp. If you will be dry camping the majority of the time the second battery may be a worthwhile investment. If you will be using campgrounds with electric hookups you may not require the additional house battery and the funds may yield more return on investment by making other mods instead.

Other factors you may want to consider are if the coach will be stored when not used or, like mine, parked in the driveway connected to shore power on the house.

As a hint: your other half will have modification priorities that will trump yours so get their input before shooting yourself in the foot.

belfastboy · 08-24-2015, 10:18 PM

great advice from dstankov. We really enjoyed the process of living in our Axis and discovering bit by bit what we needed to make RV life easier. We bought as we needed and have avoided spending a ton of money on things we "thought" we needed.....according to the list given us by the Dealer!!!

Mr Sunshine · 08-25-2015, 12:18 AM

Welcome and congrats!

Bring your questions for the collective knowledge and opinions here. You'll get some great suggestions. Whether you have few problems or many, big or small, it will be an adventure, and a learning experience!

When delivery day comes, some newby folks have recorded the entire orientation session. This is especially useful when it comes to winterizing instructions. It must be done properly or it gets expensive. Maybe by following recorded instructions, you won't have to ask, "What did they say to do?"

ipagan54 · 08-25-2015, 01:19 AM

Welcome to the forum! We are also newbies and are enjoying our introduction to RVing I get a lot of good info here and another RV forum as well. Dont forget to check out YouTube for hours of good entertainment there!! I figure that if we cant be camping, I might as well watch other folks camping!

corey823 · 09-21-2015, 03:23 PM

Getting closer. Picking up my Thor ACE 29.4 this coming Wednesday. Any advice on the extended warranty (yes or no?)?
I am also sure that they are going to hit me with a lot of extras to purchase. Any words of advice hear?

I am going ahead with the exterior treatment and coatings. We feel that this would be a good thing to put on new.

Thanks. Any comments would be greatly appreciated!

Fred g · 09-21-2015, 03:46 PM

There is quite a bit of mark up on extended warranties. Go to Good Sam Extended Service Plan and print out a quote. There are other ones that you can search for on the internet. When the dealer tries to sell you their warranty, show them the quotes for other plans that you have. Most of the time they will match or beat those quotes.

Fred

pstandiford · 09-21-2015, 03:57 PM

We bought an extended warranty on a 5th wheel that we no longer have. Probably didn't get our moneys worth out of it but that didn't stop us from getting an extended warranty on our new unit that we took delivery of at the end of July. I figure an extended warranty is just like any other insurance. You don't need it until you need it. I figured that by the time we need ours DW and I will both be retired and our "disposable" income will be much less.
I know exactly what the waiting is like because we went through it also. Had to wait almost 10 weeks for ours.

corey823 · 09-27-2015, 02:48 PM

On our second day of our first trip and we are learning a lot. Some minor problems .( could not get 2nd tv to get cable signal, bedroom panel fell off, curtain rollers broke) but overall ok. Quick question. I am going to store my rv for about 2 weeks before our next trip, do I turn off the propane as well as the battery disconnect?

Thanks,
Corey

JamieGeek · 09-27-2015, 03:41 PM

Propane is optional but battery disconnect yes switch it off.

You may have a minor amount of propane leak out but it wouldn't be much.

I typically turn both off when leaving ours at the storage lot.

Fred g · 09-27-2015, 03:48 PM

I always turn off the propane unless I am running the heat between cold weather trips. As far as the battery disconnect, are you going to leave the unit plugged in to 110? If it is plugged in, I would turn off the fridge, prop the fridge open and leave the coach connected. If not plugged in, I would do the same with the fridge and use the battery disconnect switch.

Fred

belfastboy · 09-27-2015, 03:58 PM

What product(s) do you use to care for the wooden cabinetry and the faux leather couch/seating? My wife is bugging me to find out as we have owned our Axis for 13 months and will store it for the winter next month.
She wants to do something to protect these items.
Any suggestions?

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