21 - Two years with Orion

Update to October, 2018. We have now had our Orion for two years and have put about 14,000 miles on it. The coach continues to perform well for us and fits our needs well. Since arriving in Colorado for the summer, we have taken one 4-day camping trip in the Colorado mountains (reported in previous post) and a 13-day trip to Branson, MO.

The trip to Branson in October provided a couple of different experiences. While overnighting en route in east-central Kansas, we were in an all-night torrential rainstorm that started about 10 PM and didn't let up until breakfast time. I'm not sure how much rain, but it had to be over three inches. There was a lot of flooding at some intersections in towns and in fields, but we had no delays getting on. The good news was that the Orion was tight and we had no leaks. It was rainy and cool for most of the trip, but we were very comfortable all the time. We saw another advantage of our set-up. Some of our campsites were tight, and being only 24 ft. with no slides was an advantage.

I would have to say that the total of problems we have had in two years is pretty normal and relatively minor overall. One of the low point drain valves developed a slow leak which would cause the water pump to cycle ("burp") every couple of minutes. Very annoying when we were not hooked up to city water and needed to use the pump. I am not fond of the cheap plastic valves Coachmen uses. But I found they can be dis-assembled to replace the O-rings, which solved the problem for now.

The drain valves

Another problem that cropped up was with the rear/side view camera and monitor system. When we started home from Branson, the monitor was stuck on one side camera view and was unresponsive to input from the controls. It was intermittent after that--occasionally working or stuck on one view or not working at all. Now that we are home, it is functioning as if nothing was wrong. I sent a request to Coachmen and got a response of where the control unit is located to do some trouble-shooting. I'm just waiting to see if it misbehaves again.

Coachmen has been pretty supportive to my requests for information. They sent me a set of electrical schematics which I like to have for reference. I have asked twice about the tow hitch capacity but have had no response so far. I want to know if I can tow more that 2000 pounds, up to 3000 pounds because we might consider getting a bigger tow car, like a Ford Fiesta which is about 2600 lbs.
I also took the coach to the Ford dealer for an oil change and for the Transit recall which had something to do with auxiliary wiring. The bad news was that it took four hours to get done while I waited. The good news was my bill for under $100 for elective service. Again, happy not to have a diesel unit and the extra cost.

Finally, since we are not going to AZ until December, I had to do my first total winterizing. Everything was straightforward until I tried to suck antifreeze into the water lines from a container using the water pump. Nothing happened. After some inspection of the plumbing setup, I discovered an in-line shut-off valve between the water tank and pump. Closing that allowed the pump to draw from the antifreeze container rather than the tank. No wonder people pay the price to have a professional do the winterizing. If you don't have the experience and aren't analytically inclined, you would be lost.