[Warpath]

The last time we visited Showhauler was back in 2004 when we picked up our M2 Conversion so I was very excited to see what Showhauler was up to these days. The first thing we noticed was a much bigger facility, back in 2004 they had just 2 buildings and now there are at least 4 plus an office area. As we walked in we spotted Lonnie who manages things and it was great to see him again. As we started chatting it was immediately apparent Lonnie has the same passion and enthusiasm for what he does as he did back in 2004. We started the tour immediately and headed for the frame shop where there was a completed frame on a conversion. Showhauler has really stepped up there game in this area, the floor and storage bays are welded and powder coated and then welded to the trucks frame. With this and the bonded floor in place, you have a crazy strong foundation to build the remainder of the conversion on. In the past this was undercoated and u-bolted, but these upgrades makes a huge difference in strength and longevity of this critical part of the conversion. We then moved over to the wall shop which are now built on a jig and raised into place versus built directly on the conversion, which is a much faster process. Showhauler now builds all of their own storage doors so compartments can be any size and they can utilize all of the available space. They even put a hinge door around the rear tires so you can open it and spray out dirt or salt from the roads. From there we climbed aboard a pretty much completed rig and I was in awe. You can look at pictures all day long, but when you step inside a new Showhauler you get a real sense of the incredible craftsmanship these guys are putting into these rigs. And it has only been 5 years since I owned one!

The rig we were in had cherry stained oak which both my wife and I agreed that was exactly what we wanted, it was gorgeous!. Some of the new things we saw where the lighted switches which where green when a light was not on and yellow when on and all of them where marked. All pex plumbing with the push on style fittings which are expensive, but save huge on time & labor. Some of the trim is bigger and chunkier, residential fridge is standard, love the ceiling fans and so much more.

We spent 3 hours and it seemed like 15 minutes, we didn't want to keep Lonnie any longer and headed out as excited as could be. Showhauler definitely has their eye on the RV industry and we discussed a number of ideas to get them a tad bit more RV'er friendly. To be honest they are not to far off now. Showhauler is a custom builder and anytime I asked Lonnie about say the draw step, he said no problem they can do it. But I must admit they use this crazy strong standard step that I had not seen before, it didnt move when you stepped on it.

It was an amazing visit, I was so busy looking and talking with Lonnie I totally forget to take pictures. Now I have to go back, oh darn.