Well I am just back from a 700 mile round trip to Lancaster, Pa.
I will start with my impressions of the FL M2-106. The truck is awesome! Love everything about it. The Mercedes MBE 926 has decent power, love the engine brake and really like the 6 speed Allison automatic. We ran 76 (PA Turnpike) which has some pretty long & steep grades on it and we averaged about 55 - 60 mph depending on what kind of run we got at each mountain. With a new tight motor I am sure that will improve over time, but it is more than acceptable to me. On flat and rolling terrain it easily cruised at 75 although we pretty much stayed in the 65 to 70 range, since I was not monitoring the cb at all times. The cab is nice and quiet and my new fat K40 antennas where making the most noise in the wind. I am definitely changing those out to something quieter. I am 5'11" & 210 pounds and seating position, leg room, dash layout are all excellent for me, no problem running 3-4 hours without stopping. (As long as it is in the afternoon, morning coffee runs right through me
)
I guess the only down side is that I do not get any trucker chatter like I did in the FLD.
Now on to the motorhome. We stayed in it for 7 straight days which gave us a good chance to really go through and check everything. Show Hauler did a outstanding job with the fit and finish of the rig. Absolutely love the floor plan which made the week in it a absolute joy and all of the wood work, cabinets, lighting and furniture where perfect. I am very very happy with the rig.
But there where and are a few small issues. The Norcold fridge had a bad PC board from the start. It worked on propane so we got by for the week. Don E from Texas was there and had a RV Service guy come by to try to fix his bum fridge, so I had the guy stop by with the hopes he had a board on his truck. No such luck and he called in for a new board. Norcold only pays for the part and the labor so I got the service call bill which really sucks. I was going to replace it myself, but Norcold wont send a board until a authorized tech evaluates it so I was screwed either way. All I can say is Norcold's policy stinks!
Had a small leak in the shower, which was a easy fix with some silicon caulk.
That is it for the problems which if that is all that ever happens I be a very happy camper.
There are three issues I have which will take a little more work. They are the bathroom sink, fresh water connections and the bed.
The sink was a issue in my old unit; it is set to far back and with the medicine cabinet above, it is almost impossible to keep your face over it when washing or shaving. So alot of water ends up on the counter and/or worse down the front of the cabinet. I had noted that to Show Hauler when we worked out the details for this one, but that must have gotten over looked. I will probably hunt down a bigger sink this winter which could be used to bring it closer to the edge of the counter.
Issue #2 is with the fresh water inlet. Show Hauler recently went to bigger waste tanks and this takes up more room in the bin. They place the city & tank water inlets on a piece of diamond plate at the top edge of the bin. This is so close to the edge of the bin now that you cannot close the bin and leave a hose hooked up. I tried a standard RV 90 degree fitting, but that dents the bin door and leaves it just short of closing. We tried to make a few fitting, but they really did not work all that well either. I am going to rip them out of there and move them to the next bin over where there is much more room.
Last issue is the bed. We had wanted struts on there, but that must not have been able to be done. What happens is that the plywood slides forward while traveling and if not checked frequently it will makes it way to the wall and begin to rub on the wall material. We where lucky and my wife just happen to walk back into the bedroom and just caught before it started to wreck havoc on the wall. I am going to go with a 12 vdc linear actuator setup which will power raise and lower the bed to access the extra storage, a central vacuum as well as be able to check the water tank.
Anyway, I am super happy with the final product and these small issues are not to difficult to resolve.
We have 2 weeks off and then we are back out for most of July. I can't wait!
Here is a shot with the chrome visor just added late yesterday. Looks very cool!
Linear Mode
