Well I am fresh back from the RVIA show where I got to checkout 3 conversion companies.
First stop was Dynamax. The Grand Sport Ultra 45 is their biggest rig and the first thing I noticed was the addition of storage bay height. They even went so far as adding what they call a trunk in the rear cap with a pretty large bay door that raises upward as well as a pass through bay in the lower back section. I have to say Dynamax defiantly has the best overall fit & finish out of the 3 manufacturers I toured for sure. But still for a 45' rig it seemed very small inside. With the curved inward walls and lower ceiling height it was very cozy feeling, kinda like a yacht. I would compare the interior space to say a 38' or possibly smaller Class A RV. The main area is adequate in size with a kitchen slide and apposing couch & dinette slide, but as you move back into the bath & bedroom areas it gets real small. But as I have experienced before, Dynamax pays alot of attention to the details and lighting controls where top of the line, colors of fixtures match throughout and the decor was definitely well thought out. I took a peak at the Grand Sport they had and with it's punie exterior storage bays and very small feeling interior, I just can't see anyone choosing that over the Ultra.
Next up was Haulmark and they must of signed up for the show late because they got stuffed back with the Park model RV's. They brought a 45' on the FL Coronado chassis and it looked like a monster. The exterior paint looked great and I hooped right in to the interior. I will be honest, I have seen alot of Haulmarks past work and I have not been impressed with many areas of their fit and finish, but a quick scan of things and I will say the interior of this rig was really, really nice. With the taller ceilings and only a super slide on the drivers side the main area had a much larger feel than the Dynamax. It had granite floors, olive/brown color padded walls and walnut cabinets. I must say it looked impressive, not my exact taste, but it would appear they consulted a designer on this one. The fit and finish on the interior looked to be spot on, cabinet doors lined up, trimmed was in place, drawers worked nicely, I was impressed. But all was not perfect, the interior was dark, but yet they used white wall controls and power outlets???? That was a definite bone head decision. They also had a ton of white god awful ugly stickers plaster all over indicating emergency instructions, which really looked bad. The sales guy there did mention that they would be upgrading to black outlets and wall controls as well as a multiplexing wiring system. There where still little things that bugged me, such as the use of those cheap ceiling vent fans in the bathroom, they just don't belong in a $300,000 rig. Also, still no central location for all of the system controls although again that was something they where looking into. I only had enough time for a quick tour of the outside but again was impressed with the improvements they have made in the fit and finish hear as well. I did not get a chance to run through the storage bins and I really wished I would have checked out how they handled the sewer compartment. But all in all a very good start toward wooing the RV consumer. (Pictures below)
As I drove into the show parking lot I saw a 45' Pony Xpress unit sitting in the parking lot so I figured if they had a unit sitting outside they must have brought a bunch of rigs for the show. Unfortunately that was not the case, they only had a smaller M2 (maybe 35') conversion on display. It seemed to be more geared toward the racer and so a quick tour was all I could muster. There where no sales guys to be found so I couldn't even ask any questions. Remembering that I had missed the Haulmarks exterior bays I did take a quick peak and most where decent sized with a painted metal surface. The sewer bay was left wide open and had the cheesiest looking tank sensor setup I have seen. I absolutely cannot for the life of me see why they would leave this open for dirt and crap to clog the pull valves. Also you could never add a macerator system which is the modern way to dump the tanks these days.
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