FAQ's
I am the second owner of this coach we bought it about 2 years ago and have put about 3 to 5k miles on it.
As you can tell we don't have a lot of time to travel but hope to rectify that in a few years. We usually go out every 2 or 3 weeks to a campground within 100 miles or so of us. Here in Arkansas we are blessed with some very nice state parks and Corp of Engineers campgrounds. I invite all of you to go to Devils Den, Queen Wilhelmina, Mt. Magazine, Petit Jean or any of the other parks in Arkansas.
The motorhome is equipped with 1 very large solar panel on top plus a smaller one. This allows us to supply most of the power we need for the lights , tv's , stereo, icemaker and other "stuff". There are 4 house batteries that give us a very large reserve of electrical power. A 2000 watt inverter supplies power for everything but the air conditioners with reserve left over for other 110 volt loads. When we go camping for less than a week and it's cool enough to not have to run the air conditioners we don't hook up to anything but just quietly (no generator) "dry camp". With 100 plus gallons of water , a 100 plus gallons of waste storage, 4 house batteries and the solar panels we really are self contained. When its hot of course we have to "plug in" or start the generator. Since the generator is diesel powered and all the hot water is generated by a diesel fired heater we haven't filled the propane tank since we bought the coach.
Because of the inverter my wife can run the microwave and all the appliances while going down the road so we can have a hot meal ready to serve when we stop and we never have to start the generator. With the large diesel tank we have a range of almost a 1000 miles between fill ups. With our old diesel pickup and fifth wheel it seems like we were always looking for a filling station.
The Ladies stuff
I should have my wife type this next part but I'll try to describe the inside of the Safari. You can tell from the kitchen picture that the counter tops are corian and like new. My wife insists that the kitchen have enough counter space to put a regular size dish drainer on either side of the sink. We don't have that many dirty dishes but we camp with a lot of our friends and always have dishes to prepare for the "pot luck". Under the counter is the best water filter available for the sink and the icemaker. While down in the storage bay is the second best filter available for the rest of the coach. She loves the microwave convection oven because it heats evenly unlike most every RV oven we've ever had that burns on one side and seems to cool on the other.
The table has two extra chairs that store in the back of the bathroom closets (no crawling under couches or going out in the rain to get chairs) and extra leaves to make it longer for all those friends. Part of the 3 way lighting system is very large 110 volt kitchen lights so you can actually see what your doing. You can use the "mood" lighting if you happen to be cooking a plate of mood. The kitchen floor is tiled so it cleans up a lot easier when that plate of mood spills. There is a fantastic fan overhead in the kitchen when the "mood" overheats. All the cabinets are walnut and richly stained but not so dark. All the windows are dual pane and have day night shades.
The bathroom is bigger that the bathroom in the first house we lived in when we were first married. Its got huge cedar lined closets lots of drawers and mirrors everywhere. The floors are tiled and there is a skylight over the shower. It has a huge garden tub and the longest sink counter we've every seen.
With the Aqua hot heating system you can't use hot water fast enough to run out (I have tried). The Aqua hot system also keeps the floors nice and warm. There is an automatic vent fan in the ceiling . The picture is the pits but photography is not my strong suit. We had to make lots of trips to Walmart to fill up all the drawers and closets in that room. On top of all that their is a built in washer dryer.
The bedroom has a queen size bed with plenty of cabinets and mirrors. It has it's own air conditioner with controls in the bedroom. The inverter supplies all the power you need for the electric blanket in the winter time. Again the 3 way lighting supplies 110 volt lights for making beds and cleaning. The DC fluorescents provide lots of efficient lighting and the halogen reading lamps let the book worms read with out disturbing the significant other. The valence lights provide just enough light to keep everybody honest.
A monitor panel for the ac/dc power systems is mounted on the wall. All the windows have day night shades. There is a TV with remote controls and lots of cabinets and closets.
The living room is sculpture carpeted with a couch and recliner (and an ice maker). Both the captain chairs swivel around to face the back so they can be used as part of the sitting area. Since the coach is a wide body and has a huge kitchen/living room slide there is plenty of room for the "party". The couch folds out into another bed and there is storage under it as well.
There are built in outlets both ac and dc in the writing desk on the dash in front of the passengers seat. The endtable/night stand is moveable if you wish and has a built in folded coffee table and book rack. All the windows have day/night shades.
The Men's stuff
The engine is a caterpiller it develops 350 hp. It has air intake heaters and starts in the coldest weather. The engine has an exhaust brake which is interwired with both the transmission and engine for maximum effectiveness. You don't have to worry about overreving the engine on a long mountain grade or shelling out a transmission because you didn't pay attention. The engine has 55,000 miles on it so it is barely broken in. The engine has a display panel in the dashboard to warn you of any problems and a complete set of controls and gauges in the back by the engine so it can be serviced without anyone having to get inside your nice clean motor home.
Also built into the dash is a "silverleaf" engine monitor panel which reads out everything you could ever want to know about the engine and transmission. The engine is turbocharged and intercooled which means that it will keep the same power up to about 12000 ft plus. It is truly a joy to drive with all the engine noise behind you the large wheel base makes it smooth as silk and because all the "stuff" inside works while your driving you can microwave a snack, get a cold drink with ice and live like a king while covering the miles.
The engine is plumbed into the Aqua Hot heating system so you are generating the heat for the motor home and the hot water while driving, when you pull into the campground you have 20 to 30 gallons of hot water courtesy of the waste engine heat with out burning extra propane or diesel. The Aqua Hot also has an electric heating element built in so that once plugged in at the campground you can use "their" electric instead of "your" diesel to generate hot water and heat. Both the electric element and the diesel fired burner can be switched on, off or put in automatic if you wish to use one without the other.
Because of the Aqua Hot the inside heating system is whisper quite, not like the high pitched whine of the old propane furnaces and the coach is broken up into 3 zones each with its own thermostat so you can keep the living room at one temp and the bedroom at another if you wish. The storage bays have their own thermostats to keep them warm.
The generator is a 7.5kw diesel with its own heaters so it will start in any weather. The generator is on a slide out at the front of the coach and is whisper quiet it has it's own fuel intake in the tank and will not run you out of fuel if you forget and leave it running.
I had a Ford 3/4 ton pickup with a 7.3 liter diesel in it pulling a 32 ft fifthwheel before this motor home and I get as good a fuel mileage with the Safari as I did with the pickup. However keep in mind that the generator and the water heater/furnace also burn diesel so its hard to keep track of mileage.
The storage under the motor home is "huge" looking at the side view of the motorhome it looks like the storage bays of a greyhound. The storage area is heated and all the tanks and plumbing are located inside for winter camping. All the doors on the bottom of the coach lock electrically from the drivers seat. All the bay doors on the slide come out with the slide so you don't have to crawl underneath. There are slide out trays on the street side to make life easier.
The water hook ups are completely filtered and have drains for each individual appliance and sink in the motor home.
The entire refrigerator was replaced about 3 years ago (recall for that model). The tires and batterys were replaced when I bought it (about 2-3 years ago).
Electrical engineering is my business and I have two very large shops for building heavy test equipment. Because of that I had the means to completely go thru the electrics of this motor home and rebuild or replace any worn parts. I also completely rebuilt the Aqua Hot diesel heating system (new burner motors, new pump, nozzles , controls, etc). I added automatic float chargers to the batteries to keep them charged with out over charging when stored.
I went thru the electronic entertainment system and completely updated it with new video media players and receivers. Their is an automatic tracking datron tv dish on the roof and a sony satellite receiver inside.
I added all the cables and plug ins both inside and outside for a tripod mounted hughes internet satellite dish. I'm keeping the dish and modem but would be happy to help you get one set up for half or less of the cost of a new one. You can't imagine how much having internet search capabilities on the road adds to camping enjoyment. There is a GPS system built into the dash.
This description could go on and on since the motor home has nearly every available option if you have any questions give me a call .
SCOTTY
Oh yea. Almost forgot. Since this is obviously our "dream" motor home why would we ever sell it? We have a second big "dream" that has a chance to become true. We are only financed for one dream at a time. So the way we see it we'll help you get your dream if you'll help us get ours.
