Hopefully these are good questions?

[Oneilkeys]

Some tunnels make you turn propane off, some do not allow RVs at all and all ferries that I have been on mandate that you turn it off. I have never seen any state or even city that tells you to turn it off. I have over 100,000 miles in RVs and I turn my propane on when I leave on a trip and only turn it off in gas stations, tunnels and ferries and when I get home.

[Beau388]

Interesting thread. All Thor MC slides in the gas coaches are manufactured by Schwintek in- wall slide systems. The components are made by Lippert Components under the Schwintek name. The actual box and furnishings are made by Thor MC factories. The outer wall of the in-wall slide is cut from the same side wall installed on the RV. The in-wall slides in my coach have made about 200 in/out cycles without a problem.



Thor MC sources their outside fridges from multiple sources, Mine is a PD and has the control outside the fridge next to the freezer compartment. I use the included Aussie grill and stand almost every day when the weather permits. It is nice having hot and cold water as well as soap and paper towels close the the grill.



120 volt power for my RV fridge comes from the left rear 120 volt circuit (duplex plugs under the rear of the bed and on the dressing table). I moved that circuit to the inverter sub panel when I replaced the Xanterx Pro 1000 with a Xantrex Freedom XI 2000. The reason to power the fridge primarily through the inverter is we often spend time in Creede,CO. The RV fridge in inop on propane at that altitude and tends to blow out and not relight when traveling above 5,000 feet.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Bob Denman

Which States require that the propane be turned off? I've heard of it not being allowed in tunnels; but not for entire States.

I can't speak to the question if any of the state laws make it illegal, but I do know it is illegal to have any open flames while near a service station fuel pump, and some tunnels and bridges also have restrictions.

Thor put Residential Refrigerators in a few of their 2018 ACE 29.3 because they say they ran out of Norcold inventory. I kind of fell in love with the idea and did all my homework on pros and cons of Residential fridges. Then when I finally decided to buy the unit I was looking at; it had an exploded battery and corroded battery compartment with rusteout hydraulic pump. It was brand new 2018. The vast majority on this forum told me to run as fast as I could. Looks like what I buy now will be Norcold Electric / Propane. But I will figure out what it takes to have it where electric source can be from Generator or House battery. Whenever I am driving I want my fridge to be on House Battery unless the Generator is own otherwise.

[Oneilkeys]

Originally Posted by Beau388

Interesting thread. All Thor MC slides in the gas coaches are manufactured by Schwintek in- wall slide systems. The components are made by Lippert Components under the Schwintek name. The actual box and furnishings are made by Thor MC factories. The outer wall of the in-wall slide is cut from the same side wall installed on the RV. The in-wall slides in my coach have made about 200 in/out cycles without a problem.



Thor MC sources their outside fridges from multiple sources, Mine is a PD and has the control outside the fridge next to the freezer compartment. I use the included Aussie grill and stand almost every day when the weather permits. It is nice having hot and cold water as well as soap and paper towels close the the grill.



120 volt power for my RV fridge comes from the left rear 120 volt circuit (duplex plugs under the rear of the bed and on the dressing table). I moved that circuit to the inverter sub panel when I replaced the Xanterx Pro 1000 with a Xantrex Freedom XI 2000. The reason to power the fridge primarily through the inverter is we often spend time in Creede,CO. The RV fridge in inop on propane at that altitude and tends to blow out and not relight when traveling above 5,000 feet.

Interesting that your RV fridge did not work on propane at over 5000’. We were in Vail valley for a week and Leadville (alt 10,152’) for a week and the fridge in our Axis worked fine the whole time.

[Pete'sMH]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

Thank you alot, your input has been very helpful. I am treating this purchase like buying a house., It may be overkill, but it also part of the fun it owning, getting to pick what you want. This site has already saved me thousands.



FWIW; I have seen the unit in Houston. It is used 2017 with only one AC. We have been looking at new 2018's & 2019's. There are only 9 of those on rvtrader. Several have very good prices that I am willing to pay, but they are all in New York, California, Washington or other states on East Coast that I have never even heard of



This brings me to another question, how does it work for folks trying to buy a RV that far from home? I mean do you agree that you will buy before you see it; so when you go; it is there and NOT sold? What if you see things when you get there that they gloss over as normal like scratched doors, punctures in ceilings, really bad paint finish, etc. You are 1,000 miles from home maybe paid a a good chunk to fly in. Then if you really do buy you got that PDI inspection thing (whatever they call it to do); so you have to go back home and wait on that to be done. Then when ready; you fly back out; and hope they got it all fixed; if not you repeat the cycle. So you buy and your first trip is now a long one likely through some mountains to get back to Texas (we don't see mountains around here (Dallas) - I don't count the fire ant mounds). But let's say I do make it and get home. I am pretty much on my own, because even though I have brand new unit from a Dealer, I am never driving back to New York or that far in that RV to get something fixed that the dealer is responsible for.

I believe I’d just ask for a price reduction for minor blemishes and then go home and fix it or learn to live with it. If they know you’re serious about buying on the spot they’ll drop everything else in the service department to fix yours ready for sale before you sign. You might need to stay overnight if the list is long and in that case maybe you could do a practice night in their parking lot. Buying remote, sight unseen, with a PDI contingency does have some amount of risk. But you pretty much HAVE to agree on a committed price/purchase before traveling or they’ll stick it to you knowing you’ve traveled and want to purchase.

[Beau388]

Originally Posted by Oneilkeys

Interesting that your RV fridge did not work on propane at over 5000’. We were in Vail valley for a week and Leadville (alt 10,152’) for a week and the fridge in our Axis worked fine the whole time.

Lucky -
Effects of High Altitude on Propane Gas Operation When you operate the refrigerator on propane gas at altitudes higher than 5500 feet above sea level: - You may experience reduced cooling performance of the refrigerator.- You may experience burner outages.To avoid these possible problems, Norcold recommends that you operate the refrigerator on AC when at altitudes higher than 5500 feet above sea level.

[Mr Sunshine]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

...This brings me to another question, how does it work for folks trying to buy a RV that far from home?

We did just that.We bought from a dealer almost a thousand miles from home and even had a trade involved. I was trusting them to deliver as promised, and they were trusting me to deliver my coach as described. I did some checking on their reputation before I took their deal.

Warranty service? We had a issue on the third day, about 600 miles from the dealer. Thor gave me 4 dealer numbers to call. The first said sure, can get to you in about a month, second said sure, can get to you in two weeks, third said bring it in! Then we needed some minor warranty issues fixed after we got home. The two nearby (within 25 miles) Thor dealers I checked had no problem doing my warranty work.

My backup plan if I had problem getting warranty work done would be to ask Thor to authorize a non-Thor dealer or mobile tech to fix my rig. Your results may vary.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

Looks like MHSRV has a 27B:
https://www.mhsrv.com/2019-thor-moto...-a-tx-i2187769

They are one of the better dealers in the nation. (In fact it may be better to pay their price than find a cheap one across the country.)

If you're planning on buying elsewhere due to price you could always contact a local dealer and see if they will perform your warranty work for you (the answer most likely would be "no" but you could always ask). You can also contact Thor and find a local repair shop that can do the work for you.

Another option for repairs (albeit a long drive for you) is factory service in Wakarusa, IN. You'll find no better shop in the US than factory service to fix a Thor.

Thank you. We enjoy just visiting MHSRV. They are very good people and have never pressured us. Visiting them in a way beats an RV Show.

Wakarusa, IN is 1,000 plus miles from Dallas; so it would be very difficult to justify the cost to get there even if they had better labor rates and quality.

I consider myself on the outside looking in and the RV industry looks to be focus on greed and not to re-invent themselves. Despite all of the support issues, I think Thor is trying to provide a better product. Boats are built similar to RVs with hundreds of vendors providing parts that go into assembly at Yamaha, Cobalt etc. But they don't have the service and support problems.

[rudyhehn]

Regarding large slides - Our 33.3 Palazzo has a small bedroom slide that has always worked well. The large kitchen slide has been a major headache, the motor disconnecting from the track three times. Repairs by an independent shop and Camping World lasted a few months. We finally brought it to the Lippert shop in Elkhart and they got it fixed on the second try by using a larger motor and reworking the track attachment. On the plus side the coach is fully usable with the slide retracted, and when open there is a ton of room. I hear the new Palazzos use the larger motor and track system now.
Using slides half open - Can be done but you risk unsynchronizing the motors, and the seals will not be closed so you can have air and water leaks.
Fridge - We have a residential fridge plugged into an outlet connected to our inverter powered by 4x6v batteries.If we're careful about how often we open the door to can use it for 12 hours using 50% of our power reserve.
Outdoor kitchen - We don't have one but we keep a Coleman stove in our storage area.

[EVMIII]

To my surprise I find myself using the outside kitchen area (sink and fridge) a lot. We spend most of our time outside and it's convenient not going in and out. As previously mentioned, our mini fridge runs off the inverter but ours plugs into a standard type electrical outlet in the compartment. I do unplug when not hooked to shore power. FYI, I very seldom use the outside TV. Good luck, safe travels.

[harvnlois]

Taylorbob1,
Your comment regarding Walmart dry camping brings a question to mind. My wife and I are just beginning serious search for our first motorhome and she really likes the Vegas 27.7. But the bed has to be folded when the slide is in.
Since we have never experienced dry camping, does Walmart require that you NOT extend any slides?
Thanks,
Harv and Lois

[Fish and Dear]

Originally Posted by harvnlois

Taylorbob1,
Your comment regarding Walmart dry camping brings a question to mind. My wife and I are just beginning serious search for our first motorhome and she really likes the Vegas 27.7. But the bed has to be folded when the slide is in.
Since we have never experienced dry camping, does Walmart require that you NOT extend any slides?
Thanks,
Harv and Lois

Wal-Mart does not have any requirements for overnighting in their lots. The store manager either allows or disallows overnighters. When we've boondocked in parking lots like this we try to avoid running out our slide. It's just a courtesy to the store...don't want an appearance of "camping" or being more settled in than for some sleep.

When we had a unit with the flip bed we would use the dinette bed. That got old quick!! For our latest rig one major requirement was that coach had to be fully useable with slides in. Something to think about. What if she wants to lie down or take a nap while you drive? You only have that dinette option of you have a flip type bed.

If you do settle on a unit with the flip bed and want to run out the slide while bookdocking in a parking lot, try to park so the slide goes out over a grassy area. Again... It's just a courtesy to the store to make as little impact and be as unnoticeable as possible.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Fish and Dear

Wal-Mart does not have any requirements for overnighting in their lots. The store manager either allows or disallows overnighters. When we've boondocked in parking lots like this we try to avoid running out our slide. It's just a courtesy to the store...don't want an appearance of "camping" or being more settled in than for some sleep.

When we had a unit with the flip bed we would use the dinette bed. That got old quick!! For our latest rig one major requirement was that coach had to be fully useable with slides in. Something to think about. What if she wants to lie down or take a nap while you drive? You only have that dinette option of you have a flip type bed.

If you do settle on a unit with the flip bed and want to run out the slide while bookdocking in a parking lot, try to park so the slide goes out over a grassy area. Again... It's just a courtesy to the store to make as little impact and be as unnoticeable as possible.

Thanks for your post as you getting me all worked up on the flip up bed again
I had a hardline on 2 AC's & full bed with slide in, however the only units I have really liked were ACE 29.3 and the Windsport/Hurricane 29M. The 29M is just too long to fit in our driveway and it would be real bummer to have and it have to be in storage all the time and no room to leave ion driveway on occasion, only the street which I don't like at all.

So my question...

Has anyone ever slept in the Windsport/Hurricane 27B when it was folded? My wife noted that it was not a true flip up bed but a flip over bed; when flipped over it looks to be about the size of Futon bed. We are thinking we could use it like that to sleep / rest while driving and or to boondock without using the slide.

[Fish and Dear]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

Thanks for your post as you getting me all worked up on the flip up bed again
I had a hardline on 2 AC's & full bed with slide in, however the only units I have really liked were ACE 29.3 and the Windsport/Hurricane 29M. The 29M is just too long to fit in our driveway and it would be real bummer to have and it have to be in storage all the time and no room to leave ion driveway on occasion, only the street which I don't like at all.

So my question...

Has anyone ever slept in the Windsport/Hurricane 27B when it was folded? My wife noted that it was not a true flip up bed but a flip over bed; when flipped over it looks to be about the size of Futon bed. We are thinking we could use it like that to sleep / rest while driving and or to boondock without using the slide.

I meant fold over bed when I said flip style. Not a Murphy bed. The previous rig we had with that folding mattress would not accommodate use while folded over.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Fish and Dear

I meant fold over bed when I said flip style. Not a Murphy bed. The previous rig we had with that folding mattress would not accommodate use while folded over.

I know I am showing my ignorance but I had to google Murphy Bed

If the RV U shaped beds (when flipped up), are Murphy beds we are talking the same thing. That type of bed is completely out for us with no chance because it is impossible to sit on, or sleep with slide in. It does not look very appealing to us; but that is function of what the owner wants out of their RV. To each his own, I respect that.

The flip over I refer to allows you to flip whats amounts to half of the bed; so where it was King, now in effect becomes half a bed (like a futon sofa in a way). I was wandering has anyone ever slept on the bed like that in 27B to assess how comfy it might be for when you do not wish to have slide out, but do not want to sleep on dinette bed or sofa?

[Fish and Dear]

Right...we had a flip over queen. Like a doubled up futon. Could not use it that way

[EVMIII]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

Thanks for your post as you getting me all worked up on the flip up bed again
I had a hardline on 2 AC's & full bed with slide in, however the only units I have really liked were ACE 29.3 and the Windsport/Hurricane 29M. The 29M is just too long to fit in our driveway and it would be real bummer to have and it have to be in storage all the time and no room to leave ion driveway on occasion, only the street which I don't like at all.

Your list sounds very similar to mine. When I switched from my fifth wheel, one of my non negotiable requirements was a usable vehicle with the slides in. In my ACE 29.4, the bed doesn't fold so I have a full size camper king fully available. (can't get into the main drawers with the bedroom slide in). Regarding your original Walmart question, I prefer not to open my slides with stabilizing and leveling, which I won't do in a Walmart parking lot. I have seen folks doing it, but I don't wont to abuse there hospitality. Good luck in your search, enjoy the journey.

[rudyhehn]

I am not aware of any formal Walmart rules. You are officially parking overnight and not camping. We appreciate the option to occasionally use Walmart and so we try to stay inconspicuous by parking at the outskirts, keeping our slides in and keeping lights low.

[Pete'sMH]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

Thank you. We enjoy just visiting MHSRV. They are very good people and have never pressured us. Visiting them in a way beats an RV Show.



Wakarusa, IN is 1,000 plus miles from Dallas; so it would be very difficult to justify the cost to get there even if they had better labor rates and quality.



I consider myself on the outside looking in and the RV industry looks to be focus on greed and not to re-invent themselves. Despite all of the support issues, I think Thor is trying to provide a better product. Boats are built similar to RVs with hundreds of vendors providing parts that go into assembly at Yamaha, Cobalt etc. But they don't have the service and support problems.

Factory service is not just about labor rates. It’s about getting it fixed right the first time. And (being from Indiana) I have to point out that you can make a fine vacation to Indiana and nearby states around your service visit. Lots of terrific things to do and see within even just 100 miles of Wakarusa.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Pete'sMH

Factory service is not just about labor rates. It’s about getting it fixed right the first time. And (being from Indiana) I have to point out that you can make a fine vacation to Indiana and nearby states around your service visit. Lots of terrific things to do and see within even just 100 miles of Wakarusa.

FWIW, I went to HS at North Central in Indianapolis IND. although I have never been to any of these RV cities. My point on labor rates is that I don't expect to plan to buy a brand new unit and drive to Indiana to get the things that were not fixed right the first time fixed right the 2nd time by same people. I get some do because it is an option. My point is that it should NOT be the best option. At least based on what I read on this site. It would be like every owner of a Sea Ray boat needing to take their boat back to Knoxville Tennessee, because the Sea Ray dealers across the country can't be relied upon to fix all of the defects that the SeaRay mfg didn't get right the first time. Note: My concern was not with the many people that are fortunate enough to go to Indiana or vacation while ensuring they can get their RV fixed at a better rate. If I lived back in Indy or closer I would likely own a Thor now, my plight is I am trying to buy a Thor and it is daunting because I am basically have to learn all I need to know so I buy the right unit for my family and able to deal with it without have to go months where I can't use.

IMO I think the RV industry is in trouble unless they reinvent themselves. I have been trying for almost 9 months to buy a unit. It should NOT be that hard or that much risk. Then when you do wish to buy they scare you to death about how you may be stranded or issues with slides etc, that you have to pay $6k more to feel safe. In Dallas the RV boat shows are always packed with 1000s, but most don't own RV's. I am just stated my version of why I don't yet.