Yesterday we attended the RV Show in Hershey, PA. We were very excited to attend the show after listening to all the hype on the Roadtreking Podcast for the past few weeks. After dropping the dogs at doggy day care, we arrived at the show by 10:30 AM. The highlight of our visit was meeting Jim Hammill, the CEO of Roadtrek, but we’ll get to that later…
First we went inside the arena to check out the vendor booths, where we visited the large Camping World display of items, picked up a brochure from Sun Resorts, and purchased several bottles of “Touch of Purple,” since we are always looking for better ways to clean our glasses and electronics. Visit their website at www.purplecleaner.com. We also picked up product information from Pioneer Pole Buildings, since we are interested in adding a storage facility (garage) for our Roadtrek. (Notice how empty the stands are. Not too much home team support apparently.)
Then we went outside to search for the Roadtrek display. After getting stuck in a maze of bumper-to-bumper Jayco and Forest River trailers, we finally made our way over to the Class B area, which included Pleasure Way, Leisure Travel Van, and, of course, Roadtrek. We went inside a few of the models (CS Adventurous, 2016 Zion, and a 2016 E-trek). We agreed that we still prefer the floorplan of our E-trek rather than the CS Adventurous. Even though the CS Adventurous has a much larger refrigerator and two stove-top burners, we like our “open-floor plan” which allows an unobstructed view from the driver’s seat to the rear of the unit. Despite our problems charging our batteries, we still prefer to be propane-free.
We couldn’t resist looking at the Leisure Travel Van Serenity and Unity, two models we had considered during our decision to purchase the RV. Then we spotted their spokesperson, Dean, who stars in their great demo videos which we had watched on YouTube many times. He was just as animated in person, and many people, unfortunately including us, wanted to be photographed with him. Dean could not have been friendlier and more accommodating. He demonstrated the Unity’s Murphy Bed for us. “Amazing!”
Although there was a lot of excitement surrounding the new “EcoTrek” technology, we did get a chance to speak with Jim Hammill between prospective buyers to discuss our E-trek for a while. We inquired about retro-fitting the new lithium ion “Ecotrek” batteries; however, since the demand is so high for new models, the retrofits are not yet available. Jim assured us that our AGM batteries will perform much better once the balancer has been installed
We told him that the Roadtrek service technician has been keeping us updated on the repairs to our unit. The balancer is due at the factory Monday, September 21st. After that is installed, they will test all of the batteries to make sure that everything is working, including, of course, the underhood generator (including infamous serpentine belt) as well as the solar. We are very anxious for the return of our E-trek. We recently applied for Passports, so if they arrive in time, maybe we will fly up to Kitchener so we can drive our E-trek home…
Once the balancer is installed, did the tech or JH say how much longer the battery should last? Is the balancer something that needs to be placed on all E-treks?
Jim did not give specifics, but he said the balancer would make a big difference. From what I’ve read, the balancer is recommended for all E-treks with the AGM batteries; however, if I were purchasing a new E-trek, I would wait for the lithium ion batteries (i.e., the EcoTrek system). We will certainly be testing the performance of our batteries once we get our E-trek back. Hopefully we can run the AC longer, etc.