Remodeling Plans...

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.

Dont forget "Before and After pictures" Please !!!! ;D

Thanks a lot, TV Roamer..........You took "shopping for a newer DP" out of the equation and we have decided on modification/replacement instead (see my post pertaining to queen bed replacement).......Maybe I'll just have to hook up with the cabinet maker you talked about.......

And, YES Kenneth......I'll post before and after photos when the time comes!!!!!

Gary, welcome to the club.

I can't wait to see all of this come about.  I am going to replace my TVs myself.  I am quite handy and will show pics on my own thread as well.  I installed a 26 inch LCD HD TV last year and its awsome for tailgaiting.  I pick up HD broadcast over the batwing.  Picture is awsome.  Now I wan't that in the front and back of the coach.

Waiting on pics..... ;D

I had originally planned to do the bedroom tv myself - it's a pretty straight-forward mod and I enjoy woodworking and remodeling - but once we decided to do the more major stuff I decided to let the pros handle that as well.

Yes, I'll get some pictures before and after. Maybe some "during" as well if we visit the shop while it is in-progress.

Gary, Good luck with the remodel.  Carol and I will be watching.  Phil

Pretty major redo Gary.  Good luck with it.

Thanks, guys. We are excited and can't wait to get it started. The new cooktop arrived yesterday and the two new tvs are enroute.  I'm anxious to get started on the prep work but the coach isn't at the house right now - still in the shop getting an air leak repaired. It goes to Classic Coach for the big stuff on Jan 24.

Gary:

I'm considering an '04 Tradition and was curious if you got the remodeling done, and if so, how it turned out. Didn't see any pics here, so wasn't sure if it was still work in progress.

Thanks.

NW said:

Gary:

I'm considering an '04 Tradition and was curious if you got the remodeling done, and if so, how it turned out. Didn't see any pics here, so wasn't sure if it was still work in progress.

Thanks.

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I don't have any pictures but did see it a couple of weeks ago. It turned out great!! ;D

All came out fine, NW. I guess I should post some before and after photos, but the photos don't really do it justice. Besides, the changes were intended primarily to give us more usable storage space, so its not like there is anything startling in terms of interior decor.

OK, here are some photos.

This set are the front and rear tvs, before and after.  I don't have a good before shot of the front that shows how far out into the room it stuck, but most of you know what front tube-type tvs are like.

The lighting is different so it appears the wood color changed, but it did not. It's still all Regency Cherry.

This set if the galley stove/oven change, before and after. I replaced the Amana stove/oven combo with an Amana cooktop that was identical to the stove part of the oven, so it was an exact fit. The two new drawers give us plenty of room for "galley gear" that was sadly lacking before. The GE Profile convection/micro is visible in the before picture - no changes there.

I also added an electrical outlet just to the right side of the stove cutout, not visible due to the angle.  There were plenty of outlets in the galley area but all were on the underside of the cabinets and awkward to use, so I added one that is right out front and easy to get at.

Pictures look great. Thanks. Clearly helps with headroom issues and makes the coach look more contemporary.

Did you get the ceiling treatment done? I went to the Lakeland, FL place's website and was intrigued with their ceiling lighting and a/c treatments. Having looked at the newer Amer Coaches, that would be a nice upgrade.

On the stove changeout, I am considering (if I am able to swing this RV deal!!) changing out the cooktop/oven combo for just the range-top and put a drawer dishwasher below (I have the dishwasher available very cheap). From your experience in changing out the stove, does it sound like adding the dishwasher instead of cabinet space would be fairly straightforward on the '04 Tradition?

Thanks for the info.

This set is the new cabinet we had built to replace the second lavatory sink/cabinet.  I had to use a wide angle lens to get the new cabinet all in one photo, so it looks a bit obese!

Depends on the dishwasher width. The drawer types that I recall are wider than the stove cutout, so that could be a problem.  There are several different galleys layouts, depending on the floor plan, so I can't guess what is adjacent to your current oven and what would be affected.

We decided to wait on the ceiling treatment. Classic Coach was rather expensive on it and we have seen some other designs we like a bit better anyway, so will do some more shopping.  Will get some more ideas and an estimate while in Decatur at From Trees to These later this month. Greg will modify one of out overhead cabinets to increase its depth by 4 inches and check out some other ideas we have for improvements.

We have also decided to hold off on the satellite dome replacement to see how the Direct TV HD thing settles out and what the satellite industry comes up with for a solution. Right now I like the Motorola 5 LNB dish that gives full HD satellite coverage, including the Ka band. Found out the coach has to be -re-wired to get the HD signal form the satellite receiver to the tvs anyway - the existing composite video wiring won't do the job.  [sigh - nothing is ever simple!]

RV Roamer said:

Found out the coach has to be -re-wired to get the HD signal form the satellite receiver to the tvs anyway - the existing composite video wiring won't do the job.  [sigh - nothing is ever simple!]

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Yes, and the wire/cable(s) are not inexpensive. If using the HDMI cables, they have a maximum length and are very pricey. If using component cabling, it takes 3 cables and they aren't cheap yet either.  A bit of price gouging has been going on with this cabling thing (having been in electronics for many years).

I do see that you have the other galley style. The one I am looking at has the stove to the right with the angled microwave above. That angled microwave must have been a great idea someone came up with that didn't last very long.

I also would likely replace the extra vanity with storage. Glad to see your pictures on that.

Go to some of the electronics places like Mouser, etc., and get the cables there, much cheaper and they will do the job just fine.  Check PC world for more info too.

Monoprice is the place to go for cables.