Our first official outing

[Montana_2785]

Well, we had our first official outing last weekend. It was nice to be able to stay in one place for more than 10 hours. We kept busy enough putting stuff away and starting interior modifications that we didn't really just sit & relax. However, while we were working hard our parrot, Sammy, tucked his head in his wing during the afternoon and took a nap (little stinker). I did take the time to bake a batch of chocolate Truffle fudge brownies and later an apple pie. And there was a nice roast dinner with wine. That gave me the chance to really try out the recliners

Having the chance to live in it for a few days did give us the chance to experience for ourselves some of the not-so-refined aspects of Montana. Most of which everyone here as tales of as well:

1) The blasted water pump should be banned due to OSHA noise regulations. It also doesn't hold very steady water pressure either.

2) I already ranted enough in another thread about the low point drains.

3) I see why people have been replacing the thermostat. Much too wide a temperature swing.

4) I had to restring one of the window shades. That was fun....

5) The dining table isn't centered very well. The desk top sticks out and makes one side quite a bit narrower than the other. Easily fixed, but....

Some of the nicer differences between the Monty and our previous TT:

The extra 20 gallons of water was nice.
The extra space.
The nicer interior.
The extra space.
Dedicated space to permanantly attach the TV (video device) so it is always ready to use.
Have I mentioned we like the extra space? Our old TT was nice, but we (both being larger people) had to do this little dance everytime someone wanted to go from the from to the rear. No more dancing! (even though we now have a ball room when the Monty is opened up )
The shower is bigger and more usable.
Enclosed battery compartment. It will be so much easier to upgrade battery capacity and inverter with the Monty.
More cabinet space.
Laundry chute.


Things not-so-different between Monty and old TT:

Lots of windows. It seems that for the past several years, RV makers have been putting in a smaller number of smaller windows into RV's. We very much like the number & size of the windows on the Monty.
Lots of little nooks & crannies to stow stuff.
We never ran out of hot water with the TT so I'm not sure how much we really needed the 10 gallon water heater.

Things we miss:

The toilet was situated where there was more room to get up easily.
Nice nite stands next to both sides of the bed.
A little more room at the sides of the bed. We are getting used to it, but it is a little close.

All in all it is a good upgrade. We'll get the more irritating items taken care of and have more relaxation time and be happier on the next outing.

Eric

[Bowie]

Always great to hear about someone's "first outing"! Sounds as if yours was generally a success and it is interesting to read your comparisons. The menu sounds GREAT! Have fun with all the additions to personalize your Monty.

[sreigle]

Glad to hear you had an enjoyable outing. There are numerous threads on reducing the noise of the water pump so should be some help there.

Starting with the late 2003 models there is more room around the bed, easier to make the bed. This is one of the many improvements resulting from suggestions in this forum. Unfortunately, you and we have the earlier models.

If you find some spare time, a tutorial on how to restring the shades is something many of us would find useful (hint, hint!).

[Montana_2785]

Bowie,

Yes it was a good first trip. But then, with 8 years of RV experience under our belts I think we knew how to MAKE it enjoyable. We had also learned enough about ourselves and our RV preferences to be able to pick a rig that fit US well.

My wife used to sell Pampered Chef kitchen gadgets before I met her. Since we have combined households, the RV has been the recipient of quite a lot of gourmet cookware. Since both of us were tent campers before we met, it is a constant source of amusement to be able to cook some pretty nice meals and break out the ice cream even when boondocking

Steve,

I'm leaning towards a sure fire fix in the form of a shurflo water pump. In addition to the noise, I'm not happy with the flow rate of the OEM pump. Plus, the water filter I use has a low enough flow rate that we tend to use the on-board tank most of the time. Not being parked in one place more than a few days makes that a more viable option. However, it significantly aggrivates us with more pump noise than most of you full timers deal with.

It would have been nice to find a rig with the modified bedroom area. However, the deal we got on this one makes me smile quite a lot (it cost the previous owners $17,500 for two years ownership. Talk about taking it in the shorts!!! )

As for restringing, it wasn't completely from scratch. When I was trying to retie a string to a bobin that had broken, one end of the string slipped into the bottom bar. I had to take that apart, use 4 hands (how well do you and your wife REALLY get along?) and ultimately tweezers to retie a too-short string back into place. I think that if I had to re-thread through all the holes in the fan-fold material, I would use shishkabob stakes to shove the string through. Not too difficult, but a test of patience.

BTW: We get along pretty well

[Just148]

Welcome Eric and Mary Lou to the MOC.
Glad your outing was a good one. Thing will only get better.

[jrgwdenner]

Forget the tutorial, Eric. We'll just bring our shades to you and as a good neighborly gesture, we'll let you fix them. )

[sreigle]

Eric, the ShurFlo definitely solves that noise problem from everything I've heard. Until then you might check to see if the hoses near the pump are lying up against the cabinet walls. Once we moved those around and insulated them (rags work fine for a temporary fix) it helped a lot. It's still too noisy. As you said, we don't use the pump often but we do use it occasionally.

By the way, our OEM pump provides a decent (but not great) flow rate and is consistent in flow rate. I have to wonder why yours doesn't. Your experience with the water filter is why we tried just one and gave it up. From discussions in this forum I think we just made a mistake buying a cheapie from Walmart. One of these days I plan to make a trip to Home Depot to get a decent whole house filter. Meanwhile we continue to use our faucet-mounted Brita filter, which works quite well. The problem is when we're in certain places with a lot of iron in the water the unfiltered water leaves stains in the toilet, the shower, and turns white clothes nasty colors in the washer. So we do want to go to a filter.

[stiles watson]

One down and a bunch to go. Glad you enjoyed your first outing. With all your TT experience the transition should be easy. We came from backpacking/tent camping, so the extra room included being able to stand up straight inside. Real bathrooms that you don't have to dig in the outback is also convenient. There is a little difference in hooking up the fiver than strapping on a 65 pound backpack too. Our learning curve has been extensive. Happy RVing....

[fulltimedreamer]

Great to hear about your first outing. We always look forward to spring and getting the Monty back on the road. We were out last weekend and are looking to go out again next weekend. I'll look forward to reports on your future adventures.

[Montana_2785]

quote:Originally posted by sreigle

Eric, the ShurFlo definitely solves that noise problem from everything I've heard. Until then you might check to see if the hoses near the pump are lying up against the cabinet walls.[...]

By the way, our OEM pump provides a decent (but not great) flow rate and is consistent in flow rate. I have to wonder why yours doesn't. [...]

Well, the noise I hear does sound like a pipe is beating on the wall. If that was the entire problem, I'd go fight it. However, with the flow rate issue, I'm just going to take the "screw it" attitude and rip the OEM unit out of there. Camping world has the ShurFlo on sale right now. I also found this place that has a slightly better price:

https://www.rvpartsoutlet.com

Anyone heard anything about them? From the text on the home page, they are definitely gunning for Camping World. They also have the same ShurFlo on sale....

https://www.rvpartsoutlet.com/newsto...053503573D030D

We also have the faucet mounted filter. With the flow rate of the pump, it start to give a "reasonable" flow through the filter, then the pump shuts off and the pressure bleeds down till we don't get a good flow through the filter. Most anoying. I'm not aware that the pressure points on the pump are adjustable. Anyone know? Regardless, it would be nice to have a pump that would support two points of use at once.

BTW: regarding your (cheepie) external filter, since you use external water so much more, put two of them in parallel to increase your water flow. It just isn't worth the effort for us as it is easier to use our internal water supply all the time.

Eric