Traded Interstate

[LewK]

After 10 months and 20,000 miles in our 2018 Tommy Bahama ext tour we decided to move on to something more spacious with increased towing capability.
We looked at Leisure and Pleasure way which offered more room but limited towing. Also looked at Coach House and Nexus but ultimately decided on Dynamax DX3 on Freightliner chassis.
Traded the Interstate and picked up Dynamax this week at Lazy days in Tampa had a good experience.
Looking forward to some big trips this year and hoping we don’t want to change again for many years.
Thanks to all the contributors on this forum, the information we received was fantastic and very helpful.
Best wishes,
Lew K

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by LewK

After 10 months and 20,000 miles in our 2018 Tommy Bahama ext tour we decided to move on to something more spacious with increased towing capability.
We looked at Leisure and Pleasure way which offered more room but limited towing. Also looked at Coach House and Nexus but ultimately decided on Dynamax DX3 on Freightliner chassis.
Traded the Interstate and picked up Dynamax this week at Lazy days in Tampa had a good experience.
Looking forward to some big trips this year and hoping we don’t want to change again for many years.
Thanks to all the contributors on this forum, the information we received was fantastic and very helpful.
Best wishes,
Lew K

LEWK - Great choice IMHO. CONGRATS. I had looked at the DX3 and Nexus also prior to buying AI. I wasn't ready for the big point-to-point Super C models yet. But my next one I am eye'ing (even before I bought the AI) is the Renegade Sportsman 30 sold thru IWS Motorcoach in Idaho. It is sort of the Shorty version of the Dynamax/Renegade Super C's. But that may not be for a couple more years. Enjoy the new rig. The DX3 is beautiful, big, and the Freightliner M2 chassis with the Cummins ISL9 350hp 1,000lb-ft is my dream powertrain.

[OTRA15]

Looks great!

http://www.dynamaxcorp.com/Index.aspx

Which length/model did you get?

Happy trails,

Peter

[InterBlog]

Thanks for the intro to new products with which I was not familiar.

If someone could make a good "expedition vehicle" that was rugged and which broke out of the Class C consumer junk paradigm, I would consider it. There's no way I'd ever live in the average C, but the IWS is starting to look promising (specifically the Sportsman).

The video talks too much about style, and not enough about substance, though. Such is the case with pretty much every marketing video.

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Thanks for the intro to new products with which I was not familiar.

If someone could make a good "expedition vehicle" that was rugged and which broke out of the Class C consumer junk paradigm, I would consider it. There's no way I'd ever live in the average C, but the IWS is starting to look promising (specifically the Sportsman).

The video talks too much about style, and not enough about substance, though. Such is the case with pretty much every marketing video.

INTERBLOG - Yeah, the average or typical Class C is not my cup-o-tea. Some are better than others, like the DYNAMAX ISATA5 4x4 based on the RAM 5500 chassis with the Cummins 6.7L I6 Turbo Diesel Engine (325hp/750 ft.-lbs. of Torque). It is an impressive truck chassis. But I am still not impressed with their coach (and it is considered high end in this class).

But the Super C Freightliners are a completely diff animal. You start off with the Freightliner M2 chassis and can go up to the Cascadia or Volvo platform. Start with Cummins 350hp 1,000lb-ft and go up to the stratoshopere. The Renegades can be ordered with a full-arctic package. They are as lux as the best Class A's with the biggest advantage (for me) that the big engine is up front. I can just go on & on.

For my money, if I was looking at an AS Atlas and how they priced that unit, I would rather have the Renegade 30 Sportsman. But it is considerably taller and 5 ft. longer. But so much capacity & power.

I was actually in negotiation with IWS over the phone from LV to Idaho on this exact unit pictured below that I already physically checked out in Lake Havasu, AZ. When a local buyer sniped it from under me. I was bumbed for a long time, but turned out to be a blessing coz I ended up checking out the AI.

https://youtu.be/MpAhBHv-JAk

https://youtu.be/AQmsH0jUoMk

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Thanks for the intro to new products with which I was not familiar.

If someone could make a good "expedition vehicle" that was rugged and which broke out of the Class C consumer junk paradigm, I would consider it. There's no way I'd ever live in the average C, but the IWS is starting to look promising (specifically the Sportsman).

The video talks too much about style, and not enough about substance, though. Such is the case with pretty much every marketing video.

INTERBLOG - Yeah, the average or typical Class C is not my cup-o-tea. Some are better than others, like the DYNAMAX ISATA5 4x4 based on the RAM 5500 chassis with the Cummins 6.7L I6 Turbo Diesel Engine (325hp/750 ft.-lbs. of Torque). It is an impressive truck chassis. But I am still not impressed with their coach (even though it is considered high end in this class).

But the Super C Freightliners are a completely diff animal. You start off with the Freightliner M2 chassis and can go up to the Cascadia or Volvo platform. Start with Cummins 350hp 1,000lb-ft and go up to the stratoshopere. The Renegades can be ordered with a full-arctic package. They are as lux as the best Class A's with the biggest advantage (for me) that the big engine is up front. I can just go on & on.

For my money, if I was looking at an AS Atlas and how they priced that unit, I would rather have the Renegade 30 Sportsman. But it is considerably taller and 5 ft. longer. But so much capacity & power.

I was actually in negotiation with IWS over the phone from LV to Idaho on this exact unit pictured below that I already physically checked out in Lake Havasu, AZ. When a local buyer sniped it from under me. I was bumbed for a long time, but turned out to be a blessing coz I ended up checking out the AI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQms...k#action=share

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpAh...k#action=share

[LewK]

OTRA15
We got the DX3 37TS
Bigger than we needed but the floor plan works for us plus residential fridge, all electric, very quiet generator with auto start,washer dryer, 6,400 useful load plus 12K towing

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Alex AVI

INTERBLOG - ..... DYNAMAX ISATA5 4x4 ...

^^ It looks like my grandmother's coffin. I wouldn't get further than the vendor's parking lot. I would turn around and flee.

But the white one you posted, that you were considering... that would have me interested enough to inquire about customization. I don't like the finishes in that unit - too traditional, too house-y. If I want something to look like a house, I'll stay at home and stare at the walls like I am doing right now. But there's a lot that could be done with that footprint and those mechanical specs.

I feel a RANT coming on; it has been building for days. It has to do with a fact that I must concede - that it's women who are predominantly driving the style side of this market. Happy wife, happy life type stuff (my husband dislikes that saying).

I represent a gender category that, to this day, has never been formally defined, even here in the age of over-the-top political correctness on gender issues. I'm heterosexual but gender non-conforming in that, even since toddlerhood, I've always been visibly disinterested in many traditional expressions of femininity. "Gender-nonconforming" is typically reserved to describe those on the LGBT+ spectrum, but in my case the hetero-nonconforming personality aspect was so strong that my family consulted with doctors to see if there was anything that could be done about it (it was the 1970's). I went into a professional field of study where only 15% of the practitioners are women. I work in industrial areas where men often outnumber women 30 to 1.

It irks me that women drive style disproportionately to substance. Unfortunately because of the way that our culture has evolved, a lot of traditionally-feminine creative pursuits have become resource-consuming activities, whereas males are more tilted toward resource-producing activities. One of my former professional mentors used to describe this phenomenon as "clothes on the toilet". He would rant like a maniac, running around and literally screaming, "WHY? TELL ME WHY! WHY DO SO MANY WOMEN WANT TO PUT CLOTHES ON TOILETS? TOILETS ARE TOILETS - THEY DON'T NEED CLOTHING!"

It became a central metaphor used to describe the difference between productive and unproductive work, a vital distinction in my field (consulting) where window-dressers quickly fail because nobody wants to pay for style - they need to pay for substance only. Crafting a toilet was a productive activity. Sewing clothes for it... not so much.

When I look at so many of this class of vehicle (Class B, Class C, expedition trucks, etc.), I see a lot of 'clothing on toilets', figuratively speaking. It is possible to create an attractive and artistic design without going too far into the clothing-on-toilets realm. But it's extremely rare to see that aspect of design handled properly in the market. Either they pay zero attention to style, or its too warped - all clothes and no toilet. Or as we say in Texas, all hat and no cattle.

Rant suspended - a very mild version of what I could have uttered.

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

But the white one you posted, that you were considering... that would have me interested enough to inquire about customization.

"WHY? TELL ME WHY! WHY DO SO MANY WOMEN WANT TO PUT CLOTHES ON TOILETS? TOILETS ARE TOILETS - THEY DON'T NEED CLOTHING!"

INTERBLOG - Yes, that white one is highly customizable from Renegade. I have not checked if they have built the 4x4 variant. They are so much more expensive & my needs don't require the off-road variant. But if I won the Lotto, I wouldn't mind having one. I know GXV (Global Expedition Vehicles) is building on the Freightliner M2 chassis & the International chassis, both 4x4's. They used to build on the UNIMOG chassis but for the US market, servicing the Freightliner or International makes a lot of sense. I call the GXV the EarthRoamer's big brother. And I found they come in the champagne paint job, almost similar to NOTSTOCK's AI. Love that color scheme. Pics below.

That "toilet clothing" mini-rant made me laugh, only because we all know who those women are that put clothes on toilets. My mom (bless her soul) used to be one of them until she had an awakening at some point

[rowiebowie]

I'll take a Renegade, and one of those fancy microfiber-covered toilet seats. Besides warm and comfy, I wonder what that makes me?
.

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

I'll take a Renegade, and one of those fancy microfiber-covered toilet seats. Besides warm and comfy, I wonder what that makes me?
.

ROWIEBOWIE - I remembered a regional TP commercial once said - "Tough guys like Charmin too"

[wachuko]

I can't see myself going bigger than the AI we have... as robust and comfy those look, I just don't see us going that route...


We do wished we had started with a Airstream trailer... but this was after seeing them a few months after we bought our AI. I was adamant of not going the trailer route...kind of regret not even looking at them before we got the AI. More room, quiet A/C with the ducted setup... and they came in the same Tommy trim... Anyway, no sense on dwelling on that. We continue to be happy with the AI and the flexibility it provides to drive it everywhere and ability to park it and using it without the need to tow a car...


But cool to see those larger units. Enjoy it in good health LewK !!

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by wachuko

I can't see myself going bigger than the AI we have... as robust and comfy those look, I just don't see us going that route...

We do wished we had started with a Airstream trailer...

WACHUKO - same here, at least for now. But once we get rid of this big stick house, I definitely have to get a larger rv. Regarding the trailer thing, still glad we got AI first. But now, want a small trailer to pull on AI, been seriously looking at the Nest. Trying to convince daughter to pay for it (instead of me) for their own sleeping quarters. So many choices, so little time, not enough money to get them all

[wachuko]

Originally Posted by Alex AVI

... So many choices, so little time, not enough money to get them all

Could have not said it better myself


We too looked at the Nest but we just feel in love with the Tommy Bahama 19CB... something about that classic Airstream trailer look... and the interiors on the Tommy were at another level above the similar Flying Cloud 19CB...


Anyway... back to reality, lol. All is good with what we have.

[InterBlog]

For those of you who are newer to the forum, there was a point in the past when we were discussing this...



https://kiravan.net/

[wachuko]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

For those of you who are newer to the forum, there was a point in the past when we were discussing this...



https://kiravan.net/

WOW!!! Speechless.... there goes the bar...

[InterBlog]

I fell in love with his annotated images. A picture tells a thousand words, but it tells five thousand words when it opens with a thousand words of captioning to begin with. I do something similar when I'm communicating with our state environmental regulators about how their online system is failing to perform... bubbles and arrows and scribbles and text and all kinds of overlay of collage elements... but he takes the process into a new realm of communicative art.

[sheakev]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

For those of you who are newer to the forum, there was a point in the past when we were discussing this...



https://kiravan.net/

Makes me want to go out and buy a lottery ticket tonight!

[InterBlog]

And then as a Kira counterpoint, there's this. I think the idea has potential, but artistically, I'd say he missed the mark:

http://www.thedrive.com/news/26311/t...mi-and-wrecker

[Jake62]

Sold our '45 Bus and will purchase a Class B to travel 4-5 months of the year. I've also had two Class C's. Never had a trailer ... it's just one of those things that I'm not a trailer guy. The Class B gives the most flexibility to travel.

Now, if you're just going to set-up in Florida in one spot for four months (have been down in FL the last four years), just get yourself a park model.