The RV Saga



We began our full-time journey with a 2008 Dutchmen Kodiak Super C which has the Duramax Diesel engine. We had purchased this new in 2010 after having RV'd for a couple years in a 25 foot 5th wheel toy hauler. The motorhome is 35 feet long and with the diesel engine would pull hills and tow like a champ. The interior was attractive to us as it had two slide outs and a king bed (mandatory with the fur-babies). Alan found it easy to drive (years of driving ambulances helped) but Kim never found it comfortable. Over time we have upgraded various items. We started with getting rid of the old tube TVs and replacing them with flat panels and then about a year before going full-time, Kim painted the walls a pretty blue to cover up the old style pattern it came with.



Also over the years of having it we had a couple of issues with the cooling system. On a drive back to Reno we overheated and the engine shut down on the middle of I80 going over Donner Pass. We found out that the fan clutch was bad. After having that replaced we then developed a radiator leak, probably due to the shop puncturing it when replacing the fan clutch even though they wouldn't take responsibility for that. So the radiator was also replaced. When we began full timing, we again had some issues with the engine running too hot and found out that the replacement radiator wasn't the correct one so once again replaced that and then had no further overheating issues.

As we were preparing to go full-time we also decided to make some updates. So we replaced the carpet with a vinyl flooring and changed out the uncomfortable couch with a jack-knife couch that worked well for the babies and us.



We did some maintenance work as well that wasn't very exciting but needed to be taken care of. This included upgrading the shocks to Koni ones that were well worth the price as they instantly improved the ride and decreased the body sway.

With these upgrades and modifications the motorhome seemed to suit us well but there were always issues we found that just made us wonder if we should do more or look at other options. More on those thoughts as I get a chance to update this page but you can read a bit about what we ended up doing on one of our blog posts.