throgmartin

48 minutes ago, Paul A. said:

Chris

Could you please elaborate on the portion of your  statement; " canvas maker/fabricator. " 

The "canvas maker" is very intriguing. 

Paul A 

A canvas maker is a general term for an upholsterer who makes canvas based products such as awnings, slide toppers, etc. It can also include everything from grill covers to equipment covers. But it also extends to other canvas products such as tent's, canopies, bimini's, boat covers, etc. We have a commercial division which does nothing but commercial awning and canopy work. It is much more specialized as we engineer the entire job. We have done everything from simple canopies to extensive ones.  We have done a lot of work for the State of Florida and just finished a job at Orlando Airport and have a historic building pending. Every job is different with many obstacles. I am not crazy about the work as we have to engineer the entire job ourselves and the whole project is time consuming. Thankfully I have an engineer on staff. We send the prints to my buddy who does the frame fabrication and then the frame once done is sent back to our shop and my upholsterer then custom fits the fabric to it. It gets bery involved spec'ing out the fabric loading, frame construction and materials, wind load ratings, etc.

There is a second canvas maker category which requires a " Pit " operation. This canvas work entails massive pieces of canvas or vinyl material such that is used on the sails for boats, huge massive tents and other structures. The stitcher sits in a pit with the machine and the fabric is pulled across the floor as it is sewn. Otherwise, the entire floor is his sewing table. I got a call from an engineering company once who wanted a canopy made for a Marine Corp's sentry station at Gitmo. I spec'ed the job out using our Migliore vinyl which meets military standards and then turned the entire project over to a company that had a pit operation. The canopy was so big that just the vinyl alone weighed over a ton.

I turn big jobs like that down but am still called by engineering companies to consult on thread and fabric spec's. One of the most interesting jobs I have heard of was an onsite sewing of a landfill liner. They moved all the vinyl onto the edge of the open landfill and then a crew sewed all the panels together using specialized thread and a special machine. BIG bucks for that job. 🙂

46 minutes ago, Pampero said:

Well, maybe I misrepresented myself, I wasn't planned to do it myself, but find another source for less money.
Couple points, Magnet Shade advertise in their website that they are using Sumbrella UV and not Textilene.

Yes I understand cost of machinery and employees and taxes, but being a business owner for an auto repair shop for 30 years I can tell you who is making a killing or not.

Repairs shops, auto or RV's, in NC, IN and many other places are charging $120 @ hour plus, and they have 1/4 or less of the expenses that I had in NY as per taxes, insurance, electric, workcomp, and me at $105@ per hour still make a decent leaving. My shop was 4400 sq. on a 100 x 100 property and I was paying $24,000.00 @ per year in property taxes, $6,000.00 @ year in electric bills.. I am sure that in Mooresville NC they do not paid 1/8 of my taxes.

I have a quote from a Canvas place here in Long island NY of $300 without the magnets and the extended pole. So, even though I still didn't decide which way to go, I appreciate your info.

Wow I didn't know he switched fabrics. I haven't seen Roger since February when we did an event together. I wonder if he was forced into using sunbrella fabric because of the pandemic ? Unless Sunbrella came out with an industrial grade fabric.

If you are going to hire someone to do this work make sure it is a marine or canvas upholsterer. All of us are like Doctors, we specialize in certain areas of upholstery. Mine has been marine cushions and canvas work. I would be the last guy you would want doing your furniture or auto upholstery.  The same holds true for furniture and auto guys. You wouldn't want them doing your marine or canvas work. One of my close friends does auto and marine work and he is a master at both. His work is amazing but he is a rarity. Very few in the country specialize in all areas of upholstery. I have another friend who is a master furniture upholsterer. He does my furniture work and I do his canvas work.  A lot of this also has to do with shop setups. Furniture and auto guys have small tables and work stations where in canvas work like what we do we have massive sewing stations and tables along with specialized machines and layout areas.

5 minutes ago, Pampero said:

I just came back from NC; NJ Turnpike from Delaware to GW exit was $39.00 GW bridge $14.00, Throgs Neck $14,00, I spent over $250.00 in tolls; crazy.

Stay out of here.

I was in NYC once. Thankfully I didn't leave anything behind so have no reason to ever go back there again. 🙂

Thanks guys. Just ordered the E Pass transponder.

For what it is worth I plan on never venturing North of DC. 🙂

I was wondering if anyone can give me some info on toll road passes. I have a Sun Pass for Florida but would like to get one for when I am traveling elsewhere. I never go into the New England States and all my travel is below DC - PA, OH, KY, WV, VA, NC, SC, GA, TN, etc.

Is there a toll road pass I can buy that covers all these areas ? Thanks everyone for your help.

We used to make these solar screen covers. Actually when we started Stone Vos this was our main product. We made them for 3 years using Textilene 90 as the fabric ( which is an industrial solar screen fabric ) and robust thread. Then Mom & Pop sewing shops started offering them at very low prices using cheap solar screen fabric and cheap thread. I had a choice to match their prices or drop the product line all together. Using cheap materials was not an option. I dropped the product line.

Magna Shade is the best solar screen out there. Roger is a friend of mine and we do events together all over the country with him and his family. He makes his like we used to make them using Textilene 90 and a high quality thread. Some people look at products like this, get out a calculator and decide the company is making a killing. I can tell you that the margins on these solar screen products are not that great especially when you consider the overhead ( employees, machines, building, utilities, taxes, etc. ). Actually we have all of the materials and are all set up to make them but the margins are so poor that I wont entertain ever making them again.

I am all for people trying to find ways to save money by taking on DIY projects but I always caution people to use high quality materials. My solar screens for my coach are 15 years old and the fabric is still in excellent shape as is the thread. If you are going to go to the trouble of making something use the best materials you can source. Sunbrella fabric, which used to be the best has been cheapened and some fabric is now manufactured in China. A lot of my buddies in the marine upholstery fabrication business has dropped Sunbrella products all together because of ongoing warranty issues from poor quality. 90 % of the poly thread now days is made in China. I suggest using Textilene fabric ( which is an industrial grade fabric ) and Solarfix thread which is a lifetime thread ( it never breaks down from UV rays or chemicals ).

I offer this advice based on my 43 years as an upholsterer and canvas maker/fabricator.  

Dave and I talked this morning about all of this. We kicked some ideas around about another venue but the big problem is costs. Lazy Days does not charge us for the seminar and dinner room. Most other facilities with camping does charge a hall rental fee. Campgrounds are out of the question as well as the campgrounds and resorts in  Florida are booked solid. People are having a hard time finding one site for a week let alone 60 sites. Also, as I stated before campgrounds and resorts are not going to dedicate a club house to us for the entire day and night.

I do not mean to be a pessimist or be negative but am trying to be a realist. It is extremely hard to utilize another venue.  I have looked in depth at other venues as has Dave. Neither of us can see where another campground or site that will work and using a fairgrounds or other place like it is expensive unless you have a lot of coaches to help defray the cost. Most rally's pay for their facilities by having vendors but that opens up a whole other can of worms and vendors now days wont participate unless there is well over 100 coaches.

I am sure Dave will continue working on the Gathering for the future but 2021 is going to be difficult. In as far as Zoom, I am not sure how that would work with presenters that use overheads and slides not to mention props and samples like I do. I have no experience or knowledge with Zoom so really cannot say if it can work or not.

21 hours ago, rpasetto said:

Sad to hear this David,  The 2020 gathering was my first and it was a very informative experience.  Are you considering other possible venues?

Rick:

Dave and I have discussed this in the past as well as here on the forum. The main reason the Gathering is always held at Lazy Days is because 1.) They have a dedicated rally center for the seminars and dinners that is reserved just for us 2.) They handle all of the catered meals 3.) They have the audio/visual equipment 4.) They allow us to block out 60 sites. 5.) They handle all reservations.

It is almost impossible to find a resort or campground that has all of these items mentioned above.  Without these services the workload for Dave, Scotty and myself intensifies and becomes a royal pain in the neck.  Like I said I cannot speak for Dave and I am just adding my thoughts here but in the past Dave wanted nothing to do with another venue because of the extra workload and I do not blame him. I will let Dave speak for himself. As for myself I am going to miss not seeing everyone at the Gathering next year. It is such an awesome time and a great event.

Dave Pratt and I spoke on the phone about the 2021 Gathering at Lazy Days. I believe there is nothing planned right now because Lazy days is not accepting rally's at their resort.

Dave can provide more information. I know of no other Gatherings of Monaco owners except small get togethers planned by those that are friends.

Van is correct. I wouldn't waste my money on having a Shepherd rebuilt. Swap it out for a TRW steering gear and pitman arm. Van and Craig did my Shepherd change out and I am glad I had it done. I have read too many stories of owners having shepherds rebuilt only to have the play come back in a short period of time.

22 hours ago, Dr4Film said:

Chris, are stating that if the EMS board relay for AC#1 had gotten fried destroying the EMS board then the circuit breaker in the EMS Power Panel For AC#1 should be replaced also?

Do I have that correct?

Yes sir, that is correct. Your older breaker may or may not be weak but for the cheap price of a replacement breaker it isn't worth rolling the dice and frying a new board. On the Dynasty that we just worked on the breaker was weak which fried the replacement board the other service company replaced. We replaced both the breaker and board together. Dave Pratt and I just had a discussion yesterday about this and his procedure is the same as ours, when something fries, go upstream and start checking and or replacing other components that may feed the system you work on.

I should mention this is a standard procedure in aircraft maintenance and repair.

Just as a tip, whenever replacing your Intellitec board it is a good idea to replace the corresponding breaker as well. We just had a Dynasty in with a failed Intellitec board. The previous service company replaced it but didn't replace the breaker. The breaker became weak when the original fried and it shorted and took out the new board. We replaced the board and breaker and had no more problems.

After much discussion between our tech and Dave Pratt we instituted a new practice that when replacing the board we also replace the breaker. Breakers are cheap folks.

1 hour ago, Dr4Film said:

Wow! I am sure glad that the Blizzards were not going to work on my coach due to the increased height. Way too much work to modify the mountings to make the Blizzard fit the duct work and get it secured to the roof. The new Penguin-II's were pretty much plug'n'play.

I have 4 new Penguin II units in stock. 2 just arrived yesterday. Those 2 are going on my coach and I will have Dustin install the 10 button T-Stat. At one time we full timed in Florida so our AC units ran constantly throughout the summer.  They are old and have had a great deal of use. My biggest concern is being somewhere on a trip and having one go out. I would rather have my Tech's do the install versus being at the mercy of some service center with RV techs that are hacks. I am just biting the bullet and replacing the old Penquins and calling it good.

I have never seen or heard of this happening in a Class A. It really makes you wonder just how some manufacturers are building their coaches now days.

Check out this complete failure.

https://www.facebook.com/SusanvilleCHP/photos/pcb.1236644723338926/1236644336672298/?type=3&theater

As an owner of a service company I can honestly say that hiring a lawyer should be the last thing you ever want to do. Many companies in the USA have a strict policy that once a customer threatens them with a lawsuit they cease all communication with them. Secondly they force the customer into having to hire a lawyer to communicate with the companies lawyer. The customer now is left with attorney bills they have to pay just to try and rectify a solution.

Your best bet is to skip the lawyer route and contact the State and initiate a complaint with the States regulatory board that oversees service centers ( typically a State automotive division ). In some States you can go directly to the Attorney generals consumer affairs office and file a complaint. They will start an investigation and work to get a settlement for you.

Unfortunately shoddy work at service centers is getting more and more common. We constantly have customers bringing us coaches to fix the screw ups performed at other service centers. For me it can be heart breaking to see a customer pay for work that ends up being a mess and then have to pay us to undo what another technician does and then make the right repair. We see weekly just how bad some service centers are and the complete lack of pride in ones work. I get no pleasure in seeing customers pay for a fix twice. It flames me to no end.

Skip the Lawyer idea and work with the State. They will do the investigation and leg work for you for free. Document everything with photos, paperwork, etc.

Tom, I went back and deleted my previous post. The info that we got from Dometic was wrong. The info we got from our wholesaler was wrong. Dustin was questioning everything and in the end he was right. We finally got through to a Dometic engineer on Monday and he went over the Penguinn II and the prints.

So here is the upshot after discussing this with the Dometic engineer and after Dustin completed the install on a 2008 Dynasty yesterday.

The Penguinn II comes from the factory setup for the 12 button thermostat. If you want to keep your 5 button system then you will have to buy the conversion kit and change the board out on the new Penguin II. Be sure and get the new board from  your tech and store it away. If your other AC unit pukes down the road then you can swap your 5 button T Stat to the new 12 button T stat by removing the conversion control board and re-installing the 12 button board the unit originally came with.

I also want to apologize to everyone for my original post which I deleted. Most of you know when I post something it is spot on because I have done a ton of research on the subject and have called in experts to help me. I got sloppy with this one. I am sorry and just so you know I kicked my own ass over the mistake.

There is also a lesson to be learned. Calling into a company for tech support does not mean you are going to get good advice. We have close contacts with many of the major companies we rep or are dealers for so whenever we call them we go directly to the people in the company who know their stuff. Dometic is one of those companies that is hit and miss. As I have stated before, do not think you are going to call Dometic and get a human being on the other end. We have spent days trying to get through and on Monday it took 4 hours to get through. My advice is to take have a lot of patience if you are going to call them and then hope you get someone who knows what they are talking about. All of their support staff, the last I knew, are working from home.

Tom or Scotty, if one of you can go back and clean up and delete the posts with my original claims I would appreciate it. I would hate to see someone in the future search for this problem and find it.

Paul:

Jim is right. If it is a straight AC unit with no heat pump it will NOT have a reversing valve.  The reversing valve is strictly a heat pump/AC function.

Since you have a straight AC system then you will move your wires and go from there. You have Dustin's number so give him a call and confirm it with him. All of the Penguin II AC units we have changed out in the last couple months had heat pump functions.

Paul, as I stated in another post on another thread, people need to be patient and look.

I had a customer pull in for service with a drop dead gorgeous Sig. He just bought the coach and wanted an inspection done and we found zero defects. I have never seen an 07 Sig in such amazing condition. It had been stored in doors its entire life ( unless out on trips ) and it showed. The exterior was flawless and it had low miles. He bought it off the back lot of a dealer for $ 90 K. If I knew about it I would have bought it myself.

I think I mentioned about the deal I was going to make a year ago on a 2002 double slide Prevost H 3-45 Marathon. This coach was also stored in doors and was flawless. It had 80 K miles, had just been updated, fully serviced, new batteries, tires, etc. I could have bought it at wholesale from the Prevost dealer for $ 130 K. I was ready to book a flight when my wife said NO..... 🙂

This is why I tell people to take their time, search all over the country and don't get impatient. There are some screaming deals out there. It reminds me of the first coach we bought. We lived in TN at the time and I bought a coach in Oregon at wholesale from a dealer. I flew out there and drove it back home. We used it for 2 years and then I sold it for more then I paid for it.

We bought our current coach new. What I did is nail down the coach we wanted with the options we wanted and then found 2 identical coaches at two separate dealers ( one was Tom Johnson and the other a small family RV center ). I actually made them bid against each other for the sale. Every time they submitted  a quote I e-mailed it to the other dealer. Each dealer knew what I was doing and over a weeks time the family owned dealer hit my mark and we bought from there. I saved thousands of dollars doing it like that and in the end ended up with a lot of add ons like satellite system and other items.

My advice to buyers is to research the coach and National prices for that model, do not get emotionally attached to the coach and be ready at a moments notice to walk away and continue your search. There are more coaches for sale then there is buyers so the buyer always has the advantage.

As some of you know, our fearless leader, Dave Pratt is a pilot. He has flown some amazing jets over the years. His last flight as Captain was the delivery of a Private Tri Jet to Saudi Arabia. During a recent phone conversation he admitted he is getting itchy feet and wants back in the cockpit. I fully understand as I am also a frustrated pilot and have been having withdrawals from not being able to fly lately.

Enter one of my dearest friends who I run with and who also knows my current frustration of not being able to fly. He is an airline pilot and has been flying his fool head off lately which he reminds me of constantly. This morning he sent me a text with a picture saying " You have  friends in high places ".  He also took a dig at me by reminding me how great flying is. As a parting statement he reminded me that he was promoting my company at 30,000 ft. which was an half hearted effort to ease my pain.

So as to pass along that stab at me of not being able to fly at the moment I wanted to share my grief with my buddy Dave. Doe's this picture hurt Dave ? If I have to suffer so do you. 

My buddy parked on the ramp in his jet waiting for a push back 🙂  ( the damn jerk )

Tom:

In keeping with this topic let me add that we are witnessing another trend with used coaches. People are keeping what they currently own. They are renovating them, updating them, adding new equipment, etc. I will mention this here since a press release will come out next week in a trade magazine on our companies. We just released our 1st and 2nd quarter sales reports. It was a barn burner.

I met with our staff and told them in early February to batten down the hatches, save money and hold on. My goal was to keep our staff fully employed. I initially figured  that we were going to be in for a world of hurt with huge losses in sales/revenue. I had my executive director grab every PPP dollar we could get to protect our staff's salaries. I was reviewing our financials daily and then one day I started seeing this upward trend in sales. It was mind boggling at first and I had my director crunch numbers a second and third time to be sure they were accurate.  Our sales for all 3 companies lifted off like a rocket.  The reason ??  Coach owners are updating like crazy and pulling maintenance like never before.

It seems that all those things they had on their to do list but put off suddenly started taking priority.  Like several of our customers told us " If we can't travel then we might as well fix and update things ". Our service company has been booked out solid for months. I immediately realigned some marketing assets and threw our 2020 marketing program out the window because of the cancelled rally's. I had my Executive Director make some strategic ad buys which in the end resulted in even more sales. I had my director go on a massive buying spree of raw materials and parts to support our production processes and parts and service sales.

This is not just our own companies that are seeing exploding sales. I talked with Dave Pratt and he said they are seeing the same thing. They are up to their necks in work. Classic car guys, boaters, RV owners who are stuck at home are doing upgrades like crazy which includes chrome parts. I have a friend ( Ingrid calls her my girlfriend ) who owns the former Holiday Rambler factory and specializes in coach renovations and she is slammed with huge renovation jobs. My buddy who does contract work for us owns a metal fabrication company and he quit doing quotes and locked his doors to new business. He cannot keep up with jobs. What is crazy is that his new jobs are massive in scope.

But let me be clear, this has not all happened without some issues, that being staff.  It started taking its toll on our people. It is no secret we have dedicated staff that lives and breaths our companies and go to the moon and back for our customers, but they have worked themselves into the ground. Ingrid and I have been calling them into our office's one at a time and letting them know they WILL take a day off ( with pay ). We are forcing mini vacations on our people so they can get some downtime and reset their lives and we are paying out bonuses so they have the cash to have fun. They need this time with families to relax. I find it crazy that employees in other industries are sitting home not able to work while companies like ours have to watch the mental health of their staff and keep them from  being overworked and burnt out.

So what we are seeing with many of our customers is that they are going great guns on their coaches maintenance. I lost track of the number of customers who told us " we have no plans of buying a newer coach so will update what we have ". Honestly, it is a great thing to witness - owners coming to the conclusion " I can never replace the quality of what I have with a newer coach. I am keeping what I have and updating it ".

I can honestly say that despite the ongoing bad news with Covid outbreaks, violent protests and such, there are many great things happening in our country. I stay positive and stay focused on the good things.  While many businesses are tanking ( restaurants, etc. ) some companies are finding success. It is not all doom and gloom. 🙂

Tom:

I forgot to mention, I recently read an article where 2 boat dealers near me completely sold out of their inventory. 2 months ago I was shopping for a 32 - 40 ft cabin cruiser. I seen the prices and was floored. Then my brain trust ( my wife ) made mention of the fact that we already own a sinking asset and money pit ( our coach ). Why the hell would you buy another one ? If you are that stupid then you might as well buy an airplane as well. ( I love this woman and the way she reels me in from dumb ideas ). So now we are trying to buy an appreciating asset - land/acreage - that we can install electric, well and septic on and use for weekend getaways. Guess what ? Every other dang Floridian must have the same idea as these properties are being sold as quick as they are listed. I kid you not sales of high and dry vacant land is exploding down here in the swamp ( Florida ). If you want to see some crazy prices check out land values in the mountain areas of Georgia. Vacation or retreat properties are smoking hot right now.

I am going to make an offer on 2 acres on the Suwannee river tomorrow morning that has all utilities there, a drive cut into the property and an existing boat dock. It is all set up to park a coach on and as a matter of fact we can park several coaches there. ( Now just watch some jackwagon buy it out from under me ). 🙂

From everything I am seeing - social distancing is the new normal and anything, be it a boat, vacation property or an RV that can provide social distancing is in demand.

Tom:

Used diesel coach prices were in flux in February and March.  From everything I have seen, the prices seem to be stable now but still a touch depressed. At the start of the pandemic used coach prices dropped like a rock. I believe it was a panic move due to Covid and  also campgrounds closing down.  But then wholesale prices came back after people started realizing " Hey.... I can social distance in a coach like I can at home ".  Then another development occurred which boosted prices - vacation travel by traditional means was closed down because it was unsafe - flights, hotels, cruises, etc. . This new way of thinking firmed up the prices on used coaches and in most cases prices climbed back to normal levels.  I cannot speak for all of you but there is no way in hell I am spending the night in a hotel. My head wont lie on a community pillow, my body wrapped in community bedding and my fat butt sitting on a toilet seat 100 other people have used in the last 90 days. Call me Howard Hughes and a germ nut but it is what it is and this is the new mindset.  That is the beauty of RV's - my bed, my pillows, my kitchen, my toilet, my personal space. In other words you can lock the door to your bus and tell the world to go away.

People should not equate the huge boom in RV Sales as helping them sell their used coach for a premium.  I get RV sales and financials sent to me through RVDA as we are members. I dissect all the numbers and time and again the reports prove Class A sales are no where near what they used to be. We have to remember while RV sales are currently off the charts and dealers cannot get inventory on their lots, all of this has nothing to do with us who own older coaches. The entire boom in RV sales is almost all towables. Sales of new class A coaches, diesels in particular, are still depressed with diesel coaches seeing a 19 % drop. This also carries over to used coaches.

I think all of us are OK with our used coach values going forward but do not think for a second what you own is gold. The used diesel market is still crowded, inventory plentiful and there remains some awesome deals out there for those who are patient, take their time and look for good deals. These deals are out there and they undercut the price you can ask. I watch listings of used coaches and sometimes have to shake my head. Coach owners listing prices that are pipe dreams that will never be obtained. Some price their coaches based on emotional attachment. And then there are those who list coaches according to NADA values. NADA is nothing more then a price value that will get you into the ball park but what I am seeing is the sales that are being closed are selling well below NADA prices. I recently seen a used coach for sale and the seller was asking a $ 20 K premium because he oput new tires and batteries in it along with a few other updates. Excuse me sir but that extra $ 20 K will buy me a lot of new tires and batteries.

There is one last item you have to throw into the mix of used coaches when pricing them fairly and it is a biggie - financing. Many older coaches are being sold as cash deals because it is nearly impossible to get financing on old coaches.  Many buyers of older coaches are having to write checks for the full amount out of their 401 K's, proceeds from the sale of a home or by selling investments. This all means you, as a private seller,  are taking a lot of potential sales off the table because you cannot offer financing like a dealer can. Even worse, some dealers even have a hard time financing older coaches. I talked to one of my dealer buddies out West who specializes in Prevost sales. He told me he could get a non slide 2000 Prevost financed quicker then an 05 Monaco. Why ? Because he uses specialized banks who will buy his deals based on the coach versus age. It also equates to some dealers having personal relationships with banks. Let all of this sink in before selling your used coach - your buyer, depending on the age of your coach, is going to have a helluva time getting financing.

So in a nutshell, if you are buying than look for some screaming deals. If you are selling remember you are up against a lot of used coaches that are sitting on the market not to mention your market is limited in many cases to all cash sales. 

Paul, you are very welcome.

I posted about the Penguin II install a week or so ago. I am going to update that post once I meet with Dustin on Monday. He is doing some testing and using a different configuration on a Penguin unit and then will give me the straight scoop. We got some bad information from Dometic on the boards and a tech bulletin we got from our supplier was wrong.  This is an ongoing problem in the RV Industry - bad info being sent by the parts manufacturers. Last year I had a conference call with a product manufacturer's engineering team. After arguing for 30 minutes they finally agreed their wiring instructions were wrong. They had to go back and re-write their instruction booklet.

We deal with a lot of manufacturers daily, weekly and monthly. Some of these companies we are either dealers for or manufacturer rep's for. I can tell you with certainty that Dometic is one of the worst. They were not fun to deal with before Covid and are now horrible.  I met with one of their company directors last year and asked him about getting into a different tier in their dealer network. He looked me right in the eye and he said " I wouldn't. If you think dealer support is bad now, wait till you see the changes they are making in the future ". Pretty sad when a company official tells you to stay clear of their dealer program.

They make some good products and I believe in their Penguin II units but they have gotten so big and their operations so spread out, support is in the toilet.  Thank God we have a tech who knows his stuff so we do not have to rely on their tech support.

Paul:

Your best bet is to have my tech Dustin talk you through the install. Calling Dometic is going to be a frustrating experience. All of their tech support and customer service employees are working from home. Our calls to them have resulted in hours of being on hold. Leaving messages may get you a call back or may not. Their response time can be days. Our last call took a week to get a response.

Dustin has done numerous installs in the last couple weeks and can talk you through the process. If you will send me your number in a private message I can have him call you on Monday. He has a full day and is actually installing a new Penguin II on a Dynasty on Monday. He is very good about calling our customers and will phone you when he gets a break.

I should mention we are finding a lot of misinformation on these new Penguin II units which is coming from Dometic. Since the Pandemic , getting any support from them, even as a dealer is next to impossible. The other problem is once you spend days reaching them, that employee probably wont have a clue. Drop me your number and Dustin will call you and talk you through the install process. Until then it would probably be a good idea not to cut wires or experiment. I would leave it alone.

Ivan, they are about the same size. The new Penquinn II's are also a bit quieter.