Upgrade from BFt to 26'RSB

[shilohdad]

Tony,

We have not added any stabilizer, sway bars or upgraded shocks. I find that in general the suspension responds pretty well. I have less sway in cornering with the Born Free than I did with the Roadtrek, virtually none. The shock absorbers seem to damp the bumps about right, certainly much better than the original Roadtrek shocks did - that sucker would bounce 3 times for every bump! The Born Free's back end does come down hard on some road surfaces, such as concrete highways where the slabs have settled at the expansion joints. I read somewhere that the Koni shock absorbers might soften them a bit, but have no experience with them.

The only real problem I have had is in high and/or gusty winds. Then, like most high profile vehicles, it gets pushed around a bit. I just slow down. Coming back from Humboldt, we were travelling in winds of about 35 mph with gusts to 45 to 50 mph. That was not fun, but as long as I didn't try to go fast, I was fine, but it was a tiring day and a half. Also, it was only a problem when the wind was almost directly across the direction of travel. A steering stabilizing like the Steer-Safe might help, I don't know.

So far, I am quite happy with the handling of the rig. In some ways it is even easier to handle than the Roadtrek. I just have to get used to backing it into campsites. I keep thinking it is 20' long instead of 25'!

Maybe some day we will pass each other on the road. We love Amish country, and get there every few years, and an extended Pennsylvania trip is on our to-do list.

[Tonyg]

Joe,

Sorry to bother you again. Spoke to born free and they sent me a photo of the new dinette they are using now. Its called a Villa dinette. When I look at the pictures of the dinette open for sleeping the surface is curved upward in the middle with the head and feet ends lower than the center. I asked Ed Newman about this and he said that it may not have been open all the way. Also that the weight of your body would flatten it out. Do you have the new style and is this just not opened up completely?

Thanks for all your help,

Tony

[shilohdad]

Yes, we have the Villa dinette. It does open up flat. Of course, there are 4 cushion segments, two for each seat that makes up the bed. Perhaps Born Free was attempting to show how the bed works. I will try to take pictures and post again. I find the bed very comfortable, as I said.

Joe

[shilohdad]

Tony, attached are pictures of the Villa dinette in various stages of setup for bedtime.

The bed makes up by first removing the top bolster from each seat (they velcro on). You then lift and pull the front edge of each seat to extend the two seats toward each other. Then you push the seats flat to make the bed. Because my little 5-pound dog sleeps with me, I have to make sure he doesn't slip down between the edge of the bed and the wall (he did that the first night), so I put the removed bolsters in the crack between the edge of the bed and the wall. If you don't like that, they can store on the overcab bed or in the cab seats. The whole process takes about a minute.

I have not shown the removal and stowing of the table, but that takes about another minute or two. I put the table and its separate leg between the driver seat and the forward dinette seat. It fits very nicely there.

[bcope01]

Joe, sure would be sweet if you could get the tops of the bolsters flush with the top surface of the bed when they are stored along the side between the bed and the wall. Perhaps if the dinette was installed a few more inches away from the wall? That way, the bed made up, would be 5-6 inches wider.

Just a thought.

Bill

[shilohdad]

Bill, it might be nice to get the wider bed, but then you would also get a narrower aisle. As it is, because of our living style, we wanted as wide an aisle as we could get. We almost went with two incline beds, which would give the widest aisle. However, then Lucinda didn't have a good place to use her spinning wheel! With the dinette, we can take down the table and its leg, and she has a good place between the dinette seats to put the wheel. Ahh, life is full of compromises.

Joe