The Birth of a Bus

I am in Red Bay Alabama, at the Tiffin Motorhome factory. Today was the first day of our build of our Allegro Bus 40SP. Tiffin allows owners to follow the build down the assembly line. It was quite impressive. I showed up at 0600 and the chassis had just rolled into station #1.

I was there all day, and by quitting time it was heading to station 6 on Tuesday to put on the rear cap. This process really moves!  I was up close and personal as workers started to assemble the hundreds of parts that will make up this motor home.  There are 4 more days of build before it rolls off the assembly line and heads to paint. I will be here for all 4 days.  I have already taken about 200 pics of the process.  The workers are skilled and professional, and still have time to be quite friendly and informative. 

Good for you.  Document the entire build and you will have the greatest rv manuals.
Happy for you.

What fun.

Boy would I be a nuisance. "How bout if we run couple extra cables here? Can I add this little light there? Did you remember the satellite internet cable along with the wifi and cell booster cables in case I add those? You know what would be cool....?" Etc etc

"Sir. SIR! Give me your hard hat and visitor's badge and step away from the assembly line!"  :

How very cool Marty. I am jealous. I had a Tiffin once and it was a great RV. I am sure you will be very happy.

Thanks for sharing that, Marty. You're doing with your bus what I did with our house (over months, not days though), getting pix and being familiar with it inside and out. Enjoy.

Great Marty. The photos will be invaluable for future troubleshooting.


Meanwhile, keep the photos coming; When you're done, this would be a good addition to our photo gallery. The last time we saw a factory build was Smokey & Sharon's coach:


http://www.rvforum.net/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=11

What a great experience, I would absolutely love to do that!

Fantastic, Marty! I'm glad you're getting to witness the "birth" of your new coach!

Great pictures, Marty. Thanks for sharing. And congrats on the new "house on wheels".

Meanwhile, keep the photos coming

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I second that. I love these photos.
jor

Terry did somewhat the same on our Country Coach build in  1999. The photos Terry took have been valuable when making repairs later.  One comes to understand  why the price is so high on these  vehicles/homes when they watch all the inside  processes.

The workers were so grateful to  Terry  for buying the rig that they were more than happy to answer questions, let him take photos and generally be " in their way."

Enjoy the  process and congrats as I read on Facebook that your Fallbrook home sold again! The  plan just keeps falling into  place!

Thank you everyone! This is truly one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. And since I have already taken over 200 pics, I will fill in a few of the spaces that were covered in the first few pics.

Betty Brewer said:

Enjoy the  process and congrats as I read on Facebook that your Fallbrook home sold again! The  plan just keeps falling into  place!

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True Betty! We are so excited about the quick sale and offer.  It feels like the pieces are finally falling into place!

Some additional pics from day one.  In #1, if the engine looks close in this pic, it's because it is! This model has a side radiator, so the engine is totally accessible right from the back of the coach. The power plant is the Cummins ISL. It is rated at 450 HP and 1250 ft lbs of torque.

#2 If the tires look big, they are. The Michelins on this coach are 315 80 22.5.

#3 The storage tanks are being set. The white tank on the bottom is the 90 gallon fresh water tank. The black tank on top is the 50 gallon black water tank. It will be joined by the 70 gallon gray water tank next to it.

#4 I opted for two pass through slide out trays in the storage bays. No more struggling to reach the stuff in the middle.

#5 We also splurged on heated floors. The wires in the photo are actually spaced 2" apart and attached to the sub floor. Only wires that will actually provide heat have a silvery sheath to them. Some are plain black wires that are "dummy" wires that are just put in to keep the entire floor surface level for the tile floor that is applied to the top in the next step.

#6 The next step is to apply the entire sub floor with mastic in prep for the tile.

#7 Then one massive sheet of ceramic tile that has been preset on a 1/2" sheet of strand board, grouted, and all the appropriate relief cuts made is lifted onto the chassis by a overhead crane with suction cups and is prepared to be placed into position.

That's it for now! More later!

Tom said:

Great Marty. The photos will be invaluable for future troubleshooting.


Meanwhile, keep the photos coming; When you're done, this would be a good addition to our photo gallery. The last time we saw a factory build was Smokey & Sharon's coach:


http://www.rvforum.net/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=11

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Absolutely Tom! With 200+ pics already, there is no telling what the final tally will be.

Fabulous Marty! Really exciting watching the process, can't wait to see the finished article!

Great job posting the pictures! Amazing that you only took 200! I would have a few thousand each day. ;-)

That would be a blast - even if it wasn't mine!  love how they heat the floors.

DWJoyce said:

Great job posting the pictures! Amazing that you only took 200! I would have a few thousand each day. ;-)

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I would have taken more, but the battery on the camera was dying about an hour before quitting time! And I have 3 more build days left!

Congrats on the new Bus Marty, a big move up since the Meridian. Enjoy

oh, what fun being able to watch it!
How much tweaking do they let you do on the fly?  Things such as ...."hey, can you move that outlet 6 inches to the right?"

I took a tour of the Marathon Coach factory this last TUE. I was told they average about 18 motorhomes a year. Video/photo documenting that build would take lots of batts and memory. ONE month is allowed for the painting process.