Is there a diesel motorhome?

[Leef]

Hello All,

Happy Thanksgiving [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] My wife and I are starting the shopping process for a medium sized motorhome. We have three small children and are hoping to start traveling and camping again now that our youngest is eighteen months. I routinely see the right size motorhome while I'm driving on the interstate and have noted that the're are hundreds of coach makers, but the chassis is usually Ford.

As I've shopped some on the internet, I'm puzzled to see that of all of these Ford chassis s', none have a diesel engine?? [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] I'm not looking for a large class A diesel pusher. I'm just looking for a standard 20' (approximately) motorhome with a diesel motor for interstate travel and pulling a fishing boat. It seems like a perfect match to me ( diesel plus motorhome), but everything I've seen is gasoline - usually Ford with a Triton V 10.

Does anyone know of a make of motorhome which uses diesel engines?

Leef

[Autotech]

I haven't actively shopped for a motorhome recently, so the following information may not be gospel....

Any chassis used to manufacture a motorhome, and the popular Ford chassis in particular, are available with a diesel option. Ford sells thousands of incomplete chassis of all types to body builders with diesels for applications ranging from ambulance to trash hauler.

I suspect that many motor home manufacturers have found the gas engines sell better in the smaller unit market due to buyer preconceptions. Like you, I would prefer a diesel. Keep in mind that the on board generators are also gasoline powered and draw from the vehicle fuel tank. Logically a diesel driveline would also indicate the need to upgrade to a diesel generator, another additional cost.

I think if you were to visit a dealer in person and ask you would find that a diesel unit could either be special ordered or located in dealer stock somewhere. But be prepared to pay a premium for it - the diesel option on a Ford chassis will add from $5000 to $6000, and that diesel generator will probably put another $1000 to $2000 on top of that.

For most people who actually own a motorhome for a short time, and put very limited miles on it, that much of a price difference is hard to justify.

Gregg

[Leef]

Gregg,

Good point; I didn't even think about an on board generator. I generally don't buy vehicles new because of their rapid depreciation so I wouldn't put in for a special order unit which I'd surely pay a premium for. But I should visit a dealership to see what's out there.

For cost purposes, I could consider an old large class A unit with high miles. But I'm not that experienced with that level of machinery ( they're basically trucks I presume).

Leef

[egon]

Many on board generators are run of propane.

Perhaps few small motor homes have the diesel as the breakeven point against cost involves quite a few miles. There may also be a weight factor???

Egon

[Bird]

Both Autotech and Egon have given you good information. You might want to look for one of the older Safari Treks, such as this 1995 model. I just entered "Safari Trek" at Google.com and this was the first one that popped up, but there are lots of others. Earlier models had the 4-cylinder Isuzu diesel; not sure when they went to the 6.5 GM diesel, and of course it has the LPG powered generator. While I don't know for sure, I've always heard that it was illegal to have three different fuels on board, so since you have LPG for heat, cooking, and refrigerator, a gasoline motorhome usually has a gasoline generator, while diesel powered motorhomes have a diesel or LPG generator.

And if you go back far enough, I think at one time the Winnebago had a Renault diesel powered small motorhome, but I've never heard anything good about them.

[Pat]

Hey Bird, You sure recovered early from your turkey/tryptophan induced coma! Never heard anything about illegality of 3 fuels on board but it would be inconvenient. We have diesel powered chassis and propane generator. Our genny is pretty economical but a tad small by some folks standards. We can either run the microwave or the roof refrigerated A/C but not both at the same time. Not a problem in dry areas as we also have a swamp cooler which takes about 80 watts to run.

For the low usage we give it we thought propane a good deal as it runs so clean and it is quieter. If you need a big genset and lots of power, diesel makes sense, especially if your chassis is diesel.

There are a lot of used diesel rigs on the market. If you are interested in "for sale by owner", I'd recommend cruising through some trailer parks and retirement communities as often when foks get to a "certain age and or condition" they get out of the motorhome ownership or at least downsize.

There are a lot of publications specializing in RV living and usually have ads for motorhomes. You could post want ads at RV parks or maybe run an ad in a couple of the publications. Also try at the large RV specialty stores such as "CAMPING WORLD" where there are almost always private ads posted.

Good luck,

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Bird]

Partially recovered, Pat. I've read and heard a lot about the day after Thanksgiving being the biggest shopping day in the country and the crowds, etc., but I've always stayed home that day. So this morning, I decided to see for myself. The nearest Wal-Mart is open 24 hrs. a day, including Thanksgiving, so I walked in there are 5 a.m. this morning; as big a crowd as you'd expect to see in the middle of the day any Saturday, and pallets of merchandise stacked in the aisles, wrapped in clean plastic with stickers saying "This item not for sale before 6 a.m." Then I drove over to the Target store that had advertised to be open at 6 a.m. By 5:45 a.m., the line on the sidewalk outside was over a city block long; same thing at Circuit City. Unbelievable. No way I was going to stand in those lines, but now I know.

And now back to the topic at hand. Our first motorhome was an 18' Winnebago Brave on a 1973 Dodge chassis and had a 2.5 kw single cylinder Onan on gasoline. Our 32' 1988 Carri-lite fifth-wheel had a 4.5 kw Kohler on LPG, and our 1992 40' Bounder had a 7 kw Onan on gasoline. So far I've not owned a diesel generator. The LPG generator worked just fine and I'd have no qualms about that arrangement at all.

[Pat]

Bird, My propane genset is a gasoline conversion. It does a great job for its size. I compared the installation done by the manufacturer of the camper to a (then) local shop's job. The local was superior and provided for way better sound control so I went that route. A benefit of propane over gasoline is that there is no varnish or gum forming over time in the carb and it burns clean so the engine lasts. IF you or anyone is downstream of the exhaust it isn't so stinky.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Bird]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
My propane genset is a gasoline conversion

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, so was the one in our fifth-wheel; done by the RV dealer when I bought it. And I'd be inclined to guess that's what Chinook does to their motorhomes, since their website lists the same generator as a 4kw gasoline or 3.6kw propane. I've always heard you lose 11% when you convert to propane, so that's close enough to lead me to that conclusion (which could be wrong, of course). [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

[egon]

it burns clean <font color="blue"> </font color>

Just remember to change the oil even though it looks clean.

Egon