I would like your opinions on arctic fox and nash trailers.

[McCRam]

I am looking at a 28 ft arctic fox 5ver and my brother is looking at a nash 20ft tt. He will be living in his for the near future and my wife and I will be living in ours while we build our house. So they need to be able to survive montana winters with little effort.



Has anyone had good or bad experience with northwood mfg?



Will they handle the winter as well as the dealer claims?



And is an onan generator worth 3000 bucks?



I appreciate any input you have.

 

[klenger]

See sig. You can buy better, but you'd have to pay a lot more to get it. I installed an Onan 3600LP and spent about $2700 to get it. $3000 is a good price IMO.

 

[Fireman]

is an onan generator worth 3000 bucks?

You might think so if you lose power next winter



We really like our Fox, we felt it offered the best quality for the the money spent. Ours had an unusual problem with the roof and they picked it up, took it back to the factory and replaced the whole roof. Can't complain about that kind of customer service. Also, I would highly recomend the thermal pane window option if you will be living in it for a while out there. It is expensive, but should really improve the comfort of the unit.



Fireman

 

[keimmmo]

I own a 01 Nash 26 foot with a slide out. Nice trailer and well built! I can't tell you how it would fare in the cold since I live WAY south.



Steve

 

[100 Proof]

I've had my AF down to 8 below. Never did it for a long time though. In my opinion, the Northwoods products are the best bang for the buck. Mine had a behind the wall electrical problem early on. The dealer was over his head, so Northwood picked it up and took it back to the factory in LaGrande, Oregon and returned it to *my house* in Eagle, Idaho when it was finished- all under warranty. Check out the Northwood RV Owners Association at http://www.afnash.com/. More than one member of this forum contributes over there too. I got a great deal on mine at http://brockmansrv.com/.



Good Luck,



100 Proof

 

[McCRam]

Thank you for the replys. Its always good to here about good customer service. You just never want to use it. If any one else has anything to add please feel fee to speak out. Thanks for the links as well.

 

[hutch]

Nash poor Quality

I had a Nash 22H 2001 model. Cabinets was very poor. The draw guides broked on each trip untill I replaced them all. My sister-in-law has one also and not happy with the quality.

 

[Bertram65]

Check the noise level on the Onan gen, my inlaws just bought a class C with a built in Onan that is around 4kw, it is very loud, I tried to find the model and found most of them run around 65db-68db, that can get pretty anoying when it is running for long periods of time. I would check out a portable unit around 3kw either Honda or Yamaha a lot less money, quieter, easier to maintain and if you are not going to be moving around just build a little shelter for it.

 

[McCRam]

Thats a good point about the generators. I was thinking I could get a few 500 dollar generators that would do the job. Not to mention I could get a hobart welder generator for that kind of money. I still don't see what would justify spending three grand on one from the dealer.



As for the cabinets, I was actually quite impressed with the cabinets and drawer slides in the two trailers I looked at. They are better than what is in my home. They must have improved their parts since they built yours. I will look at them again with a little more scrutiny

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

One of the few 5th wheel trailers I could get my - ummmm, THRIFTY wife interested in replacing our older Kit rig with, was a very nice Arctic Fox 29 footer with a pair of slides. It was VERY well built, quality of construction and mechanism of the slides was great. If you find a floor plan you like, I think you will like the way they are built.



AND, if their other trailer construction details follows thru, noise shouldn't be a significant issue, and a built-in Onan has some VERY nice features - like load sensing that automatically starts the genset when you turn on an appliance - pretty nice early on a cold morning when you want a hot cup of coffee or heat something in the microwave, and DON'T want to have to get dressed, go outside and start the lug-along generator...

 

[Bertram65]

One of the few 5th wheel trailers I could get my - ummmm, THRIFTY wife interested in replacing our older Kit rig with, was a very nice Arctic Fox 29 footer with a pair of slides. It was VERY well built, quality of construction and mechanism of the slides was great. If you find a floor plan you like, I think you will like the way they are built.



AND, if their other trailer construction details follows thru, noise shouldn't be a significant issue, and a built-in Onan has some VERY nice features - like load sensing that automatically starts the genset when you turn on an appliance - pretty nice early on a cold morning when you want a hot cup of coffee or heat something in the microwave, and DON'T want to have to get dressed, go outside and start the lug-along generator...

That is true about the remote starting, but 10db is huge when you are outside the trailer, it was anoying after 10 minutes sitting outside with the Onan running, of corse that was nothing compared to some folks a few sites down running a huge construction type generator with the 10 hp B&S wailing away at full throttle for a couple hours twice a day.

 

[klenger]

Generator noise levels: http://www.klenger.net/arctic-fox/generator-noise/graph.html

 

[Bertram65]

Generator noise levels: http://www.klenger.net/arctic-fox/generator-noise/graph.html

Where did you get this information? Onan's site lists the 2500LP at 71db at 10' at half load, the 3600LP is 70db at the same, by comparison the Honda EU3000 is 58db.

80db for riding in a car at 50mph?? sorry but that is just way off, just read Car and Driver or Motortrend, most cars will not hit 80db even at full throttle at 100mph.

 

[klenger]

From this site, the 3600LP is 66 db at 10' at 1/2 load.



http://www.onan.com/pdf/rv/A-1399.pdf



Note that the Honda spec of 58 db is measured at 23' compared to the Onan at 10'. That's the whole point of the web page at http://www.klenger.net/arctic-fox/generator-noise/index.html



As to the noise level in a car of 80db, that does seem to be off by a bit. I found the comparable noise levels on a website somewhere, but have no idea where. I would say it's safe to throuw out that as a comparison, but I think that the generator noise levels on my web page are correct, but I will correct the data if it is in error.

 

[Mad Bomber]

I have a nash built in 95 the SN# is only 800. I want to get the 29 5ver with 2 slides. GET THE FOX IMHO

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

From this site, the 3600LP is 66 db at 10' at 1/2 load.



http://www.onan.com/pdf/rv/A-1399.pdf



Note that the Honda spec of 58 db is measured at 23' compared to the Onan at 10'. That's the whole point of the web page at http://www.klenger.net/arctic-fox/generator-noise/index.html



As to the noise level in a car of 80db, that does seem to be off by a bit. I found the comparable noise levels on a website somewhere, but have no idea where. I would say it's safe to throuw out that as a comparison, but I think that the generator noise levels on my web page are correct, but I will correct the data if it is in error.

Here's the measured noise level in my '02 truck at about 55 mph...



#ad




For those with poorer displays than mine, that's 75 db...

 

[Bertram65]

From this site, the 3600LP is 66 db at 10' at 1/2 load.



http://www.onan.com/pdf/rv/A-1399.pdf



Note that the Honda spec of 58 db is measured at 23' compared to the Onan at 10'. That's the whole point of the web page at http://www.klenger.net/arctic-fox/generator-noise/index.html



As to the noise level in a car of 80db, that does seem to be off by a bit. I found the comparable noise levels on a website somewhere, but have no idea where. I would say it's safe to throuw out that as a comparison, but I think that the generator noise levels on my web page are correct, but I will correct the data if it is in error.

I was looking at the camp power, http://www.onan.com/onan/rvgenerators/Marquis/generatorProductDetail.jsp?prdid=prod150002

I assumed this would be the one typically installed in a trailer or 5th wheel, either way the Onans are much louder than the newer inverter style generators, I looked on Honda's site and did not see a reference for distance, you also list the db level at 50', have you measured the three generators at that range or are they estimates of what the sound levels could be? Not trying to give you a hard time just trying to figure out where the numbers come from.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Seems to me I recall the 23 ft. distance for these type sound measurements as being pretty common - and believe me, the registered sound levels change radically from 10 feet to 23...



But the key issue in this case is not just the db ratings of the genset, but the CONDUCTED sound thru the trailer's support structure - and THAT *can* be significant if proper construction techniques and sound deading are not used.

 

[KWheaton]

My All-American Sport toy hauler came with a generator prep. They wanted me to spend $3500 to have a Onan installed, my local equipment dealer said they suck all your propane, are very noisy inside the camper (my mounting compartment is next to the bed), and are a pain to service. He suggested the Honda 3000 eu. It'll run 16-20 hrs. on 3. 5 gallons of gas in economy mode, weighs around 80 lbs. (not too heavy for a normal human), puts out around 24 amps, and can be linked with another generator to double the power (same make of course). I was joking with a buddy of mine that it was so quiet, you might trip over it in the middle of the night! It will only bump itself up to full power when the A/C is on, really sweet unit. Yes you do need to lug it along in a storage compartment or the back of the truck, but at $1899, compared to $3000 maybe $4000, I can do a lot of lugging for $1500! I think I'll take it along on my trip to Custer SD next month just in case I need it. I figure I can chain it to the truck and run it in the bed if I need it, just run a ground wire. Good luck and happy camping. Kevin

 

[klenger]

The sound levels at 50' on my website are calculated from the published numbers at 10' for the Onan or 23' for the Honda. The sound levels drop by a predictable mathematical formula as distance changes. Not rocket science.



The Onan Camp Power is a low end generator with external exhaust system and is not as quiet as the MicroQuiet.



Bottom line for my Onan installation is that the noise level is acceptable, well below the NPS limits, and fuel consumption is acceptable. I am happy with the installation. YMMV.