[A/S] A/S Safari 25-SS Shake Down Cruise

["Bob Christopher" <bcmail@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hunter, Marcia and I took the Safari 25-SS out for a week. Went from 
Denver to the Black Hills
in South Dakota and had a wonderful time. Thought  you and the other 
listees might be interested
in our experience with a brand new '04 A/S:

1. The 30-Amp electrical cord was defective. The wires were broken 
inside the female end.
Fortunately, no one got fried. I took the connector apart and re-set 
the wires to the
screw terminals. I'll ask for a replacement when I take the trailer in 
for other warranty work.
2. The water pump took about half an hour to prime itself before it 
would work. Water tank was
full before we turned the pump on the first time.
3. The Samsung microwave worked twice, then the turntable failed to 
rotate.
4. The shower leaked like crazy. When I got out I was standing on the 
wet floor. The water ran
under the bed frame, the streetside wardrobe and down the center aisle. 
After mopping it all up
and making sure I got as much as I could without taking the interior 
apart, I secured some
caulk and set about fixing the leak - oh, yeah, I got dressed first ;-)
Turns out the bottom track of the retractable shower door
had no caulk between it and the shower base. I caulked it inside and 
out. There is still a small leak
around the retractable door housing at the bottom even though I've 
caulked it. Not sure where
the water is gettting out. Will leave that for the warranty folks.
5. The L-bracket that holds the mini-blind in place behind the kitchen 
sink was broken.
Will have to get a new one of those so the blind doesn't bang around. 
For now the blind is
all the way up so it can't be damaged.
6. The center aisle floor squeaks badly, sounds as if it is 20 years 
old.
7. The front window stone shield was would not raise up. Took about 20 
minutes and artful
applications of lithium grease spray between gentle nudges to get the 
glides freed up and
operational. We finally did get it to raise and lower without incident.

Now for the good news... In spite of the quality control issues, we had 
a wonderful time
in the A/S. As you know we had misgivings about this floorplan with the 
small bed and tiny
toilet area, but wanted a dinette and sofa. Concerns were alleviated as 
we had no problems
whatsoever using the bathroom or sleeping. In fact, we slept very well 
every night. The Amana
stove and oven worked perfectly as did the Dometic refer/freezer.

The propane tanks never showed a hint of depletion which leads me to 
believe that the gauge is
broken since I am sure we went through at least one tank in 5 days, but 
the green indicator
stayed on. I bought a real propane gauge to put on tank #1 so I can 
actually get a daily reading.
The dinette and sofa were real luxuries that we thoroughly enjoyed. 
Interior storage was
surprisingly ample. Even after fully stocking the unit for the trip, 
and after the usual
shopping excursions during the trip, we still had 3 empty overhead 
compartments and the huge
bin under the bed was empty as well. Ultimately we decided that the 
under-bed container was perfect
storage for good dirty clothes.

The nights in the Mt. Rushmore area were cold, in the low 30's, but 
inside the A/S we were
almost too warm most of the time - furnace works really well and the 
insulation is obviously
first rate. People in the RV park were surprised to see an A/S and 
several wanted tours or
came up to us with fond memories of past A/S experiences. We saw only  
one other A/S in the
area, a new 31' Classic about a mile down the road in another RV park. 
All in all it was a
very positive experience. I wouldn't hesitate to boondock in the A/S 
(which is what we got it
for) once the minor annoyances are fixed. Next up are a pair of Honda 
2000 generators and a
parallel kit.

The only new item we got to try out on this trip was the new Coleman 
Coffee Maker for propane
stovetops. It is essentially a standard drip coffee maker with a metal 
base that sits directly
over one propane burner. The unit works very well, albeit very slow. 
Takes a good 20 minutes or
so to brew 10 cups of coffee. But because the water drips slowly, it 
actually requires about half
the normal amount of coffee. I was able to brew 10 cups of moderately 
strong coffee with only
1/4 cup of grounds. The other nice thing is that the coffee maker can 
be used on any camp stove,
so it is just as useful outside. Walmart had them on sale for $34.99.

Bob Christopher
Estes Park, CO