So the White Rabbit asked, ‘Where should I begin your Majesty’, `Begin at the beginning,’ the King said gravely, `and go on till you come to the end: then stop.’ Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carrol

Background

This site was started about two years after purchasing a Safari Motor Home. My purpose for this website was two reasons, a diary of projects to repair (which quickly turned to restore) a Safari motor home and to then help others that might be faced with similar difficulties.

In 1999 I started driving every month from Bowen Island, BC Canada to Tehachapi, California for work. I could have flown but since I would be gone for at least a week and sometimes two I wanted to bring my wife and our two dogs. We had three dogs but one a 100 lb Akita was too big to smuggle into the motels. The 20+ hour drive was about 1300 mi. We would leave at 4:00 pm Friday drive to Seattle Washington stay overnight, try to drive to Redding California stay overnight and then arrive in Tehatchapi Sunday night sometimes about midnight or later. Depending on how far we drove the first night would determine the stopping point the next night. So the stops varied and any late starts or early endings or longer pauses for lunch or dinner impacted the arrival time and I had to start work at 7:00 Monday morning. Driving that distance there and back again month after month used up two out of the four weekends and took its toll in weariness. Sitting for these many hours in a truck is not like driving a motor home. But as has been said “you get something, you give something up”.

In 2000 we bought a Jayco Designer 5th wheel and did the same trip but with a bit more flexibility. We had a 99 F350 Ford 7.3 diesel to tow the unit. It was a good RV but cold in the winter and it took a lot of time to set up and take down. It was also hard on the truck resulting in a new transmission, brakes and so forth.

Then the 5th wheel caught on fire while we were in a restaurant having lunch somewhere near Portland. We had a problem with the furnace failing to stay running so we had taken the unit to an RV dealer the day before. The following day the fire occurred and the fire was in the slide out that contained the fridge and I think the furnace. Our conclusion was that the propane system for the furnace or fridge had failed and somehow and caused the fire. So we left the 5th wheel for the insurance company to sort out and we were back to driving north to south, south to north in the truck.

Once the insurance claim was finally sorted out (they tottered between repairing and writing off the 5th wheel), finally writing it off. We bought a 2001 Fleetwood Discovery with a Cat 3126B 330hp engine.

We continued the trips north and south until 2004. At times taking trips through the US when time permitted and in 2004 used the Discovery to go across Canada and then down to Washington DC and back home. The Discovery was a good motor home but it was an entry level Diesel Pusher. The hot water tank was located in the rear quarter compartment with no heating or insulation and froze in the Dec winter on the way back, destroying the hot water tank. The cabinets were stapled construction and the counter pulled away from the wall after 60,000 miles of road use. The front cap condensed water that dripped into the TV and onto the dash, the carpets started to unravel and so on. There was no basement in the unit, it had hanging basket compartments under the slide and main body. Therefore there was no heating and a lot of dust got into the compartments and anything not stored in tote boxes and so on. It was a good unit but built as low cost as possible. But that is the basis of the lowest entry point.

In 2004 I left the company and the unit was sold. So we remained without an RV until 2017. We wanted a way to take the extended family which now consisted of one dog and two cats, so we were watching for a unit from time to time. I wanted a diesel and Bev wanted something smaller that she could drive. The Discovery had been 39′ and while she could drive the freeways she never felt really comfortable. The Discovery had air brakes and we both had to take a course at a truck driving school and pass tests with the motor vehicle board, which we did. I drove tandem gravel trucks and heavy machinery through periods in my life so it was not much of a stretch for me, but was quite impressed that Bev was able to crawl under a semi trailer and set the brake systems to pass the test.

So to continue, I looked at the Class C Mercedes and Ford units. Most of these were about 30+ feet and out of our price range. Then I turned to looking for a Safari Trek which I thought would be 30 – 34 foot range and diesel. I had always loved the Trek and the concept of a small unit with a full size living space. The Majic bed was really amazing in my opinion. Our 99 F350 is about 22 feet long so I didn’t think that 8 feet more was a big jump. The problem with the Treks that I looked at, was the engine. The ones I found only had the Chev diesel and my understanding was these were a problem. I had looked into these engines before I bought the Ford. GM had taken a gas engine block as the basis for their diesel engine. This resulted in cracked heads, blocks, failed pistons and a lot of overheating problems. Some people had replaced the original engines with alternatives or changed significant parts of the design to try to over come these problems. By the time I looked into the refurbished Treks they then transitioned to an equivalent Class A with a Cat engine.

Then I found a Class A 2000 Safari Continental that looked externally to be in perfect shape. ‘The eye is never filled with seeing’ as someone wise once said. I did all the usual questions about the mechanics, leaks etc. After showing the on-line pictures to Bev she was also taken with the idea of getting another Class,A even though we would have to drop the requirement of being ‘smaller’.

I have built and rebuilt trucks, cars and houses my entire life. To the point I am thoroughly sick of it. I also had the background and being an engineer and as well had worked for decades in heavy industry so I was not entirely new to the potential problems in a machine this size. But this was also my liability. I didn’t know how much I didn’t know. Too much is dependent the truth of the individual selling the unit and even if they are truthful, they may not know or even bother to look at what they don’t want to know about or see, because it won’t serve their interest. ie…. caveat emptor. So having done what I thought was distant remote diligence, we put down a $1,000 and decided to proceed.

One of the key points of attraction for me was the Safari mural of a Siberian Tiger. The nose on the Tiger mural was exactly the same Tesla shape as the first cat I had truly loved with all my heart, Toonces. Toonces grew from a rescued kitten brought into existence by what appeared to be a visiting Maine Coon, into a 22 lb amazing person. Then one week before I was to go to pick up the coach in Denton Texas he went to the Vet and died under anesthesia. I really never experienced this kind of grief before. I was going to cancel the purchase not caring about the deposit but after a few days of being unable to think of anything else except his death, I decided I had to do something to get my mind off the merry-go-round it was on.

When I arrived at the RV dealer I first checked all the mechanical equipment, then went through the coach. I saw the water damage stains and asked if it leaked. They said truthfully it had, but this was repaired. they had put a lot of Dicor around everything on the roof. Standard fare for most RV’s you see anywhere. The unit had new paint and newer tires (5 years old, no cracks and no tread wear) and appeared to have been owned by people that cared about it. What I did not allow for was they had had all the work done by RV shops, they did none of work themselves.

As is where is… and out of the lot and its yours. There is no warranty and no refund. The first hill I got to going to Camping World about 3 miles away caused the dreaded CHECK ENGINE light to come on, the engine had overheated and then de-rated in power. The first thought was ‘oh… oh, what have I done!’

The next thing was to find an RV Park and try and sort this out. After a lot of tests and searches I found a way to reduce the engine temperature by building an engine spraying system. I had no forum or anyone else to rely on at that time. So I devised a system someone else mentioned for a gas RV that had cooling issues. I could turn on a misting system and spray the radiator using a remote control on hills. Using this method I got the coach to San Diego where I figured out the rad was clogged with dirt and found a way to clean the clogged radiator …. and so on. This is the first project listed on this site.

There followed many more incidents some dealing literally with life threatening issues, and a lot of work. These I will go into in another post.

We have not reached the end as yet, so there is no way to stop.