Start Of Our Last Day Before Paint

Start Of Our Last Day Before Paint

So day 7 has come and gone. It was a short day for us as we were running a little behind in time. So today was more of a catch up day.

We were supposed to be waiting in the paint queue first thing this morning to head to Belmont, Mississippi (only 6 miles up the road) where the paint factory is. Instead we started off heading to undercoating. which originally was on the schedule for yesterday.

Entering The Undercoating Garage

Entering The Undercoating Garage

They first start off on the ground and spray the undercoating all up under the dash. This is a very important step as underneath the dash is all open. So it can get cold.

Then it’s time to go up in the air.

Undercoating Under The Dash

Undercoating Under The Dash

Spraying The Under Side Of The Coach

Spraying The Under Side Of The Coach

The team then goes underneath the coach and starts spraying away.

This whole process is not long. Maybe half an hour.

This Is What The Undercoating Looks Like

This Is What The Undercoating Looks Like

Entering Mechanics Shop

Entering Mechanics Shop

So after all the undercoating is done, it’s off to the mechanics shop for some alignments and a test drive to see if everything mechanically is working properly.

Aligning Headlights

Aligning Headlights

Aligning Headlights

Aligning Headlights

At the first station they hook up this handy dandy machine and align the headlights.

Remember the days when the mechanics would just shine the lights on the garage doors to align them? Well now they have this interesting looking machine that reads where the headlight is pointing and tells the mechanic what adjustments he needs to made.

When he was done with that part David looked at where the headlights were shining on the garage door and he didn’t think that they looked right. So later on we looked at the paperwork and the notes from the mechanics shop and sure enough, in the headlights section it stated that our drivers side headlight was not adjustable. So when the coach comes back from paint and goes through another inspection they will have to pull that headlight and replace it.

Sometimes technology will only get you so far.

No worries. I’d rather find out now than when we’re driving down the road blinding people with our misaligned headlight.

Alignment Station

Alignment Station

Fixing The Alignment thingy To The Wheel

Fixing The Alignment thingy To The Wheel

Then it was on to the next garage door station down for an alignment. The mechanic hooks up this thingy (yes, that’s the technical term for it, I’m sure of it) to the wheels and then he climbs underneath the coach to adjust the alignment while another guy is in the driver’s seat turning the wheel and checking the computer. The computer tells him whether it needs to go left or right.

Mechanic Adjusting The Alignment

Mechanic Adjusting The Alignment

The Computer For The Alignment

The Computer For The Alignment

Once the mechanics were certain that they had the alignment right it was time for a test drive.

They asked if we wanted to go for the drive.

Really?

Of course we do!

Quite honestly, this would be the first time that we have ever driven in a Tiffin Motor Home, let alone an Allegro Bus 45LP.

Some people have asked us why we would buy a motor home without driving it first. Well, if you think about it, you only spend about 3% (guess) of the time actually driving the coach. The rest of the time you are parked somewhere enjoying life as you know it. You only drive it from point A to point B. Then it sits again. Not to mention, anything that we get would be a vast improvement over what we have now in our current coach. So comparing the coaches when we were looking around for a new one, we were most interested in floor plan, livability, functionality and the mechanics. How the coach handled was only a small portion of our comparisons. Not to mention, David never wanted to be able to say…Boy did coach X drive nice and have that in his mind.

Test Drive After Alignment

Test Drive After Alignment

So our impression.

N-I-C-E!

It was smooth, handled the corners without leaning as it has and in motion correcting air ride system in it like buses and the expensive Prevost do. (Same system actually as Prevost.) It was much quieter than what we have now even without any slide seals in it. (Not kidding.)

We can’t wait!!!!

So after passing the test drive, the mechanics were done with it and it was ready to head to the paint shop in Belmont. Finally!

Sitting In The Paint Queue

Sitting In The Paint Queue

So there it sits.

In Belmont.

Waiting to start the paint process our 45LP build #96415 sits ready for a make over. (We did not much care for the gray look of the clouds.)

We’re going to have some footage of this process too but I think we’ll save you all from watching a time lapse video of paint drying. But actually, they have this process down so well that they can paint this couch in a day with the help of a small army and some big heat rooms that dry the paint very quickly by more or less baking the coach in a big oven.

Oh…

One last thing…

You know we have to be different and not do the same paint schemes as everyone else out there. No offense, but we like to be different. We don’t want to ever pass ourselves as we are driving down the road or park next to another Bus that looks exactly like ours.

So this is what we came up with.

Introducing “Solar Storm”. A David and Brenda Bott original color mash up. (Click to enlarge)

Our Custom Colors for our 45LP Allegro Bus

Our Custom Colors for our 45LP Allegro Bus

(We were not allowed to change the design. Sigh. But we also can understand that they are not a custom paint shop and really can not have delays in the process.)

Note: This is a rendering of the paint, so the colors are not exact. It’s more just to give you an idea of the color connection. We named it Solar Storm as the color changing seems like it would be caused by solar effects…and it is…as three of the paints change color hues based on the sun light.

Something to keep the anticipation up. :)

Here is a quick one minute video from today…

And the photos. Please click Show PicLens for best viewing…