"Residential Construction" on a Class A Motorhome

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davethomas69

davethomas69

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Joined
Jul 30, 2014
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McKinney TX(Dallas)
Hello forum users, I'm new to this chat room and am just starting to research Class A motorhomes with a desire to purchase one in the next 4 years as I and my wife will be retiring then.  I think I want an Entegra Cornerstone, as I want the 600 horse power engine.  I will be towing a car, and will be traveling from Texas all over the country, but especially west going over the Rockies and the Sierras.  I've been told by an RV dealer here in Dallas that only Newmar and Entegra make a residential construction style motorhome that use wood framing like you would for a home, and that allows for insulation and a quieter ride, that also helps heat and cool the coach.  Is this true?
 
Residential type construction does not lend itself well to rv's, houses are not moving up and down the road and constantly working. Years ago my buddy and I built a canopy for his pickup using wood frame and rock wool insulation. It was way too heavy, too rigid and eventually broke apart. Most modern motorhomes are reasonably well built, some better than others, but don't expect the comfort and durability of a stick and brick house.
 
They don't use wood - it's all metal framing.  The "residential construction" is what is known as a "hung wall" and is indeed similar to that used in houses, but there is no evidence it is in any way superior to the laminated panels on steel frame walls that others use.  As Roy points out, building like a fixed site house is not necessarily an advantage in a vehicle based mobile house. 


Back in the mid-90's there were some gluing problems with vacuum-bonded laminations that resulted in some of them separating. I haven't heard of that sort of problem in many years, but laminated sidewalls can still fail due to water intrusion.  It's possible that the hung wall construction is more resistant to that, but I haven't seen any claims to that effect. Frankly, the physical construction of the walls is not a real issue if you are buying a high-end unit like a Newmar or Entegra or one of their competitors (e.g. American Coach, Foretravel, etc).

Whether you need a 600 hp engine or not depends on the size/weight of the unit you choose. The RV rule of thumb is 1 hp/100 lbs of gross weight, so 600 hp is adequate for up to 60,000 lbs of coach.  Obviously 600 hp can accelerate  50,000 lbs a bit faster than 60,000, but neither is going to rocket up hills like a car. 
 
And remember,, you have to "feed" that 600 horse gobbler to.>>>Dan  ( Its really ironic, the bigger the engine the more it weighs,, the more it weighs the more it takes to push it around) ( AND it's not just the engine that weighs more,, the cooling system has to be much larger, the transmission has to be larger, a second "tag" Axel has to be installed, the list goes on.. Its not just another 1000 pounds, its more like 10,000 pounds)
 
Utclmjmpr said:
And remember,, you have to "feed" that 600 horse gobbler to.>>>Dan  ( Its really ironic, the bigger the engine the more it weighs,, the more it weighs the more it takes to push it around)
Click to expand...

Yes, my 50,000 lb 525HP Beaver got 5-5.5 mpg, where my 36,000 lb. 360HP Ventana gets 8-9 mpg, and it's just a tad livelier than the Beaver was, especially with the toad.
 
If buying an Enter, MHSRV in TX is the best price around.  Friend of mine is in sales there.  My cousin bought a Monaco there.  I know some Entegra dealers have dropped the line because of the pricing at MHSRV. 

I have worked on them very little, but I can assure you they are complex units.  Very nicely made.  Of course, Thor is the parent company, of this as well as many other brands, and not everyone is impressed.

As to construction of these 2 brands vs other brands, well they all end up driving down the road.  For me, I prefer the way Winnebago, Fleetwood and others build.

 
Thanks for the input everyone, I look forward to getting all the input I can in the next couple of years.  Yes and a salesperson tells me I should include American Coach in my research.
 
You are looking at very high end models, so they are all fairly well constructed and loaded with features and high tech. The latter is a mixed blessing, because the RV industry is not well known for testing new tech before adopting it, or supporting it long term if it proves problematic. Newcomers tend to equate the RV industry and dealers to automobiles & new car dealers, but there is actually little similarity at all.  An RV is first and foremost a house; it just happens to have wheels.
 
Dave, welcome to the forum. Well I am absolutely shure that the different manufactuers will tell you (with great sincerity) that the way they build a coach is the best.
In the price range you are looking you should also look at a gently used coach.
http://motorhomesoftexas.com/coachrv/newell_coach/2006--newell--45--C2085
Maney outher better quality coaches like this Fortravel.
http://foretravel.com/coach-view.php?id=766
Let me know what you think.
Bill
 
Hello Dave and welcome to the forum and to RVing. One of the few things most folks on this forum will agree on is to choose your motorhome with a floor plan that you and your wife like. Use that criteria first and then look for builders that meet that criteria. If you are not going to buy for another 4 years you may want to stay involved in the forums and learn as much as you can. In 4 years builders change their line up and what's true today may change in 4 years.
Personally I would not worry to much about the construction of any high end RV. As has been mentioned earlier you may want to consider a lightly used model. The little irritating broken things will probably be fixed and you won't have to absorb the new RV depreciation.
 
Kudos to you for starting your search so soon! That will only serve you better, and make your purchase decision much more likely to be the "right" one (for you, your budget, and your wants/needs) once it comes time to buy.

Another great site to research inventory/pricing is PPL motorhomes (www.pplmotorhomes.com) which is a large consignment dealer... also in TX (we seem to be mentioning them a lot)! Their stock rotates quickly, you can view floorplans of their rigs for sale, and get an idea of what "fair" price ranges to expect for a particular style/age of RV.
 
Cornerstone is a nice coach.  I would look at some of the Country Coaches as well, a lot of them had the 600 hp, very nicely built and would come in at less than half what a new Cornerstone would cost.  With the Cummin's 600 you won't know the toad is even there.  We have a Cummin's 500 and I can't tell if we are pulling or not.  Keep in mind that shops that can/will work on coach the size of a Cornerstone tend to be hard to find sometimes.  Should be plenty of shops in Texas though.  MHSRV have consignments coaches as well.
 
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