New Safari Cheetah Owner

Introducing... you! Say hi and tell us a little about yourself. Attach a picture of your coach if you like.
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Marci Salive
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2021 9:08 am

New Safari Cheetah Owner

Post by Marci Salive »

Thank you for accepting my registration request!

I was referred by Robert Lewis on the Facebook Safari Motorhomes Owners Group.

History: Back in the early 90's my former husband and I owned a 26' Class C and then a I think a 33' Winnie Adventurer (we purchased brand new) We were raising Great Danes and I was going to a lot of dog shows on the west coast. Back then I would see the new Safari's on the highways all the time and I wished then we could afford one. I used to take the motorhome off to Oregon, Idaho, even Texas alone and had no problems handling things. Then we got divorced, stopped dog shows and raising Danes and sold the coach.

Fast forward 25+ years. I'm now in my 60's, my husband is quite a bit younger than me and has had no experience with Motorhomes. We bought a tract house 13 years ago in South Carolina. He's Canadian, the company he words for moved down to Gastonia, NC. A couple years after moving down and buying the house we went through the expensive process of getting him permanent resident status. Since before we met each other, we spent a LOT of time on our computers (he still does) but I have stopped 'gaming' as I feel it's already sucked 20 years of my life away. I've been feeling pretty confined to my home and the pandemic measures just really brought it to a head. Last December, my mother passed away and left me a modest amount of inheritance. I spent some months thinking about what I might do that would better fulfill my days. We have 3 whippets, so going anywhere is complicated. Most hotels don't allow dogs and when they do, often there is a per dog, per night fee. And you can't leave them in a room when you go out to dinner, etc. Before this time, buying a motorhome was completely out of the question due to costs. I started out first looking at small trucks and campers. Then used Diesel 350's and a 5th wheel. When I got really serious that this is what I felt would make our lives better we went to a Dealers lot, so my husband (6'2" and 335lbs or so) could walk through them and see what he thought. I knew he didn't like to be in any small/tight places. Afterward when I asked him what he thought he said, "They were not as small as he remembered." That was a YES to me and I dove in shopping FB marketplace adds, RVT and other sites. Eventually, I thought... maybe we could afford a Class A, so started looking. Most of the coaches I liked were Monaco's and of course the Safari's. I didn't want to spend all the money from my Mom buying the coach, so I shopped for financing. I found there were limitations on what we could choose based on the year of the coach. Basically it came down to anything 2001 - 2008 was a pretty high finance rate even with our excellent credit or 2009 and newer for a much more reasonable rate. It was pretty much impossible to find anything that new in our budgeted monthly payment. I wanted to be sure we had money set aside for maintenance, repairs, etc.

Anyway, I started only looking for Safari's... I really wanted a mural on the back. It was one of the most memorable parts of seeing them all those years ago. We did go look at a few other coaches as well. I found a nice one at a broker in St George, SC that I drove down alone to see. It was a 2004 Cheetah and had been Repo'd. The outside was pretty pristine and the inside was in pretty good shape, but it smelled a bit musty and they'd had it since November. My husband got real negative about it, but I put a non refundable deposit on it anyway... then on the way home I pulled over into a dirt parking lot and when leaving forgot the culvert that was on either side of the driveway out and damaged our Odyssey and spent 4 days stranded down there while an amazing garage in Summerville worked to find parts and repaired it. The same day I looked at that coach so did someone else and they purchased it and luckily I got my deposit back. A few weeks later I flew up to Baltimore, MD to see another Cheetah. It had numerous places of evidence of leaks. So, I passed it up.. (both of those coaches had beautiful murals) Another couple of weeks and I wound up driving down to Florida to another broker to see the coach I wound up purchasing, despite soft flooring, mouse poop, less than a pristine outside and other issues of which I would discover driving it home some days later. I have to say, I felt a LOT of buyer's remorse during that 2 day drive (only 6.5 hours away but the lights were not working, and it turned out the connection from the gas nozzle to where ever it connects to came loose and gas poured all over the ground after I got $119.00 into it.)

I want to make a go of it, but I know we are fairly in over our heads. My husband is a head guy and not mechanically inclinded at all. He got his license in his 30's (didn't need one where he had been living) and is fairly tense when traffic is heavy, so I do most of the driving and I imagine I'll be doing most if not all of it in this coach. We have an appt. for it at the Cat Dealer in Charlotte next week. The engine does seem to be running really well (not that I'm terribly familiar with diesels. We're going to have them service it and check it all out. Figure we should first start with the 'heart' of the beast before anything aesthetic and make sure it's ok and that it stays ok. Also want the generator serviced. It had been running, but I parked the coached for a few weeks while I drove cross country with my daughter, my grandkids and their 2 dogs from Michigan to Southern California (son in law got transferred to Camp Pendleton) Yesterday we went to check on the coach and make a plan and I couldn't get the generator to start. I never got a walk through, so I'm flying a bit blind with all the switches and order of things to do, so I might have hit a switch that's preventing it... Next, the thing is really swimmy in the steer wheel and bounces like crazy over road imperfections so I want to see about an anti-sway steering bar? (Been picking things up little by little reading what I can get my hands on!) and something for the suspension. One thing that came up recently in the FB group was something about the height of the coach. I -think- this coach is riding too low. It raised up some once the engine was started and I guess the air bags? raised it up. The drain out hose was only about 5" above the ground (missed getting it into the picture) I'm hoping to attach that picture of it's height with the tire as a guide. Whomever does the work on improving the suspension may also be able to help, dunno. But there was talk of plates being stacked somewhere under it and how the person working on it had no idea and had to have the owner of the coach tell them after conferring with the group.

Anyway, we're ready to spend some money on it, but... I still need to make sure I have money in reserve to use the coach hopefully a few years. Otherwise I suppose I'll have to try and sell it if it needs too much. I hope that doesn't happen as I feel like this is my last chance to do this. I figured maybe I'd have 10 years to travel and spend time in the outdoors. My husband isn't retired so we have his 3 weeks vacation a year and weekends to get out and go. I'm not a spry as I once was, I have a lower back disc issue that crops up now and then that incapacitates me for a few weeks.

I am looking forward to using this site and the FB group with all it's years of wisdom and advice! Thank you all for being here.
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Marci & Brad Salive
2003 Safari Cheetah
Roadmaster M4R-Series Chassis
330 HP 3126E CAT® Electronic Diesel Engine
Allison® 3000 MH 6-Speed Electronic Transmission
Clover, SC USA
Fredf
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Jan 30, 2021 5:31 am

Re: New Safari Cheetah Owner

Post by Fredf »

Get roadside service. We have a 2003 safari cheetah & good Sam roadside service. Have used it twice, and saved us approximately $ 4000 in towing and road side service in the last 4 years. Watch your tires, they age out in 5 to 7 years no matter what the tread looks like, blow out can cause thousands of dollars in mh damage. I would recommend a Roadmaster steering stabilizer, can help a lot with a front tire blow out. Check antifreeze, most places put green in but this engine uses anything but green.
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Marci Salive
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2021 9:08 am

Re: New Safari Cheetah Owner

Post by Marci Salive »

Thank you for the advice! I did get a Good Sam membership, Good Sam RV insurance and Roadside Assistance with the Towing and Tire coverage. The tires are brand new, so we should be good there. I am also picking up an electronic tire gauge. I will ask about the Roadmaster steering stabilizer and anti-freeze. That's the first mention I've seen about anti-freeze recommendations.
Marci & Brad Salive
2003 Safari Cheetah
Roadmaster M4R-Series Chassis
330 HP 3126E CAT® Electronic Diesel Engine
Allison® 3000 MH 6-Speed Electronic Transmission
Clover, SC USA
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