Monday morning couldn't arrive soon enough! I was off to the Tiffin Plant at 5:30 am to see the first real day of the build. Grabbed a quick breakfast at Jack's then headed to the plant only to find that Mr. Tiffin now won't let non-workers in until 7:00 am. So I "cooled my heels" in the office talking to a couple of other new owners - learned some things in the process.
Seven-o-clock arrived and in we went. Our coach was just coming our of the welding shop, heading for the bay where the batteries are installed
and the wiring harnesses are routed throughout the chassis.
The boys worked diligently and by 9:00 am the coach headed for the Aqua Hot installation.
By 10:30 am it was into the queue to enter the plant, which it did just as the crew broke for lunch at 11:30 am.
Between 10:00 and 11:30, I took headed back to the campground and talked to the repair center cabinet shop about having some repairs done on the Phaeton. A worker came with me to the coach and the work was scheduled for sometime later this week. Back at the plant, I took a swing arm mount for our mid-coach TV over to the main cabinet shop to see if they could install it on our Bus instead of the fixed mount they normally use. The supervisor was very helpful and said they would be happy to so so.
As per an earlier agreement, I then raced back to the campground at 11:30 and picked up Suz and we grabbed a quick lunch at Jack's. Then it was back to the plant at 12:15. I gave Suz a quick orientation then we headed for our Bus. We watched the installation of the floors
in the bays,
the Magnum inverter/converter,
the water and waste tanks and all the piping connections (which I watched very closely - don't want any leaks here!), the wet bay accessories such as the hose reel, water filters, and so on. The folks on the line were very careful and did what I believe was a great job. They also installed the carpets in all the bays and the slideout tray.
During lulls in the above process, Suz and I headed over to the stations where our walls were being built.
That is an interesting process bringing together steel frameworks, foam insulation, interior finished walls and exterior fiberglass walls. The foam insulation is shaped by two huge robotic routers that cut the necessary channels in the foam for all the electrical wiring, outlets, etc.
The floor is made up of a steel structure with foam insulation in between.
All this was completed on day one and is now ready for the day two installation.
All during the day, we were free to ask the workers questions and watch every aspect of the build. The workers are extremely friendly and went out of their way to explain what they were doing and how things worked. Many asked if there was anything special we wanted them to do. Day two starts at 6:30 am tomorrow with the installation of the floors and tile, the bathroom modules the walls and the roof. Until then, Cheers from John, Suz and Dixie the Wonderdog!
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