Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
We've decided to embark on a fairly major remodeling of our 04 American Tradition "V" model.
1. Replace front tv with a Sony 26" LCD HDTV mounted flush with the front cabinets. The 26" will fit without major mods to the front cabinetry.
2. Replace bedroom tv with a 23" Samsung LCD HDTV, allowing the big "head knocker" that protrudes at the foot of the bed to be eliminated. Besides saving bumps on the head, that is really going to make the bedroom look larger. The other day we were in an 05 that is similar to ours and it had the bedroom LCD. We were amazed at what a difference it makes in the look & feel of the bedroom.
3. Replace the vanity & upper cabinets adjacent to the shower with a floor-to-ceiling pantry. The V floor plan has a complete vanity and 3 bathroom cabinets in the toilet room, so the vanity next to the shower is superfluous. We seldom use it and we badly need more storage space because the galley in the V plan is rather small with few cabinets there.
4. Remove the Amana gas oven/cooktop and replace with a cooktop only (we have the usual convection oven as well). Will use the current oven space to add another galley cabinet, with full extension slide out shelves to store the usual galley gear.
5. Add new ceiling decor and a/c outlet system to the lounge area. This makes a nice cosmetic upgrade to the Tradition and is supposed to reduce the a/c noise substantially.
Most of the work will be done at Classic Coach in Lakeland, FL. I'm doing the oven replacement job myself, though.
When we go up to the American factory in Decatur in the Spring we are also planning on having Greg at "From Trees to These" modify the wall cabinets over the dining table to increase their depth by 4". Greg does a nice job of this and Classic Coach was not familiar with the technique and wanted a lot of money and even then were unsure if they were willing to try it. I've seen Greg's results on this job and know he does a nice job of it. Then we will go over to Celina to have Kevin Mallory at Cruising America replace our old Tracvision SF dome with a new DVB capable one (probably the KVH R4SL) and an HD Directv receiver. That should get us a good satellite hook-up for the HDTVs and a much more reliable satellite "lock" than we now have. The current SF dome is a royal pain at times, searching forever and maybe finding the right satellite and maybe not. Often hard to convince it - and the DTV receiver - that it has found the wrong satellite too.
We decided on all this after shopping around a bit and not finding any newer American Coaches that we liked a much more than what we have. And remodeling is far less expensive than trading anyway.
1. Replace front tv with a Sony 26" LCD HDTV mounted flush with the front cabinets. The 26" will fit without major mods to the front cabinetry.
2. Replace bedroom tv with a 23" Samsung LCD HDTV, allowing the big "head knocker" that protrudes at the foot of the bed to be eliminated. Besides saving bumps on the head, that is really going to make the bedroom look larger. The other day we were in an 05 that is similar to ours and it had the bedroom LCD. We were amazed at what a difference it makes in the look & feel of the bedroom.
3. Replace the vanity & upper cabinets adjacent to the shower with a floor-to-ceiling pantry. The V floor plan has a complete vanity and 3 bathroom cabinets in the toilet room, so the vanity next to the shower is superfluous. We seldom use it and we badly need more storage space because the galley in the V plan is rather small with few cabinets there.
4. Remove the Amana gas oven/cooktop and replace with a cooktop only (we have the usual convection oven as well). Will use the current oven space to add another galley cabinet, with full extension slide out shelves to store the usual galley gear.
5. Add new ceiling decor and a/c outlet system to the lounge area. This makes a nice cosmetic upgrade to the Tradition and is supposed to reduce the a/c noise substantially.
Most of the work will be done at Classic Coach in Lakeland, FL. I'm doing the oven replacement job myself, though.
When we go up to the American factory in Decatur in the Spring we are also planning on having Greg at "From Trees to These" modify the wall cabinets over the dining table to increase their depth by 4". Greg does a nice job of this and Classic Coach was not familiar with the technique and wanted a lot of money and even then were unsure if they were willing to try it. I've seen Greg's results on this job and know he does a nice job of it. Then we will go over to Celina to have Kevin Mallory at Cruising America replace our old Tracvision SF dome with a new DVB capable one (probably the KVH R4SL) and an HD Directv receiver. That should get us a good satellite hook-up for the HDTVs and a much more reliable satellite "lock" than we now have. The current SF dome is a royal pain at times, searching forever and maybe finding the right satellite and maybe not. Often hard to convince it - and the DTV receiver - that it has found the wrong satellite too.
We decided on all this after shopping around a bit and not finding any newer American Coaches that we liked a much more than what we have. And remodeling is far less expensive than trading anyway.