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New Member Update

Yahoo Message Number: 13219
I joined the group back in May after selling my Class C and Toyhauler to buy a Super C diesel. I expected to buy a Kodiac with the Duramax and Allison, but wanting a garaged well maintained motor home proved to be challenging. I ended up finding three and all three sellers decided not to sell at the end...I was shocked. I didn't even start to negotiate price!

So I started looking at new ones and decided on the Thor Four Winds 33SW. Finding a dealer with one who was willing to deal was a challenge and I ended up buying one in Detroit and driving it back home to Reno. We love the layout of the motor home, very impressed with the F550 Chassis and 6.7 diesel motor (and I'm a GM guy), and have been pretty happy overall with the motor home. I was focusing on towing capacity and layout when I was deciding what to buy. Love the interior layout and the 10,000 tow capacity and GCVR of 35,000. After driving it home and camping for 12 days we are very happy with everything except the refrigerator. They put a house refrigerator in it and want to run it off the batteries through an inverter. Yes, just like what is in your house...runs off of 120 volts only and the door opens when you drive.....grrrr. The stock batteries were toast when we got it, so I upgraded to twin six volt batteries. Still not nearly enough, Thor's answer is to start the generator. I only dry camp so this is a major headache for me. Currently learning more about refrigerators than I ever wanted to know.

Here are a couple of pictures. We bought a 24 foot trailer while we were in Indiana, they are cheap over there. My wife would even drive the rig when there was no traffic, no wind, no rain, daylight and no cities. On the way home we visited some friends, the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Twin Falls. We got home, hooked it up to the boat and drove over the Sierra Nevada mountains at the speed limit!

Chuck

Re: New Member Update [3 Attachments]

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 13221
Chuck, many thanks for the detailed report.

That is the exact model I've had my eye on. I too wondered about the residential refrigerator. It should have a lot fewer problems than the dual unit and is much cheaper but if you don't have a battery farm like some of the very large DPs I can see how operation is a problem without running the generator when dry camping or on the road.

Do you have the 5500 gas generator or the 6000 diesel? If it is gas, how big is the gas tank for the gen?

What annoyed me (with this one and many others) is that they do not make the roof heat pumps optional.

Now the big question, could you give us an idea of the options on your unit, the list and what it actually cost?

I live across the river from Detroit. The dealer in our area who handles the Thor Super C's has NO service department. He farms his service out to other dealers and a couple of them gave me the impression he is a real PITA. I'm simply not going to buy from this dealer. Given how close I am to Detroit I'd have to give consideration to buying and importing - which if done right is easy - or so I'm told. Also, if you have a trade, you get nailed because you still have to pay full taxes when importing, even though you'd normally only pay on the net difference.

Thanks again for the report. Glad to have Jerry and you as members of the group now. IMO Thor should be selling a lot of these Super C's and if they aren't they are doing something wrong.

Don

Re: New Member Update [3 Attachments]

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 13222
I upgraded my Thor 32B with 4 6 volt T105's and a good solar system, but I don't think it would even come close to running a 120v refrigerator while dry camping.
Dan

Re: New Member Update

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 13223
I'm currently watching this video on the Thor Super C (using Apple TV it is on a 65 inch Panasonic) so one gets a great view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBJeQ6NOUFs

Certainly looks impressive for the purported low cost. When I see what is included it raises a red flag. The GVWR is 19,500 lbs - same as my former Grayhawk on Kodiak. With the Kodiak I had a ton of carrying capacity. What I'd like to know from Jerry and you is the unloaded vehicle weight with just a full tank of gas and full propane and no people, empty fresh, grey and black tanks and no STUFF. I can't help but think it could be tight.

They stated that the alternator puts out enough power to handle the fridge while on the road. That was nice to see.

They certainly did a good job on this video. Anything that you see that doesn't five with your experience to date?

One last Q for now - how had your fuel consumption been so far?

Thanks for the input.

Don

Re: New Member Update

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 13224
Lots of question, here are the answers. It will comfortably sleep six, then you can add the dinette which would add two room for two kids.

Mine came with the propane generator and a 28 gallon LP tank, no complaints with that setup.

MSRP was $142, they seem to go for $110 or so.

I bought it from General RV in Detroit.

Fuel economy was 12.5 not towing going about 62 seemed to maximize it. That didn't last long as I hooked up the trailer in the next state. Towing the trailer and going about 65 dropped it to about 11. Going fast, nice to have a motor home that can go fast, it gets thirsty it would drop to 8.5...I had to make it in time to buy new batteries!



On Tuesday, July 15, 2014 7:52 PM, "Don Leslie grandriver125@... [SuperCrvgroup]"  wrote:

Re: New Member Update

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 13233
The "capacity" of the coach is tight. I noticed a sticker that stated the carrying capacity and it was slim. I try to run with zero in holding tanks except for water. I personally believe that if you have 4 people, their stuff, fuel, water, full fridge, you will most likely be over the limits recommended for this coach. It does drive good and has strong power at 70mph. I tow a small car and did not even know it was there. Later this year, I will be towing a 8K Lb boat, not too far, but still need to tow it. Adding the solar panels did help with the battery problem but in HOT Texas, you need to run the Gen for A/C! :) I plan on adding 2 extra batteries and hope that will solve the inverter problem, and slow down on Gen running to top off batteries. Also, check the setting on the Auto Start for the Gen. Mine was originally set too low and would not even start itself. Mine coach is 1 year old with est 4k miles. I need to get out more. :)