2000-2003 Marquis Ladders

[Edward Buker]

I was hoping for some help regarding ladder info for my 2002 Marquis. I am trying to have a half ladder built that would terminate above the engine hatch. It looks like the rear cap was the same from 2000 to 2003, maybe longer.
I have gotten limited info from Monaco, Beaver Coach Sales, and the ladder manufacturers. There were two ladder manufacturers involved and I have the PNs. The issue is the location and size of the mounting plate in the rear cap at the camera level. If anyone has any knowledge of the size and location of this mounting pad area that would be appreciated. I have attached two photos of the two ladders, One seems to have the stanchions mounted lower and more to the left and the newer version stanchions are higher and more to the right on the coach.

What would help me is if a few kind souls with a ladder and this cap design from 2002 to 2003 would measure vertically from the engine hatch opening, as a reference point, to the tube of the stanchions just above the hatch and also up to the tube of the stanchions at the camera level. Measuring from the bottom side of the stanchion tube close to the body mount avoids the confusion of different size mounts. One more measurement please.....Measure the distance the right vertical ladder tube is from the right vertical edge of the engine hatch opening. A square may be helpful here but if you do not have one just do the best you can.

If anyone mounted their own ladder and knowingly hit the aluminum backing plate up at the camera level those dimensions and that info would really help. Hopefully this info will build a reference for myself and future ladder owners. Thanks in advance for any help.

[Gerald Farris]

I purchased a Topline ladder from Beaver Coach Sales, and installed it myself. The reinforced mounting pads on my coach were located in the cap on the left (driver's) side of the coach. You can locate the mounting pads by opening the engine bay, and checking on the inside of the cap for an area that is about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thicker on one side than the other and about 6 inches above and below the engine bay opening.

The spacing on my latter is;
1 The bottom stand is centered 6 inches below the engine bay opening.
2 Next stand up is 6 inches above the engine bay opening and the outside of the stand is directly above the outside of the engine bay opening.
3 The next stand up is centered 42 inches above #2.

[Edward Buker]

Gerald,

Thank you so much for your information. I had been concentrating so much on the right side of the engine hatch, given the photos i had gathered, that I was not even aware that they had put ladder mount reinforcing on the left side of some coaches. We have been away all day so I will check this out in the morning. So far I had found no mounting pads but this may be the answer as to why.

I carry a folding six foot ladder in the bay and planned on using that to transition to a half ladder. I did not want to deal with the unlatching and folding up of the ladder each time I wanted to get into the engine bay. I will probably be up on the roof 3 or 4 times a year and the engine hatch gets a daily visit while on the road. If you had a strong rational for why you would choose a full ladder and you think that I am headed in the wrong direction, let me know. When you mounted your ladder, do you think you hit a reinforced area on the roof also, or was that just standard thickness?

FYI I spoke with Topline and they would not alter anything from the print or template they had. Christianson's who built the follow on ladder (mid 2002 and on) would do a modified design for me. Thanks again.

Ed

[Gerald Farris]

I had been carrying a 12 foot telescoping ladder in the basement for 2 years, and I installed a ladder to get away from the need to carry a ladder in the basement. So installing a half ladder would not have accomplished what I wanted. As for the need to fold the ladder to access the engine bay, it is no problem at all. You just pull 2 pins and lift it up. It takes less than 5 seconds, and there is no way that I will carry a ladder in the basement to avoid a 5 second task. Especially when dealing with the ladder in the basement will take so much more time, and take up valuable storage area to a fulltimer like me. The only reason that I ever saw for a half ladder is to make the ladder less accessible to children because of liability, or criminals for security reasons.

When I installed the mounting screws, I definitely hit a reinforced area every time, even on the roof. I know this because the screws were so hard to turn all of the way down that I was afraid of breaking them off.  

Gerald

[Edward Buker]

Gerald,

I went out and did a close scrutiny on both sides of the rear of the coach above and below the engine hatch and I see no reinforced pad area for a ladder mount. My only thought is that these areas could be reinforced with backing plates when the ladder was mounted so they started to omit these. If anyone has a mid 2002 thru 2003 Marquis with a ladder mounted, would you be so kind as to see if the bumper level ladder mount and the mount just above the engine compartment has a moulded in reinforcement (thicker glass area with wood probably embedded) on the backside or just a plate of visible metal or wood on the backside that was put in place as the ladder was mounted or no extra reinforcement at all.

This is a mystery to me and I'm still at a loss as to how to sort out this ladder mounting location. Your ladder reinforcement being on the driver side was a surprise to me given the photos of the ladders that I have seen have been on the right side from the rear. Hate to be drilling holes on the wrong side....Any help and insight woud be appreciated.

[Edward Buker]

Gerald,

I have a little egg on my face, .... I did another look and did find mounting pad areas on the driver side of my coach also. They are more subtle in thickness than what you described and the one above the hatch goes full height of the visible area so I had to feel to sense the vertical edges of the fiberglass change to find it. They are definately there so I think I will be able to sort this out.

I have a print being faxed. Because this is another PN from another manufacturer, that Monaco went to for later production, I may ask for one more dimension regarding where the roof landing pads fall once I have the print to define the measurement. From what I have seen the new ladder design was always on the right side of the coach, and from the photos, the mounts moved up the back of the coach 3 inches or so from the older design. Not sure if the roof pads moved also.

thanks Ed

[Edward Buker]

Gerald,
  The fax that I got was a bit of hen scratching and a couple of mesurements. Not a lot of documentation in this industry. Regarding the top of the ladder it just mentions use a jig with a number so there is no information that would define the roof landing pad info at all. So my thoughts are a couple of numbers would help put this to bed. I will forward some of this info to the ladder builder to see if his dimensions are close and use the rest to mount with. Sorry this is such a pain in the butt.

1. Roof mount tubing center line back to the centerline of the vertical ladder portion at the roof level. (define the total depth of ladder at the roof level)

2. Distance from the centerline of the tube at the mount point on the roof to the point on the back of the coach that is even with the point just above the top of the clearance lights. (Do not use the light recess.  Basically getting a depth measurement from the center line of the ladder tube straight back to a refeence point on the rear cap. Just above the light was the best reference I could come up with)

3. Centerline of typical tube height above the roof. Also a measurement from centerline of the vertical ladder tube to the back of the coach at the upper back cap stanchions. (help define the stand off depth)

I hope to return the favor some day......Regards Ed

[Gerald Farris]

Ed,
I e-mailed you personally, a drawing of the ladder with all measurements on it.

Gerald

[Phil Sales]

Gerald, Is there a chance I too could get a copy of that drawing and measurements? I also have a2000 Marquis with no Ladder. I called Christianson and the number I got from Monaco (B1100140)  is not on their good list. So I'll have to get one by measurements.
The support pads are on mine on the driver side.  Thanks, Phil Sales

[Gerald Farris]

Phil,
I have e-mailed the diagram to you personally.

You may want to contact Beaver Coach Sales in Bend Oregon, as they use to stock the Topline ladder that fits your coach, and probably still carry them.

Gerald

[LarryNCarolynShirk]

Just a thought.  Maybe a stud finder would help locate the mounting pads.

Larry

[Edward Buker]

Thought I would chime in having just been through this. Christianson did a nice job building me a half ladder which was my preference. Geralds dimensions are excellent on the diagram he provided (thanks again) but one item to be careful of is that you will have to cut the upper stanchions to length and that sets the distance off of the back of the coach. This also dictates to a great extent the depth of the roof pads onto the roof. Where Geralds are located on his diagram must be at the edge of the roof backing plate. I missed that plate with the 4 most rearward screws on the mounts. It is not a major problem given this mount has plenty of strength with the 4 screws through the backing plate and the glass is thick here. The ladder is somewhat flexible and I would be sure and have the roof ladder mounting plate at least to Gerald's dimensions, or perhaps another 1/2" toward the front of the coach. I had my ladder built closer to the coach and lower off the roof than the original.

Finding the "landing pads" is a bit tricky, I missed them several times because of the smooth fiberglass job run over the backside. I was also looking on the passenger side and was unaware until I saw photos of Geralds that they were also mounted on the drivers side. Like Geralds mine were on the drivers side.  I was not able to find the landing pads with a stud finder or a metal detector. Too many false readings from metal etc. to be sure.

wsmiles@gte.net was the email address for the ladder folks. I worked with Bill to get this one done. Hope this helps....Regards Ed

[Phil Sales]

Ed, You don't by any chance have the Christianson Part number for your ladder do you? May help me a lot. Thanks Phil Sales

[Edward Buker]

Phil,

I had my ladder "custom" built and there is no PN for it seeing Monaco never offered a half ladder. I worked with Ron at Christainsons who is 'the ladder guy". The ladder that Christianson built for Monaco was PN 21601719 and is referenced in one of the photos above. They have the bending jig for that ladder if you want the full length version. I had sent them Gerald's diagram and had them do a half ladder version of his. I did not know if the PN 21601719, that was a mid 2002 through 2003 ladder, would fit an earlier coach and nobody at Monaco could tell me the dimensions of that ladder and what if anything was changed from the Topline 2000 through mid 2002 ladder.

It appears that the way they do ladders in this industry, is that the vendor gets some coach info, builds one, then they send it to Monaco and modify the form if they need to and then they go with it. There does not seem to be drawings for these kinds of things. My belief is that this was a cost driven move and that the Christainson full length ladder would fit but I was not sure.

I'm very happy with the half version and carry a folding 6ft ladder with me to make the transition if I need to go on the roof. My order was recent enough that Ron should have what he needs to build another or you could have him verify the PN 21601719 mounting points are similar to Gerald's diagram and go with that. Either way they should be able to fix you up. If there was enough interest in a half ladder version they would probably build a jig and this would become quite easy. Hope this helps.

Regards Ed