We arrived here almost a year ago to the day to watch them build TREKKER - our 2014 Allegro Bus 45LP. Being here again brings back a lot of memories. If you all remember last winter was BITTER cold almost e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. It was no different in Red Bay, AL.
We arrived in our 2013 Itasca Ellipse 42GD manufactured by Winnebago. We loved the concept of the 42GD, but the reality didn't live up to our hopes. The Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR) of the front axle was 14,600 pounds. The GAWR is the maximum weight allowed on an axle by law. Unfortunately, we could NOT get our front axle weight under 15,000 pounds. This was due to poor design by Winnebago and their decision to place both the fuel tank AND the fresh water tank directly behind the front axle. Plus we had had many instances of poor workmanship in our unit. This made it necessary to search again for our "FINAL RV" which led us to the decision to purchase the 2014 Allegro Bus 45LP we call the TREKKER.
We were here for 5 weeks last year. From Nov 7th to December 12th. It was amazing to watch the process of our unit being built from a bare chassis to a rig completed and ready to deliver to Lazydays near Tampa, Florida.
The Trekker was just a bare PowerGlide Chassis when this worker installed her "house batteries." PowerGlide chassis are built by Tiffin itself. The TREKKER has no problems with axle weight. The Front axles GAWR is 16,000. The Drive Axle GAWR is 22,000. The rear Tag Axle is 13,200.
Above they are installing the coach's full ceramic tile floor in ONE PIECE
In the picture above they were putting the front frame to which the front end cap
and windshield will be installed.
As it continued to proceed down the assembly line the TREKKER received its rear end cap.
Above they are building the front passenger side slide. The worker is attaching the wall
between the dining room table cabinet and the residential refrigerator. The slides are built separately and then lifted by an overhead strap crane and placed into the rig one at a time fully assembled as you can see in the video below.
The pictures above and below show the completely built TREKKER before painting began. The picture above is the passenger side. The picture below the driver side. The sanding process took one whole day.
In the picture above they are applying the white base coat. The whole rig is painted white and then the stripes are painted on ONE COLOR (there are 4 colors) at a time.
All of the stripes have been painted on but there is a ton of touch up to do. It took 2 whole days just to do the touching up of the paint as they strove to get every line were one paint color met another sharp and crisp and remove any bubble they saw.
UGH, You say! What have they done to the paint? After the first "clear coat" is baked over night, they lightly sand it and then remove all of the fine dust. This (now roughened) clear coat gives the second layer of clear coat something to adhere to as well as give it "depth."
Even after all of that one of the inspectors found a small bubble in one of the "Smoky Teal" stripes. This one they sand; repainted and buffed it out to invisibility.
When we were here to watch our TREKKER being built we had the opportunity to sit down twice with Bob Tiffin the founder and president of Tiffin Motorhomes. Tiffin Motorhomes is a privately owned family business. It was founded by Bob in the early 70's. He stands behind his product. As he told us when we were speaking with him "All motorhomes have problems. Ours do to, but I promise you this - We will fix all of the problems that are our fault." One really nice thing for Irene and I is that the Tiffin family are all members of the church of Christ. We just found that out about 1 1/2 years ago. Had we known that when we got into RVing - we would have bought nothing BUT Tiffin motorhomes. We believe in the verse: "In honor, preferring one another (Romans 12:10)."
All of that was a year ago. We have had some problems with the Trekker over the last year as those of you that read this blog know. In September, I contacted Gary Harris, the head of the chassis division of Tiffin Motorhomes. I asked him if we could send him a list of the items we needed repaired on the motorhome under warranty. I also asked him if I sent a picture of our odometer reading showing that it was under 12,000 miles (the warranty limit) with that list of problems if that would prove that they occurred while under warranty. "No Problem" that will be fine. When we arrived here the rig had 13,545 miles. In spite of that, all of the repairs will be treated as warranty work. Most manufacturers would NOT do that.
So, we are here in Red Bay until the middle of December. It is the first real time we have had to R-E-L-A-X since we were here a year ago. Friday Night Irene and I went to the movies ("The Judge" with Robert Duvall and Robert Downey, Jr.). Hoping to be able to go again tomorrow after evening services.
I also got a walk in today. I only walked 2 miles. It's been so long that even that much about wiped me out. I watched Purdue get beat by Wisconsin today (not a big surprise). Right now Ohio State is beating up on Michigan State (a bigger surprise since it is at MSU). Irene and I tied in our Scrabble today. She won one; I won one and we tied the 3rd. That's pretty unusual.
Tomorrow the church here in Red Bay is having a one day Gospel Meeting. It includes a pitch-in dinner (Indiana); Potluck (North Dakota); Covered Dish dinner (in the south) or whatever you want to call it. YUM!
Have a blessed day everyone.
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