Thursday, July 5, 2012

New home, 2010 Phaeton 40' Coach by Tiffin

We spent last winter (5 months) in warm Florida traveling from top to bottom and side to side.  While there we went to the Tampa RV show and looked at all the eye candy (new coaches) but got out of there without spending a dime.

Later we spent 3 days at a Rally sponsored by Tiffin and Lazydays.  While there we got real close to purchasing a new 40' coach but decided it was not in our limited budget so off we went safe and sound.

Fast forward 2 or 3 months and while in Maryland we receive a telephone call from a Lazydays sales person telling us he is taking in a used Phaeton 40' and if we are interested it could be ours.  Good used coaches are few and far between so after a day talking about it we said yes.  We negotiated a price and some changes including they remove all our solar equipment and install on the new coach.


We got as far north as we could (Lake Erie) before we turned around and headed back to Florida to make the change.  Dick negotiated membership into Lazydays Crown Club but until we arrived we had no idea what that amounted to.



Lazydays took our new rig and went through it from top to bottom and fixed or replaced everything that needed to be repaired.  We moved into the new coach and then they took the old and removed all the solar and then put us into a bay and installed it onto the Phaeton.  As we moved in and spent a few days going through the coach we continued to find things that when we asked they said "sure we will fix that".  Two big examples are the dash radio was not working so they ordered a new model as the one that was on the coach was not made anymore.  While installing it the service person dropped and broke it.  They had to reorder another one at the cost of about $1500 each.  The second item was that the seal around the main slide was damaged.  They spent a half day removing and installing a new slide-out seal.

We have never heard or run across an RV dealer that has the customer service that Lazydays does.  They fixed most everything they found and that we asked and then gave us a 30 day warranty on a used coach after we departed.  And to top it all off the Crown Club offered us 3 free meals a day and free open bar every night!  One perk we didn't expect was all the great people we met during our time there, most of whom were also getting "new" rigs.  More RV friends!


After 2 1/2 weeks at Lazydays we finally headed north to Old Town Florida where we took these pictures of the coach after Dick spent several days making it home for us by hanging pictures and making modifications to fit our lifestyle.


Come on in and take a tour of our new home.


Not our idea but if you check it out Tiffin installed 4 televisions, including one outside.  This view is looking forward from the bath area.


Jackie is standing next to the shower area with the bedroom behind her.  The kitchen area is a lot larger than our old bus.


The table pulls out for 4 or 5 people but we keep it pushed in.  The refrigerator is a standard household type.



We wanted a queen bed but it came with a king so had to get all new bedding except the quilt that we had still fits.


The tall doors are hiding the washer and dryer.


Our granddaughter Molly loves horses so here is a picture of a rocking horse we found in a store here in Old Town.  It's on sale for "only" $15,000.  Sorry Molly but you will have to stick to real horses.


Yesterday we visited the small town of Cedar Keys where this nondescript building sat empty on the downtown street.  Interesting looking but what is more interesting is the little brown spot about chest high to the right of center. 


A close up reveals a small but very profound sign... NO MORE WARS.  Can't disagree with that.


We are starting our trek back to Utah and hope to arrive there late August for our campground hosting at Arches National Park.  If you want to come and visit during the month of September let us know.

To be continued...