Foy's 30IB Pickup Report (finally)

August 23, 2005, 12:19:11 am

Hi folks, I apologize for being so late with this report, but life has been busy. I am grateful to everyone who provided input into our decisions.
Our situation was considerably more complex than most. We lived in Hawaii and were retiring to the mainland to move directly into our LD and to move our residence/domicile to Oregon. Thus, delivery time was crucial, and the folks at the factory were extremely cooperative in meeting our schedule.
We have been planning our purchase for many years and finally decided upon a blue 30 ft Island Bed with a blue interior.
We had previously planned on the 26IB to have plenty of payload, but, after much thought regarding our lifestyle and preferences, we decided to forego the larger payload and move up to the 30IB. Now, after 2 1/2 months, we have not regretted that decision. Island beds and 30-foot models are sometimes heavily debated, so I will first explain why we chose the 30IB and how we have it equipped.
During multiple vacations in rented motorhomes, we learned that we do not like having to set up a bed every night, do not like sleeping over a cab, and do not like having to climb over the side and over a partner to get in and out of bed. Additionally, our hobbies often require spreading a lot of items on the table and other surfaces for extended times. It would be a time-wasting nuisance to have to put everything away every night in order to make a bed. We do not cook much, other than heating things in the microwave, so we do not need a large kitchen. However, the larger kitchen cabinetry, refrigerator, and pantry are useful. Then, there is the matter of guests. We have six grandchildren and anticipate having them with us at times. We wanted the entertainment center, which eliminates a cabover bed. The full-size couch will provide sleeping space that would not have been available in the 26IB.
However, there is a tradeoff in cargo carrying capacity (ccc). There is little ccc in the front, even in a 26 foot LD. With two people in the cab and a few essential items in the lower forward storage compartments, there is only about 100 pounds of ccc left in the front. Thus, one can not put a lot of heavy items in the overhead cabinets over the cab. I use the driver's-side cabinets as an office. I have light odds and ends in the cabinets over the driver's seat, e.g. envelopes, vehicle literature, volt meter, tv/dvd controls, some light boxed items, etc. I have light items in the cabinet over the dining area, including our computer printer and some miscellaneous accessories, and I carry a few reference books in the table cabinet. When we are traveling, I set our two notebook computers in the two barrel chairs. Below that area is the propane tank, generator, and one storage compartment. In the storage compartment are the electrical umbilical cord, a surge protector, a "dirty" hose, fittings for the sewer hose, paper towels, and vinyl gloves. I keep everything separated with nylon bags, particularly the sewer hose fittings. That combination puts the load on the left front wheel at the max allowed. My wife uses the cabinets over the passenger's seat for some of her hobby stuff, which is relatively light. In the forward two lower storage compartments on the curbside are a small air compressor, cleaning items, a small carry-on suitcase that holds a spare clean-water hose and extra electrical umbilical cord, a 50 foot light-duty extension cord, the windshield cover, a small tarp, leveling blocks, a jack, miscellaneous fluids, and more paper towels. In the curbside upper cabinet over the couch, we carry light items, e.g. spare blankets and extra cereal and chips. We do not carry anything heavy on the couch when we travel.
We keep most of our shoes in the compartment under the stairwell end of the couch. That combination puts the load on the right front wheel at the max allowed. I have exactly what I need in the front half of the coach and have no extra ccc. If we carry any extra passengers, the load on the front wheels will exceed the rating for the front axle, so we will have them sit as far rearward in the coach as is convenient.
We carry a minimum amount of dishes and utensils in the kitchen, but have everything that we need. My wife uses the cabinet under the oven for some of her hobby things, and I use the drawers under the refrigerator for maps, campground directories, and travel literature.
There are not many options in the bedroom, since the closets and drawers are needed for clothes. We keep light items in the cabinet over the bed, e.g. hats, sweaters, etc. My wife uses the rearward two lower curbside outside storage compartments for her miscellaneous items, and I make sure that she does not place a lot of heavy items there. The rear storage compartment contains the clean-water hose and accessories, the tv cable, the awning crank and rafter, some light stabilizer jacks, a few small tools, the towbar cover when traveling, two lawn chairs, an aluminum ladder, and some fishing poles. There is some additional space there, but the limited ccc prevents filling it. With empty gray- and black-water tanks, about 8-9 gallons in the fresh-water tank, and a full gas tank, there are only about 300 pounds of ccc remaining. We once traveled with a full fresh-water tank to a rally and was right at the max weight limit. If we had had extra passengers, we would have exceeded the gvwr.
Thus, one must consider one's needs carefully before choosing the 30-foot models. Some folks insist on installing hydraulic or electric levelers, which I have not found to be necessary. If such levelers were installed, the vehicle would be at the maximum weight limit with empty gray-, black-, and fresh-water tanks, and there would be no extra ccc. We chose Bilstein shocks, barrel chairs, CB, manual satellite antenna, and rear-vision camera.
We had the coffee maker and ice maker eliminated.
We were living in a townhouse in Hawaii and move directly from it into the LD. Following Steve's advice, we gave them plenty of notice, and the LD was ready when we got there. We visited our children in Texas last winter and left our basic winter clothes with them, packed for shipping to the factory at the right time. I purchased a Roadmaster Sterling towbar via the internet and had it shipped to a daughter's house before we visited. While we were there, I removed the towbar fittings that I needed for my towed vehicle and packed some extra items in the box with the towbar. At the right time, I had her ship them to the factory, and they were waiting for us when we got there.
We use a Chevy Tracker ZR2 4x4 as our towed vehicle, and we needed it ready for towing immediately upon our arrival in California, so I prepared it in Hawaii. I purchased towing brackets via the internet and installed them myself. I used padlocks instead of pins so the shipping company would allow the attached parts, e.g. the cross bar. After researching auxilliary braking systems, I knew that I did not want one like the Brake Buddy that sits in front of the driver's seat, and I did not have time upon arrival on the mainland to install wiring in the LD. Thus, I purchased an SMI Silent Partner that uses radio controls between the motorhome and toad. I installed the equipment in the Tracker with the main control box under the driver's seat. I padlocked it to the floor so the shipping company would allow it. When I began planning this adventure, some folks were having problems with towed-vehicle taillights because of incompatibilities with the Ford blinker switch. That has since been resolved by Ford's using two separate circuits in the new models. Since I did not know that was going to happen, I installed separate taillights in the Tracker. Thus, I had everything on the Tracker ready to go before I shipped it to the mainland.
That SMI model uses radio signals between the two vehicles.
There is a transmitter and receiving antenna in both vehicles. When the brakes are applied in the motorhome and there is enough centrifugal force, the unit in the motorhome sends a signal to the towed vehicle to apply the brakes. The SMI unit connects into the vacuum brake system of the Tracker and thus uses the power brakes.
The unit contains a vacuum pump that keeps the vacuum pressure maintained when towing. When the towed-vehicle brakes activate, a signal is transmitted to the motorhome, and an indicator light notifies the driver. If the towed vehicle broke away, there would also be a loud audible signal. The driver can adjust the sensitivity of the system from the motorhome cab while towing and can even activate it manually, if needed. However, there are three wires necessary in the motorhome, including a ground, a 12-volt power wire, and a wire from the brake switch. With the approval of the SMI factory, I mounted the motorhome controls on a piece of plywood that I could sit on the doghouse (motor cover) until I could get time to install them in the motorhome. I used a 12-volt accessory plug to provide the ground and 12-volt power and plugged it into the 12-volt accessory outlet in the cab when we got the LD. I had an old remote- starter switch that I used many years ago when working on car engines. Many of you will remember those. I wired it to simulate the motorhome brake switch. If I needed to apply the brakes on the Tracker, I simply pushed the remote switch to simulate the signal from the brake switch, and the brakes would be activated in the Tracker. Everything worked as planned, and I used that mechanism for about a week until I could get time to wire the controls in the LD.
I have been very happy with that system and can heartily recommend it to anyone. Just be aware that the installation time will be longer than the factory literature estimates.
We shipped our Tracker early so that we were sure it would be in Los Angeles when we arrived. We left Hawaii on the evening of Sunday, June 5, with the maximum amount of luggage allowed by the airline, including clothes, my necessary golf clubs, some essential tools, and the towbar controls and wiring. We arrived in LA on Monday morning and took a shuttle to the shipping terminal at Long Beach to get the Tracker. We ate lunch on the way to Montclair and arrived at the factory about noon. We had our orientation that afternoon, did some shopping for essentials that evening, and spent the night at a Motel 6 in Pomona.
We met the transport driver the next morning. He was nearly an hour late, which was somewhat irritating because we planned to drive back to LA that same day. We took delivery at Ehrenberg, AZ, since it was the closest point. By the time the transfer was completed, it was mid-afternoon. It took us about two hours to get everything ready to roll, because we had a couple of problems. In hooking up the Tracker and setting up the brake controls, I forgot to connect one of the brake-control wires, which in turn led to about 20 minutes of confusion before I realized what was wrong. Once I had everything connected correctly, the brake system worked perfectly. The other problem involved the safety cables. The cables that come with the Sterling towbar are designed to attach to holes on the hitch assembly. Lazy Daze provides large holes in the bottom of the bumper for attachment, which requires safety cables that are
8-12 inches longer than standard. I wasted about 30 minutes in the
area trying unsuccessfully to find cable extensions. I solved the problem temporarily by using the short safety cables from the two- piece brackets as extensions for the main cables and finally found extension cables four days later in Oregon.
We finally headed back north about 5 pm. I did not want to fight the LA traffic the next day, so we pushed on through LA and stopped at a Travel Plaza at Frazier Park for the night. We spent the next three days getting to Salem, OR, doing some shopping along the way. We then spend a month in Salem getting everything in order, registering our vehicles, changing resident status, and doing a little sight-seeing. The Phoenix RV Park in Salem was a great base to do that. Everything we needed was within a few miles of the park.
I had metal valve stems installed at Hillyer's Tire and Wheel Center in Salem and had the first oil change done at Woodburn Automotive in Woodburn, OR. I can highly recommend both businesses.
There have been relatively few problems with the LD. During the walk-through we noticed several mars on the cabinet doors and walls, but we found nothing major that was wrong. Later, we discovered that one of the window latches was broken, but a phone call to Steve resulted in his sending a replacement. When I wired the brake controls in the motorhome, I discovered that part of the metal framework in the dash was loose. It is a part that has to be removed to install the CB radio, and the screws had not been re- tightened completely, but it was not a danger in any way. The two running lights on the sides of the coach began to flicker erratically during our trip north because of a loose ground wire.
Steve told me where the lights were grounded on the chassis, and I was able to locate and tighten the connection.
The V-10 engine and new transmission are great. I can not even tell that the Tracker is back there. There has been only one time that the brakes were applied on the Tracker, except for the times that I tested it, and that was during a rapid downhill stop.
The first 2000 miles have involved towing, many mountains, steep grades, mixed highway/city driving, some generator use, and much use of the cab air conditioner. Our mileage has been slightly over 8 miles per gallon, but I expect that to improve some.
When demonstrating the awning during the walk-through, Dave said to give the crank a quick twist at the end to lock the awning in place. He must be used to demonstrating to elderly women, because about the fourth time that I closed the awning, I broke the plastic loop/eye on the gear mechanism. I managed to create a temporary fix by reinforcing the loop with wire and eventually received a replacement part from Dometic after several weeks of playing telephone tag and coordinating our travel schedule. We have had some problems with the latches on the toilet and shower doors sticking, but Steve is aware of the problem and has replacement parts on the way.
If I were the Ford engineer, I would redesign the motor cover to allow a little more room for the right foot. My wife hates the new upholstery fabric. It is ugly and has the appearance of being from a totally different fashion era than the rest of the coach. The rest of the interior has clean, simple lines and a fresh, relatively modern look, whereas the upholstery is a busy abstract design that someone once described as an "explosion in a paint factory". She also hates the height of the toilet seat. She is about 5'-2" tall, has to literally climb up on the toilet and sit with her legs dangling in space, and does not understand why that configuration is necessary. I am contemplating several solutions to that problem, including how to make the toilet accessible for small grandchildren.
Overall, we are quite pleased with our purchase. We get admiring looks and compliments everywhere we go, including from other Lazy Daze owners. We have not given it a name yet, but my wife loves to collect dragons, so it will probably be something like "Dragon Lair", "Dragons' Lair" or "Dragon's Lair" (the placement of the apostrophe depend on my wife's mood at the time).
We spent two weeks in central Oregon, two more weeks in the Portland area, and nearly three weeks in Washington. Tomorrow we head south to drift down the coast and across the south to spend the fall and winter in Texas. We will attend the Lazy Daze Caravan Club's 50th anniversary rally in Cheyenne, WY next year and then head clockwise to southeast Canada and down the eastern seaboard.
For what it is worth, Foy Varner.

Re: Foy's 30IB Pickup Report (finally)

Reply #1 – August 23, 2005, 01:17:52 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 57175

Foy, many thanks for that extremely informative post! I don't think there;'s anybody here who didn't learn something from it. :-)

Andy Baird

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August 23, 2005, 12:19:11 am

Reply #1 – August 23, 2005, 01:17:52 pm

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