Top 5 Good, Bad and In-between of Our Fleetwood Excursion

We’ve been living full-time with Roy the RV for 9 months now and have formed a lot of different opinions about him.  In last month’s crowdsourced content poll, you voted to have us create a video of the best, worst and in-between of the Fleetwood Excursion (we’re shocked that was your choice by the way).

So without further ado here’s where we dish the dirt about our home on wheels.

There are a bunch of little things that we like about this rig from the Sony LED TVs, to the water pump switches throughout the RV, the entry light that turns on when we open the front door, the pet window and so on.  On the other hand there are some little things we don’t like about it from the fans that are too tall for me (Nikki) to reach, to the knob that sometimes grabs us on the way out the door.  But we tried to narrow it down to what we thought were the top 5 Best, Worst and the In-between about our 2014 Fleetwood Excursion.  So, grab a seat (and possibly an adult beverage) as we pick apart poor Roy.

So, what did you think?  Were you surprised by any of our choices?  Just in case your memory is being affected by that beverage, here is a quick recap of our five biggest things in each category:

Dislikes

1. Dometic Awning – Unreliable, ugly hardware, cheap (the motor has been replaced twice) and the wind sensor doesn’t work.  Unfortunately this is the industry standard awning, but we’re trying to get a better one installed in future models.
2. Faucet Fixtures – Kitchen faucet needs to be taller, Shower head is weak and uses too much water, Shower handles/controller doesn’t balance water well and bathroom faucet couldn’t be used without splashing water everywhere.
3. Windows – Prefer the dual pane frameless Windows for security (they are more tinted), efficiency, noise reduction, looks and most important the ‘pop-out’ style that can be left open during rain storms.
4. Swirly Paint Job and Square Design – Compared to Windy, our Monaco Vesta, Roy is pretty average looking when it comes to RVs.
5. Front Windows – no day shade on front window, no day/night shade on side windows, don’t like the curtains at all, yuck!

In-between

1. Residential Fridge – uses a lot of power but doesn’t need defrosting and can hold a lot more food compared to a standard RV fridge.
2. Interior Design/Décor – In no way is this the worst RV interior we’ve seen, but it’s still not our style.
3. Size 33’ – Our dream size is 30’ but we’ve been getting used to a slightly larger RV with the extra space & amenities.  Even at 33 feet we’ve been able to get in all the state parks, national parks and public lands so that hasn’t been much of an issue.
4. Kitchen Space – Nice Working space and countertops, but not enough cabinet space in the right places, and the cabinets aren’t normal kitchen size so filling the cabinets can be awkward.
5. Roof space – it’s great for solar because there’s not obstructions, at the same time I’d really like a vent in the bedroom to get better air circulation.

Likes

1. Composite Tile Floors – Lightweight, durable, easy to replace a single tile, and they don’t crack like porcelain tile.
2. Rear Engine Cummins Diesel and Freightliner Chassis – smooth ride, comfortable air suspension, plenty of horsepower and torque, the RV muscles up mountains with ease and coming down steep grades is no problem because of the engine brake.
3. Washer-Dryer Combo – I made an entire video about how to use and why I love this washer/dryer combo.
4. Drop Down loft bed – great for storage, perfect for the cat playhouse, and way better than a fold out sofa.
5. Pure Sine Wave Inverter – Perfect for Wild Camping, easy integration with solar panels, and there’s multiple outlets wired throughout coach!

If you’re wondering about the quality of the build let’s just say we’ve been pretty hard on Roy these past several months:  We froze his tail off in the sub-zero snow capped Rocky Mountains of CO; we took him down the craziest 20 mile washboard road in da U.P. of MI; we survived two different hail storms in the Midwest; we left him in the middle of downtown Chicago, IL for 10 days while we explored the city; we dusted the heck out of him at Burning Man in the Deserts of NV; and now we’re sitting at 7,500 ft of elevation on top of a rocky mountaintop dirt/rock road in the National Forest near South Lake Tahoe, CA.  We feel if the Excursion can survive a year with us I’m sure it can survive just about anything you can throw its way.

For us the good stuff totally outweighs the bad…and if you ask we’ll tell you “we really like our Fleetwood Excursion, for the price and features within this under 35 foot size, we haven’t found another coach we think would be better suited for us and our crazy lifestyle.”

Let us know what you think about Roy or share a few top likes and dislikes of your RV…we’d love to keep the conversation going for us and for the entire RV industry to see!  So, Share Away!