The Eagle has a very successful maiden voyage

[rv_safetyman]

Some of you folks have been following both my Eagle bus project and the details of our maiden voyage.  I thought I would post a few details about our maiden voyage.

We got home yesterday (4/12) after a very successful trip.  We were gone a bit over 5 weeks and drove the bus 2500 miles.  Our trip took us from Evergreen, CO to San Diego, then on to Pomona so that we could be vendors at the FMCA convention, then to the Death Valley area for some much needed R and R and then to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for a national Drag Racing event and then home. 

The bus performed almost flawlessly.  We only had two minor issues.  One of the turbo hoses blew off (probably did not get tightened) and the air hose to the fan drive wore a hole in it just before we got home.  Both were fixed in a matter of minutes.  We also had a water system issue when I screwed up the  Manabloc water distribution manifold during my last minute thrash.  We ordered a new one and had is shipped to Jim Stewart's house (where we stored the bus while we went on a cruise that my wife earned).  It was easy to install and then our water system worked fine. 

All of the bus systems worked very well.  The AquaHot was absolutely great and made paying the big dollars well worth it.  The Wrico 10KW generator and Trace inverter also served us very well. 

When the bus engine spit up a couple of years ago, we bought a new motorhome to allow us to make our trade show commitments.  We put the motorhome into a rental fleet to help offset the obscene costs.  This motorhome just drove me nuts.  I almost grew to hate the thing.  It was underpowered, had no inverter (had to run the generator to watch TV) and almost everything came loose or fell off the darn thing.  I wote a letter to the president and listed three pages of problems including several safety-related issues.  With the bus, it was absolutely great to have all of the systems working, to be so comfortable, and to be able to boondock for long periods of time. 

[Brian Diehl]

Awesome Jim!  I'm so glad to here it went well for you.

What was your average MPG?

[Greg Roberts]

Great to hear that you had a good trip Jim. There really is no comparison between a bus and a stick & staple rig. I assume your significant other likes the bus better too?

[rv_safetyman]

Brian, according to the electronic dash (Silverleaf VMSpc) the total trip mileage was 7.3 MPG.  On the way out to San Diego, we had to hit it at 70 - 72 MPH in order to make up for starting a couple of days late.  On the way home, I slowed down to about 68 MPH, but there are a lot of big hills between Pomona and Evergreen.    I think that the engine need to have the valves and injectors adjusted.  I have no way of knowing when that was done last and the engine does not seem to be delivering the full 470 HP.  Of course, I am pretty heavy.  I had the bus weighed in Pomona at the FMCA show by the folks who weigh each side of each axle, and we were at 36,500.  We were also towing a Dodge Durango (5,000 lbs?).

The AutoShift worked great.  The engine RPM was 1300 at 60 MPH. 

Eagle 20, YES, my wife was VERY happy with both the bus and not having to listen to my bitching.   During part of the trip, it got very cool in the evening.  We felt so safe, comfortable, and cozy!!  One of the biggest bitches I had about the motorhome was that there was almost no heat in the bathroom and it was so cold stepping out of the shower.  With the bus we have an AquaHot heat exchanger in the bathroom and get it toasty for when we take a shower.

For those of you who think about giving up (I sure did!), hang in there, it is really worth it!

[Brian Diehl]

That is great Jim!  I think your mileage is very respectable given the amount of weight you were pulling around.

[Sammy]

JIm, just make sure the DDEC engine parameter is set to 470. Maybe it was de-tuned before you got it.
Mileage sounds lke it's on the money. Series 60 is an awesome powerplant.
Congrats on your "break in" cruise.
Sammy 

[FloridaCliff]

Cogratulations Jim

All that hard work and set backs at first have really paid off.

You are an inspiration to all of us.

Thanks for sharing your adventure.