Thor Forums

[Judge]

Personally, I'm just not sold on a bath-and-a-half Super C. But they keep making them so there must be demand.

The shower is smaller and you have the additional weight and hassel of a second black tank. Even with a family.... everyone has to parade through the master bedroom to take a shower.

Then there is no outdoor kitchen because they dump the Tilt-a-View bed in favor of a slide, which is another failure point and expense.

For the added weight and extra 16" of length over the SV34, give me more useable space.

They could also easily split the full wall slide into two slides.... one for the living area and one fo the bedroom. This way you can have the outdoor kitchen and loose the slide on the passenger side.


I wish Thor would let me redesign their Super C. Here is what I would do (in case Thor is listening)....

- I would make the length ~36 feet.

- I'd redesign the front cap and cab-over bunk to be a small storage and entertainment center. The cap would not extend past the windshield. The current front cap is a failure point that has existed in all the Thor Super C's going back to the Chateau. I would think Thor would be happy to lose this headache.

- I'd split the full wall slide into two slides on the drivers side. One slide for the living area and one slide for the bedroom. The extra foot of overall length over the SV34 would give you a foot separation between the two slides. A full wall slide hurts the structural integrity of the drivers side and is just too large and heavy to be a mechanical slide (a hydraulic slide mechanism would just add too much expense).

- I would put the dinnette (aft) and theater seats (forward) on the living area slide. I think the old Chateau Super C used to be this way so why they changed, I don't know.

- I would then put the kitchen along with the bathroom on the passenger side so the plumbing and major electrical are not located on any slide.

- I'd keep the outdoor kitchen where it is currently located using the Tilt-a-View Bed.

- I would have two Coleman-Mach 8 15,000 BTU A/C w/ Heatpump and optional electric heating strips.

- I would dump the propane (so induction cooktop only) and use the propane tank area for additional storage. The DW prefer's propane for cooking.... but sorry DW.... this is my design and in the end you will like the trade-off.

- I would redesign the wet bay so that the fresh water filter and winterization port were located there and easily accessible and not located under the bed.

- I would plumb the drain for the fresh water tank so it exited under the outdoor kitchen with the drain valve under the coach in that area and not under the bed (that is where I moved my drain).

- I would put the bedroom TV on the Inverter Circuit (like the other two TV's). Many people watch TV in bed. My old Outlaw 29H had all three TV's on the Inverter circuit.

- I would install electric heat tape around all plumbing that is exposed to cold temps so the plumbing could be heated when the tanks are heated. The tankless already has cold temp ptotection so you could truly have a 4-season RV (except for extreme cold temps.... I mean it's still an RV and not a house).

- With the extra foot of length I would increase the size of the bathroom slightly and make the shower 36" x 36".

- I've not really had any issues with the Girard Tankless water heater but I know others have so I would replace it with the Truma Aqua Go Tankless unit.


My changes would add some cost... but not as much as you might think because of some of the trade-off's and some of it is just design changes.

The heatpumps add about $400 each but you loose the propane tank and propane plumbing. Also taking the plumbing and some electrical out of the slide makes things easier to manufacturer, uses fewer parts and will be less prone to leaks.

Splitting the full wall slide into two slides adds some cost as well with the additional motors, tracks, rollers, etc. But it reduces the weight and strain a full wall slide creates. It also allows for a vetical beam stud to be added between the two slides for better structural support on the drivers side. I'd bet there would also be fewer slide problems and failures with less weight and strain the full wall slide creates.

The Truma Tankless would add about $1500 over the Girard so that might be the most costly change.

If the above redesign added $10K - $15K to the cost of what I paid for my SV34, I would not have a problem and would be all over it. You would have a much better and more usable design. You would also likely have fewer problems with the smaller front cap, lighter load split across the two slides and no plumbing on the slide wall.