I'm just about ready to buy a Barth ("just about" meaning I'll have finances totally lined up in the next few days - selling some investments that have done nicely). I'm looking for a 28'-30' Breakaway (190HP or more), or as a remote possibility, a 32' Breakaway or Regency (I really don't need that much room, and some of the places I got are hard for even 30' to inject themselves).

Gotta be a diesel pusher [insert Tim Allen's loud grunts here]; large basement storage and ample LPG tank (25+ gallons) and fresh water (minimum 40 gallons - more [like 60 gal] is better) are musts.

Front entry a definite plus.

My needs are dictated by the fact I do over 10K miles a year for Star Parties - gatherings of amateur astronomers at very remote sites - and my two Golden Retrievers go with me everywhere. So the coach would have to be self-sufficient for a minimum of a week at a time - at one (Nebraska), the generator got over 50 hours in a week. A lot of the astronomy gear is bulky, hence the need for the big basement storage.

Preferred powerplants would be the Cummins 5.9L or Cat 3208, or better, the 3116. Cosmetic condition is far less important than mechanical...

Anyway, I've seen stringmann's coach (impressive!) and will be looking at concinben's next week. I might end up with either, but I'd lke to hear from anyone who's been sitting on a 28'-32' coach.

I do intend to call very soon the owners of attractive coaches who have posted on this forum, but if there's anyone sitting in the wings, please contact me! I'm prepared to deliver whatever whining, pathetic, story calling for sympathy will restrain the price....

[This message has been edited by Rusty (edited January 14, 2006).]

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:


Gotta be a diesel pusher [insert Tim Allen's loud grunts here]; large basement storage and ample LPG tank (25+ gallons) and fresh water (minimum 40 gallons - more [like 60 gal] is better) are musts.

[This message has been edited by Rusty (edited January 14, 2006).]

Just a reminder..............some pushers have propane gensets that will run your propane tank dry pretty quick. It's a dilemma, as many of the older diesel gensets were noisier than the hammers of heck.



[This message has been edited by bill h (edited January 14, 2006).]

A small addition to bill's note. Friends of ours who 5th wheel have a Honda suitcase 2000 that is used for nearly everything except AC, when they fire up the Onan. It's very small, makes almost no noise, and sips gas. I'm looking for a good used one for the Euro and hurricane use.

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Dan & Suzy Z
'81 Euro 28

Hey Rusty, Here's one that I came across in a search that I looked at a couple years ago but they wanted too much for it then. More reasonable now and might give you the storage you are looking for.

I tried to put the link here but it keeps getting deleted. It's on RVtrader.com so just go there and type in Barth in the manufacturer search. It's located in Dewitt Michigan




[This message has been edited by Doug Vanse (edited January 14, 2006).]

Thanks - I called on that coach ('93 30' Breakaway, here: http://adcache.rvtraderonline.com/3/3/6/79957236.htm), and it sounded really good; however, another forum member had seen the coach and relayed to me the interior had been hacked up, and that its actual condition didn't support the warmth of the description nor the firm price. So I was saved a trip to the Frozen North.

The thread is here: https://www.barthmobile.com/ubb/Forum9/HTML/000532.html

[This message has been edited by Rusty (edited January 14, 2006).]

quote:

Originally posted by Danny Zeeff:
A small addition to bill's note. Friends of ours who 5th wheel have a Honda suitcase 2000 that is used for nearly everything except AC, when they fire up the Onan. It's very small, makes almost no noise, and sips gas. I'm looking for a good used one for the Euro and hurricane use.

A lot of people with tagalongs and 5th wheels at star parties also carry the little Hondas - 2 can be hooked in parallel through an adaptor to double the power. They're very quiet. One of my friends has a 5KW Honda in his truck bed, and it, too, is nearly silent.

If the Barth I get has a too-small propane tank, the genset will come out and be replaced with a gasoline Honda water-cooled set. I've seen several of these conversions on diesel Class Cs, and they work out well, as the Honda is quieter and more compact than the Onan or Kohler LPG gensets.

Better would be to replace the LPG tank with one larger (or add a second tank), but it's impossible to find any shop willing to do that due to liability.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:

If the Barth I get has a too-small propane tank, the genset will come out and be replaced with a gasoline Honda water-cooled set. I've seen several of these conversions on diesel Class Cs, and they work out well, as the Honda is quieter and more compact than the Onan or Kohler LPG gensets.

Yeah, I got one of those. One of these days I will replace my Kohler Klanker with it. The movie studios love them. They run and run and are very quiet.

"...some pushers have propane gensets that will run your propane tank dry pretty quick."
Simple solution: carry one or several small portable propane tanks and tap into the system (bypassing the main tank) when you camp. Plumbing is simple, and the tanks may be refilled or exchanged almost anyplace.

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"You are what you drive" - Clint Eastwood

I can do that with my SOB, since I have outside storage large enough for the tanks. The coaches I've looked at so far would require carrying the tanks inside - which I'd rather not do.

Pleez don' beat me, Boss!

Today I looked at what I hoped would be the last pair of coaches (since I've been looking for a 28' [+or-] for four years and very seriously for 2-1/2.

The first is a '97 Safari Trek 28'; the second is concinben's '94 28' Breakaway.

Both are is absolute superb condition (see my F/U to concinben's post, comments posted with their consent).

Both have the GM 6.5L Turbo; the Trek's on a P-30 and the Barth is on a Spartan. Both are aluminum construction, although it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the "real" rivets on the Barth, and the greater number of rows.

Both are the same price (~$30K).

If the Barth had the Cummins 5.9L, I'd have picked it hands down.

I'm picking the Trek, but for reasons suited to my use of a motorhome, not because I wouldn't rather have a Barth:

1. Water capacity: 80 vs 60 gal

2. Propane capacity: 37 vs 29 gal

3. Storage capacity: The Trek's Electromajik bed (no rear B/R) allows considerably more interior storage, and it has much more basement storage (the '94 28' Breakaway has itself much more than the '92 28' Breakaway - 3X maybe?).

4. Thermopane windows: I've been to Star Parties* (my major use) where the daytime temp was 108F, and others where it hit 10F at night. Stays at my sister's, a twice-yearly event, range from 100F to, Christmas '04, -10F. She has no extra room, so my M/H is my berthing area.

Remote, dry camping is the norm.

* Gatherings of amateur astronomers at remote, dark-sky sites to observe, swap lies, and engorge great food and to sip an occasional adult beverage. The Nebraska Star Party, for example, is 30 miles from the nearest town (pop 2,900) and 110 miles from any of more than 10,000 pop; there's one in Mississippi that's 50 miles from the nearest town of 10,000 and 40 from the nearest LPG dealer. Only one I attend has electricity and water but no dumps.

Geez, I have made foolish errors in judgement in my life but I have never had a desire to publish them.

I don't see at all what the point of the previous post was.

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It seems that whenever I do a double take to see if a coach is a Barth, more often than not it's a Safari Trek. Looks alone tell nothing of quality, but pride of ownership speaks volumes, and the Treks always seem clean and in topnotch shape, so I have to assume they are a good coach. We know you didn't just run out and buy the Trek on impulse. You figured out what you wanted, you took your time looking, and you found it in the Trek. I don't think anyone here can badmouth or dis you in any way,[well, I see I was wrong about that], and I hope you stick around and share anything about coaches that we might like to know. I'd look at some pix of your new coach if you posted them. Good luck with it, and have a ball!

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Dan & Suzy Z
'81 Euro 28


[This message has been edited by Danny Zeeff (edited January 18, 2006).]

"I've been to Star Parties* (my major use)..." AAHHH - the real reason: Star Trek! (Think about it)

..." I hope you stick around and share anything about coaches that we might like to know. I'd look at some pix of your new coach if you posted them. Good luck with it, and have a ball!"

Danny doesn't speak for me; this is BARTHmobile, not "trekmobile".

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"You are what you drive" - Clint Eastwood




[This message has been edited by Gunner (edited January 18, 2006).]

I didn't get the impression Dave was doing anything but poking fun at me, which I richly deserve for having focused on Barths (since long before having found this forum), having called and gotten details on at least 8 and having checked out four - three in person, whined publickly about not being able to find one, then buying an SOB....

At least it's also in superb shape and owned by an individual as conscientious and pleasant to deal with as cinconben and stringmann.

After I get moved and don't have to contend with the sharp, tree-lined bends in my driveway, I may very well upgrade to a 32' Regency, because I like how they look as well as how they're put together. Regencies are beyond my means at the moment anyway.

Hmmm, "Trek" and "Trekkers" (not "Trekkies") - sheeesssshhhhh. Anyway, there may be somethng there.

"Very funny, Scotty - now beam up my trousers!"

[This message has been edited by Rusty (edited January 18, 2006).]

Rusty, this is "Barth"mobile.com. And I wouldn't buy one of those ugly, boxy looking Treks in 100 years. And that magic bed looks like a real pain in the a** to me. When I sold RV's for 15 minutes a guy came in with one of those, and he had gone over a bump and the bed fell off of the track. Boy that cost him some bucks. I don't know how old you are, but some of us over 50's have to get up to go once or sometimes more in the night. I'll be darn if I'm going to climb off of that sucker every time. Plus what if you finished sleeping and she isn't.

The cabinets in those subpar coaches are made of somekind of pressed paper crap on the few I have seen, I wouldn't have them in my garden shed. Now the fact that they put a diesel on a P-30 tells me that they have about as much sense as my daughters cat.

Plus, if for about the same money I could get a Spartan SC-2000 20,000lb pusher vs. a 15,000 over-weight P-30 with a smelly diesel between my wife and I. Well, that's a no brainer. As I recall those Treks were overweight by a couple grand out of the factory.

So if you want a Trek SOB (I don't mean "something other than a Barth") with paper cabinets, no class looks, and a bed you have to climb up to. Well that your right but I would pick my 1985 28 foot Regal anyday over any coach that Safari makes....period..

That's why we are Barth folk in these parts.

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[This message has been edited by davebowers (edited January 18, 2006).]