homeiswhereweare
Moab
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Joined: 09/20/2008
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Texas TC wrote:There will be issues, Gulf Stream, International and the dealer network will fix them and you will have a great time. My 6331 SuperNova with over 21000 miles has been great. My minor issues have all been repaired and I have found Gulf Steam and International great to work with.
I totally agree with the house on wheels description. I have had 6 houses, three were custom built and I have had issues with all of them. It is just part of living. You can make the best of it or worry yourself to death. I choose to make a project or adventure out of issues and it always seems to work out in my favor.
Have fun with your sabbatical, enjoy the kids while they are young. They surely grow up too fast. Then, you get grand kids and they are even more fun.
Thanks Texas TC. We are really looking forward to the kid time - great advice - you sound like someone who truly enjoys your family - that's what its all about!
I too enjoy a good project and have always been an adventurous person - adapting is key. Will it be all roses? No. Do I expect problems - Yes. But how we handle the issues will determine whether or not we truly enjoy it.
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dsomonster
Southern CA
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Joined: 02/19/2008
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The OP of this post just picked up his new rig and is sharing his personal thoughts on HIS rig.
The negative posters on this and and almost all other public forums still never fail to amaze me. Were they not taught at a young age if they do not have anything good to say, don't say anything at all?
The OP did not ask for your $0.02, he was just letting us all know he picked up his RV. Great choice by the way.
Keep the rest of us posted on your situation with being full time. I do not have the cojones to do that just yet, but maybe some day.
Congrats on the purchase! People like you are the kind that inspired me and my family to purchase our RV back in March of this year. It just so happens, we have the same model. Post pics, if possible.
You may have seen my pics on other posts, but I love my rig so do DW and the kids, so here they go again.
Enjoy your time with your family. I hope camping and riding gives me more time with my family and make our relationships stronger. Life is stressful and we feel this gives us all a little break from that stress and enjoy God's world. Don't let the small SH*% get to you. I know I let the negative posters get to me on this one, but typing this out really made me feel a lot better.
-Ron
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dmatt
Ventura County, CA
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Joined: 07/29/2003
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homeiswhereweare wrote:dleslie125 wrote:
In theory you are right. In practice dead wrong. When they come off the factory floor and are loaded with problems before they hit the road to the dealer, that is just poor quality. Keep in mind that Larry Curly and Moe do all the QC work in this industry - and it shows. I doubt if airlines and bus companies would put up with RV quality.
BTW, your analogy gets even worse. How many stick and brick home owners lose their homes for 3 months as it sits in the dealers lot waiting to be fixed. My experience as a home owner for over 40 years and 10 homes only makes the RV industry look pretty shoddy. We also have a park model in Florida (Chariot Eagle) and it is far from an expensive top of the line model but its quality is far better than most MHs - and it had to be towed a couple of hundred miles before it was set up.
The problem with the RV biz is that the owners seem to be prepared to tolerate low quality again and again (they seem to think they have to become evangelists for the manufacturers) and thus the manufacturers keep feeding us more of the same.
If your going to criticize my posts, the least you could do is provide a reasonable argument instead of what appears to be the obvious ramblings of an old embittered man whose life is apparently filled with disappointment. If that's the impression you wish to leave with the group, than you've succeeded. Since I don't know you, I will withhold any true judgment and can only hope you are just having a bad day. We all do.
My initial post and the many more to come are meant for those who might actually care about our experience not some broad speculation on 'everyone else's'.
Being a hands on person and a pilot used to preflighting my personal aircraft before taking my family up in the air, I have given our coach the same amount of inspection and detail both at the time of delivery and since. My list of 'quality' issues or problems have been limited to two. I have literally been through under and over looking under inspection panels in the chassis, coach and systems. I can only comment on my coach and my experience. For the price the coach is very well built. According to a couple of posters here - I guess I'm lucky. Time to add Vegas to our destination list.
With respect to the airline and bus industries, of course they would not put up with the typical RV quality. They pay significantly more for their equipment and the standards and usage requirements are much greater. The beautiful thing about this country is that if you don't like or accept the RV industry as it stands, than do something about it rather than complain. If you truly feel that the quality for the price can be improved, than start your own coach company or buy an existing one and improve it reaping the financial rewards. If you are correct, than their is a great opportunity to be had. If you feel more regulation is needed, than propose it to your lawmakers - but be ready to PAY for it. Ultimately, you have the power to speak with your wallet. No one forces anyone to purchase something they will not be satisfied with.
I stand by my previous statement about motor homes - they are houses on wheels which go through thousands of miles of earthquake-like conditions. Your comparison to your mobile home in a park is the classic 'apples and oranges'. They travel short distances where they are installed most often on permanent foundations. They then have final QC and fine tuning by the contractor and then sit the remainder of their lives. They have no motorized chassis or other variables to deal with and don't experience the abuse of a motor home. Glad to hear you like mobile.
Maintenance and repair is to be expected with any motor home or vehicle of any kind, but if you have to sit and wait 3 months, than its time to choose a new service center.
I absolutely will not accept poor quality - nor spend my dollars for it and am in no way acting as an evangelist for Gulfstream or anyone else. I was simply trying to share our experience and will continue to do so through the year. We still love our 09 Supernova and are looking forward to a great year across this fantastic country.
If your experiences with RVs has been bad, I can respect that. But don't impose that bad will on to those who are enjoying theirs.
Good for you.....well said. Amazing, you make a simple statement about how happy you are with your new MH and upcoming trip of a lifetime, and still get these negative responses.
Well, Congrats on your new "home." I can imagine the excitement of your upcoming trip. Heck, I was apprehensive just going for 34 days....but a year!!! You are making memories of a lifeime that they will never regret.
Of course, you realize that we require periodic updates WITH PICTURES....
2007 Four Winds Dutchmen 29R-Ford E-450 V-10 towing a 2008 Toyota Matrix XR
2007 Toyota 4Runner(V-8) towing a 2006 Reinell 220LSE, 5.0L, 280hp GXI
Our camping photos
 under the stars
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az99
N.Y.
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Joined: 12/26/2006
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Another entertaining thread. 
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dleslie125
Southern Ontario/Palmetto FL in Winter
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Joined: 03/21/2003
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homeiswhereweare wrote:dleslie125 wrote:
In theory you are right. In practice dead wrong. When they come off the factory floor and are loaded with problems before they hit the road to the dealer, that is just poor quality. Keep in mind that Larry Curly and Moe do all the QC work in this industry - and it shows. I doubt if airlines and bus companies would put up with RV quality.
BTW, your analogy gets even worse. How many stick and brick home owners lose their homes for 3 months as it sits in the dealers lot waiting to be fixed. My experience as a home owner for over 40 years and 10 homes only makes the RV industry look pretty shoddy. We also have a park model in Florida (Chariot Eagle) and it is far from an expensive top of the line model but its quality is far better than most MHs - and it had to be towed a couple of hundred miles before it was set up.
The problem with the RV biz is that the owners seem to be prepared to tolerate low quality again and again (they seem to think they have to become evangelists for the manufacturers) and thus the manufacturers keep feeding us more of the same.
If your going to criticize my posts, the least you could do is provide a reasonable argument instead of what appears to be the obvious ramblings of an old embittered man whose life is apparently filled with disappointment. If that's the impression you wish to leave with the group, than you've succeeded. Since I don't know you, I will withhold any true judgment and can only hope you are just having a bad day. We all do.
My initial post and the many more to come are meant for those who might actually care about our experience not some broad speculation on 'everyone else's'.
Being a hands on person and a pilot used to preflighting my personal aircraft before taking my family up in the air, I have given our coach the same amount of inspection and detail both at the time of delivery and since. My list of 'quality' issues or problems have been limited to two. I have literally been through under and over looking under inspection panels in the chassis, coach and systems. I can only comment on my coach and my experience. For the price the coach is very well built. According to a couple of posters here - I guess I'm lucky. Time to add Vegas to our destination list.
With respect to the airline and bus industries, of course they would not put up with the typical RV quality. They pay significantly more for their equipment and the standards and usage requirements are much greater. The beautiful thing about this country is that if you don't like or accept the RV industry as it stands, than do something about it rather than complain. If you truly feel that the quality for the price can be improved, than start your own coach company or buy an existing one and improve it reaping the financial rewards. If you are correct, than their is a great opportunity to be had. If you feel more regulation is needed, than propose it to your lawmakers - but be ready to PAY for it. Ultimately, you have the power to speak with your wallet. No one forces anyone to purchase something they will not be satisfied with.
I stand by my previous statement about motor homes - they are houses on wheels which go through thousands of miles of earthquake-like conditions. Your comparison to your mobile home in a park is the classic 'apples and oranges'. They travel short distances where they are installed most often on permanent foundations. They then have final QC and fine tuning by the contractor and then sit the remainder of their lives. They have no motorized chassis or other variables to deal with and don't experience the abuse of a motor home. Glad to hear you like mobile.
Maintenance and repair is to be expected with any motor home or vehicle of any kind, but if you have to sit and wait 3 months, than its time to choose a new service center.
I absolutely will not accept poor quality - nor spend my dollars for it and am in no way acting as an evangelist for Gulfstream or anyone else. I was simply trying to share our experience and will continue to do so through the year. We still love our 09 Supernova and are looking forward to a great year across this fantastic country.
If your experiences with RVs has been bad, I can respect that. But don't impose that bad will on to those who are enjoying theirs.
I'm not sure you got what I was saying. I said very early that I hope you have a good experience. What I also said and still believe, even with your rant, is that the first day or two doesn't mean you are in for a good experience. If you think I'm the only one who has had some "not too good" experiences, I suggest you take a close look at the posts on this board and others.
Our first MH was trouble free with the exception of having to add a David TruTrac. It had one design flaw though - without carrying a full tank of water (tank was under the bed at the back of the MH) we were at our weight limit on the front axle even though we had good CCC. We bought it used and either it had few problems or the first owners debugged it.
Our second motorhome (Journey) seemed to be delivered without problems - and that is the point I was trying to make. Then, every week something would go haywire. Bolts holding gennie into its cage were too tight and snapped, a door fell off a track and the foor frame had to be removed, screw fell out of booth dinette table and down went the table - and it just kept on. After 15 months the floor tiles were still popping even though they'd had 3 fixes (they said interior wall shifting but they didn't really want to do the drastic surgery to fix it). The batteries boiled over on us and then on the dealer - the converter wasn't doing its job We couldn't get it debugged so we dumped it and the next owner didn't keep it too long. It was in the shop for repairs for 3 months out of 15. During the 15 months we had the Journey I was on the Winnie forums and found our experience was not unique.
The third was another new one - an 06 Ambassador. It looked like it was bug free as well but then problems cropped up one after another. In the shop for 3 months out of 21 - but at least we got it debugged and the problems didn't prevent use - although they were a PITA. We dropped in to the Monaco repair facility in Florida for a look and chat with a service coordinator on Nov 1/05 - first available appointment was in March. Does that send a signal? We talked to a number of owners (most were there with far more expensive MHs than ours) and DW and I renamed the place to Camp Misery. During the 21 months we had the Ambassador (which was the 40PLQ with den and extremely nice to live in) I also belonged to the Monaco/HR forums and again found our problems were far from unique.
Then we downsized. New one looked bug free but it has had a dozen items that have need attention. This time we've had the work done at the Jayco factory and that seems to be a lot more efficient (although I've been on record saying it is "nuts" to have to travel that far - especially with fuel prices now) and they've only had to spend 2/3rds of a day on it. On our way back to Florida in October we will go via the factory again and they will do some paint work on seams they couldn't do in April and replace an exhaust hanger. They will also inspect the drive train to determine the source of a whine. So far we have had fewer headaches but I've also fixed a few things myself. I started a Kodiak forum on Yahoo and over 100 owners have participated and discussed their problems and good features as well as modifications to suspensions, TVs, headlights, etc (some of the problems do make one wonder if there is an QC at all). I've also read problems that Super Nova owners have encountered. I saved one report with a reminder note to read it if I ever think of buying one - which I did recently when our dealer got one in a trade. It was almost new with only a couple of thousand miles on it - but it was suggested that I avoid it as the first owner had experienced a lot of problems and got frustrated - which was no doubt the reason why the price was so attractive.
So, again, let me repeat what I stated at the outset - I hope you end up with good reasons to be happy with it. The problem today is that far too many units are giving owners far too many headaches and from my observations over the past five years the chance of buying a headache is far higher than it should be.
Don
Don, Bev & Phil
07 Jayco 32SS on Kodiak May 07 Yahoo Kodiak Group
06 HR Amb 40PLQ ISC 330/950 9/05-5/07
04 Winnie Jrny 39W CAT C7 7/04-9/05)
00 Triple E Commander 5/03-5/04
Toad - 07 Tahoe LTZ 12/06 -
04 Colorado Z71 04- 06
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georunner
Palmer Lake, Colorado
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Joined: 04/21/2008
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Congratulations on your new Nova. We love ours, warts and all. I kind of feel bad about some of the posts here, don't be discouraged. I like Texas TC's comments about and adventure. I think the worst thing about problems in a MH is that they seem to show up when you are on the road, as apposed to your house where it stays in one place. Good luck,
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