Mr. Jordan, I’m with you. I think the truth is that you never know what you are going to get until it is sitting in the shop. We thought we were educated consumers and bought our coach for what we saw at the time as $40K under the market. We chose beaver because, simply, they don’t make them like that anymore. None I could afford anyway. Our coach was maintained very well at the shell level, well polished, personal modifications we agreed with, updates to certain systems. The guy we bought it from had a reputation among his neighbors as a maintenance fanatic who did everything uber right. We had the coach engine checked by a local CAT shop and any codes pulled. This guy had replaced his satellite system because the dome was faded and he couldn’t get a replacement dome. He was a race car engine builder in his spare time and his garage looked like something from a TV show. Other things should have been a tip off perhaps, the tv system had been hacked to accommodate Direct TV and no other inputs worked but that. The dishwasher never drew water and the knobs on the washing machine came off in my hand. But who’s to know? I do know he didn’t spend any time going over the working systems in the coach because some problems that cropped up later were a result of deferred maintenance. There weren't really good records, he was the 3rd owner. He put 700 miles on the coach in 3 years. He was a show-shine guy. A shiny outside draws more comments than a greased up caliper. I just don’t know how careful you can be. I could have paid $40k over market and had the same problems. The same time I bought my coach we looked at another that had a slide leak and a rough patch job on the roof but only 29K miles, but passed because it had been sitting in a barn for several years before the widow put it on the market. Maybe….all hindsight. I am convinced this is a nicer coach than anything you can touch on the market for under $750K. Any new one I close to liveability is going to be $330K without the beaver interior. That 1st year depreciation leaves a lot of room for repairs. CAT engines are tough, the C12 is arguably the best of the recent lot, and at some point it costs as much to check it out as it does to repair it. Some things you can check, as Mr. Fisk points out. We had the fan bracket looked at when we did the Transynd change and asked that a different pair of eyes give it another once over and repair or strengthen as necessary. The next weak link is going to be the turbo, but what are you going to do, replace it as a preventative maintenance measure? I’ll just run ‘er til she blows. So take heart my friend, take another 3 fingers of something appropriate and consider writing the check. That lawn chair is out there.
