Mini Rally - Page 4

Wally Arntzen · 03-09-2009, 09:54 PM

Tuga,

I'm reserved for the 17th thru the 23rd. Looking forward to meeting you.

Thanks much for all of work puting this together, Wally Arntzen

tuga · 03-10-2009, 11:28 AM

Great Wally, looking forward to meeting you also. See you in April.

larryweikart · 03-28-2009, 12:41 PM

I was hopeing our schedule would allow us to be at the get together and pick some brains, but unfortunately that isn't going to happen this time. Hopefully you'll have others scheduled that don't conflict with our racing schedule. My wife just brought me a product for cleaning the leather in our coach. It is absolutely amazing. It's hard to believe how soiled the furniture gets. Maybe some of you have already discovered Mr. Cleans Magic Eraser. If not, it would be a wonderful product to show how easy some items can be cleaned. Have a great time in Texas. Hope to meet many of you in the future. Larry

Richard and Rhonda · 03-28-2009, 01:56 PM

Larry,

Sorry you can't make it.

Are you towing the Smart Car?

Richard

larryweikart · 03-28-2009, 03:09 PM

No, not yet. Looking into making a platform for the hitch, like they have for hauling a motorcyle, that might work for the Smart. We are very impressed with the little bugger!

tuga · 03-28-2009, 04:06 PM

Larry,

Sorry you won't be able to make the Austin mini rally. I have a friend who has mounted a Smart car on the back of his Prevost. If you would like to see some pictures I can email him and see if he would be willing to share his innovations. He doesn't like the fact that he can't back up while towing a car. The installation is really neat.

fulltiming · 03-28-2009, 06:02 PM

It would require a VERY strong hitch but the Smart is so short (slightly over 8-1/2') that you might be able to construct a rack similar to but more substantial than a motorcycle lift that you could drive the car onto from the side and lift it into the air. Since the front ends on large coaches are typically close to being maxed out weight-wise, that would certainly offload weight from the front axle. That would solve several issues: 1) you could back up without worry, 2) you would not be 'towing' so in states that have a lower speed limit for vehicles towing you would not be affected and 3) the weight on your coach would be better distributed. The length of 106.1" makes the Smart Car 4.1" too wide to be legal to be transported sideways unless you could travel with the vehicle tilted somewhat which might create side to side weight balance issues.

We will miss you at the rally.

tuga · 03-28-2009, 08:46 PM

Larry,

My Prevost friend's name is Peter von Schoonhoven and his phone number is 360 901-7611 and his email address pvans@pacifier.com

He is glad to hear of someone else who is considering mounting a Smart to the back of their coach. Peter is a smart guy (engineer) and very detail oriented.

Hope this can help you.

tuga · 03-28-2009, 09:35 PM

Michael,

The Smart car that my friend Peter has is an older one, a 2002 model I think, and it is 101.5" long! It was one of the first one's made. This allows him to carry it E-W instead of N-S. You are correct the newer Smarts are 106.1" long and would be too wide.

I would post the picture of it but I can't figure out how to do it from an email or from Picasa either.

Peter has mounted two metal rods that attach to the top of the rear cap (thru fiberglass & into a piece of metal) & the other end attaches to the carrier. One rod on each side of the lift. This forms a triangle with the back of the bus. I am not sure how it works, but maybe Larry can explain it after he talks with Peter.

Michael you bring up a good point about removing some weight off of the front axle, that would be a big advantage.

larryweikart · 03-29-2009, 12:50 PM

Thanks Michael & Tuga. Good info. When I get home I'll dig into this deeper
I thought the 2" sticking out on each side would be a problem from a "legal" standpoint but, other than that I'm not really concerned. I'm only considering carrying it E-W. Tuga, I'll contact Peter, when I get back and see what he has done. He must not live in the states, if he has an older model. I'll keep you up-dated. Thanks again and have a great time in Texas.

tuga · 03-29-2009, 01:01 PM

Larry,

Peter lives in Washington state. I think his Smart is a 2002 model; he did have it imported into the US. I think that he purchased it on eBay. I really doubt if state police are going to measure the width of your Smart mounted on the back of your Newell. Maybe in California but I doubt it.

In 17 years of motorhoming, I have only been in a tight squeeze once. It was in California on a bridge under construction with concrete barriers on BOTH sides of the single lane. I still can't believe that I made it thru with scraping up the sides of the coach! Boy that was tight!

chockwald · 03-30-2009, 02:16 PM

Good morning Tuga.....looks like another coach will be joining us in Austin. Just saw in the "Introduce Yourself" section that Pete and Debbie of Corpus Christi,TX (coach #422) will be joining us (see post #4 on the Ron Skeen thread). See you in 3 weeks!

ccopel · 03-31-2009, 10:55 PM

Hi everyone from ccopel,

We are Pete and Debbie in Corpus Christi, TX. Just over two months ago Debbie looked at coaches at PPL in Houston using their website. We happened to stay next door at All Star RV Resort and saw how many consignment coaches they had. Independently, I looked at their inventory also. The following week we were in Houston again and I told Debbie that I wanted to stop at PPL to look at a coach I saw on the web. She then told me she also wanted to look at a coach she had looked at on their site. To our surprise it was the same coach, Newll #419. Two weeks later we owned it.
We have loged 1500+ miles since then and loved every minute.
Our next trip is to Austin for the rally. ETA will be Saturday by noon.

See you there,

Pete

Richard and Rhonda · 03-31-2009, 11:34 PM

Hey Pete and Debbie,

Looking forward to meeting you and your coach. Many of us drooled over the coach at PPL.

tuga · 04-01-2009, 01:01 AM

Welcome Pete & Debbie to the NewellClassic forum. Glad to have you on board! Look forward to seeing your coach.

Clarke,

Thanks for calling Pete & Debbie attending the rally to my attention. I added them to the list(see post #30 on this thread) and it looks like we have 15 coaches attending! Hope I counted right!

ikcandco · 04-01-2009, 02:00 AM

From Larryweikart’s Post :

Quote:

Larry Wrote
. . . Looking into making a platform for the hitch, like they have for hauling a motorcyle,
that might work for the Smart. We are very impressed with the little bugger!

»»»»»»»»» 'NewellClassic.com' «««««»»»»» 'NewellClassic.com' «««««««««
«~» Larry, take a look at this idea, by CLICKING HERE
-----------------
May God Bless
KC ~ A~

tuga · 04-01-2009, 12:25 PM

We would like to have a pot luck supper on April 20th (second night of the rally). If each coach could bring a covered dish or desert to the community room I think we can have a nice get together. Karen is making the arrangements to reserve the community room. Further devolpments will be posted.

Any ideas or comments are appreciated.

zcasa · 04-01-2009, 01:48 PM

Tuga and Karen:

Thank you very much for this entire idea and opportunity to meet with fellow Newell owners, many of whom we have communicated with on this Forum. The 20th dinner idea is great. In addition, maybe we could consider having a gettogether on the 19th in the community hall for "Happy Hour". Everyone could bring an appetizer, something to wet the whistle and we could have a social hour of introductions and saying something nice about ourselves? I would be glad to lead the way that evening if you would like?

Have a good day.

David and Denise

chockwald · 04-01-2009, 03:28 PM

Tuga and David...both great ideas....would be great to have an "ice breaker" Sunday evening. Tuga, are we just going to roll the dice and see who brings what, or would you like us to advise in advance "covered", or "dessert"?...not that I'm opposed to a lot of dessert...LOL!

If anyone is bringing their bikes Elaine and I will be taking a bike ride Monday, or Tuesday, and love to have some company.

tuga · 04-01-2009, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zcasa

Tuga and Karen:

Thank you very much for this entire idea and opportunity to meet with fellow Newell owners, many of whom we have communicated with on this Forum. The 20th dinner idea is great. In addition, maybe we could consider having a gettogether on the 19th in the community hall for "Happy Hour". Everyone could bring an appetizer, something to wet the whistle and we could have a social hour of introductions and saying something nice about ourselves? I would be glad to lead the way that evening if you would like?

Have a good day.

David and Denise

David,

That's great; let's do it! We'll all meet @ 5PM at Michael's coach (is that o.k. Michael?).