My Sunday Tour

[Mojo]

I attended the Tampa RV show yesterday with the wife and another couple / friends of ours.

I came away with some observations based on the RV's I toured.

First let me say I loved the fabrics being used. There seemed to be a big move from woods, vinyls and cloth to leather and synthetic leathers. Alot of the high end buses I went into ( 1 to 2 million dollar
range ) had a lot of awesome fabric usage.

I went into one bus and spent a great deal of time looking and inspecting. I also got the chance to meet the lady who designed the interior. This was a 2.1 million dollar bus and she had an interesting use of fabrics, especially on the pilot / co-pilot seats. She used a single color nondescript fabric ( felt like a extremely soft leather ) with embossed leather inserts through the centers. They really looked sharp.

Numerous buses had embossed leather on the walls which was something new. They seemed to go away from the exotic wood veneers and used more fabric for wall coverings. They also used a lot more leather and synthetic leathers in the window valances versus cloth and wood.

But not all was good. I seen some very poor examples of upholstery as well. Inside one bus
( 1.6 million ) there was a king sized bed with an all leather ( gator embossed ) headboard that was nailed all around the edges. I could not believe the poor job done. It was hideous, bunched, sloppy and the brass tacs were not aligned properly. Seems like they could have done a better job for 1.6 million.

Some of the lower end buses also had some awesome synthetic leather like fabrics. But they too were poorly constructed, sewn and assembled. I was pretty disappointed in the quality of some. I noticed that a couple years ago these coaches had pillow top pilot/copilot seats which were extremely comfortable. Alot of these seats have been eliminated from the offerings and a cheaper seat was used in several.

Overall, I had a blast attending the show. I learned so much and the one thing I never saw there ( out of 300 vendor booths ) was any business offering upholstery services.  ........ Hmmmm. :)

Chris

[Mike8560]

For years chriss I went to boat shows some big like the boston show and dint see canvas/ upholstery

it would be right up your alley I wonder if itt would pay off setti g up a booth.
The high dollor rigs maybe I just had a old winni and couldn't have afforded it myself on an older rig.

[Mojo]

Mike:

You and June and I could rent a booth there. Any business that comes in South of Tampa is yours. Any that comes in that is East is June's and any North of Tampa is mine. :) I am sure their booths are expensive. I believe this is the largest RV show in the USA. Of course I do not think you and June would want to have to screw around with RV's. You know the way us coach owners are. :)

I was just contacted today to see if I wanted to give a seminar on awning fabrics, care and construction. This is an RV rally being held near me. Their vendor booths are pretty cheap so I may go ahead and do the seminar and then get a booth as well. I can take my coach up there and park it and stay right there at the rally.

It's been slow this winter but I expect it to pick up a lot in the next month or two. The snowbirds are still coming down and last year I got buried with work in February.

Chris

[Mike8560]

The snowbirds are still coming down and last year I got buried with work in February.

Chris

dont you hate it  when they want it done just before they are to leave where where they all january?

You know the way us coach owners are. :)

i had a ownr ask me about doing there couch in a sort leather like viyl like ultra leather most who want a soft leather like ultra leather want a plush soft spongy cushion like the couch i did on my old silverton
turns outi had to redo them and make a nice tight snog fit like a noramal cushion lol owners are alway right

[Mojo]

It drives me nuts. Some of these people will sit down here all winter then call and want a complete solar screen job done before they go home ( typically in a weeks time ).

This coming fall I need to try something different like a savings sale or something. I need to get this work balanced out somehow. I was working 7 days a week last year trying to catch up.

These snowbirds can be a real PITA sometimes. :)

Chris 

[SHHR]

It drives me nuts. Some of these people will sit down here all winter then call and want a complete solar screen job done before they go home ( typically in a weeks time ).
.


Chris 

It's funny, the same thing happens with them up here too. They won't come in for work in the summer since they're out traveling the west and mid-west, then they come home for the fall before heading south in the winter. Sure enough the two or three weeks ahead of time when they're getting the coach ready to travel again they think about some work they need done and here they come ,and in no hurry too as long as they can get it yesterday!

I feel I've lost out on a lot of work late in the fall all because I couldn't promise a quick turnaround
Kyle

[Gregg @ Keystone Sewing]

I came away with some observations based on the RV's I toured.
Chris

:P<sarcasm> Man, Chris, that's great, I really wanted to visit that Tampa RV show as well.  I just wish I had some boots on the ground to provide me with 1st person account of the exhibits.  If you know anyone, kindly let me know.  Thanks in advance!@#</sarcasim>

Chris,  YOU KNOW I'm pulling your leg with this one!  I can't help myself.  Have fun, gotta go! ;D

[mike802]

Chris: Your so lucky to be close to a show like that.  Wish there was something like that up here, there are some, but nothing like the one you went to. It sure would be cool to look at all those coaches and get some ideas on how I want to do the interior on my bus when I get to that point. Until then, I guess it's the internet for inspiration.

[scottymc]

It drives me nuts. Some of these people will sit down here all winter then call and want a complete solar screen job done before they go home ( typically in a weeks time ).

This coming fall I need to try something different like a savings sale or something. I need to get this work balanced out somehow. I was working 7 days a week last year trying to catch up.

These snowbirds can be a real PITA sometimes. :)

Chris 

Hey Chris, Try putting your prices up slightly higher, say 10%. Then roll out the early bird sale for 10% less than your normal price, that's a 20% saving. Those ole pensioners wont  be able to help themselves, hopefully there will be enough late comers paying the extra to balance it out.

[SHHR]

http://www.louisvilleboatshow.com/

For anyone interested. This is a huge indoor event full of RVs, Boats, Personal watercraft and lots more. It's January 26-30th. I don't think I can make it due to other obligations, but we use to go years ago before the fairgrounds built the new exhibit hall it's in. If they use the whole building it's somewhere a little over a quarter mile long.
Kyle

[Mike8560]

thees a local boatshow ive done well at but the past couple yeas its slowed down not much at all did i get any jobs last year. this year im not going i dont think it would pay off nor cold i talk very well all weekend.
with the econy so bad and boat sales down there probly wont be many dealor there. property values are down too bad they cant get the price of a new boat down to a realistic price thoose $1,000,000 rvs also.

[Mojo]

I came away with some observations based on the RV's I toured.
Chris

:P<sarcasm> Man, Chris, that's great, I really wanted to visit that Tampa RV show as well.  I just wish I had some boots on the ground to provide me with 1st person account of the exhibits.  If you know anyone, kindly let me know.  Thanks in advance!@#</sarcasim>

Chris,  YOU KNOW I'm pulling your leg with this one!  I can't help myself.  Have fun, gotta go! ;D

Greg. I must admit, it is great to see your getting a sense of humor as you get older. :)

Chris

[Mojo]

Mike802:

Next year come on down and attend it. We have plenty of space here at the house and your welcome to stay with us. Make it a week long vacation and you can tour a few of the bus conversion factories down here as well. Millennium and Marathon are both in my area. Actually, the owner of Millennium invited my wife and I over with our bus to stay at their factory and tour their facilities. We are probably going to go this spring while the wife is on vacation. :)

Scotty: Your right mate. I may have to run some type of sale this next fall. The seniors typically jump on anything that has the words " Sale " attached to it. :)

Mike: I agree. I do not think I could make the booth at the Tampa show pay for itself. It's very pricey from what I heard. The other problem is that because it is a huge show the attendees come from all over.

Chris

[Darren Henry]

Some of these people will sit down here all winter then call and want a complete solar screen job done before they go home ( typically in a weeks time ).

My favorite were the clowns that came in just before the may long weekend (un official start of summer up here) with " I've had this boat top in the basement all winter and meant to bring it in so you'll put me at the front of the line ,right?"

I used to offer a free place to store their boats if they let me work on them over the winter to ease that spring "log jam". I know that wouldn't help you but thought I'd toss it out for others reading this.How about a panic surcharge like the airlines? If you book in less than 14 days add 25 %  :P

[mike802]

Thanks for the invite Chris, sounds like it could be alot of fun. 8)