I'm one of the Coachmen owners that Gary was referring to, when he said that we are around the forum. We've had our 2000 34 foot Catelina for about 6 years, and are still happy with it. We have had a number of issues over the years, some expensive, but they were with parts or systems common to many, more expensive units. What sold us on ours was the floor plan, and in the time since, we have seen very few other coaches that we like better.
For the first 3 1/2 years we owned the unit, we drove it to Florida, parked it on grass in the fall, and returned to NS in the spring where it sat on grass until fall. In my opinion, mostly as a result of the humidity and salt air t6hings like the alternator and starter wore out sooner than they should have. This year, we had to replace the radiator and CAC, again mainly due to long period of sitting without clearing the fins on both.
However, on things that you might expect problem on an entry level machine, we didn't/don't seem to be having difficulties. Sure, cabinets rarely need to be re-glued and clamped. The fit and trim continue to hold up, everything on the coach still works, and we put about 10,000 miles on it last winter, averaging almost 12 MPG.
As Scott is saying, I's look to buy at the low market price, sice you will be spending on tires, etc.
Ed
