TravelHawk
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2010
- Messages
- 7
I own a 2013 Leisure Travel Van Unity TB on MB Sprinter 3500 chassis. (Previously I owned a 31ft Winnebago Class A and a 39ft Monaco Class A.)
I like our LTV Unity. But I am surprised at some of the details.
We are already contemplating how to add more house batteries (it was built with two), and maybe a solar panel. These changes might lead to a larger inverter and maybe converter. LTV provides solar wiring, but they didn't provide a way to add batteries, which in my experience is the much bigger need. (Many people think solar gives them more dry-camping electricity, but solar is only a slow battery charger; the quantity and type of house batteries are what dictate how much electricity is available between recharges.) All of this is fixable, but the cost to me will be much more than if LTV had done it at the factory and added a few bucks to the price tag.
We don't care for the folding dining table LTV provided, a constant annoyance. I think the problem is because the table must also be the platform for converting the tiny dinette into a tiny bed. We have no need for that. But to do that the table is awkward in all respects. It's very difficult to squeeze past it to go fore-aft, the leafs hang down banging knees and taking up space, but flipped up their support boards are very difficult to adjust (my wife can't), and the driver-side leaf is up, that person is trapped, impossible to get in/out of the seat. So I've already prototyped a replacement using the folding table design on European trains.
LTV scrimped on the dinky bathroom fan, because actually it's the ventilation for the bedroom area, so we'll be buying the same robust type they put in the front area.
LTV goofed up wiring the ceiling lights. There's a door between living and bedroom areas, and separate light switches for each area -- two light circuits. But ONE light in the bedroom is wired to the living area circuit, so it's a real pain for one person to go to bed while the other works up-front -- there's a huge bright light on in the bedroom. My workaround for this is to disconnect the one bulb, but of course that creates an always-dark area.
Two shortcomings LTV told me are due to Mercedes restrictions:
The chassis battery is not charged from shore power. Apparently, Mercedes forbids this connection. So there's no boost button as is common in most motor homes. I managed to get a dead chassis battery simply by not driving the coach for 3.5 weeks; I think my GPS plugged into the dash 12vdc power killed the battery. I had to buy 24ft jumper cables to reach the long distance from the under-steps house battery to the under-hood chassis jumper posts. I'm contemplating how to add a solenoid and switch to provide a boost feature. Even if LTV can't install this due to Mercedes, I wish they provided the wiring to easily implement it.
The other Mercedes issue is the short rubber tire valves, apparently factory-standard. These make it impossible to check/fill tires without disassembling the fancy chrome tire liners. And being rubber, I think they are too fragile for an 11 thousand pound vehicle. I visited Tire-Man in Ridgecrest, California, where Chuck, the inventory of all-metal vale extenders for duallys (much copied, but Chuck invented them), refitted all six tires. Chuck also added safety straps to prevent loss of the wheel liners; I don't know if LTVs could be lost, but Chuck says to notice how many Sprinters no longer have them.
The Sprinter 3500 chassis is a tad stripped down. The provided MB book goes to great lengths to describe the features of the vehicle, including various vehicle monitoring features (distance to empty, MPG, etc, etc), stuff found on most cars, and on my much cheaper Winnebago, but the LTV chassis doesn't have these features. Alas.
Beware of the claimed 5,000 pound towing capability, because on my coach the actual difference between GVWR and GCWR is much lower.
It is wonderful to have a Sanicon macerator, but the watch the hose. It loops up from under the rear end and I caught it hanging low down where it could be damaged by the road pavement. That would be nasty!
The TV gear compartment is a tad smaller than desirable. I was able to install the Dish Network receiver recommended for RVs (211k) but the small space squishes up the back cables; I hope they hold up.
The dash Sony "radio" is frustrating. So many capabilities are loaded on it that none are satisfying. The volume knob (the only knob) controls several things, and almost every time I try to adjust volume, I bump it (bouncing down the road) and something else happens, usually changing from whatever I'm listening to. So I must then take my eyes well off the road to figure out how to get it back. The installed Tom-Tom GPS drives me nuts; maybe I don't "get" how they do things, but I added a Magellan GPS and ignore the Tom-Tom. There's SiriusXM too but I don't care to pay that much; local radio when traveling is more interesting and provides useful local info. The backup and side cameras also use the Sony screen, but there's a 3 to 4 second delay before the image appears, much too slow to be of any use while driving. Also, it's not possible to watch the rear camera continously because a button must be held in, and the Sony starts displaying warning messages. At least the rear camera switches on when in Reverse, but again after 3-4 seconds. It's really annoying.
To be clear: I like this motor home very much. I love to drive it, and that was the big reason for buying it. But it's frustrating to encounter shortcomings that seem unnecessary.
I hope this info is useful. Questions are welcome.
I like our LTV Unity. But I am surprised at some of the details.
We are already contemplating how to add more house batteries (it was built with two), and maybe a solar panel. These changes might lead to a larger inverter and maybe converter. LTV provides solar wiring, but they didn't provide a way to add batteries, which in my experience is the much bigger need. (Many people think solar gives them more dry-camping electricity, but solar is only a slow battery charger; the quantity and type of house batteries are what dictate how much electricity is available between recharges.) All of this is fixable, but the cost to me will be much more than if LTV had done it at the factory and added a few bucks to the price tag.
We don't care for the folding dining table LTV provided, a constant annoyance. I think the problem is because the table must also be the platform for converting the tiny dinette into a tiny bed. We have no need for that. But to do that the table is awkward in all respects. It's very difficult to squeeze past it to go fore-aft, the leafs hang down banging knees and taking up space, but flipped up their support boards are very difficult to adjust (my wife can't), and the driver-side leaf is up, that person is trapped, impossible to get in/out of the seat. So I've already prototyped a replacement using the folding table design on European trains.
LTV scrimped on the dinky bathroom fan, because actually it's the ventilation for the bedroom area, so we'll be buying the same robust type they put in the front area.
LTV goofed up wiring the ceiling lights. There's a door between living and bedroom areas, and separate light switches for each area -- two light circuits. But ONE light in the bedroom is wired to the living area circuit, so it's a real pain for one person to go to bed while the other works up-front -- there's a huge bright light on in the bedroom. My workaround for this is to disconnect the one bulb, but of course that creates an always-dark area.
Two shortcomings LTV told me are due to Mercedes restrictions:
The chassis battery is not charged from shore power. Apparently, Mercedes forbids this connection. So there's no boost button as is common in most motor homes. I managed to get a dead chassis battery simply by not driving the coach for 3.5 weeks; I think my GPS plugged into the dash 12vdc power killed the battery. I had to buy 24ft jumper cables to reach the long distance from the under-steps house battery to the under-hood chassis jumper posts. I'm contemplating how to add a solenoid and switch to provide a boost feature. Even if LTV can't install this due to Mercedes, I wish they provided the wiring to easily implement it.
The other Mercedes issue is the short rubber tire valves, apparently factory-standard. These make it impossible to check/fill tires without disassembling the fancy chrome tire liners. And being rubber, I think they are too fragile for an 11 thousand pound vehicle. I visited Tire-Man in Ridgecrest, California, where Chuck, the inventory of all-metal vale extenders for duallys (much copied, but Chuck invented them), refitted all six tires. Chuck also added safety straps to prevent loss of the wheel liners; I don't know if LTVs could be lost, but Chuck says to notice how many Sprinters no longer have them.
The Sprinter 3500 chassis is a tad stripped down. The provided MB book goes to great lengths to describe the features of the vehicle, including various vehicle monitoring features (distance to empty, MPG, etc, etc), stuff found on most cars, and on my much cheaper Winnebago, but the LTV chassis doesn't have these features. Alas.
Beware of the claimed 5,000 pound towing capability, because on my coach the actual difference between GVWR and GCWR is much lower.
It is wonderful to have a Sanicon macerator, but the watch the hose. It loops up from under the rear end and I caught it hanging low down where it could be damaged by the road pavement. That would be nasty!
The TV gear compartment is a tad smaller than desirable. I was able to install the Dish Network receiver recommended for RVs (211k) but the small space squishes up the back cables; I hope they hold up.
The dash Sony "radio" is frustrating. So many capabilities are loaded on it that none are satisfying. The volume knob (the only knob) controls several things, and almost every time I try to adjust volume, I bump it (bouncing down the road) and something else happens, usually changing from whatever I'm listening to. So I must then take my eyes well off the road to figure out how to get it back. The installed Tom-Tom GPS drives me nuts; maybe I don't "get" how they do things, but I added a Magellan GPS and ignore the Tom-Tom. There's SiriusXM too but I don't care to pay that much; local radio when traveling is more interesting and provides useful local info. The backup and side cameras also use the Sony screen, but there's a 3 to 4 second delay before the image appears, much too slow to be of any use while driving. Also, it's not possible to watch the rear camera continously because a button must be held in, and the Sony starts displaying warning messages. At least the rear camera switches on when in Reverse, but again after 3-4 seconds. It's really annoying.
To be clear: I like this motor home very much. I love to drive it, and that was the big reason for buying it. But it's frustrating to encounter shortcomings that seem unnecessary.
I hope this info is useful. Questions are welcome.