Hi RVSquared. All really good information. Can I make a suggestion. In the future, if you break up your post into paragraphs (like below) it will be much easier to read. I'm afraid many wouldn't read your original post, even though it included some great experiences worth sharing, just because it's too hard to read one massively long paragraph.
I've broken your post into paragraphs below.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RVSquared
We too looked for years and finally decided on the 2018 Thor Chateau 24HL MSB Sprinter Diesel. Our order was placed the first week of May (2017) and we just received the coach August 5th! It is just the two of us, and our dog so we didn't need an extremely large coach. We wanted one that was easy to maneuver and had good storage space.
The bathroom in this unit is small and awkward, but it is what we sacrificed for storage space. We special ordered our unit because we wanted a diesel generator, not the LP. We have had the coach 10 days now and made a 4 day maiden trip to check it out.
Mechanically (for the most part) and comfortably it did great! Two issues that we discovered on the shakedown trip: 1) The furnace would blow cool air and go off after approximately 30 seconds; 2) we encountered rain and one of the storage compartments flooded. We arrived home over the weekend so this morning we took the coach into the dealer and both issues were fixed. The furnace LP gas line was not connected at the factory and was lying on the floor of the furnace compartment. Luckily the line had a brass fitting capped off on it so there wasn't any LP escaping!
The storage compartment door seal was installed upside down, which meant the two ends of the rubber seal met up at the top of the compartment door instead of at the bottom. So when the rain was hitting the side of the coach and running onto the compartment door it allowed the rain to run between the two ends and go into the compartment instead of running down and around the rubber seal to the bottom of the door and emptying to the outside.
All-in-all one issue could have been dangerous and one was a minor problem. All that said, when we were spending our years looking for which coach to buy we read a lot of angry and sad reviews on all makes of RV's. Because of that, we tried to do a very extensive PDI (Pre Delivery Inspection) with the dealer before we took delivery of the coach. It has been 26 years since we had a motor coach so we consider ourselves "newbies", plus prices for RV's are a lot higher now then they were in 1990! Our PDI took 5 hours to complete and uncovered many manufacturer's defects. The dealer wanted us to take delivery of the coach and use the warranty to make repairs after our purchase.
Back to all those reviews we read! Our concern was that the repairs wouldn't be made if we followed that path that we had read about so many others following, so we decided that we wouldn't purchase the coach unless the repairs were completed first. Plus we didn't see the problems as a warranty issue but as manufacturer defects. We had already waited three months so a few more days was worth waiting to make right what we were paying for.
In the end we are happy with our coach and look forward to many miles of fun and memories! It is disappointing though that the factory turns out such poor quality that the dealers are left with repairing all their damage and sloppiness.
We recommend that before you purchase a unit you go through it and operate every fixture and appliance with every power source it functions by; check every light fixture and electrical outlet; run water from the fresh water holding tank and city water connection....could go on-and-on! We feel like we worked out all the stressful issues prior to purchasing and now we are ready to get on the road to retirement and enjoy the heck out of it! All the best to you and hope you enjoy your adventures!
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