Thor Forums

[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 😊!