Read the article in my February 2008 Family Motor Coaching where they review a Featherlite Vantare H3-45 Conversion with the "gucci" interior. I can hardly believe how heavy that rig is! The wet weight is listed as 53,200 lbs! ??? ??? ??? ??? My bus right now weighs around 30,000 lbs and when empty (pre-conversion) it weighed 26,000 lbs. So, this 45' Prevost conversion is the equivalent of two of my busses empty combined! No wonder they need a 14liter 515hp S60 to push it around. Wonder what kind of mileage it would get if it were to weigh in at a more "featherlite" weight?
Quote from: Brian Diehl
Read the article in my February 2008 Family Motor Coaching where they review a Featherlite Vantare H3-45 Conversion with the "gucci" interior. I can hardly believe how heavy that rig is! The wet weight is listed as 53,200 lbs! ??? ??? ??? ??? My bus right now weighs around 30,000 lbs and when empty (pre-conversion) it weighed 26,000 lbs. So, this 45' Prevost conversion is the equivalent of two of my busses empty combined! No wonder they need a 14liter 515hp S60 to push it around. Wonder what kind of mileage it would get if it were to weigh in at a more "featherlite" weight?
Brian excellent point, and even better question!
;D BK ;D
My 40ft conversion with full water, provisions, my wife and I on board added 3,000lb. Even a 45 ft'r maybe 3,500lb. Then what about the cost. The 45 ft Prevost bus conversion shell is about $400,000. That motorhome is just over $1.7 million! How can you install $1.3 million into a 45 ft space? If I had 1.7 million to play with, I certainly would not spend it on a motorhome. Instead, I'd buy a limo, hire a limo driver, and stay at all the best 5 star hotels- and that on just the interest on 1.7 million. But-- to each their own. Good Luck, TomC
Brian the Newell is about the same weight and with the C 15 625 hp it gets about 5 to 5.5 average
TomC your are right they can not put that kind of money into a conversion that is the reason if you offer 1 million you get handcuffed to a chair till the bank clears your check
not hard to add weight.
keep in mind these things use marble and granite and generally are built well in excess of your average home conversion.
I also don;t know many home convertes that are throughing 15kw gensets, etc etc.
my Custom Coach converted MC-8 is fairly close to GVW
Got to figure, 45 feet x 102in. 2 large slideouts. 230 gallon fuel tank. 171 gallon fresh water. (I question the logic of combined waste tanks less than fresh though. Although I doubt anybody with a $1.7M rig stays anywhere they don't have full hookups. ::) And as Tekebird pointed out marble/granite and a huge genset and probably a similarly huge house battery array.
Interesting disagreement in the article:
QuoteWith full water and full fuel, the coach weighed 35,720 pounds at a certified scale, which means it had a remaining cargo carrying capacity of 1,280 pounds.
QuoteWET WEIGHT AS TESTED
front axle — 17,500 pounds
rear and tag axles — 35,720 pounds
total — 53,220 pounds
(weighed with full fresh water, fuel tanks)
And one more thing that sparks my curiousity. How does a toilet with no moving parts work? It would seem to me that something has to open, close, actuate water/air/vacuum or something. Otherwise, something ain't going nowhere. I'm sure I'm missing something there, but I just can't picture how it would work with "no moving parts".
That was one of the reasons I looked at buses in the first place. At least back in the '80s, most of the motor homes on the market were overloaded when they left the factory.
When you start adding ceramic tile and granite counters, it drives the weight way up. Then you have to add more fuel capacity to get the same range which adds still more weight.
I was recently looking at a motor home buying guide and the Winnebagos and Pace Arrows had a greater carrying capacity than a 45' Bluebird.
Personally, I like driving at 60-70% of GVWR, not maxed out all the time.
Len
Lots of power means less engineering.
As seen: bus weights, computer programming, etc, all more wasteful than in earlier times when the available power was slim.
Some commentary about good enough versus best versus profit in here somewhere...
happy coaching!
buswarrior
Did you notice that "Featherlite" coach has 365mm (14.5") tires just to stay legal on the road?
My H3-41 weighs in a little over 39,000 lbs, and I am mostly converted. The GVW is a little over 52,000. I can tell performance and fuel mileage have dropped as I add more weight. The 41 ft has the same axles and capacity as the 45 ft of the same year.
Its nice to have some room between the converted weight and the GVW, as someone already pointed out, one reason to buy a bus in the first place.
Do I detect a little envy in this thread. I think it speaks volumes for an individual with unlimited funds or excessive credit to spend it on a bus instead of the farm. That's a true busnut in my opinion, which like a-holes, everyone has one LOL
Quote from: TomC on February 10, 2008, 10:33:25 AM
My 40ft conversion with full water, provisions, my wife and I on board added 3,000lb. Even a 45 ft'r maybe 3,500lb. Then what about the cost. The 45 ft Prevost bus conversion shell is about $400,000. That motorhome is just over $1.7 million! How can you install $1.3 million into a 45 ft space? If I had 1.7 million to play with, I certainly would not spend it on a motorhome. Instead, I'd buy a limo, hire a limo driver, and stay at all the best 5 star hotels- and that on just the interest on 1.7 million. But-- to each their own. Good Luck, TomC
It's all about bragging rights! LOL!
;D BK ;D
I recall reading that article and not believing a converted Prevost would weigh only 35,720 pounds and have less than a ton of cargo capacity. It is now clear that the author used the rear axle weight and forgot to add in the front axle.
My 43 foot bus weighed right at 36,000 lbs on the way home with 8 pairs of seats still in the bus. I removed somewhere around 2,000 to 2,500 pounds of stuff based on weight tickets from the scrap yard and the transfer station. I am guessing I have added back in close to 3,000 lbs of weight. I have not had the bus reweighed yet as I need to find a public scale near home. Weighing at a truck stop on a trip wouldn't help due to all the stuff we put in the bays for a trip.
I would guess that most here remember the old story about J.P. Morgan, but I will summarize it just in case. One day a guest aboard Morgan's yacht liked it so much that he said to Morgan that it was wonderful, he would like to have one, and asked how much it costs to maintain. Morgan's answer was the famous, "If you can ask that question, you can't afford it." I think that these buses are in that category along with Morgan's yacht. Of course, there is no financial sense to them. It only takes a limited amount of money to live very comfortably. When you have a lot more than that, it no longer makes sense to make sense. Most just spend it where desire leads.
Quote from: belfert on February 10, 2008, 01:07:26 PM
Weighing at a truck stop on a trip wouldn't help due to all the stuff we put in the bays for a trip.
That might be the better weight to know since it would reflect the most important weight to know - the total weight while in typical use.
Quote from: belfert
I have not had the bus reweighed yet as I need to find a public scale near home. Weighing at a truck stop on a trip wouldn't help due to all the stuff we put in the bays for a trip.
Brian,
I disagree, it's exactly what ya need to do! After all that's what YOU built that bus for isn't it? From the start your plan was to make this bus for these trips! The loaded weight is exactly, what you need to know for proper tire pressure etc. since that is the way you use it mostly! By the way you can find local scales at local grain elevators, Co-ops, major trk terminals, Super-Valu warehouses (the full service locations where they have the trk shops & etc. and I mentioned this name because I know they are in yer area) gravel pits etc. scales are easy to find if you look in the right place & most will weigh ya for free or about what a commercial scale cost! I can count 10 scales with in 15 mins of here, but the nearest commercial scale (trk stop) is over an hr away in direction! Also the state scale houses are good to!(best to check with them 1st b4 bring the coach by!) The one around the corner leave the display on & where you can look inside and read it from the window at nights & Wknds when the are closed! (ot that I would ever do that! LOL!)FWIW!
;D BK ;D
QuoteAlthough I doubt anybody with a $1.7M rig stays anywhere they don't have full hookups.
You might be surprised. When I used to go to the sand dunes at Glamis, there were plenty of the very high end coaches there. A few brought along their maids to take care of everything.
My Eagle was around 43,000 fully loaded and If I would have had the money it would have weighed in at the 50,000 pound mark.
Richard
Oh, I know there are scales around, but I just haven't checked into which ones are public and what I would need to do as far as hours and payment once I do find one. I am curious how much weight I have added during the conversion process. Supervalu is around 40 or 50 miles round trip. There is a recycled gravel place 1 mile away that would probably give me my weight for free during the off season. I think their scale doesn't do axle weight as they just care about how much product to charge for.
My loaded weight can vary by 1,000 lbs easily based on how many friends and how much cargo we all have. It would still be better to go by this weight for tire pressures.
Quote from: belfert on February 10, 2008, 05:21:32 PM
Oh, I know there are scales around, but I just haven't checked into which ones are public and what I would need to do as far as hours and payment once I do find one. I am curious how much weight I have added during the conversion process. Supervalu is around 40 or 50 miles round trip. There is a recycled gravel place 1 mile away that would probably give me my weight for free during the off season. I think their scale doesn't do axle weight as they just care about how much product to charge for.
My loaded weight can vary by 1,000 lbs easily based on how many friends and how much cargo we all have. It would still be better to go by this weight for tire pressures.
They ain't gotta be public, the private ones usually do it for you for free or a couple bucks if ya ask! Also yes they still do axle weights they just pull them on one at a time! & do the math! If they load someone illeagally they can get in as much trouble as the driver for loading them (over/wrong)
;D BK ;D
I had mine weighed at a shell station, they charged $8, and gave it to me by axle.
Very much worth it, I wish I had done it sooner.
I had mine done at a local cotton gin and they charged me five bucks. Worth the effort to do so.
Paul
I weighed my Crown Super Coach for $free$ at the state scales at the bottom of Hayes Hill in SW Oregon. Since nobody was behind me, got the front, back, each axle side and the total. The girl in the booth just smiled and waved. Life is good.
Still can't quite figure out why somebody would pay almost two (2) million dollars for a coach that was practically (actually?) grossly overloaded as designed and constructed at the factory. Doesn't make any sense. But then again, Green is a good color. :) :) :)