Friday, April 29, 2016

Friday Day 7 - We Have Paint!

We had a look late today after it went through the first two paint steps. It looks dull now until it gets the two clear coat applications. The clear coat applications start on Monday so by Tuesday afternoon it will really shine. 

It really rained hard here when a storm came through after we left the plant. I should have taken a photo of the storm. Reports were 3 inches of rain in an hour. That provided a real leak test on our current Tiffin 34tga motor home. No leaks to report and it cleaned it better than a hand wash. 

Here it is between paint booths. This place is huge with 12 paint booths and many more work spaces. The motor home is is almost 42 feet long so you can see how big the building is. It's also a very clean plant, using modern paint dust and fume extraction. This was just before quitting time on Friday afternoon so it looked like things were winding down for the week. I would rather have my clear coating started on Monday!
Preparing to touch up the stripe colors was the last step today.
The nose extends out because the 10 KW diesel generator is on slide rails like a big kitchen drawer, making access easier for service work. The generator exhaust pipe is at the lower front corner.


Thursday, April 28, 2016

Thursday Day 6

A slow day for us since we could not get into the sanding/paint prep area. We did get a look late this afternoon as they started the masking process. The base coat of paint will be applied tomorrow. It goes into a high temp baking process when painting is finished. Next week it receives two coats of Super Clear Coat and gets baked in the oven again next Tuesday. 

The masking work takes several people. 
They must have a huge bill to pay for all the tape they go through in a day. 

The interior of the external "basement" cabinets are all sealed off with plastic sheeting 
to prevent paint spray and dust from entering the cabinets. 
We saw over a dozen motor homes line up for the paint booths.

They told us that it will look much better by Friday afternoon.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Wednesday Day 5

Our motor home exited the main factory at noon. This morning was mostly interior cleanup and adding the interior doors in the bathroom and bedroom areas. After that it went for some undercoating work and front end alignment. It ready to go to the Belmont MS paint building. We followed it over there (about 4 miles). Tomorrow is paint prep day (sanding) so we will not be there for that work

Leaving the main assembly plant.
It will return to Red Bay for more work after it's great paint job at Belmont MS.
It will look like a real motor home next Wednesday. 

Additional undercoating

My first look from the bottom end. Looks a bit difficult to work on.

Good front end alignment to double check wheel tracking and toe in adjustment.

Modern alignment equipment. Much better that what I used 45 years ago as a GM mechanic.
Back then it was done with mirrors. Now it's a light beam.

Supervisor gives it the first test drive.

We rode along for our first ride in it. Here we are crossing back into Alabama.
Red Bay city limits are on the state border in Alabama.

A short trip and it's at the Belmont MS paint facility.
This is the sanding building where it will be most of the day Thursday.
We will visit later in the afternoon to check on progress so we get a day off to rest! 

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Tuesday Day 4

Today was had less action to photograph. The work was all interior finishing. Cabinet doors, dash board, TV's, DVD and lots of inspections by the quality control people. There were about 15 different Tiffin workers running in and out all day. Here are a few photos from today.

Inspectors were inside for almost 2 hours checking everything.
Green tape is used to indicate a problem with operation or fit & finish.

The driver cockpit is now operational. There sure are plenty of switches and indicators. All this just to drive the motor home! The seat was installed after this photo was taken.
I have to drive this rig in about 4 weeks.

The residential style frig is in and working well. Cabinet work is near completion. The doors were all installed later in the afternoon. The installer said there were a total of 89 doors to install.

The TV's are all quite complex. Not just the old RG6 cable to each set. CAT-5 cables and multiple HDMI cables plug in everywhere. This is behind the front cabinet, TV mounted to the left of this.

Center TV is in and working. We watched the Santa Clause DVD staring Tim Allen (The Tool Man). The Tiffin crew had to work so they missed the movie.

Monday, April 25, 2016

Monday Day 3

Monday started out with activity inside and ended with all the doors and most of the interior finished. There are still 1 1/2 days of mechanical assembly then it goes to the Belmont MS paint building for another five days. Here are a few photos from day 3.

There are 4 slide outs. This is the bedroom right side.

Slide getting close

One slide is in place

Bathroom slide is larger. Two others up front are much larger.

Exterior doors are next and there are about a dozen doors.

Front driver side slide is in with large sofa bed.

Here it is before the doors were installed.

Going back in the plant for the next 6 work stations. It's just a big gray box but the paint work next week at Belmont will look much better.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Friday Day 2

Tiffin employees did a lot of work on Friday. The interior cabinets are in, walls are up, roof was installed late in the afternoon. Here are some selected photos of the 200 I took today.
Monday will be day 3.

Got to have a nice shower
Electric fireplace is needed
Front end coming together
Side walls being attached
Here comes the roof about ready to install
Interior cabinets
Roof is attached and lights are on
Rear fiberglass cap is attached
AC units are being installed while other workers are inside below

It's Friday and time for the weekend.
Back on Monday at 6:00am

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Thursday Day 1 Our New Motor Home Begins

April 21 starts construction of our Tiffin Phaeton 40AH diesel pusher motor home. Here are a few of the 200 photos I took today. More tomorrow........

Lots of electrical work

Cummins 380hp turbo diesel

Exhaust system with plenty of pollution stuff

Front mounted 10 KW diesel generator

Water control panel

Sub-floor ready to bolt to the frame

Ceramic tile flooring installed in one huge piece almost 40 ft long
Tile floor in place, end of day one

Red Bay Alabama @ Tiffin Motorhome Factory



This is our home for the next month. We are two blocks from the factory gate so walking distance to watch our new motorhome on the assembly line.The process starts Thursday at 6:00am. 

You can locate us at http://findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=K9GPS-13 to find us in Red Bay.



Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Getting Ready


We plan on taking our trip to Alabama on Monday April 18. Here are some last minute details.

Another thing I will not need to do.
Mark likes to cut thing up.

Mark worked hard to cut up my tree. Thanks for the help Mark!

Jim and Carol have a new slightly used mower. Now I can't mow any more grass.

Last dinner with Mobilcomm friends. Thanks Jim & Nancy. We will see you again later this year.
Monday April 18 we are ready to roll out for Alabama.