We've been looking and working on this purchase for about a year now. Having never owned one before, we had a lot of questions and given that we had some pretty specific or unusual duties we wanted it to do, plus being on a budget...we had to plan carefully.
Hopefully all of our diligent research pays off, so far so good we think.
We decided on a newer B+ for several reasons. We wanted a coach that would fit in our outbuilding, offer plenty of room inside (but didn't need to sleep more than 2) and also important have plenty of cargo capacity left on the chassis. The newest coaches offer several upgrades over one's just a few years old, one being 100% LED lights and even LED TVs. Given that we plan on boondocking some with it, this really helps with the battery life.
Also, starting about this time last year, the manufacturers started putting 7500-8000 pound hitches on the chassis which helps with job #2.
Yes, I actually took Barney 45 minutes South of home to the seller's storage place and towed Barney to the weigh station and back with the coach to check the total weights before the purchase. More on the weights in a bit. Who else does that though?!?!
Well, this isn't even my first time doing this. I took my boat to the GMC dealer back in 2002 and towed it up a steep hill with 3 different trucks before deciding on the truck I still own and use every day today. The coach pulled the trailer with zero issues, it is actually very impressive how well it boogies up the highway with the 6100# trailer in tow.
Later on that afternoon we committed to purchasing the coach and then the fun started. This is a 2016 model that was purchased new in TX in June, used for one trip to CA and back, and has been in storage ever since. It still had all of the factory warning stickers everywhere and the plastic cover was even still over the mattress. It was a hardly used 2016 model with 6900 miles on it. Being a private party sale, it was a bit of an unusual transaction but we got it done last Friday afternoon and it's been at home getting prepped ever since.
I have to figure out a way to get just a bit of weight off of the rear axle to be able to safely tow the trailer. In the picture above it had 9780# on the rear tires and they are only rated to 9880#s (the coach was basically empty). I have a few options like a weight distribution hitch, higher rated tires for the rear or even a lighter trailer...which would all put me back in the safe zone. Probably be next year before we need to tow Barney anywhere though so for now we'll just get used to camping with it as it sits.
Anyway, I know I've asked a few of you on here for advice on this in the past...so I thought I'd share the outcome. Can't wait to get to using it...especially camping in paddock at an event with some of you in the future.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
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Latest addition to the SSLance stable
Linear Mode
