Blogunity

Specs of this luxury RV:

Condition:Used
Year: 2010
Slide Outs: 4
Make: Renegade
Fuel Type: Diesel
Model: Ikon (Icon)
Length (feet): 45 (says 48 overall)
Leveling Jacks Included?: Yes
Mileage: 23,200
Water Capacity (Gallons): Over 100
Sleeping Capacity: 4
Air Conditioners: 3
Vehicle Title: Clear
Awnings: 1

Specs on the machinery:
Freightliner Cascadia cab and chassis
Detroit 560 HP diesel engine
Allison 6 speed automatic transmission
Twin screw dual rear axles
4 point leveling system
30,000 lb. towing hitch
Backup camera and monitor

The inside has a ton of features. I could list them here, but I’ll post some photos since I know that’s what you all have been requesting anyway.

The cost of $425,000 is reported to be around $300,000 under the cost of a new one.

For details on the trailer itself, click here: Luxury motorhome trailer

Luxury Motorhome Trailer

This is just a continuation of our write up on the Luxury Motorhome that was the show model. The one that had all the features. It got a little long (you can read it here) so we put the trailer details here:

Trailer details:

2010 Ikon 30’ Stacker
Fully painted to match the motorhome
110 volt air conditioning unit
16’ Gemini dragster style lift
6’ base and overhead cabinets with closet
9’ forward attic – holds 2 Harleys or ???
9’ ramp door with electric winch
Rubber coin style floor covering
36” carpeted lower walls in black
54” dual walk-in doors
Electric/hydraulic tongue jack
Quartz exterior lights – two rear and two curbside
Fluorescent indoor lighting
Recessed E-track plus D-rings
Triple axles rated at 7,000 lbs. each
Spring suspension with electric brakes
Polished 16” Alcoa aluminum wheels
AM-FM stereo/CD with outside speakers

Serious Truck Conversion

This is a 1999 150″ double layer custom sleeper on this tractor. It was done by Custom Studio Sleepers in Minnesota (Brooten). They do quite a bit of these raised and double layer custom sleeper conversions, and the trucks they do look pretty well executed.

Looks like their main business is 86 inch truck sleeper conversions. And they point out that if truckers are spending 200 or 300 days per year on the road, and since truckers pay a “heavy price” for the freedom of working on the road rather than in an office — which is, besides the serious issue of time away from families, the constant desire for a more comfortable working environment.

For most truckers and their jobs, it might just not be realistic to get a 150 inch custom sleeper conversion for their truck. So a smaller model, just over half that size, is something truckers might look at, the company points out. They say you get all the essential benefits of a custom sleeper but keep the same cargo capacity (or similar amount) and maneuverability. What do you think of that? Is 86 inches the happy medium for giving up capacity and driveability for more comfortable trucking?

The company says the cost is around half the price of a new pickup for a fully customized studio sleeper to be put on. The Minnesota company gives their phone number out publicly for inquiries (email us for it if you need it, we want to protect their phone line). I just mention it cause its from their website I got these great photos of this big custom sleeper.

For people not near the state of Minnesota, I could track down some local companies if you want to find out about custom sleeper unit prices in your area. Just message me at the website contact. (Photos look best on large screens:)

Giant Sleeper

There has been a lot of discussion on this big sleeper semi. Some people really like them, use them, are ordering them for their vehicles, some aren’t such fans because of the reduced ability to haul loads and other usage issues.

One of the strongest arguments in favor of these big sleepers on semi tractors came from Jay Blanchard, who wrote: ‘Haha, I love all the expert comments. “It’s useless”, “Can’t haul anything”, “Can’t make any money”….y’all crack me up. I have a fairly small sleeper compared to some of my friends, and I go to Miami, New York, Boston, Chicago…..all the big cities. I get around just fine and with an empty weight (truck and trailer) of 44,000 lb….I do just fine. It’s all about the rate and not about the weight. Inform yourself before making wild accusations. Be safe out there everyone!’

The owners themselves also sent us a link to their webpage (link at bottom). They use this truck as part of their “Semi Working Vacation.”

They listed some further details:

MODEL: 2006 Kenworth W900L
Wheelbase: 386
Sleeper: 230 inch ICT sleeper
Engine: 600 Cat
Rears: 336
Length: 39 and a half, bumper-to-bumper
Trailer: 48 foot specialized temperature controlled
Weight: 34,000 for the tractor
Weight with trailer: 54,000
Usual weight of freight: a couple thousand pounds
Total hauling capacity: 24,000

Visit Semi Working Vacation (click here).

The Original Big Rig RV (UPDATED)

This big original toterhome RV has been commented by all kinds of folks so far. The consensus: largely favorable for the large RV.

Big motorhome, RV and semi truck enthusiasts commented on the class of this RV unit, but also noted it might be challenging in a campround or RV park.

Some people wondered about the price these big motorhomes go for. I have seen new ones for around half a million and up, some a bit less. I’ve also seen used but still pretty new ones for a few hundred thousand. I’ve also seen ones that look pretty functional but don’t necessarily have all the luxury RV interior features some of the fancier ones have, and they can be down around $100,000 or less.

Some people also commented on the mix. That’s what this truck is famous for, more or less. It was the first “toterhome” — a large truck chassic and they put a motorhome conversion onto it, to have an RV with a lot of power and size: Ty Cheatham expressed this nicely: “Wow what a nice merge of 2 different types of RV’s. That coach definitely didn’t start out that way, the shell is from an older Prevost 40ft motor coach attached to the frame of the Peterbuilt conventional front end.”

Giving more information about the specs, Akkermans Ca Bill commented, “That is a Prevost put on a Peterbilt well done , I like to see the engine compartment, because Prevo has the engine in the rear, i don’t think that the front has a engine? As well the length is over the lawfull length i guess.”

If anyone knows for sure about where the encine is on this one, let us know for sure and we’ll update this.

A lot of people also commented that this looked like the one LeAnn Rimes or her father had. That’s correct as far as I know. Although this isn’t the one, it is also a Kingsley custom motor coach toterhome. That one is red and we also wrote about it here (link will be added when I locate it).

For the original write up on this big rig custom coach, click here.

What if man was like a Golden retriever?

Today, while I was walking in a park in Rome, I noticed that many English and Italian families have a Retriever. Honestly I didn’t know this breed before today, and now after observing them playing with their most young owners, eating ice-cream with teaspoon, making a kind of pirouettes in the air for catching the Frisbee their families tossed I’m officially a fan of these dogs, I would write even a story about them! But don’t worry I am not going to write it in this exact moment, right now I would like instead to share with you some researches I’ve made about them, especially because they let me thinking about life and human nature, that today more than in any else time are both two very important topics to bring the good and free spring presents in every human being back again in mankind’s story life.

Anyway, in order to answer to the title – question and share with you some info I start telling you what I read on the web.
Pursuant to the web pages the Golden retriever came from Scotland by many crosses especially between the Flat Coated-Retriever and the Tweed Water Spaniel. It is an intelligent, sociable, beautiful, and loyal dog’s breed, very popular in the U.S., but not so much common in Italy (I have some concerns about that from today!) where is used as a retriever dog, family dog, pet-therapy dog and as an assistance dog. It loves playing, jumping, swimming and it adores children, in fact, it is a very calm and sweet although it is full of energy and force of life, so be careful leaving children with them. These temperature’s peculiarities let us to understand some of the obligations their owners have to respect if they care enough for its mental and physical health. Among these obligations the most important are: daily brushing, 40-60 minutes of hard daily exercises, letting them living indoors as they hate to be alone, not to leave food in house’s places where the dog can take it because they like food so much that they will quickly become overweight and at last every Golden needs an early socialization, that is to say they have to be exposure to many different people, sights, sounds, and experiences when they’re young because just in this way the Golden puppy can grow up like a well-rounded dog.

Regarding, instead, its physical characteristics I find that they have a dense, water-repellent outer coat with a thick undercoat. Some coats are wavy, some are straight, but their color is always or light gold or dark gold. Moreover, males are 23 to 24 inches tall and weigh 65 to 75 pounds instead females are generally 21.5 to 22.5 inches tall and 55 to 65 pounds. Golden Retrievers usually reach their full height by one year of age, and their mature weight by two but they keep on loving every sort of a play even after their third birthday.

Finally another thing which makes the Golden retriever a wonderful dog is its loving attitude not just towards dogs of its same breed, but towards every dog breeds and its friendly attitude not just with dogs or human beings but with all living creatures, in fact, with proper introductions and training, can be trusted with cats, rabbits, and many other animals.

Now we have learn a little more about this dog breed we can try to answer to the title-question, even if before answering, let’s try to give an answer to this other question: “How could be a Golden retriever if, being under a spell, became a man?” I ask you that because the answer, we’ll get us to stay on the right track to deliver the painting of the world we could have if man had the same characteristics of a Golden.

Well then, probably each one of you will have his idea but I think that none of you think that the human shape of this dog can be the one of Hitler, if you are an passionate of history, or the one of Mr. Fosco if you are into English literature, or the one of Cain that is e religious character, or the one of Lex Luthor created by Jerry Siegel e Joe Shuster or someone like Drew in “Meet Joe Black” or like Red John in “The Mentalist”, probably you think about it/him more as Gandhi, Abele, Clark Kent, William Parrish or Patrick Jane. So, having established that the human shape of a Golden is the one of the good man we can finally answer to the original question.

If man was a Golden, if he was loyal, friendly, intelligent, full of willing to learn always more, enthusiastic and a true lover for the concept of family, probably the Earth would lack in many actual masterpieces. In fact, probably Michael Jackson wouldn’t have written his beautiful song “Heal the World”, Superman wouldn’t have been created, we wouldn’t got Gandhi’s theory of “Nonviolence”, the most social commitment novels, the great paintings who represents wars, probably Plato wouldn’t have even written the Republic and Thomas More his Utopia and the list, believe me, could keeps on a lot more.

The thing is that, if men were like a Golden, there are no doubts that human history and culture would have much more white pages in their diary, but in the same time we would have and the entire Earth would have along with us much more actual idealistic and artistic works turn into reality! That is to say we’ll probably have much less history of art, literature and philosophy contents to study then now because they will be impoverished of many of their authors’works, but we will live in their fabulous or perfect works missed. So, it would be great, if we could turn us into Golden, don’t you think? Don’t you think that the world would be shiner and every man happier? In any case do you want to know a secret? We could become good and even better than this breed if we really wanted, because everything, which is on the Earth it’s up to everyone who inhabited it, and the mankind’s decision of being like an angel or even worst then a demon is up to us too …

By Agnese Andreocci

Orange 6-Wheeler Offroad RV

This is a MAN KAT 1A1 6-wheel vehicle made by Orangework. This original equipment manufacturer off-road RV kind of reminds me of the hummer. Like what the hummer was to the personal vehicle. So this could be likened to the RV motorhome.

We’ve written about MAN before. They’re a European company. They’re located on the Isle of Man, an island off of Britain. They do a lot of the chassis used in other big vehicles. Lots of those are used for industrial / transportation purposes. This one is for personal RV use.

It’s 32.7 feet long (9.98 meters), 8.3 feet wide (2.55 meters), and 12.7 feet tall (3.90 meters). The machine weighs 18 tons (18,000 kilograms). The wheelbase is 16.4 feet plus 4.9 feet (5000 + 1500 mm). It’s rated for 6 people.

The MAN KAT 1A1 seems to be a more metallic version of the MAN KAT 1, a 3-person RV shaped much like the 1A1 but with wood panneling for the box.

Those 6 wheels do things 4 don’t, like expand the size of the slopes the vehicle can drive up and down.

INTERIOR

Furniture made of plywood with a laminate (HPL) – Surface
Furniture fronts in high-gloss white and walnut veneer
Edged edges with walnut hardwood
Furniture Fittings made of nickel plated brass or stainless steel, adjustable in three dimensions
Compression Latches made of stainless steel
Walnut parquet / stone flooring

Beds
Rear bed 2000 x 1000 mm among airs,
Page x 1000 mm under bed ventilates 2100,
Settee
Seating unit converts to a bed 2430 x 1900 mm
Height-adjustable table base with a walnut solid wood panel
Upholstery fabric Microfiber

Kitchen
Worktop black granite
Gas Cooker with 3 hobs and oven
Compressor fridge / freezer 120/30 l
Base cabinets with drawers, ball bearing with self-closing

Wash room
Granite vanity
Mirror wall cabinet
Stone shower tray
Ceramic Chopper toilet

Bins
Circumferential wall cabinets with adjustable shelves
Wardrobe at the foot of the rear bed with height-adjustable shelves

Should the NFL Consider Realignment?

The 2015 NFL regular season has gotten under way and 32 teams are currently battling it out to determine who will win their divisions and advance to the playoffs. Since 2002 the NFL has upheld its current division and conference alignment where there are 8 divisions of 4 teams each.

This is an easy to understand concept, to be sure. We currently have 4 division winners and 2 wild cards from each conference qualifying for postseason play, and this system has worked for the most part.

However, since we are 13 years into this current alignment, should the NFL start considering a more dramatic realignment of divisions? Taking a look at the current NFL map, it would appear that certain divisions aren’t exactly geographically correct, but rather cater to long-standing rivalries between certain teams. If we consider that traveling could be an issue for these teams, then why wouldn’t we consider a simplified geographic landscape for the NFL so that teams will be able to focus more on who to challenge in their divisions?

One critical question has popped into my head in recent times concerning the current alignment of the NFL, and that question would be this:

Do the separate conferences matter to football fans anymore?

Is there really anything to gain from calling your favorite team the best team in the American or National Football Conference? Does that still matter in this day and age? The AFL-NFL merger came and went back in 1970, and while it remained a novelty of having 2 separate conferences well into the 1980s, the allure of 2 conferences existing appears to have worn off. If anything, no one necessarily remembers the Buffalo Bills of the 1980s and 1990s being the AFC Champions for 4 straight years, but the Bills are instead remembered for losing 4 straight Super Bowls. I don’t think this fact would have lost significance had the Bills played in the NFC instead of the AFC.

Ultimately, and this is my opinion, I feel that the NFL should seriously consider getting rid of 2 separate conferences altogether. One reason for this would be that the NFL doesn’t carry the same kinds of traditions as Major League Baseball, where baseball fans prefer to not have interleague play between the American and National Leagues, though today MLB has to have interleague play because of there being 15 teams in each league.

I believe the NFL has to restore some geographical sense in the way that fans follow their teams, and below you will see my dramatic realignment plan where I propose to have 4 divisions of 8 teams each, with no conferences attached. You will notice a few changes I have made to cater to “geographical common sense”, such as moving the Indianapolis Colts to the north, the Baltimore Ravens to the east, and the Miami Dolphins to the south. The change I didn’t make would be the Dallas Cowboys, who I feel would make a legitimate case for staying in the same division as the New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Redskins. Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones probably wouldn’t allow his team to break away from these rivalries anyway.

NFL East: New England Patriots, New York Jets, New York Giants, Buffalo Bills, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, Baltimore Ravens, Dallas Cowboys

NFL North: Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts

NFL South: Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans

NFL West: San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders, Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, San Diego Chargers, Arizona Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs, St. Louis Rams

As far as which teams would be able to qualify for postseason play under this new alignment, I would propose to have the 4 division winners to automatically qualify for the playoffs while the 8 next best records, regardless of which divisions those teams come from, would also qualify. The 4 division winners would be ranked 1-4 and would each get a 1st Round bye. The #5 ranked team would face the #12 ranked team in the playoffs, followed by the #6 ranked team facing the #11 ranked team, #7 versus #10 and #8 versus #9. The lowest ranked winner in the 1st Round would face the #1 seed in the 2nd Round, and other match ups would follow suit. Instead of Conference Championship Games, they would just be called the Super Bowl Semifinal Games, and the Super Bowl itself would remain unchanged.

I believe a radical realignment such as this one would change how teams prepare for opponents during the regular season, knowing that they would be competing against 7 other teams for a division championship instead of just 3. Division rivals in this new format would play each other once while they would schedule their other 9 games against teams from the other 3 divisions, 3 games from each division preferably. In summary, while the American and National Football Conferences served their purposes back in the day, I believe football fans today are willing to make a change in order to have more structure in scheduling, traveling and divisional competitiveness.

By Steven Vitte