What have we gotten ourselves into! :-)

[Amespa]

Originally Posted by UpstateGreg

The wife and I joined your esteemed assemblage with the purchase last week of a 2017 Hurricane 29M. We had started looking at Jayco Class C units and briefly entertained the thought of getting a used Jayco Melbourne but realized upon getting inside the unit that it had very little storage and everything was scaled for people smaller than us. We got this coach locally via a private sale and the price was reasonable, even though still quite a stretch for us.

We have never owned a motorized RV, but we owned two travel trailers that we had permanently parked at a campground for the better part of two decades. The one we had the longest was a 1993 35ish foot unit. We had the Amish build a porch on the front and it server as a cheap vacation home that we went to most weekends during the campground’s active season. We never owned a vehicle capable of pulling the trailer so it sat where it was. A succession of changes of ownership at the campground led to a couple who decided they did not want older trailers “dirtying up” their campground, regardless that those same trailers were the majority of their permanent site customers. The wife and I sort of fell out of love with the whole thing and sold off the trailer, tore down the porch and left. That was about five or six years ago.

So now we have something new to us. The wife is handling the truly important stuff, figuring out what color scheme for the inside, what pots and pans to get (a Magma Products nesting pan set), what kind of dishes to get (a Corelle set) and what color towels and bath mat to purchase (gray). So Amazon has been delivering non-stop, all week to the house. (I think I need to go downstairs right now as at least four more packages were delivered on a Sunday...)

My job has been to figure out how to run the darn thing. We are familiar with a lot of the basics, having owned a travel trailer. Many of the systems are similar, both had a freshwater, grey water and black water tank. This will be the first time we have to take care of the emptying process ourselves though. Propane stove and fridges are not new to us either. My only issues so far have been basically having been handed the keys to this rig in a basically unknown state. The older couple who owned it had the winterization process handled by Camping World and they have not used it this year so it was still winterized. I winterized our travel trailer for two decades, but I knew where everything was. With this new rig I am having to track everything down and figure everything out as I go. The manual is decent but generic to all of that particular year’s gas coaches. Yesterday I filled up the freshwater tank to test the water pump delivery of water. First I found that the freshwater tank drain valve was open so it was flowing out onto the grass almost as fast as I was adding water 😊. I closed the valve and added more water then activated the pump. I could hear the pump, but nothing came out of the faucets. Looked through the manual but it didn’t help. Turned the pump back on and walked around the coach to find the thing, assuming it would be visible in one of the bays somewhere near one of the water inlets or near the freshwater tank. Nope! Went into the coach, shut down everything else and finally traced it via the noise to where you all already knew it was the whole time, under the rear dinette bench. There I found a isolation valve taking the pump out of the freshwater loop, something I had not anticipated. Looks like there is an inlet there for adding the antifreeze during the winterization process, which contradicts the manual which mentioned putting several gallons of antifreeze into the freshwater tank to get distributed into the system. Was also surprised to see a three plus inch hole wide open to the outside where the waterlines come in from the outside. I need to close that up with some Great Stuff. I turned the valve and water started flowing immediately. Problem solved with a bit of investigative work.

The only other issue that made me scratch my head so far was the steadily declining battery level that ended up being due to a problematic extension cord. When I replaced the cord to allow actual electricity to flow from the power outlet to the coach things worked much better!

I know I am supposed to start new threads on how awful the Seiki TV sets are (they are awful), how awful the Axxera radio is (it is awful), complain about sawdust in the storage units (there was some) and ask where does everyone store their broom (haven’t figured that one out yet lol) so look for those from me soonest!

Anyways, the wife and I are officially in this “elite club” now 😊!

I have the same unit. I store the broom standing up ( bristles up) between the sink and shower in bathroom. Fits perfectly. I bought a collapsible Swifter and take it apart and store it in the bin over the night stand. Works great! If you aren’t using your drop down bed, that would be a great place also.

[Geohixon]

We have the 2018 29M. We have learned lots in the two years we have had it. Happy to share tips and tricks. Like put tinfoil behind the heat vent in bedroom so you don’t roast when the heat comes on and poke small holes in it to treat it like a damper. Adding a steering stabilizer on the coach to make it MUCH easier to drive. I do have to say I LOVE the awning. Automatically drops a side to drain water and auto retract has save my butt on countless times. Anyway welcome to the dark side.

[Rybie]

Yes, welcome
The Thor web site is most helpful. We store our broom behind the toilet, mostly.

Hopefully nothing is wrong and you'll continue to enjoy it.

[Laco]

We had three of the wonder Seiki's, one failed, so I replaced it with Best Buys, brand, perfect fit, huge improvement, smart TV and under $120.00. These were the 32 inchers. We got along with them, mainly because we always used satellite which worked well, even on the Seiki's.

[Bill Johnson]

Welcome I just started here last week, I have a Thor motorhome and after calling technical support I found everything they forgot to install in the motorhome including leaks so I re-did the plumbing. Just open every door and see what is behind it. I'm still finding things missing. Hopefully the old owner fixed everything along the way. Don't forget to replace the transmission fluid and filter it's an easy messy job, and hoses depending how man years old.

[cgeace29.3]

Greg, As a former Upstate NYer from Oneida NY and a 2016 Thor ace owner welcome.
Many years ago an older and wiser coworker told me a boat is a hole in the water you throw money into! Since then I have owned 2 boats and currently have a 22' sea hunt cc, we never learn, but living on the Chesapeake Bay you have to have a boat.
I'm happy most of the time as a motorhome owner but I'll say this owning a motorhome is owning a big box on 4 wheels you throw money into!
Every time we go out for a week or a weekend something breaks. This last trip the water heater and electric step motor.
So be prepared, have lots of patience, money and time to spend on the dam thing!

[MJC62]

Welcome aboard! I think someone already mentioned go on the Thor Website, open owners resources and enter your VIN. All the systems and products installed in your Hurricane owners manuals will be available as well as many how to videos on how different items in the coach work. That will definitely shorten the learning curve.
Safe Travels & Enjoy the journey!

[Tinman2111]

Greg,

Thank you for writing such an entertaining piece, it was a joy to read!

I had to learn so much with our RV and most of that education was through mistakes! But nothing blew up or burned down, so all is good. I found the same sawdust, crappy tv's and horrible radio, but so what, they can all be replaced with better!

Enjoy!!

Mark

[Jimbo56]

Well again I’ve learned something new. I can go to the Thor website and enter my vin and bingo! What a great way to save time figuring stuff out.

Enjoy your travels.

Oh! Bob, was that your wife with her new jet pack cruising over LA the other day?

[magicofmassage@gmail.com]

Wow, enjoy! Great story, I'm a newbie on my second trip now still learning. I have a 2017 freedom elite (motor coach) love it so far. I'll be looking for my fresh water pump now (lol)

[UpstateGreg]

Originally Posted by pavemike

Greg,
Have you created an account on Thor Motor Coach and logged onto the Owner's Resources? Enter your VIN and you will find all of the manuals, schematics and diagrams for your coach. I have found this extremely informative for usage, troubleshooting and modifications. This is for coaches 2014 and newer which yours is. Good luck and have fun!

Thanks Mike, I did create an account there and perused the manuals before we were able to take possession of the coach! I also read through the generic 2017 gas coach manual as well. Thankfully the full set of paper manuals were still in the rig as well.

[Pete'sMH]

Originally Posted by cgeace29.3

Greg, As a former Upstate NYer from Oneida NY and a 2016 Thor ace owner welcome.
Many years ago an older and wiser coworker told me a boat is a hole in the water you throw money into! Since then I have owned 2 boats and currently have a 22' sea hunt cc, we never learn, but living on the Chesapeake Bay you have to have a boat.
I'm happy most of the time as a motorhome owner but I'll say this owning a motorhome is owning a big box on 4 wheels you throw money into!
Every time we go out for a week or a weekend something breaks. This last trip the water heater and electric step motor.
So be prepared, have lots of patience, money and time to spend on the dam thing!

Truth! We just got back from an 1800 mile trip and we were on the verge of completing an entire trip without a single malfunction. I mentioned it to my wife and sure enough the toilet water inlet valve began to leak. It’s ALWAYS something! At least it’s an inexpensive part and very easy to replace. And I now know how yet another system on my machine works.

[UpstateGreg]

We are out on our first trip this weekend. The wife chose two different Harvest Hosts sites. Any hiccups have been relatively minor.

Friday night I swapped out the terrible Harris batteries with a pair of Interstate 6 volt batteries. I was a little concerned about the number of wire lugs that had to go onto the positive terminal but by flipping some over I was able to create enough room on the terminal screw. The Harris batteries were bone dry when I removed them. Both had build dates of September 2016 so it was definitely time for them to go. Earlier in the week something had happened that tripped both 100 amp circuit breakers in the battery compartment. Not sure what the issue was but resetting them got power back in the rig. It’s possible that I did it the night before when I went to turn the lights off and accidentally hit the battery disconnect button, immediately turning it on and off and back on accidentally as I fumbled with the switches.

I use a CPAP at night. I really thought the outlets on the bed were on the inverter. I was annoyed to find that they were not. We are stopping at Walmart to get an extension cord to run from the plug behind the bedroom TV set. No idea if there is enough juice in the new batteries to run two of those all night but I guess I’ll find out. I believe the inverter will beep if input voltage gets low? If so I’ll keep the remote handy to run the generator for a bit.

I bought a small low voltage fan, which of course I could not run, but I think I’m going to get a Ryobi lithium powered fan instead so there is no additional load on the batteries. The reviews I read say the fan will run on low for 11 plus hours on the larger 4 amp hour batteries. Ryobi also makes a portable lithium battery powered inverter that I’m going to pick up as well. Like the fan, it uses the same batteries as the cordless tools I already own.

The rest of the issues were just items we forgot, like sugar. The morning coffee was a bit more bitter than I am used to without it. I’ll grab some from Walmart today.

[Jeaniebtravel]

Welcome, glad you figured out the water valve issue. I have a 2018, 30ft Thor 4 Winds, used, and they buried the on /off valves so far down into the compartment, which was under the bed, It took me looking 5 times looking to see them at the bottom of the space. Could they have made the levers any smaller, i don't know....
The answer to your question is, store your broom in the shower.
Jeanie, a happy camper

[UpstateGreg]

Our first trip went well. Had our first broken item, the propane gauge/sending unit snapped off the propane tank so I will have to replace that now. Looks pretty straightforward.

A run to Walmart got some missing parts and pieces that we had forgotten and or did not realize we would need. I got a pair of attractive (wife approved) 15-foot extension cords that I plugged into the outlets behind the TV in the bedroom which solved the inverter power issues in the bedroom. When not in use they tuck behind the TV set without any issue. The battery withstood the extra load without any problems.

One thing I didn't like was coming to the realization of how genuinely TERRIBLE the gas milage is. I drive an ML350 and I have complained since the day I got it about the 16-17 MPG I routinely get with its V6 engine, but this is an entirely new level of awfulness. Wow... I didn't get the exact milage when we left and I haven't filled it back up yet but I am scared to do the calculation once I do fill it back up and calculate out the mileage via Google Maps. I didn't have rose colored glasses on regarding the MPG but wow...

We still enjoyed ourselves thoroughly!

[Pete'sMH]

Originally Posted by UpstateGreg

Our first trip went well. Had our first broken item, the propane gauge/sending unit snapped off the propane tank so I will have to replace that now. Looks pretty straightforward.



A run to Walmart got some missing parts and pieces that we had forgotten and or did not realize we would need. I got a pair of attractive (wife approved) 15-foot extension cords that I plugged into the outlets behind the TV in the bedroom which solved the inverter power issues in the bedroom. When not in use they tuck behind the TV set without any issue. The battery withstood the extra load without any problems.



One thing I didn't like was coming to the realization of how genuinely TERRIBLE the gas milage is. I drive an ML350 and I have complained since the day I got it about the 16-17 MPG I routinely get with its V6 engine, but this is an entirely new level of awfulness. Wow... I didn't get the exact milage when we left and I haven't filled it back up yet but I am scared to do the calculation once I do fill it back up and calculate out the mileage via Google Maps. I didn't have rose colored glasses on regarding the MPG but wow...



We still enjoyed ourselves thoroughly!

Glad it went well! There’s a learning curve for sure and it just keeps getting better. You’ll get used to the mileage. Our experience is six and a half to seven mpg. Bad enough that I actually budget it, putting $200/month into a separate travel account at my bank so that when we want to take a trip of several thousand miles we won’t have too much anxiety about it. We took a 6 week trip through the northwest last summer and spent a bit over $3000 just on gasoline! Enjoy your travels.

[UpstateGreg]

Originally Posted by Pete'sMH

Glad it went well! There’s a learning curve for sure and it just keeps getting better. You’ll get used to the mileage. Our experience is six and a half to seven mpg. Bad enough that I actually budget it, putting $200/month into a separate travel account at my bank so that when we want to take a trip of several thousand miles we won’t have too much anxiety about it. We took a 6 week trip through the northwest last summer and spent a bit over $3000 just on gasoline! Enjoy your travels.

That's actually a decent idea... Thanks...

[PapaMo]

Originally Posted by UpstateGreg

The wife and I joined your esteemed assemblage with the purchase last week of a 2017 Hurricane 29M...

Welcome to the group, Greg.

We have almost the same rig -- the Windsport 29M (cosmetic differences). When you have the time, I encourage you to start reading the "Jerry's Hurricane mods" thread. He, too, has a 29M. Loads of ideas and great people to help you out if and when you have any questions.

Take care and safe travels,

Kent

[paulwadley]

Remember that mileage is dependent on the weight you are carrying, the wind/weather conditions and you are carrying an entire house on wheels. You can't expect high miles per gallon driving a large box on the road. Have fun with it and enjoy the ride.

Paul