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Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G

Yahoo Message Number: 2958
I might be interested in purchasing a 2008 Four Winds 34G, but before I do, I wanted any advice on the following:

1. How is the quality on Four Winds on the Kodiak chassis (diesel)?

2. MSRP is $128K, sales price is $89K....is this a good deal?

3. How is the customer service?

Thank you in advance!

-Tom

Re: Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2959
Tom

Had Fourwinds Funmover on F750 and have Seneca now. Quality on FW was fair.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

From: "tomakat"
Date: Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:03:35 -0000
To:
Subject: [KodiakChassisClassC] Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G

I might be interested in purchasing a 2008 Four Winds 34G, but before I do, I wanted any advice on the following:

1. How is the quality on Four Winds on the Kodiak chassis (diesel)?

2. MSRP is $128K, sales price is $89K....is this a good deal?

3. How is the customer service?

Thank you in advance!

-Tom

Re: Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2960

Tom,
I have not had a chance to post yet, but since you asked I thought I should jump in. We have a 2008 FW 34H (bunk model) w/8.1 gas engine. We just returned from a San Diego to Chicago and back family trip. Everything worked great. For the earlier posts regarding gas mileage, we averaged. between 7.8 MPG (westbound) and 8.1 MPG (eastbound). We note the mileage at every fuel stop. The best MPG we got was 9.9 (slight tailwind) as we drove east across New Mexico and Texas, and the lowest was about 6.7 (across the Rockies).

Back to your question. We looked at the Seneca's and would have bought it but the dealers just wouldn't budge on price. We paid about 83K for ours. We did not notice a great difference between the FW and Seneca with respect to interior fit & finish, except you will get solid surface counters and bus style exterior storage hinges and latches on the Seneca. We did (do) like the interior cabinets better in the FW.
For the price, the FW was a better deal for us.

Good luck,
Rob

Re: Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2962

Tom,

While there are general features and quality issues between brands, you will want to look closely at the coach you want to buy. Unlike the auto and truck industry that are regulated by federal guidelines, you have NO protection when you buy your coach. If the wrong employees built your RV, regardless of the make or model, you WILL be buying a lemon. I have owned four motorhomes, and two of them were lemons. Three of them came from the same manufacturer, and two were the same model... one a lemon, and the other not.

I always suggest starting UNDER the coach. Look for unusually excessive corrosion. Since the industry is not required to use corrosion resistant finishes on the underbody, if your coach was delivered to the delear in the winter, and the underbody was not cleaned, you will have corrosion. If the 12 volt grounding system is not correctly designed, you will have corrosion thru electrolysis. If you feel there is too much corrosion, do not buy the coach. You will have wiring issues and other related issues as long as you own the coach. While under there, also look at the exposed wiring and other components. If there seen to be little or no protection for the underbody components, they will corrode and deteriorate rapidly, again causing future problems.

Next, start on one side (elevation) and examine the sidewalls closely at a narrow angle to the sun so you can identify the imperfections on the sidewall surfaces. If you notice an irregular pattern or slight bulges on the surface, this could be evidence of delamination of the sidewalls due to moisture. If the "seams" appear to be pronounced, again this could be moisture. There exterior sidewalls have a lauan surface coated with fiberglass. The lauan is nothing more than very thin laminated paneling , similar to your interior door panel surfaces. If there is ANY moisture, they will delaminate.

Next, get on the roof and check for soft spots. The roof is also nothing more than a TPO or fibreglass surface laid over lauan. If the roof "feels" soft when you walk on it, it could be delaminating. While up there, check the trim molding that attaches the roof to the sidewall. It will be an aluminum channel, about 3/4 inches wide, with a vinyl insert. Using a small putty knife or screwdriver, remove a couple feet of the vinyl trim from the "track" it is in, and check for moisture or mold. Look at the screws holding the roof to the sidewall, and with a phillips screw drive, remove a couple screws. If the screws show ANY corrosion on the threads, the walls ARE already wet, and you WILL have moisture problems. This is a definitive indication that the moisture is leaking around the screw and the wood to which the screw is attached is beginning to rot. The metal trim is flat aluminum, and if the builder used a wood screw normally used for seating in wood, similar to a sheetrock screw, then the trim will become distorted and moisture will penetrate under the screw head and get into the sidewall and roof, causing mold and delamination to occur. The better coach will use a "pan" head screw that allows the trim to remain flat without distortion, and the head also seats against the "floor" of the trim base, sealing out moisture. When finished with your inspection, using the putty knife, the vinyl will easily reinsert into the track. Just be careful not to cut the vinyl or roof surface.

Next, enter the coach and open ALL the cabinet doors and examine how the door hinges are attached to the cabinet "box.". On the Four Winds, they will be installed on the inside edge of the cabinet opening. Look for "splits" in the vinyl overlay tape where the screws attach the hinge to the cabinet, or look for areas where the cabinet thickness around the hinge looks "wider" than the rest of the cabinet wall thickness. Occasionally, the installer doesn't pre-drill the screw holes before installing the doors. The wood will split around the screw, and you WILL have issues with the doors falling off the cabinets. Sometimes, if QC identifies the "problem," they will remove the hinge and rather than replacing the damaged cabinet, they will overlay the split with more vinyl wood grain tape, hiding the problem. This is why you want to check the wall thickness, because the split will make the wood appear to be wider by the hinge.

There are several more points to make when inspecting a coach, whether new or used, but if the above issues are apparent, I would avoid buying that specific coach, at ANY price. Good luck.

Denny


Re: Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2964
Tom,

We have a 2007 Four Winds 34h w/ diesel which we have had for 2 1/2
years now.

1. I would say the quality is just fair. We do have a few places where
the wood is split from the screws. A bit better quality of wood would
probably help a lot and a bit more time spent putting things together
would probably make a huge difference.

A couple of trim pieces on the front slide have fallen off.

All of our Four Winds installed exhaust brackets have broken both on the
generator and the rear engine exhaust.

All of our orange clearance lights have faded to white. I have seen
this on another Four Winds. It probably doesn't help that we live in
New Mexico at 7300 ft altitude.

On the chassis we had a leak in the rear differential this year (not
under warranty any more) and a broken exhaust bracket at the engine
(fixed under warranty) that may have been caused by the rear bracket
breaking.

2. Maybe could do a bit better? It is less than we paid, but we bought
a current model year RV in a much better economy. Also, my kids were
with me helping to decide and so I wasn't going to spend much time
haggling.

3. My only dealing with Four Winds was to ask for an electrical diagram
and to order a cabinet door since I replaced the oven/stove with just a
stove. And these where answered quickly.

Overall, we have a lot of fun with our motorhome as the features and
size are great for us. The problems have been minor annoyances and we
certainly look forward to keeping this RV for awhile. But, the quality
takes us out of the definitely would buy a Four Winds again category.

David

, "tomakat"
wrote:
Quote
I might be interested in purchasing a 2008 Four Winds 34G, but before
I do, I wanted any advice on the following:

Re: Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2966

I have a 2007 Four Winds 34G and have experienced soem of the same problems with the screws splitting the wood. I think most of the problem is with the incorrect type of screw being used. It appears the flared head screws were used in most of the motorhome. As this screw begins to tighten down or seat, the flared head then pushes outward on the woo, thus splitting it. The many drawer catches also have broken and these same screws were the culprit. As the screw was tightened into the slot on the catch, the head would expand the plastic and crack it.

I have also gone through a bag of running light covers, as they seem to crack easily. I attributed this to our winters in New England. Seems as though the lights just don't like heat or cold.

The fit and finish inside is not the quality I would build a house to, but appears adequate and similar to the entry level diesel coach lines of other makers. I felt the money was being spent more on the chassis/engine package than interior quality. There is an abundance of caulk and putty along with woodgrained tape used throughout the interior. This is not a huge issue for me as I have the capability and desire to work with these types of interior issues. It would be nice to have a higher quality product, but this level of motorhome is inline with other campers we have owned in the past at a price we could afford.

Roger

Re: Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2967
Hi all,

Thank you for responding to my questions and providing me with great information for me to consider in my purchase. Since I previously had two Bigfoot travel trailers, I'm trying to find a Class C (Kodiak) that can provide me with the same level of quality that I experienced with Bigfoot (is that too much to ask?) I've only been looking at local inventory, but now that I think about it, there is a slightly used Bigfoot Kodiak that is a short airplane flight away and might be my worth my time to take a look at it. I'll let you know what I decide.

-Tom

Re: Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2976
I have the Dutchemen 34 Bunkhouse Diesel. It is great. The fit and finish of the Seneca was a tad nicer as was the storage, but the barely 6' interior sucks: the Dutchmen is 7'. MSRP on my coach 2008 was $142K and I paid $65K Diesel motor and genset etc.

We love it and get just about 10MPG average - will post all fills later. Best MPG is on highway from sya Tuscon to San Diego at 13MPG.

From: tomakat
To: KodiakChassisClassC@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 1, 2009 7:03:35 PM
Subject: [KodiakChassisClassC] Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G

I might be interested in purchasing a 2008 Four Winds 34G, but before I do, I wanted any advice on the following:

1. How is the quality on Four Winds on the Kodiak chassis (diesel)?

2. MSRP is $128K, sales price is $89K....is this a good deal?

3. How is the customer service?

Thank you in advance!

-Tom

Re: Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G

Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2978

I`m confused
what Seneca were you looking at that had a 6 foot ceiling?

Re: Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G

Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2979
That had me scratching my head as well. We have the Grayhawk on Kodiak and the ceiling heights are fine.

Don



On 14-Sep-09, at 1:09 AM, Brad McKenna wrote:

Re: Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G

Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2980
Don wrote:

Quote
That had me scratching my head as well. We have the Grayhawk on Kodiak
and the ceiling heights are fine.

Same here, I'm 6'4" and don't duck anywhere in my Grayhawk 32SS

Take care,
Greg

Re: Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G

Reply #11 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2981
I think someone is trying to crank us up.
Denny

From: Greg Gimlick
To: KodiakChassisClassC@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 6:13:07 AM
Subject: Re: [KodiakChassisClassC] Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G

Don wrote:

Quote
That had me scratching my head as well. We have the Grayhawk on Kodiak
and the ceiling heights are fine.

Same here, I'm 6'4" and don't duck anywhere in my Grayhawk 32SS

Take care,
Greg

Re: Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G

Reply #12 –
Yahoo Message Number: 2983
I'm 5'6" and nearly have to use a step stool to open the vents in our Seneca? ? ? ?

 

Re: Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G

Reply #13 –
Yahoo Message Number: 3014
The ones I looked at appear to be built on more of a basement - one extra stair to enter. The 35GS? that is parked with mine in storage has a quite low ceiling compared to mine. I likely have less storage below...

From: Brad McKenna
To: KodiakChassisClassC@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, September 13, 2009 10:09:25 PM
Subject: Re: [KodiakChassisClassC] Need your advice - 2008 Four Winds 34G


I`m confused
what Seneca were you looking at that had a 6 foot ceiling?