hello folks, I've been surfing this forum for several weeks, since just before I bought the '72 toaster that was for sale in December. This seems to be a great community. You folks are so dedicated to your Barths...I can hardly wait to get mine.
My brother who is gifted mechanically and lives in Austin looked at it for me (I'm in N. California) and advised my to get it, so I did...without ever seeing it in person. I'll go pick it up to drive home in about 4 weeks, when I've arranged time off.

No doubt I'll have many questions over time, but my first one is for recommendations for a road service. NO WAY I want to drive anywhere without having that. I'm told AAA from N. California includes RV's in their package, but would appreciate feedback from the members here on who actually provides what services for what cost. I did check the archive but that info is a couple of years old...so will appreciate updates from any of you who care to share.

The toaster will be parked and used onsite next to our small cabin more than it will be driven, but I do anticipate a couple of roadtrips this year-hopefully one will be to Burning Man...

I've never owned an RV and truthfully never thought I'd want to...but the Toaster was a better deal at the asking price than the used mid-sized airstreams I was looking at. It's more spacious inside, doesn't need renovation, and drives.
Even better, it's already tagged in California so no import fees to pay and it's old enough no smog requirements either!!



[This message has been edited by healerman (edited January 31, 2006).]

I also got my first rv -Barth 31 ft- last month and would be very interested in feedback. Plan on first trip in May so have some time to sign up with Good Sam or ?

I am a big advocate of coachnet which you can get if you join FMCA www.fmca.com. They have always sent the right guy and whenever I do a comparison they always come out ahead.

Here is a link to a review I made in 2001 https://www.barthmobile.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000289.html

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[This message has been edited by davebowers (edited January 30, 2006).]

I have Good Sam's program. The only time I had to use it was last April, when I had a blowout in MS, about 40 miles from my destination. I put the spare on, made it to where I was going; 15 miles on my way back, I blew the other tire (both had dryrot that wasn't apparent) on the Natchez Trace.

While the dispatcher had problems with the first two services she called (The first one said he'd have to get back to his warehouse to see if he had the right size tire; the other's wife said he could tow me, but then he said he couldn't). The third service sent an extremely competent guy, who mounted two new tires in about a half-hour.

While it took 12 hours to get me back on the road, I was "stuck" in the woods, a very pleasant place, and the weather was nice, so the wait wasn't painful at all.

The one thing that impressed me most was that every hour or so the Good Sam's dispatcher called back for a progress report.

I'd suspect that both FMCA and Good Sam's use the same dispatching service.

[This message has been edited by Rusty (edited January 30, 2006).]

I also have Good Sam ERS and have used it several times. Twice on the Barth with great results both times and three times with family cars for towing and am very satisfied.

Since this is the only service I have ever used, I cannot comment on other services.

Bill G

quote:

Originally posted by goodwinw:
I also have Good Sam ERS and have used it several times. Twice on the Barth with great results both times and three times with family cars for towing and am very satisfied.

Since this is the only service I have ever used, I cannot comment on other services.

Bill G

Ditto. RV towed (Heavy Duty Wrecker) twice in 19 years, one was 95 miles.



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"You are what you drive" - Clint Eastwood

Thanks for the advice on road service. I've read the discussion on mounting the FMCA plaques with much interest due to the inherent recommendation of membership they imply. For FMCA members, their road service seems the best available option after a google search and comparison of features.

The Good Sam's ERS seems pretty basic and my older coach wouldn't qualify for their premium service, but it's a tough decision for me since including the FMCA membership the cost is much higher, and I'm unclear how membership will benefit me otherwise. anyone care to explain that to me? (sorry for being dense here)

quote:

Originally posted by healerman:
I'm unclear how membership will benefit me otherwise. anyone care to explain that to me? (sorry for being dense here)

They have a pretty good medical assistance program if you are stricken away form home. They will even drive your MH home for you.

As Dave says you will always have something go wrong so having road service is a must. I tried to prove him wrong but to no avail, he's right! I use Foremost Insurance and have had 2 instances. One they contacted their network person and had someone on the scene in less than an hour. The other they didn't have anyone in the immediate area so told me to use whoever I wanted and send them the bill. I did, the tow bill was over $300 and they paid immediately. Their road service is a $40 add to the insurance cost which I think is reasonable.

I think the cost of ers is justified by their service of finding the right guy, hang the cost. When located miles from nowhere in unfamiliar terrain, just locating that big rig service is a godsend, and worth every penny.

A word of caution. Some insurance company provided ers will count ers calls as a "claim", with the usual consequences. Using independent companies instead of insurance ers will avoid that postential problem

Last year my insurance renewal was denied, in the middle of a six month tour, because of my claims, which included some expensive ers calls (had to be towed on a flatbed to the tune of $1200 once).

Concerning Coach Net through FMCA

The reason I prefer Coach Net is because I am not at all mechanically inclined. When I had an alternator belt break on I-94 East of Eau Claire, they didn't just send a tow truck, they sent a guy to change it there on the spot.

When I had a flat tire, they sent a truck tire service. They could have removed the tire, fixed it and put it back on there instead of just asking me if I had a spare. It turned out I had a leaky valve stem which he fixed and all was OK.

They also have RV techs on duty 24/7 for other types of problems. I am talking coach problems. I lost all 12v once when it was really cold out. We weren't able to find the problem, (loose rivet on the fuse strip between converter and lights etc.) but he was very helpful. Plus they cover all of my cars and my under 25 daughter.

The one thing they do not cover is someone elses car that you are riding in. AAA does and so we had AAA to when all of my kids were younger and riding around in the winter in their friends suspect vehicles.

When shopping for coverage keep these items in mind if you own a rear diesel.
The following is NOT covered by Good Sam.
If you run out of fuel, no priming service.
If you get towed,re-installation of your driveshaft is not covered.

"If you run out of fuel, no priming service."

Priming is easy: Take the mattress off the bed and move it into the hallway/front room; raise the bed platform; take a 17mm crow's foot wrench and and crack (loosen) two injection tube nuts. Now go outside and crawl underneath and sit up next to the (6"?) exhaust pipe; reach over the hot pipe and push the prime button -official Cummins instructions: "at least 75 times"- which will leak fuel out of loose nuts. Now run back inside and start the engine.
(If it doesn't start re-prime with more than 75 plunges) When it starts it will, of course, be leaking fuel out of the loosened nuts, so run back to the bedrom, push fire extinguisher with wife attached out of the way, climb on the idling engine and tighten up the loose nuts, praying it doesn't flash into a full blown fire.
Wonder why GS doesn't pay for priming?
Wonder why EVERYONE doesn't have a DIESEL??

hello again. I went for Coach-Net through FMCA, and got a prepaid phone for our recent trip back to Mendocino County after retrieving 'the Toaster' from Austin, Tx. it turned out to be a very good move as the right front tire blew out and shed it's tread between Sonora and Ozona Texas. A tire repair service truck showed up within the hour of my call for service and put on the funky-looking spare. However, the one tire store in Ozona couldn't match the General tire on the left front, so we got a matched pair of 10 ply Geo-Star truck tires in hopes that would improve handling (only marginally at best). turns out the front tires had been replaced with 235/85/R16s in the past, so that's what we got new. however, now the spare won't fit in the Victoria trunk as it is too wide...
thanks for all the recommendations.
geoffrey

quote:

Originally posted by Gunner:
"If you run out of fuel, no priming service."

Priming is easy: Take the mattress off the bed and move it into the hallway/front room; raise the bed platform; take a 17mm crow's foot wrench and and crack (loosen) two injection tube nuts. Now go outside and crawl underneath and sit up next to the (6"?) exhaust pipe; reach over the hot pipe and push the prime button -official Cummins instructions: "at least 75 times"- which will leak fuel out of loose nuts. Now run back inside and start the engine.
(If it doesn't start re-prime with more than 75 plunges) When it starts it will, of course, be leaking fuel out of the loosened nuts, so run back to the bedrom, push fire extinguisher with wife attached out of the way, climb on the idling engine and tighten up the loose nuts, praying it doesn't flash into a full blown fire.
Wonder why GS doesn't pay for priming?
Wonder why EVERYONE doesn't have a DIESEL??

The GM 6.5L TD is much easier to prime...and diesel won't flash - even kerosene takes effort to light, and it has even lower flash and fire fire points...