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Topic: NEW 32ft LD with 19,000+GVWR for Full Timers (Read 10 times) previous topic - next topic
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NEW 32ft LD with 19,000+GVWR for Full Timers
Yahoo Message Number: 98878
We just left the MotherShip, with surprise viewing/tour by Steve of the NEW 32 ft Lazy Daze IB (Island Bed) prototype. What a surprise to walk into the display room, and see this new paint-scheme rig sitting in the work area. Steve spent about 30 minutes describing how they've spent two years researching, taking into account multiple user inputs, requests, and gripes/complaints.
 This is the 30 ft Island Bed floor plan, on the Chev 5500 chassis for 19,000+ GVWR- thus giving the needed payload for full timers. Gas engine - no diesel.
 Steve explained that he has wanted to update the paint scheme for years, but his Dad (Ed) wouldn't hear of it. Now that Steve runs the show. . . He allowed these pictures, but none of gorgeous, roomy interior. You can see photo album just added.
 This is Steve's dream unit; includes about any/everything a full timer would want/need.
300 watts of solar panels, fulll through storage "under floor" that are 12 inches higher than standard. Has rear and forward video cameras built-in. Dash includes voice activated navigation, Sirrus radio, and cell phone operation. Many components, furniture, and fixtures are upscale, high-end versions.  It reaks of regal exclusivity!!
 When will this dream ship be available?  This prototype will be at the Pomona, CA RV Show in April.  Want one?  Steve bought 3 Chev5500 chassis to test/see. Estimated price: $145,000±. First come-First Served!
 By the way -- the new '09 paint scheme has gone on three rigs thus far. We saw one last week at Qaurtzsite; he was back at the factory yesterday for additional work. The other two are in final stages, almost ready for delivery; i.e. we saw all 3 yesterday.

Steve says orders are down - really down.

Jack & Jeannette   SE LD #19  Brea, CA / Chattanooga, TN
Re: NEW 32ft LD with 19,000+GVWR for Full Timers
Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98879
Thanks for the inside scoop on the new rig.
 I saw a picture on the LD home page of the new scheme.  I have to say that I don't care for it.  But I think that's what most people say when a redesign happens on something they own already.  The old scheme to me seemed timeless in it's design.  The new one will look dated in about 10 years.
 But it is good to see them trying out the Kodiak chassis and other upgrades.

Thanks again for the update.

-Victor
Re: NEW 32ft LD with 19,000+GVWR for Full Timers
Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98881
Quote
"...surprise viewing/tour by Steve of the NEW 32 ft Lazy Daze IB prototype...Estimated price: $145,000±."

Jack & Jeannette
FWIW

Okay, sounds nice, but does it have LED tail-lights??? I wouldn't consider buying it unless it has LED tail-lights!

Steve S.
Lazy Bones & Jiggs
Steve S.
Lazy Bones & Cedar
2004 30'IB (Island Bed)
Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery
Live for the day!
Re: NEW 32ft LD with 19,000+GVWR for Full Timers
Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98884
Kate,

Jeannette and I thought of you/Terry while looking at the rig.

I'll bet a dime to a doughnut Steve would put tw
Re: NEW 32ft LD with 19,000+GVWR for Full Timers
Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98886
Quote
YES .... in fact the taillights AND backup brillant, bright LED
lights, Steve.

Quote
So, get your checkup ready!!

Jack
Okay, so what am I offered for MY 2004 30'IB with over 10k of options and enhancements??? Anybody? How about $145,000?  ;>)

Steve S.
Lazy Bones & Jiggs
Steve S.
Lazy Bones & Cedar
2004 30'IB (Island Bed)
Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery
Live for the day!
Re: NEW 32ft LD with 19,000+GVWR for Full Timers
Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98914
I looked at the pictures and the tail lights and back-up lights appear to be the standard Lazy Daze incandescent bulbs and not LEDs.  It looks like the standard snap rings for the plastic len is visible.  I will have to check it out.  The only Lazy Daze item with LEDs that I know of is the key ring!  Some day, maybe someday there will be LEDs and even a 3rd brake light!

Terry Tanner

Quote

YES .... in fact the taillights AND backup brillant, bright LED

lights, Steve.
Re: NEW 32ft LD for Full Timers
Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98924
From a business perspective I am surprised that LD is spending time and effort on the full-timer market. I say that based on information readily available from the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association at www.rvia.org supplemented by some email exchanges with their media director today.
 The industry numbers, without distinguishing between types of RV are: (i) 8,300,000 RVs in the US (ii) less than 200,000 full time units (iii) therefore only 2.41% of all RVs are used by full timers, or less than 1 in 40 units (iv) so, using the "standard year" (unlikely to apply in 2009) LD factory production of 200 units, the likely number of Kodiaks to be produced annually is only 5 at best.

Also, I think LD has had some, perhaps intangible, success in its pricing policy in the past because no matter what new unit you choose there is no huge, potentially elitist, price gap between models. The quantum leap in anticipated pricing of the Kodiak ($145,000) I see as a marketing mistake within the LD community. I think it will harm future sales of the core models.
Re: NEW 32ft LD for Full Timers
Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98925
Quote
From a business perspective I am surprised that LD is spending time and effort on the full-timer market.
======================================================================= From the original post of this thread: "This is Steve's dream unit; includes about any/everything a full timer would want/need"
 It appears that you are inferring that Steve Newton's target market for the 32 footer is the full-timer.  If this is correct, I believe that's a stretch.  From the countless discussions about the lack of CCC in the 30-31 footer, Steve has responded.  it will be interesting to see how it plays out.  I just wish a diesel was an option.

Malcolm 02BlueMB
2002 Mid Bath
Re: NEW 32ft LD for Full Timers
Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98926
Quote
(ii) less than 200,000 full time units

 While that might be an accurate number, it seems very low to me.  I would think there would be far more than 200,000 fulltime RVers out there.
 I wonder how the RVIA came up with that number?  I know that no one from RVIA...or anyplace else, for that matter...has ever contacted us to ask whether or not we were fulltiming in our RV.

Linda Hylton http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=1167 http://earl-linda.blogspot.com/
Linda Hylton
Re: NEW 32ft LD for Full Timers
Reply #11 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98927
Also, does this specify between "full timers" and "most timers"  meaning those that spend a lot of time in their rig but still have a home base of some sort.  I could see this rig appealing to a lot of  "most timers."  Most full timers I know rarely buy their rigs brand new.

Thanks,

Mike

__

Quote
(ii) less than 200,000 full time units
********

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: NEW 32ft LD for Full Timers
Reply #12 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98928
I know that no one from
 
Quote
RVIA...or anyplace else, for that matter...has ever contacted us to ask whether or not we were fulltiming in our RV.

Linda Hylton
I suspect the figures were arrived at by statistical sampling rather than by trying to make personal contact with every RV owner in America. A very expensive and time consuming task.

Irma
Re: NEW 32ft LD for Full Timers
Reply #13 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98929
"From a business perspective I am surprised that LD is spending time and effort on the full-timer market.... [since according to the RVIA] only 2.41% of all RVs are used by full timers."

Have you looked at our usage poll lately?

http://vote.sparklit.com/popup_poll/1092821>

It shows that 12% of the Lazy Daze owners who responded are fulltimers. If you include snowbirds (loosely defined as those who travel for more than four months in a given year), the number jumps to 25%. In other words, we have five to ten times as many fulltimers and long-term travelers in our ranks as the RVIA says we should. It seems Lazy Daze owners are not typical RVers--no surprise there! ;-)
 I'm sure it's no surprise to Steve Newton, either. It's reasonable to think that after 50 years in the business, he knows his customers better than the RVIA does, and is tailoring his products accordingly.

Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: NEW 32ft LD with 19,000+GVWR for Full Timers
Reply #14 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98931
Quote
We just left the MotherShip, with surprise viewing/tour by Steve of the NEW 32 ft Lazy Daze IB (Island Bed) prototype.
Jack & Jeannette  SE LD #19  Brea, CA / Chattanooga, TN
 Did you get to see the inside at all to determine if this is an Island Bed or a Twin Bed arrangement.
 Looking at the pictures in the Photo sections and on the Lazy Daze web site, I see a large door on both sides in the back that appear to be above the floor line.  I can understand these being on a Twin Bed arrangement, but don't understand how they would work with an Island Bed.
 Hopefully, Steve will have the interior completed soon and someone can get some photos of the inside.
 I think this may end up being our next rig as I plan to go full time this year and have been trying to figure out what to do about the lack of CCC on an Island Bed.
 I looked at a lot of SOBs and was very disappointed by the lack of quality in both materials and construction, with the exception of the Foretravels, Prevosts, and others that are way past my bank account.
 Thank you for posting the photos. Hope to see everyone down the road when my company finally fires me as is promised by this Sept.

Jerry Howell 26.5 RB 1996 Denver, CO
Jerry Galang
Meridian, ID 83646
Re: NEW 32ft LD with 19,000+GVWR for Full Timers
Reply #15 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98932
Quote
"...Did you get to see the inside at all to determine if this is an
Island Bed or a Twin Bed arrangement..."

Quote

Jerry Howell 26.5 RB 1996 Denver, CO
Jerry, check the thread for this topic and you will see that it was confirmed in an earlier message this prototype is a twin.

Chris
Formerly: 2002 30' IB
Re: NEW 32ft LD with 19,000+GVWR for Full Timers
Reply #16 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98933
"Did you get to see the inside at all to determine if this is an Island Bed or a Twin Bed arrangement."

As explained in message #98891, it's a twin bed.

Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: NEW 32ft LD for Full Timers
Reply #17 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98936
LD seem to be following a proven business plan.  The plan follows the model of keeping your loyal customer base happy.  This plan has been affectively used for over 100 years by a fellow American company.  Harley-Davidson.  Harley appeals to its loyal customer base and is very conservative in making changes in their motorcycles.  For example, HD was the last street bike motorcycle company to have a factory six-speed transmission.  Some of Harley's models have not changed their looks in 25-50 years (Heritage Softail and Touring Line).
 It seems LD uses a similar business plan, although at a smaller scale.  LD also appears to cater to their loyal customer base and also seem conservative to make changes.  25% of the customer base is a significant number.  Therefore it would appear that LD is listening to the concerns and needs of their full timers (25% of base) and making changes accordingly.    For a small company in tough times, catering to 25% of your base, seems like a good business decision.

Rob http://www.lazydazeowners.com/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: NEW 32ft LD for Full Timers
Reply #18 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98937
Personally, I find it very hard to believe that 25% of Lazy Daze owners are using their units full-time.  The poll is interesting, but very unreliable.
You would need a true random sampling of ALL Lazy Daze owners to make it statistically valid.  There is the bias of those who participate in this forum, as well as those who choose to participate in the poll.  No doubt 25% of the people in the poll are full-timers, but it really doesn't mean anything relative to the total database.

Dick
Re: NEW 32ft LD for Full Timers
Reply #19 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98942
"The poll is interesting, but very unreliable. You would need a true random sampling of ALL Lazy Daze owners to make it statistically valid."
 I'll simply say this: it's the best data we have. I won't claim that these numbers are graven in stone, but they're certainly worth more than any number of "I'll bets" and "I find it very hard to believes," which have no factual basis. Such statements are pure speculation, nothing more.
 "There is the bias of those who participate in this forum, as well as those who choose to participate in the poll. No doubt 25% of the people in the poll are full-timers, but it really doesn't mean anything relative to the total database.""
 Again, you make the unsupported, speculative assertion that members of this group--and in particular, respondents to the poll--are not representative of Lazy Daze owners in general. But there's no evidence for that claim. It might or might not be true--we have no way to find out, since we lack the means to conduct a statistically valid random-sample poll of all LD owners--but there's no reason to automatically *assume* that this sample is skewed.
 In short, we have here some data based on several hundred responses--a sizable sample--that we have no reason to think are not representative of LD owners. You can speculate all day long, but data always beats speculation. :-)

One more thing. Everyone who buys a new Lazy Daze is given a questionnaire about their reasons for choosing LD, what features they'd like to see (including slideouts, as I recall), and their planned uses for the rig--vacationing, snowbirding, fulltiming, etc.
(I'm sure one of this group's recent buyers can fill us in on the details.) To the best of my knowledge, the factory has been doing this for many years.
 That means the factory *knows* what people are doing with their Lazy Dazes--knows it far better than we do, based on a much larger sample than ours, and one that is truly random. They can can be forgiven if they don't choose to publish a statistical breakdown just to satisfy our curiosity... but if by their actions they show that they expect to sell rigs to fulltimers, you can be sure they have solid data backing them up. As I said before, Steve knows his customers. :-)

Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: NEW 32ft LD for Full Timers
Reply #20 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98946
I can't disagree with anything you have said Andy, but by the same token you are making my point.  As you said, there is no reason to assume that the data is skewed, but conversely there is no reason to assume that the data is valid.  We simply do not have enough data upon which to make a valid conclusion.  I spent many years in aerospace quality assurance, some of which was auditing compliance with mil-spec sampling plans.  In addition, Pomona California is where I was born and educated.  I have also followed Lazy Daze since they made campers, which was long before they made motorhomes, and am a former LD owner.  So I don't make these statements as a casual, uninformed observer.  Anyone who thinks they have data which says that 25% of all the LD owners in North America are full-timers is simply not dealing with reality.  It's fun to play the game, but don't use it to draw any useful conclusions.

Dick
Re: NEW 32ft LD for Full Timers
Reply #21 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98951
Quote
... there is no reason to assume that the data is skewed, but conversely there is no reason to assume that the data is valid.
There is also no reason to assume that the data would be relevant, even if it were perfectly valid.  One of the primary target audiences for the new model  is potential buyers who have found the existing LD models to be NOT adequate for fulltiming.

Joanne in Boston NE-44
Re: NEW 32ft LD for Full Timers
Reply #23 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98954
"Anyone who thinks they have data which says that 25% of all the LD owners in North America are full-timers is simply not dealing with reality."

To begin with, nobody has said that.

The current poll figures show 12% of respondents are fulltimers, 3% take trips of 7 to 11 months, and 10% take trips of 4 to 6 months. As I explained in message #98929, that adds up to 25% of respondents who are either fulltimers or what I called "long-term travelers." Since the needs of a person or couple who spend 4-6 months on the road are pretty similar to those of a fulltimer, I thought it reasonable to aggregate those numbers, but I never said we had 25% fulltimers.

But even if you choose not to combine those three categories, the fulltimer category's 12% response is far higher than the RVIA's 2.4% or the "less than 1%" estimate that somebody offered here (without any evidence) a few weeks back.

Again, nobody's claiming that the numbers our poll has yielded are gospel. But I submit that they're more worthy of consideration than an unsupported assertion that we're "not dealing with reality." So far, all you've offered are opinions. Show us more substantial data, and we'll take it seriously.

One way to do that would be to encourage any LD owners you know who haven't already voted in the poll to do so:

http://andybaird.com/travels/poll.htm>
 The more responses we get, the more reliable our data will be. We have 3,821 members, so let's get out the vote! ;-)

Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: NEW 32ft LD for Full Timers
Reply #24 –
Yahoo Message Number: 98955
I would not consider this group's survey valid but I will bet that the Escapees Club has reliable data on fulltimers. I wonder if one of our group has good contacts there and could get the answer? Jack