Another Shakedown Run
Earlier Photo
We purchased our slightly used 2015 Windsport K27 in late 2014. For several years we dealt with several component failures, which were repaired by the dealer, professional truck service people, my brother-in-law who is a machinist, and by me.
We just returned from a sixteen day, 2360 mile round trip from north central Kentucky to central New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The Interstate pavement through all large cities and for miles between cities, was like a battleground (parts of KY, OH, PA, NY, CT, and MA); chunks of missing pavement, misaligned pavement, pot holes, lumps where cold patch had been daubed in holes, pavement to bridge abutments with huge gaps, etc. In short, much of the trip entailed gritting our teeth and hoping for the best as the motor home banged, bounced, swayed, and rumbled over terrible road surfaces. Unbelievably the only damage we experience was about a half dozen broken eggs when I opened the refrigerator door and the egg carton fell out on the floor.
It has taken me nearly five years to develop trust in the Windsport, but this trip through the Northeast certainly proved that the RV is now well put together.
There are two problems that need to be taken care of. The top forward section of the slide out leaks in heavy rain, whether open or closed and the upholstery (seats and dinette cushions), that are coved with cheap leatherette, are deteriorating rapidly.
We pulled a heavy twelve-foot dual axel trailer with a 900 plus pound motorcycle, riding gear, 100 pounds of tools, wooden blocking, wooden leveling ramps, spare tire, and bottle jack. Our normal highway speed when the roads were smooth was 60-65 MPH.
We encountered temperatures in the mid 90s, down to 35 degrees. Our cabin AC worked well when driving and the roof air worked well went stopped. The furnace is quiet and efficient. We hit heavy rain, strong winds, stop and go traffic, huge hills in the Appalachians and along I-80, yet our fuel mileage (calculated, not according to the Scangauge) was acceptable.
Here are a few statistics about our trip.
Total miles driven: 2360
Total gallons of gas used: 272.28
Total cost for fuel: 743.71
Lowest fuel cost per gallon: $2.239 (Concord, NH)
Highest fuel cost per gallon: $2.859 (Brookville, PA)
Average miles per gallon: 8.12
Hours of generator use: 11, which detracts from the trip MPG
We are finally able to say that our Windsport performs well, under absolutely terrible road conditions. But it required a lot of perseverance on our part to correct the myriad of problems that haunted us for a long time.
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