We initially contemplated ending this series with a "Report Card" on our (then) new unit. However, after owning the unit for three years, we clearly now have a "used" RV -- and it's at an age that many RVers will determine is within that "window" of special opportunity for purchasing a used (versus a new) unit. Units 2-3 years old typically will have depreciated considerably from "new price"; and if well cared for can offer an excellent value for discerning purchasers. It is primarily for that audience that we capture the experience with our own coach, and provide this "three year" report.

A Thoroughly Tested Unit

Our unit may offer a particularly useful opportunity for this type of evaluation, because we have used it considerably more than most owners. The odometer now tops 57,000 miles. For the first year and a half, we were essentially full timers, though we chose not to sell our home. In the past year and a half we've lived in the coach about half the time. Our own style of RVing is an active one -- we seldom stay at one location more than a few days. We've traveled extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. We've used the interstate highway system for some of our travels, but we've not hesitated to go into areas accessible only by secondary (and sometimes very secondary!) roads. We've been in sunshine and snow, torrential rains, suffocating dust, freezing temperatures and extremely high winds. We didn't purposely pursue the adverse weather conditions -- but if you log as many miles in a year as we do, you're bound to see it all. And we have. So rather than protect our coach from extreme conditions, we've actually put it to the test and gone wherever we've wanted to go, and relied on the coach to survive all these conditions.

Since doing our intial "Report Card", describing our first year's experience, have we had service issues to contend with? Of course we have. And we'll discuss here what they've been. Have we reached a conclusion about the quality and durability of our unit after lo these many miles? Yes, we've done that too. And we'll share that as well. As we did with our initial Report Card, we think it's most useful if we comment on both what worked and what didn't. We do this with a bit of hesitation only because every "review" we've ever read tends only to underscore what's wonderful -- and either ignores or downplays what's not so good. From our observations, though, our readers are more typically interested in knowing the full story. We intend to do that here.

Every motorhome is of course part "house" and part "chassis". We'll deal first with our experience with the Dynomax chassis; and then discuss those issues that relate to the "house" component.

Chassis Issues

The most exciting of events was experiencing a complete shut down on our Cummins engine. This is where lights flash, warning of some impending doom, and threatening to shut down altogether if you don't stop immediately. At the time we were in a remote area of eastern Oregon, and hoping fervently those warning lights weren't really serious. But that didn't help, and in a matter of a minute or so we were at the side of the road, the engine completely shut down. While this is a longer story than needs be told here, it turned out that our Cummins ISC 350 was getting an errant reading on the oil level. Getting to a Cummins shop was a challenging experience, but as it turned out the engine was fine and only needed a new sensor.

Elsewhere in our travels we began getting messages saying we had a low coolant level. At first we added coolant, but that didn't seem to help. As it turned out the heater core in the front of the coach had begun to fail, and needed to be replaced. And most recently in our travels we noticed the ride height had gone out of kilter, requiring the replacement of the air valves. This time there was no shut down. Instead we were able to use the HWH leveling system to manually set the ride height, and continue our planned travels until we were able to schedule a service appointment to get the valves replaced.

We seem to have solved our initial concerns about tire pressure by acquiring the SmartTire system, which we had installed by Les Schwab in Junction City. We also added a Silverleaf monitor (which the factory installed in the dash), that has for the most part performed admirably, and which we've found invaluable in our travels. It translates virtually all of the "coded" information gathered by the Cummins engine's computer, and displays it as easily readable information. The software continues to be updated, providing additional features. We opted to add the "weather station", which provides information on outside temperature and humidity; the altitute, and if it would work, the compass heading. Unfortunately, even after three separate installation efforts by the Silverleaf techs, the compass feature just plain won't work. We were a bit disappointed at the last Country Coach rally when Silverleaf techs were so busy with new installations that they never had time to try once again to find the cause of its not working.

Aside from the issues noted above, the chassis has performed flawlessly. It is extremely comfortable to drive, entirely stable on the road, and has given us a great deal of confidence in its reliability.

House Issues

On the "house" side, the item that consumed the most time in resolution was our Dometic refrigerator. It seemed to have a propensity never to maintain a consistent cool termperature. Occasionally we'd notice signs of a partial melt down in the freezer unit. And on a couple of occasions the unit would not work on propane. These are not uncommon symptoms, but despite several service visits to authorized Dometic service centers, no one could solve the problem. In due course Dometic's headquarters service staff involved itself in an effort to find a cure for the recalcitrant fridge -- but after multiple tries even they were baffled. As a result, and even though we were in our third year of ownership, Dometic replaced the entire unit at no cost to us. And happily the new unit has performed flawlessly. Another appliance, the Princess stove, has worked, but sometimes seems a bit slow to ignite. There seems to be no adjustment for this.

The cabinetry looks as new today as the day we first drove the unit from the show room. Same for the tile floor, walls, and window treatments. I did find myself adding a drop or two of glue to a couple of the cabinet door panels. But other than that all the doors and drawers are in perfect shape. We swapped out the original leather chair across from the sofa in favor of a more comfortable Ekornes chair with a foot stool. We've noted these often come as standard equipment in the newer models. We also had Davis Cabinets in Junction city replace the small wood table behind the passenger seat with a slightly larger wood cabinet that houses a laptop (that slides out); a middle file drawer, and a lower slide out tray that holds a printer. They also installed in an unused space in front of the passenger seat a double door cabinet beneath the dash. It accommodates CDs on one side, and books or magazines on the other. They do superb work, and at a fair price.

We experienced problems with our house batteries during our first year. Despite every effort to keep them serviced, they didn't seem to hold a charge. Part of the issue turned out to be that the alternator was not charging the batteries while we were driving, as it should have been. After solving that problem, but continuing to have less house battery service than we would have liked, we opted to switch out the wet cell batteries for AGMs. At the same time we consulted our own Online Advisor for for solar issues (Greg Holder), who designed a two panel system which was installed by Carrier & Sons in Eugene. The combination of AGMs and solar has provided an absolutely fabulous solution to our energy needs, and we now feel quite "energy independent". Whereas before we'd have to shut off the house batteries if we were going to store the unit for even a few days, now we can not only leave on the house batteries, but the fridge as well, if we choose to do so.

One problem we struggled with for most of these three years was the tendency of our slider awning to first "rattle", then begin to billow out when we encountered a very strong quartering headwind on the driver's side. We tried remounting the awning, and making sure it had the maximum number of turns. But it still became unstable if the wind conditions were precisely "wrong". We finally asked Country Coach's help in addressing this troublesome issue, and they advised we install a wind deflector -- essentially a long "L" bracket just below the slider awning. The design is intended to deflect the wind from getting underneath the awning -- presumably the cause of the problem. We have not yet been in winds as severe as those which caused the problem earlier, but so far in reasonably strong quartering headwinds it seems to be performing as anticipated. But of course one learns never to say never...

Two electrical issues made it to our fix list -- both component systems. One was a failed Surge Guard unit; another was a failure in the Kwikee electric step activation switch mechanism. We also had a plumbing issue or two over the course of these three years. One footnote however would have to be what we consider a very favorable response from United States Warranty, from whom we purchased an extended service contract for 5 years or 100,000 miles. We've written elsewhere about our assessment of extended service contracts, and we believe RV owners should do their homework before deciding whether to purchase this type of coverage. However, our own experience has been positive.

Summary of Service History

Aside from that, we've occasionally tightened a loosening screw here and there, and have dealt with periodic realignment of bay doors. But what is truly remarkable is that the comfort of living in this coach is as good or better today than the day we purchased it. We drive with solid, rattle-free comfort on a completely stable chassis, and at the end of each day we have a perfectly functioning and entirely comfortable "home" to be in. Yes, we've not been free of service appointments to address the issues outlined above, and some other minor matters. But for three years and 57,000 miles, we think this is a pretty strong record for this complex piece of machinery. And there is every reason to believe that the next 57,000 miles will be every bit as good -- and with the additions we've made, perhaps even better.

The Key: A Commitment to Continuing Owner Support

But to recite just the facts of chassis and house is probably to miss the most important part of the story. Unquestionably the most critical factor in our enjoyment of our coach is not all those things that are "right" -- but rather our confidence in what happens if something goes wrong -- because you can count on that happening! Here's where our experience has been truly exceptional. We have dealt with the service techs at the factory not only in regards to the items we've outlined, but on other matters as well. In several cases we found the "problem" was simply something we didn't understand, or that we could easily remedy with some sort of reset or other quick fix.

Depending on the urgency of the situation, we contacted the factory either by email or by toll free number to their service techs. The response was always prompt, professional, and helpful. Keep in mind we're no longer talking about customer support for a "new" unit; or even one that's on warranty. But we perceive no difference in the excellent level of suport we receive as the owner of what is now a three year old unit. We've had the pleasure of getting to know other owners who purchased their units at approximately the same time we did. Without pretending to speak for them, we believe their experience with customer support has been generally consistent with our own.

Looking at Today's "New" Rigs

While we thought we had most of the bells and whistles on our unit when we purchased it in 1999, it's pretty hard not to be impressed by the advances made in design, options, and technology in the past three years. Today's buyers of the new units have an entire new array of the latest improvements from which to choose. Of course that's what drives new coach sales. But there's something to be said as well for a well maintained unit that has, over time, been well maintained and nurtured with some improvements and fine tuning. We can understand why our unit might, three years beyond its date of manufacture, be an excellent choice for a buyer looking for a used unit. But applying that logic to our own circumstance, it makes a strong case as well for our continuing to enjoy the unit for another year or few. This is not to suggest we'd not at some point choose to trade for another new unit. But we don't feel any urgency to do so at present. If and when that time should come our experience with our current unit would surely cause us to give serious consideration to staying with our present brand.

Owner Attitudes

One hindsight conclusion seems clear to us in evaluating our three years of ownership: The "coach ownership experience" is determined not only by the quality of the unit, but also in part by the attitude of the owner. No one with an actively used RV can survive three years of coach ownership without seeing the inside of quite a few service centers. We've previously described some of our experiences in doing so. There we expressed some thoughts about how we, as RV owners, might improve the odds of having a successful service appointment. What we did not discuss there was a growing observation that some coach owners seemed to be having a positive RVing experience even as they were dealing with service needs; while others with comparable issues and concerns seemed consistently not to fare so well. Those who were enjoying their RVing lifestyle the most seemed always to have a friendly and positive attitude. While they were clear about what their issues and expectations were, they were also reasonable -- and when necessary, just a bit patient. They consistently had a positive working relationship with the service techs and staff.

But we would occasionally see some quite unhappy owners. Unquestionably some of them had real, not imagined, grievances. But in other cases we sensed their demands and expectations were not always entirely reasonable either. A few seemed to know only one way to deal with their problems: in a hostile and sometimes unpleasant manner. They wanted their problems fixed first -- presumably before any of the other waiting coach owners service needs would be considered. Usually the rapport with the service writer was characterized more by conflict than cooperation. And they were not at all hesitant to broadcast their negative impresssions to any who happened to be nearby. We have wondered whether some of these owners would ever find much satisfaction in the world of RVing, since their glass appears perpetually to be half empty.

It's likely that we've personally learned a great deal from simply observing these experiences. When our coach was brand new, we were probably overly "dismayed" when something didn't work exactly as we'd anticipated. In time we've learned that if you use your RV, you can count on the fact you'll have a continuing need for service and repairs. Hopefully this need will be "occasional", and not a never-ending series of trips to the service centers. And if you're very fortunate, as we believe we've been, you'll enjoy a continuing high level of owner support from the manufacturer -- even as the unit graduates frorm new to used. And when this happens, you'll remember that adage about "you're not just buying an RV, you're buying the company".

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