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2007: RV Purchase Page 2
Cameo F35SB3
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| February 18, 2007: Almost a year ago, I installed the "Xtreme Vents" onto the RV holding tank vent pipes of the King of the Road. They were $45 each at the Spring Escapade. I'm not leaving them on the KOTR but removing them to transfer to the Cameo. |
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The plastic replacement caps are only $1.59. Think about it, these caps come standard on new trailers. As I recall, this is what I removed from my KOTR when I installed metal replacement caps. The constant exposure to the sun reduced them to powder and they fell apart as I removed the original plastic covers. |
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| I'm also removing the MaxxAir vent covers which I installed some time ago. The cover to the right is not very expensive, about $25, however the MaxxAir cover for the Fantastic Vent is about $80. The Cameo has only two roof vents so I need not remove all four vent covers from the King of the Road. Both Cameo vents are powered. The bathroom vent has a small fan similar to this one to the right. The kitchen vent is a Fantastic Fan which requires the more expensive cover. |
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February 20, 2007: This is a step up from the 30 amp King of the Road connection. We often find ourselves in cold weather with free electricity connections. We use two 1,500 watt radiator style heaters to heat the interior but that uses most of the 30 amps. When both heates are at maximum, we can't use the electricity for the hot water heater. In theory, this 50 amp marine connection will solve the problem except the two RV parks where we spend most our time, Howard Prairie Lake Resort and Applegate Mobile Home Park have only 30 amp connections. At least it won't be the trailer circuit breaker disconnecting, it will be the park's 30 amp breaker. |
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| February 23, 2007: Here are the two holding tank valve release levers. This certainly has me concerned ... looks like an accident waiting to happen. The levers are at least 18 inches in length and ready to catch and bend on some branch while backing into a tight spot. If that doesn't happen, what a funny joke it would be on me when someone pulls a lever, fills the |
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| pipe, then replaces the lever. I get a face full of raw sewage when I release the cap to hook up. Maybe it will never happen, I hope not but none of my KOTR valves are accessible without a key. As several RV salesmen pointed out, you can't have everything. I'll report if I find a solution to holding tank valve security/safety. Note the stablizer jack in the background. I might like this better than the "scissors style" I currently have on the KOTR. |
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February 24, 2007: In the basement of the Cameo is the central unit for the Dirt Devil central vacuum system. This was a relatively expensive vacuum system compared to our current Bissell. When looking at our vacuum page, you'll see we have struggled with the vacuum decision. They always seem to be in the way. The Central Dirt Devil comes with a 30 foot hose so the entire coach can be reached from a central location in the trailer. There is also a basement hose connection to reach basement areas and also the tow vehicle. |
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February 25, 2007: This view of the interior of the Cameo F35SB3 shows many of the reasons why we liked this floor plan above the others. First, note that I did not take this photo, the only F35SB3 we saw had a Cherry interior so all my photos are of a Cherry interior. We ordered a Maple interior similar to this photo. The entrance door is into the kitchen area and the middle of the coach. This is much better than our King of the Road with the entrance into the living area toward the rear of the coach. Note the step down to exit through the door. There are three exterior steps as with our KOTR, this first step down puts the last exterior step 9 inches closer to the ground. I had to build a landing platform to compensate with the KOTR. This view is looking toward the bathroom/bedroom area of the coach. Unlike most fifth wheels, you can't see into that area from the kitchen/living area. The rounded wall leads you up the three steps to the bathroom door. At the base of the rounded wall is the site to attach the central vacuum hose. The island kitchen doubles the Corian counter top space. The refrigerator is to the left on this side of the photo. There are two pullout pantry areas. One to left next to the refrigerator and one on the far side of the counter facing the entrance door. We have asked for a darker carpet and laminate flooring in the entrance and kitchen rather than the linoleum.
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February 27, 2007: These are the steps into the bathroom, bedroom area. You can click the photo for two larger views. I did not photograph this view but wish I had. This is the part of the coach which gives a very comfortable, welcoming, estate feeling. The three steps to the bathroom and bedroom doors feels like a home staircase rather than the typical ramp to another |
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| level. The feeling comes from the curved wall and odd shape of the stairway. It's also the French door into the bedroom and large window at the top of the stairs (can't see the window from this angle). The French door to the bedroom offers sound privacy when closed but still allows the light from the large window to enter the bedroom. The door also has a privacy shade if needed. You can see one of the pantry closets to the right of the counter top and left of the stairs. This pantry has individual drawers to allow easy access to stored items. You can also get a peak at the laminate flooring we have ordered. This is the lighter carpet, we have ordered a darker carpet and the Maple cabinets. The central vacuum controls are at the base of the stairs. The Fantastic fan remote control and furnace control center are to the left of the mirror. |
| March 2, 2007: Looking across the bed and out the door into the hallway. At the far end of the hallway is a floor to ceiling linen closet. The French door to the bedroom is open, the large window is behind the opened bedroom door. Note the closet to the left of the bed for shelf or hanging storage. The curved wall leads you into the main part of the bedroom. The one halogen light above the door is one of several in the bedroom. These are controlled by a dimmer knob so light can be adjusted from very low levels to the full-on position. The bathroom door is open, that's the door knob you see in the left of the hallway. Furnace intake is at the base of the linen closet. Again, this is Cherry, we ordered Maple. |
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March 5, 2007: This weekend, Gwen and I got the chance to visit a local RV show. It was a single local dealer who had moved his inventory to the county fairgrounds. We walked through a dozen fifth wheels and about the same number of motor homes. None of the fifth wheels were at the quality of either the King of |
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the Road or the Cameo. The most expensive fifth wheel was about $10,000 under the Cameo. I would not have traded my KOTR or Cameo of any of them. The most expensive motor home was $272,000 with only one floor plan which Gwen and I might have considered. We would not have traded for it either.
The photo above is looking toward the foot of the bed. There is a nice large window and window-seat to the left with drawers under the seat. Three overhead cabinets with a cabinet under intended for the bedroom television. There are drawers and cabinet under the TV station. We don't intend to use this TV area for a television. Instead, we will enclose this area for additional storage. The TV will be an LCD model mounted to the left side of the upper cabinet able to swing into place for viewing or against the cabinet for storage. One of the things we noticed while touring the RV show this weekend is that most of the trailers and motor homes give a person the feeling of walking into a "travel trailer". While only one or two of the motor homes gave the feeling of "home". The Cameo F35SB3 gives the feeling of home. One exception to this is the plastic stained-glass-look-alike inserts into many of the cabinets in the trailer. You can see three of those plastic inserts in this photo. Gwen pointed them out saying, "those make it look like trailer-trash". I agreed so we paid a considerable amount to have them removed and solid maple cabinet fronts added. Additionally, most trailers come with day/night shades. The "day" shade is pictured here. We also paid extra for day/black-out shades because the "night" portion of a day/night shade allows light to pass through the shade. |
| March 6, 2007: Here is a little better view of the window seat area. A shelf unit is to the left, with the bottom portion of the cabinet designed for the combination washer/dryer. We did choose the prep for the washer/dryer as an option but don't currently intend to use it. We chose it because it was inexpensive and will give us other options |
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| in that closet since it will have a source for cold/hot water, sewer and electricity. Click the photo for additional views of this closet. There already seems to be plenty of power outlets in this side of the room. The TV cabinet to the right, an outlet behind the plant to the right and one inside the washer/dryer cabinet. In the additional views, you will see some more of those ugly plastic-stain-glass-inserts in the cabinet doors above the washer/dryer cabinet. Those have been replaced with solid maple fronts in our unit. |
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March 8, 2007: Toward the other corner of the bedroom is the one window next to the bed, the other side of the bed is adjacent to the second closet. Each side of the bed has it's own halogen lamp individually controlled plus shelf. We might consider a shelf over the headboard as we did in the King of the Road. We haven't quite figured out what to do with the small shelf in the |
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| center of the photo, perhaps an alarm clock but who knows. One of the other options we purchased is the prep for a second air conditioner in the bedroom. Like the washer/dryer prep, we don't intend to install a second air conditioner. Instead, we plan to install a second ceiling fan and the air conditioner prep will give us the power needed for the ceiling fan. We noticed, when attending the RV show last weekend, the high end motor homes did NOT have a second air conditioner in the bedroom but had a second ceiling fan directly over the bed. So we are not the first with this idea. I can't imagine trying to sleep with an air conditioner operating above our heads. A quality ceiling fan is silent. |
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