Ready to learn the ins and outs of one of the hottest RV models on the market? We are Ryan and Lauren, aka Millers in Motion, and we've got a wealth of experience to share when it comes to the 2024 Alliance Valor 44 V 14 RV. Having recently transitioned from our Grand Design Solitude to this toy hauler with a dedicated workspace, we understand the nuances that come with shifting needs and preferences. This episode is jam-packed with detailed insights into the RV’s specs, manufacturer's choices and personal touches we've added to our new mobile abode.
Ever wondered what goes into choosing the perfect RV? We spill the secrets, highlighting the importance of factors like customer service, community, model preference, and desired modifications. Our journey took us to the National Rally, where we were sold on the 44 V14 model. If you're on the fence about your next RV model, tune in to find out how we made our decision. We also give a detailed review of our RV’s floor plan, bathroom size, living room space and share our thoughts on the manufacturer's choice of oven size.
Wrapping up this roller-coaster ride, we dive into the construction and unique features of the 44 V 14 toy hauler by Alliance. Exploring everything from the use of asdale in the walls to the challenges of maintaining the space with our energetic dogs, we leave no stone unturned. Lastly, we chat about our experiences with Alliance's customer service and the challenges we faced with third-party vendors. As a cherry on top, we offer a 'Rapid Fire Gift Guide' and share our upcoming appearances at shows. So buckle up, and join us on this thrilling RV adventure!
Ready to learn the ins and outs of one of the hottest RV models on the market? We are Ryan and Lauren, aka Millers in Motion, and we've got a wealth of experience to share when it comes to the 2024 Alliance Valor 44 V 14 RV. Having recently transitioned from our Grand Design Solitude to this toy hauler with a dedicated workspace, we understand the nuances that come with shifting needs and preferences. This episode is jam-packed with detailed insights into the RV’s specs, manufacturer's choices and personal touches we've added to our new mobile abode.
Ever wondered what goes into choosing the perfect RV? We spill the secrets, highlighting the importance of factors like customer service, community, model preference, and desired modifications. Our journey took us to the National Rally, where we were sold on the 44 V14 model. If you're on the fence about your next RV model, tune in to find out how we made our decision. We also give a detailed review of our RV’s floor plan, bathroom size, living room space and share our thoughts on the manufacturer's choice of oven size.
Wrapping up this roller-coaster ride, we dive into the construction and unique features of the 44 V 14 toy hauler by Alliance. Exploring everything from the use of asdale in the walls to the challenges of maintaining the space with our energetic dogs, we leave no stone unturned. Lastly, we chat about our experiences with Alliance's customer service and the challenges we faced with third-party vendors. As a cherry on top, we offer a 'Rapid Fire Gift Guide' and share our upcoming appearances at shows. So buckle up, and join us on this thrilling RV adventure!
Welcome back to the RV shenanigan podcast. I'm Ryan.
Speaker 2:I'm Lauren, and together we are Millers in Motion. We are a husband and wife team from Texas enjoying a new season of life in our Alliance Valor.
Speaker 1:We are, and we are still in Fort Worth, texas, in the exact same place. We were recorded the last episode because we are here for the holidays and this past week was Thanksgiving, so we hope that everybody had an amazing Thanksgiving with family, friends and did exactly whatever you wanted to, and Lauren gave a thumbs up. For those of you that can't see oh, she's going to cough, never mind, we're just going to comment because we're blowing through it. So you feeling better over there? Sure, we're testing, because we are going to be doing live podcast recordings at the Alliance RV booth during the 2024. Did I get that right? Good?
Speaker 2:job. You passed the memory Next January is 2024, florida RV Super Show.
Speaker 1:So if you're going to be in the area, make sure to stay tuned to our Instagram, facebook, all the things, because we're opposed to when we're going to be doing those recordings. You can come join us?
Speaker 2:Can we get that background noise where it's like the audience clapping Yay?
Speaker 1:Maybe I bet I can do this on this board, but I don't know where or how, so we're still learning how we do this. But today we're going to talk about what we're sitting in our kitchen slide box a ghost. So friends reference if you didn't see that or know what I'm talking about. But no, we're going to talk about our 2024 Alliance Valor 44 V 14, because we get a lot of questions.
Speaker 2:We do, but rightfully so. This is a new floor plan this year and we were one of the very first ones to have it, so we've gotten to work out some of the kinks we have.
Speaker 1:So we're going to come back and jump right into a. Technically, we're already in it. We're going to get right into the topic. We're not going to jump back into the RV because we're in it right now. So let's get going. All right. So the 2024 Alliance, valor 44 V 14.
Speaker 2:That's a lot of force.
Speaker 1:It is a lot of force. That's okay. So there's a lot to know about this rig, mainly that it's one of the largest RVs that Alliance has ever made, and by one of, I mean the largest RV.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So real quick, if you don't mind. We recently switched I say recently, it's been four months now, five months now at the time of recording when we switched from our grand design Solitude 390 RK to our Alliance Valor 44 V 14. So if you could do me a favor and just hit them a little bit with our Solitude, give them just some of the basic overviews and then why we switched.
Speaker 2:So the Solitude was what? 42 feet, is that what it was? And had two axles but, just for frame of reference, three air conditioners. So it was still a big boy, just not quite as big as this one. That was our first RV, so go bigger, go home. At that phase, that was the first one we purchased, the first one we towed. It was all kinds of new and we really did enjoy it. But you know, life changed and our needs changed, and so we ended up finding the need, more so for a toy hauler and also something that was laid out a little differently, where he had more of a dedicated working space. So we looked at a lot of toy haulers and it was somewhat difficult to find a floor plan that I think fit us the most, until we laid eyes on this beauty.
Speaker 1:We did and I will say one thing about the Solitude as well as we really actually did like the Solitude. For me the towing side wasn't the best because the kitchen nose in the back, it was so heavy in the rear that it kind of made for a weird load balance thing. So when you're towing so it was really stressful to tow.
Speaker 2:It was, but once we got where we were, it was very homey and functioned well as far as like vacation and everyday life, except for working, necessarily for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and what she's talking about is we had a kind of kitchen bar dinette. Imagine this being like overlooking your living room space and that also having to be my office, and so when on a weekend and I'd have to work or be on a call and she would come in, she'd literally have to go lay in the bedroom to just get away from it.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, let's. Let's rephrase that I didn't have to. I would, because he has the world's most fantastic ADD and even if I sat perfectly still in the living room, he could still see me, and that was a distraction. Yes, I'm kind of surprised we have those the blinds open right now. So it's not. It's not a dig, it's just in order for you to be most productive.
Speaker 1:It's not a dig If it's the truth rude. Okay, so let me give you a few stats on the 44 V 14. And if you're watching on YouTube, yes, I was having Lauren stall because the website was not loaded in my bed. So the 44 V 14 from Alliance is 45 feet eight inches in length, a height of 13 feet four inches, a dry weight of 16,040 pounds. A GVW are a gross vehicle weight rating of 20,000 pounds. The hitch weight is 3,100 pounds and it's got a 98 gallon freshwater tank. It's got 106 gallons of black water tank of a sorry gray water, and that is divided amongst two tanks, and a 93 gallon black tank, which is a divided amongst two tanks. So before we get into our thoughts on it and some of the features we like, maybe some of the stuff we dislike to, what was the big reason why we decided toy hauler? Not even actually this toy hauler, but toy hauler in general?
Speaker 2:Mostly for your office space is really the biggest one where you can make some modifications and have some more room and a proper desk space. He does a lot of work from the computer and that just wasn't as conducive at the dining room table, so that was a big reason. But also now we have the toy hauler space with the bed and the separate bathroom so that my mom, if she so chooses, can come with us, which is something she's expressed a lot of interest in doing.
Speaker 1:And hasn't yet, but that's okay.
Speaker 2:Well, she has some other reasons why she can't, just at this point, but yes, in the near future.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and I think the biggest thing too is, like you know, there's a couple of different factors. When you're picking your first RV and we decide a full time in that RV, you know, when we were looking, there was a lot of oh, this would be great, oh, that would be great. And we made a lot of decisions that weren't based on what the reality of what her and I were going to use.
Speaker 2:But we didn't know that necessarily.
Speaker 1:Right. And I would say, if you're picking your first RV, just you know, find something versatile. I think is probably the most overlooked thing, Because if you can have two or three uses for one thing, that's normally a win in RV life Right.
Speaker 2:And since this was our first one the solitude we wanted we set low goals and there were three top goals and we hit each of those three goals but as you know, time would find out we didn't really need to meet those as much as we thought we did. We actually had other goals, and one of them that made a lot of difference was it being very homey, and I still think we hit that nail on the head.
Speaker 1:I do. That was less of a concern for me. That was a you thing.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:For me. I just wanted something that would prove that we wanted to do this lifestyle and I didn't want to be restricted by the coach. And, to be honest, to a point I did feel a little bit restricted because it wasn't the easiest thing to work inside of from a what I do every day, because I, because I didn't have a dedicated office space, I constantly was moving and adjusting and doing things. And then on top of that like let's say we were in a travel day for us to be able to get to just the refrigerator we had to open two slides.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we didn't really think about that a whole lot Whenever we sat in it.
Speaker 1:No, we didn't. We just said oh, this is nice and open, there's tons of seating. All these people can stay with us. We can seat 1800 people in here.
Speaker 2:You don't need to seat 1800 people. I'm going to give you a little hint. You don't.
Speaker 1:Honestly, whoever is going to be with you most of the time, worry about them, Everybody else will figure it out. That's what camping chairs are for. But you know, the biggest thing for me about the toy hauler thing, I really wanted to achieve a couple of things, Like you had already said a dedicated workspace that we it wasn't just to somewhere to sit and I didn't have to constantly move my computer, but somewhere where I could actually close a door and separate it and so when I was done working I could hypothetically reset to a different space. You would be surprised if you work from home, especially in RV, just having that little bit of separation of I'm not at my desk, I'm not working, and how much it doesn't mess with your head. You still kind of work all the time, but it is a little bit of a separation.
Speaker 2:Bonus for me I got the washer and dryer out of the closet, so I got more closet space.
Speaker 1:Now on the Alliance and then the second thing for me was I wanted to have something that worked more functionally for us on travel days, and I say that two-fold one. I wanted something with a little bit larger cargo capacity. We were always at the top end of our GVWR and our solitude just because we were full-timing and we actually had more space than we had weight capacity to do things. And then I also wanted to be able to function a little bit better with the space. So I didn't want five slides. I really was trying to limit the number of slides we had and I wanted to be able to very easily pull off on the side of the road and pop one and two all whatever we could do slides open and kind of be functional a lot faster.
Speaker 1:Because our kitchen was in the back and the other one, we had to go through great measures to secure everything. And even if we could open the slides up, it was never the easiest thing to still use, because when you crack a dock, like at a cracker barrel or a harvest hose, and you can't put one side of your slides out, you know you pick the one you can. It was always a little bit of a pain not having those other slides out In this rig. I feel like when that happens it's not as big of a deal because we're not really losing anything on the slides that aren't out, minus being able to walk around the bed and having a little more living room space.
Speaker 2:Well, and we won't even go down the rabbit hole that is Schwintech versus Cable Slides and all of the above.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I do think if you're looking at RVs, there's I mean, listen, there's all kinds of mechanical systems to move slides in and out, and there's no joke that Schwintech has its problems, but it has its place too. Cable has its problems and it has its place. And then I think everybody would just prefer a rack and pinion hydraulically driven one, because they don't seem to ever break, which is what our main two slides are. So we actually, on this coach, don't have any Schwintech slides, woohoo.
Speaker 1:Let's just say we didn't have the best experience. I'm sure there's people out there that are great, but we never had the best experience with Schwintech, so okay, so that's kind of why we did it. So then, let's very briefly, why did we actually decide to go with an alliance?
Speaker 2:So mostly actually for the customer service was the big one. I think that most RVs are going to have problems and that's not something that any of us are blind to, but we just want to know that somebody is standing behind that and ready to help you when things do happen.
Speaker 1:Right, and I will say too that you know we at the previous Florida RV Super Show we got to know the management ownership group with alliance a little bit and just how they reacted and talked to people. That's something that we pay close attention to, because if you're touting all this stuff about customer service and we want to do the right thing and all that other stuff, you always kind of want to see some verification in their actions. And I can tell you watching them just at the show alone sold me on that. They're telling it how it is there essentially.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and also they have a great community. There are a lot of events and there's a lot of socialization that goes into it and so the community that alliance has and that wasn't necessarily built by the company per se. There are a lot of owners who really feel strongly. That helped build that.
Speaker 1:Yep. And so now, kind of narrowing that down, we kind of had said, okay, toy hauler, we really like alliance. So, in full disclosure, we were completely sold on which one?
Speaker 2:The 40V13?.
Speaker 1:Not this one, and so, and then we were talking with again some of the people in the management group and we were saying, oh, we may actually do this, coach, we really like it. We weren't ready at the last Tampa show to actually pull a trigger.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:We just weren't and so we kind of went with the intent for social media and to do what we do as far as like documenting. And this just happened to be a fun bonus and one of the guys said, well, if you're looking at 24, we have this new concept coming out and, without naming names, essentially kind of they described what it was and we both looked at each other like ooh.
Speaker 2:Well, and let me say you were fully sold on the 40V13. I was sold on it with some caveats of yes, that works if we do X, y and Z to it. And so whenever we kind of described this floor plan, I said, ooh, the things that I really wanted had been done.
Speaker 1:Small and there's smaller changes. There's always gonna be changes. In an RV, I think that's like going into a home and being told this is what you get. In reality is, if you're building a home, typically you get to pick the color of your cabinet. Where things are located. There's a wall here, not there. That kind of stuff. In RVs you don't get to do that. It's very much so. This is it. There's a couple of options, but that's they don't really affect anything. It's like bigger ACs and heat pumps and mechanical things.
Speaker 1:So when we were described it, we immediately kind of said and there was previously when they were designing the RV there's two versions of it. We came into what affectionately got known as the Proto B, so it's Proto A, proto B. There was one big change and all had to do with the sofa situation and we kind of looked at it and said, well, neither, we were never a big fan. So the 44 V14 has a big L-shaped sofa in the living room that you do have to kind of stack and fold and do some things. It's very reminiscent of the grand design Momentum 395, but there is one less couch. So the L shape itself is bigger, but there's not an L shape on this side and it has a bigger garage, so more of a traditional toy hauler. We just wanted more physical space. When you're looking at toy haulers, there's not a lot of them out there that have a ton of living space. They're typically toy haulers, so all the space is in the garage.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm also gonna say, on the couch thing, having to move a whole leg of it or store it or this or that totally defeated the purpose of being able to move easier on travel days. So that was a hiccup of mine of moving a desk, moving a couch, something For us, For us.
Speaker 1:And I say for us only because it's just the two of us. Now, if you have a family of five and you just really want a toy hauler space, that L-shaped sofa might be the ticket, but that's also you kind of have to understand. That's one of the downsides of having a larger family on the road is you do have to work a little bit more for the things you want, and we've realized what we are willing to work for, like hauling a smoker all over the country, and things that we're not willing to work on, like one extra seat, and we do have extra seating and we're using them right now.
Speaker 1:So, as far as the modifications we wanted to make, actually I'm jumping ahead of myself.
Speaker 2:Ooh, tisk, tisk. I need to slow my roll. That's what your notes are for.
Speaker 1:I know, and that's why I'm going back to them right now. So what sold you after we actually got to see the 44,? What was the big like? Yep, that's it.
Speaker 2:Okay, trick question. I never got to see it.
Speaker 1:You did never get to see it.
Speaker 2:I never got to see it, till after we had paid for it.
Speaker 1:Hang on you physically. You've seen, you saw pictures and I described stuff. So when we were going through the process quick side track here, squirrel Right during because we knew we were gonna be so early the team at Alliance was super nice and they allowed us to see some pre-production stuff and I say that in terms of photos, cause I'm not just gonna haul up there for no reason and then they invited us because we were considering buying. They invited us, from a social media perspective, to attend the National Rally last year. If you watch any of the YouTube videos you probably saw that kind of why should you buy an Alliance to National Rally? Well, we had not committed to buying Alliance at that point, but they did say, hey, do you wanna come see Proto B or Proto 2? And I said, absolutely, which ends up?
Speaker 1:Things changed but the basic floor plan as far as the size of the slides and everything was set, and so I got to see it then. And then I took as many pictures as they would. Let me just to send to Lauren, if you notice. We never posted any of those Alliance, don't come at me. But I sent Lauren some photos and she essentially said I think I like it and then asked my opinion on a few things and I told her the best of my ability of my thoughts on it, and we both agreed that the L-shaped sofa wasn't our gig and that we would replace it one way, somehow, some way at some point.
Speaker 2:But that was a negotiable thing. You can do that, and so that wasn't a really big ticket item to us, because we can always change that. It's like changing the mattress. Which we did too which we did too, but for me he's Ryan, a six foot two, and so I wanted to make sure. I said how's the space? How do you fit in the kitchen, how do you fit in the bathroom? Because those were significantly smaller than they were in our solitude.
Speaker 1:They are, and we got really spoiled with certain things in the solitude. I always say that that design solitude bathroom might be the perfect RV bathroom.
Speaker 2:It really did spills For a couple.
Speaker 1:And I only say that because it's more than you need. I honestly do think it's more than you need, but it's not so big that you're wasting space other places.
Speaker 2:Well, it didn't feel too big, like there was more storage than either of us needed. But maybe somebody else has more makeup or something than I do, I don't know. But yes, there was a ton of storage. There was two sinks and my beloved teak seat in the shower. Oh, my goodness. And then there was a whole like pantry for your towels and medicine cabinet, I mean it really was glorious.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was and we definitely. That's probably the biggest trade we had, Because most RVs don't have the biggest bathrooms and it's no secret, Toy haulers have the smallest of all of them. We definitely our bathroom is probably a quarter the size it was.
Speaker 2:Third, maybe A third we gave up quite a bit still, we did, we gave up quite a bit.
Speaker 1:So I will say the shower is, in my opinion, I actually like the shower better. It is technically smaller, but there's more headroom. Again, not much. That other one was great, but there was also a lot of I in my opinion wasted space inside of there.
Speaker 2:I like room for activities.
Speaker 1:Well, when you're lounging in there on the teak seat.
Speaker 2:Exactly with the teak seat.
Speaker 1:Feet kicked up, taking a steam shower somehow that's right.
Speaker 2:Turn it into a sauna and run that hot water out.
Speaker 1:Good thing, humidity is not a problem in RVs.
Speaker 2:They come with fans for a reason.
Speaker 1:So that's probably the biggest space that we traded off. But when it comes to the living room for a toy hauler again for a toy hauler it's a great space.
Speaker 2:Yes, and we say all of this knowing we know the sacrifices we made, we know the decisions we made and we are happy.
Speaker 1:So also, if you are watching this or listening to this and you are curious what we're talking about, we do have a tour video when, right before we left the factory, before we had made a single change, and then we had did a video about a month later after we had moved into it and some of the things we had changed already. So if you are curious, we'll link I'll link those videos in the description below so that you can click through and check those out.
Speaker 2:And then, a couple of weeks ago, we made more changes.
Speaker 1:I think that's just part of it. I mean, we're always making changes. Yeah, just look for updated mods. So about the floor? Is there anything you would change about the floor plan?
Speaker 2:About this one, the 44.
Speaker 1:Where we're currently staying going forward.
Speaker 2:No, so the things that I wanted changed. We were very kind of small in the grand scheme of things.
Speaker 2:Which is great, Exactly so the idea that we could change the couch from the L shape to just the one in the side box. There were some things in the pantry that didn't work for us, so we changed that out. So the rest of it is nuances. We went from a house with a toilet and a closet in the bathroom to the grand design that had a proper door and everything, and now these little slidey barn doors with a four inch gap at the top. I like a little bit more privacy than that. So if there was a way to kind of close that off, I would like that a little bit better. I would switch out the oven. So it's little things that I would change. But as far as the actual floor plan, no, I'm really happy with it.
Speaker 1:And I will say she talks about the oven and that's a loaded question, cause this one fits everything, our other one fit. Most people wanna switch an oven out because of they want a bigger one. We actually don't care for a bigger one, so there's two versions of, like a residential style. I'm using air quotes, if you're just listening to this. There's the insignia that everybody uses, including alliance, and the paradigms Come on, alliance.
Speaker 1:And then there's the Graystone, graystone or Blackstone, I think it's graystone, which is fine, and I know why they use this one. Now, I did get an answer to that question.
Speaker 2:Ooh, tell me.
Speaker 1:So it's not as wide and it sits taller, and so it fits in smaller spaces a little better than the insignia does. So barely, but it's enough for them to round edges and do a few little cosmetic things that apparently make a very large difference. I don't know, I haven't seen the other version of it, so I would like to test the insignia so I can give feedback.
Speaker 1:Okay, anyway, so we had an insignia in our solitude. That's probably the one thing we missed the most from the solitude is because we did like that. We trusted the temperature, all this stuff, and this one hasn't been bad. The temperature's been a little more RV-esque, so it's a little more of a moving target.
Speaker 2:We got one of those little thermometers that goes inside of it, and even that thing was like oh, maybe Right, and so it's, we're getting along, but it's, that's not an alliance product.
Speaker 1:All they do is make the decision to put it in at that point Right, and that's why I say it's not the floor plan.
Speaker 2:The floor plan, I think, actually works really well for us. It's the little things.
Speaker 1:And just talking about some big differences too. So something that on most alliances they do is they call this package called the masters of 12 volt.
Speaker 2:Ooh.
Speaker 1:Do you know, what that means?
Speaker 2:12 volt Sure, why not?
Speaker 1:So you're just saying yes and then you're gonna wait for me to say something about it.
Speaker 2:I know that the fridge is 12 volt, and that leaves a little to be desired.
Speaker 1:It's an RV fridge.
Speaker 2:Which, precisely because we had a residential fridge in the solitude and that thing came with an ice maker and was again I'm gonna put this in the category of glorious, it worked really well.
Speaker 1:So the downside of that that means, though, in travel days, you then have to have at least a 2000 watt inverter and a decent battery system. So that means they would have to install an extra inverter and an extra battery automatically, and that fridge is wider, so you probably lose the pantry. So there's given takes on that. Now the 12 volt fridge runs directly into the 12 volt systems, which means no inverter is needed and you don't need a ton of battery, because its capacity system is very low as far as its energy consumption. So outside of that, you know, there's two TVs that are 12 volt, the one on the garage, one on the bedroom. The one in the living room is still a 110 because it's a residential, if it, even if it was a 12 volt and we got it, I put a better TV in there, for it was automatically gonna happen. So, yes, I like good technology.
Speaker 2:I will say I like this fireplace here in the Alliance better than I did the one in the grand design. I think this one is more true to temperature and I think that it actually shuts off and cycles better than the other one did.
Speaker 1:I just wish had a remote.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do too.
Speaker 1:Cause it's a little bit. It's in an awkward place. They have a mantle above it, which is great. It looks aesthetically, it looks great, but it is a little hard, especially being six two. This is where the downside of six two comes in is to see that gauge. I have to get down on my knees and kind of be able to tap the button and be able to see it, and I wish you'd go up and down with the temperature instead of having a cycle.
Speaker 1:So if you miss your temperature, you're gonna go all the way back around by like 50 degrees.
Speaker 2:Well, and also so all the controls are on the very bottom of it, so the dog turns it off and on frequently scares her. It's a whole thing. So, yes, if you could move the controls, that would be phenomenal.
Speaker 1:So Is there anything else about the floor plan or let's just say, the stuff inside of it that really really like, really dislike? We're learning some things like the Happy Jack system. We're learning. I like that. It's versatile because I use the bottom portion of the Happy Jack. Happy Jack is the rear toy hauler space that moves the bed and benches If you leave them for us. It is now my office desk that goes up and down and I've learned to use it, but that was new for me.
Speaker 2:Not in particular. I really like the living room dining room setup. I think that functions really well for what we needed and what we wanted. I love the big open windows, as if you're watching on YouTube, you can see behind us.
Speaker 1:Which that's a big alliance thing. We have essentially this size window. We have about three of those there's one here and there's two behind. You guys Again, if you look at the tour, you can see that. And there's still a bunch of other windows. I counted on the other day three, four, five, six, seven. There's 14 or 15 windows in this thing. So, and how they work too, is they open side to side, so they're not frameless on the outside, which some people have said they prefer the frameless. Look, I don't care, personally I don't. There's not. It's not a big enough difference aesthetically.
Speaker 2:This lets so much airflow through.
Speaker 1:That's one of the complaints I had about the solitude was airflow kind of was rough, like when we were. When we, when I was boondocking before we got the solar system in the solitude during RV unplugged, that's the one thing everyone was like just open your windows. I'm like they are, they are. Boop Right Now. The bonus is you can leave them open. In training these you really can't, but you open these up. We've had some pretty days, like when we were in.
Speaker 2:Tennessee.
Speaker 1:We opened all these windows up and it's the wind comes through. It's a magical.
Speaker 2:So kudos to that. Whoever decided on those, the window structure, but no other than that. I'm really happy. I think we learned to work in the smaller kitchen and it works great for us.
Speaker 1:So let's talk a little bit about the construction of and this kind of goes for all alliances. Obviously, we're talking specifically about our 44 V 14. It is a typical laminated sidewall, aluminum framed and to a lipid steel frame construction. So one big difference is they use asdale on the outside and the inside of the wall. We've learned that asdale is different, so as if you're not familiar, like a code, like a asdale is a composite material that's like laminate but it's not so. It can't delaminate. So one of the problems that most laminated sidewalls are gonna have is that if moisture gets between one of those panels they'll delaminate. That's when you get like these bubble looking things off of some of, typically on older campers, because the laminate is not as good or the glue popped or whatever, there was water damage and nobody revealed it all that, and so that's called delamination.
Speaker 1:Well, most coaches should never do that. If they work properly, they're still talking about RVs. Things go wrong.
Speaker 2:And if they've been cared for properly.
Speaker 1:Correct. So that's why it's so important to make sure you check seals and all that kind of stuff on your roof and make sure you don't have water leaks. But asdale can't do that, which is great. But especially on the inside it's softer and there's evidence right behind Lauren.
Speaker 2:So we used to have like wooden chairs here at the dinette that we have since swapped out because they would ding the wall and it does not take much. I am not like a heavy handed person.
Speaker 1:I am, but that's not my side.
Speaker 2:That's why you get the wooden frame.
Speaker 1:It is actually why we picked it because there's a wall here and then the fridge is right on the other side of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, yeah, anyway. So yeah, there's lots of dings back there and you still have your own fair share of dings back there.
Speaker 1:I do. Yeah, I just take chunks out of wood. But yeah, we've definitely kind of had to adapt, like, even when the dogs are playing, make sure that they don't like slam into any of it. Luckily there's not a lot of super exposed walls.
Speaker 2:And in case you were wondering, yes, that does happen when the dogs slam into things wrestling.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they do zoomies through here. They'll run all the way from the toilet or space up to the bedroom. So toilet or space is that way, bedrooms that way. But yeah, there's not really a whole lot of spaces where they can ram into it too hard, except for by the stairs, which they typically kind of slow down because the stairs which is nice One of them does. That's true, but as far as the rest of the construction of the coach, it's been solid, I would argue is probably it feels more solid than our solitude.
Speaker 1:You think that's a lot of asses. The only reason I say that because when you walk around in the solitude always kind of creaked and creaked and all that stuff. I don't have that here, with the exception of the stairs which are free-floating, so I kind of get why they happen.
Speaker 2:It is impossible to be quiet in this coach.
Speaker 1:It is.
Speaker 2:If you get up before the other person, you try to sneak down the stairs, it goes squeeze.
Speaker 1:And then it wakes the dogs up, and then they make noise, and now we're just all up, and then you have those gaps in the doors. As long as I was talking about.
Speaker 2:Yes, and then the cabinets, which are soft clothes and magnetic, fantastic for everyday use. But you can't shut them quietly, so it gets real close and it goes clink, clink.
Speaker 1:Yeah, whenever it shuts, the magnets are so strong.
Speaker 2:It's like what was that? Someone's breaking in when the rig's quiet. It's very loud, but it functions well.
Speaker 1:So what have you noticed? And this isn't a direct response to just solitudes, but what really sets the 44 apart from other Alliance coaches or just other RVs in general?
Speaker 2:To me, it's just the floor plan, it's the use of space. I didn't see anything like this whenever we looked at toy haulers, and that was always our biggest concern was do we get a floor plan that really, truly works for us?
Speaker 1:And we found there are comparable floor plans to this. We've said for a long time. We think that what's the toy hauler that we always say has the best floor plans?
Speaker 2:Oh, the voltage.
Speaker 1:So the voltage, I really like the floor plans, the voltage, that's literally where my like stops. And not to just bash on voltage, but I just. We don't want vents in the floors because of the dogs. We prefer them up. Alliance's Duds doesn't do floor vents, they're all up. Grand design doesn't either. That's why we picked them. Everything feels a little cheaper sometimes in the voltage, which sucks. But I do think the layouts are phenomenal and I wish that Alliance would maybe take some notes.
Speaker 2:They did, they created the 44.
Speaker 1:But, with that being said, there are similar floor plans out there. Like I referenced, the Momentum 395, which is technically an M class, I believe.
Speaker 2:If I get that all right.
Speaker 1:It's really close. The biggest difference in this and that if the floor place was similar, is obviously the TV's in a different place. It's the slides are different, but there's like no pass-through storage, none.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, you're right.
Speaker 1:And so, like that was the closest one, I really liked that floor plan. But the caveat for me was no joke, if you like, went through a pass-through door for starters. It's the smallest pass-through door you can imagine, so it's only about this wide and for those of you not that are listening to this, it's we're talking about maybe 24 inches wide, but as far as deep, it only comes to my elbow, so you're maybe two, I'll give it three just to be nice. Feet deep and that's your exterior pass-through storage.
Speaker 2:That's it. That was a big deal breaker on a lot of the floor plans for us.
Speaker 1:So it felt like in a toy hauler. If you wanted a decent living room, you gave up all your storage and then it had typical front storage where just have the one big door. Most grand designs have the same thing the one big door. But then you had your generator in there and then you just had a little bit, and then you're not supposed to stack stuff up on top of your generator prep.
Speaker 2:Hopefully that's not news to any of you listening.
Speaker 1:And if it is shame.
Speaker 2:So and I know that this is me wanting to have my cake and eat it too, but I wanted a couch and a dinette.
Speaker 1:There's cake.
Speaker 2:There's always cake. But, yes, I wanted a couch and I wanted a dinette. I didn't. There are a lot of nice floor plans, but they only had a couch, or you had to eat at the bar or something like that, and that's what we were coming from. So I still wanted to keep a little bit of homey aspect in that regard.
Speaker 1:Sure, that for us, was always what kind of steered us away from that type of a coach. And then, when they started talking to us about what became the 44, my first question was like what's the storage Like? Everything is gonna look just like the 40V13, exterior wise. Now, obviously it's gonna be longer, and then they have a new decal package we'll talk about in a second, but all of it's gonna be exactly the same. So the same pass-through size, all of that. It's just physically gonna be a longer frame.
Speaker 1:Therefore, everything from the rear back. Also, lance has a couple of kind of cool things in the rear as well, so you do have a fuel tank on board as well, which I didn't talk about that in the stats, I'm sorry. You have two 30 gallon gasoline tanks in the back, one for your generator and one for the toys. We use that as a backup for the generator and we just use the fuel pump and we just transfer from one tank to the other, and then on the other side, they actually install an air compressor in its own little box.
Speaker 2:And that was a learning curve for us, because we just went yay air compressor, we didn't really ask a lot of questions.
Speaker 1:No, we didn't, and that's fine because it's still so. It's a more right air compressor, which they don't typically make air compressors for a bunch of other, they only make them for like OEM stuff. You can't go buy one, but it does have a hundred pound capacity, and to get to hundred pounds it takes a while, and so if you were to use it on your trailer tires, for instance, you might need to get up to a hundred and ten to a hundred fifteen PSI, which that can't do. It could take you to Hundred. So depending on what PSI you run at, it either works or doesn't work, and apparently you have to pack your patient Pants when you're using it because it does take a minute.
Speaker 1:So we're actually having the conversation at the moment because, now that it's cooling off, our trailer tires or our truck tires have all done the ascensor. Now where it's like, hey, you're low because, as again, like we talked about last week episode, a little learning science time as the everything cools, your pressure is going to decrease in your tires and so you have to add a little bit air. But then in the summer you're gonna remember take some of that back out as pressure changes again and expand. So you know we're talking about do we get a vi air that gets us to like a hundred twenty five max, so that we have it plus, that can a little more virtually, can move it around if you need to, that kind of stuff. But but it isn't somewhere else that we could actually wire into a 12-volt vi air back there if we wanted to take that one out or like what apparently it's designed for, use it for toys, so like inflatable stuff and all that, which I wouldn't mind, an inflatable kayak.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry. Did I hear a sponsorship for that come through?
Speaker 1:I did not either. So as far as construction the coach goes, there's not. I mean, it's an RV. I've been super happy with the construction of it. I have to. I mean, you know, even when we took delivery of our solitude, there were some trim pieces that had come off of course, all that we really didn't have. I mean, yes, we had a few little minor things. It wasn't even worth telling Alliance, just stick it back up, that's right, and you know what it's called a shakedown trip.
Speaker 2:That first one for a reason, and every RV is going to do that. So, no, I've been very happy with that. I my overall takeaway on the Alliance is that anything Alliance did is Really good, and so like the way that they put things together, their construction and their communication, customer sort. That's all been fantastic.
Speaker 1:So I did actually want I have a whole section here that says customer service and so. But before that, just to kind of put a little proof in the pudding, if you may, when we so in our pantry we had some drawers at the bottom of it, which, jeremiah, I appreciate you trying to put drawers in there. But no, they took our feedback and actually stopped doing drawers and just put the removable shelves the rest of the way down. But those drawers were not like. They were like a third of the width of the of the pantry and there's only three of them. So, like for every one drawer you lost, like you could have two more above and below it, or one more above and below, so two extra drawers. So it just didn't make a lot of sense and so we removed them. Well, we finally got the removal done correctly, slowly and without destroying anything, and she took the the fascia board off of the cabinet and turn around like wow, and it had, how it had, like four or five socket holes for carriage screws to screw.
Speaker 1:So a Socket hole they have to drill, kind of on a side, so you can square up a drill to get into a wood, like when you're building cabinetry. And no joke, it had four, like just in the top. So it had I just talked my microphone, sorry. Um, I think it had probably about 20 total.
Speaker 2:It was an insane amount. Those things were secure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that was the most solid thing I've ever seen in my life, and so Just that in itself is like a testament to what alliance is building now. With that being said, we've had issues with our refrigerator, but that's not so, and this is what's difficult about. It is, when you're calling into a customer service department, understand what you're calling about. Alliance doesn't make refrigerators. No, they buy a ton but they don't make them and so they.
Speaker 2:Their hand is kind of limited in what they can do to help you.
Speaker 1:And so and I will say that we had issues on our solitude to I will tell you that when we had a third-party vendor issue on our solitude, it was rather hard a grand design to get some help.
Speaker 2:The oven wasn't as hard it it wasn't. I broke the knob on the oven. That's not. That's not grand designs or anybody's fault, but the fact that it had to be replaced was insignia's design flaw, right, but anyways.
Speaker 1:So yes, we did have to go through a third-party on that one as well so what I'm referring to is we have an ever chill 12 volt refrigerator, and one of the parts that allows cooling in the refrigerator section had failed, and so we contacted Alliance, the normal way that anybody contacts lines. Just because we have the podcast and the videos doesn't mean in any capacity that we Went a different direction than most people would. We emailed and called the same phone number that's listed on their website that anybody else does and we gave our VIN number.
Speaker 2:We did not say we are millers in motion.
Speaker 1:Make happen.
Speaker 1:We did it the way everybody else does it because I'm pretty sure if I did that they look at me, go, we don't care. But in doing that, you know, about 24 hours goes by and I sent a fairly detailed email, kind of explaining what's going on. I provided some pictures and we did have a handful of things, like some trim pieces here and there, but the big one being the refrigerator. I like to believe it or not. I like my beer cold and I like milk cold and I like to keep things refrigerated, and it just wasn't doing that. In fact, it's sitting at about 72 degrees in the refrigerator and the freezer is at like zero. And so they sent out a spec sheet and said we need you to hire a mobile tech or somebody to come out and do some testing. If you can do it, great, if not, do this. So I did that, responded to them and I'm not no joke that I forget the person's name.
Speaker 1:I want to say Jordan, but that's not right At Alliance. I didn't go 24 hours without talking to him when we were having that initial conversation, all through email, even to the point when I sent everything back that he requested and he sent it on to so ever chills owned by Lippert.
Speaker 1:Most things are owned by Lippert, if you haven't figured that out yet it's like the mafia the Elkar mafia, and so they sent over to Lippert he they actually CC'd me on it only for and he said that he CC'd just for transparency. That was refreshing.
Speaker 2:It really is, thank you. Thank you so much for doing that.
Speaker 1:And so and the person at Lippert responded now obviously it was all directed there and and they kind of mentioned like they, this is really not like, don't interject, let me have the conversation. He goes I'm on your side and there was a couple of times I got frustrated through the process because Not everything can move as fast as you want it to move. If something's broken, you want it fixed yesterday.
Speaker 2:Especially when it's your fridge, something you use every day, right?
Speaker 1:And so you know, with that they Found out in what parts needed to be fixed. We think we hope we have not. They actually parts actually came today and so we haven't installed them yet. So I'm hoping that fixes it, but if it doesn't, for some reason they may have to replace the whole fridge, which is just ridiculous.
Speaker 1:But they he went out of his way to continually update me, which was again refreshing. I only got updates from other companies when I call them and when I reached out and it still took time to get answer, because then they to find out, whereas he, that alliance, had been reaching out to me as we go and Just to put the cherry on top, was, you know, they were always there to at least answer and respond, even to a point where and I know this is a little bit because we know these guys but other people on the team reached out to make sure we were doing okay with the fridge being down again. That could be just because we know them and they just happened to look it up because he knew we have a problem, but we had gotten these two separate people responding, asking if it'd been fixed yet.
Speaker 2:So, at the end of the day, communication is key, even if there's no information Particularly to be relayed. Knowing that you haven't been forgotten Was huge, because there were several times, with the grand design that you know, they'd say oh no, news is good news, we're working on it. No, that's, that doesn't fly as well, and so just having that communication from alliance helped us feel I don't want to say important, but like they actually cared.
Speaker 1:All right, is there anything else on our 44 you'd like to talk about?
Speaker 2:Nope, I think I've hit all my highlights.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, we're not done, but we're gonna take a quick break and I've got a surprise for Lauren coming on the back side.
Speaker 2:It's all a surprise.
Speaker 1:Hey, dude, that's for a second, all right. Well, thanksgiving has come and gone, we're moving into the holiday season and we're gonna play a little game. Are you ready? I'm never ready for your Shannen again, and I will say she has absolutely no idea what's coming.
Speaker 2:I really don't, but that's common, that's most days.
Speaker 1:I purposely didn't tell her about this at all and I didn't hardly write any of it down because of that, because she looks at my notes. All right, we're gonna play game and it's called rapid fire Gift guide. I don't know, I didn't think about the name. This was poorly devised, but so.
Speaker 2:I feel like you're cheating already a little bit the rules change as you go along.
Speaker 1:Huh Well, it is my game, precisely and I'm not really playing, I'm posting, so. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna ask you a couple of questions, but I'm gonna. They're all meant to be like what your favorite product is to solve a problem, kind of a thing.
Speaker 2:Interesting okay okay.
Speaker 1:So I'm gonna say like, for instance, what's your favorite bathroom accessory in the bathroom?
Speaker 2:oh Okay, well, that's interesting.
Speaker 1:What is it quick, I have no idea. Pick something rapid fire. It's point of the game bathroom accessory.
Speaker 2:You started in a very awkward place, but he also like to start with a hot and talk. I'm so confused right now. Hold on, let me think about it. Oh, I don't?
Speaker 1:What's a podcast? That's dead air. Don't you got to just say something?
Speaker 2:Well, you can talk if you want to. How about we start easier? Then let's do that in a less confusing place. So that's.
Speaker 1:That's that's the name of the gist. So what's your favorite kitchen accessory that we've added onto the rig?
Speaker 2:That we've added onto the rig.
Speaker 1:Can't, could not, come with the RV.
Speaker 2:You know, I like our air fryer.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I really do, because you don't have to heat up the whole oven, um, and you don't have to deep fry things and use open flames. So those make my safety heart happy.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, what is your favorite? Like personal safety on the rig, so like the dog safety, our safety, something along those lines.
Speaker 2:So I think you know you can use both of these kind of interchangeably. Like the ring you can do certain, the ring system you can do alerts for, like water alerts and this and that. But the Govee, if we got the right sensors, could also do that right. Um, you said that at one point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's different sensors, but yeah.
Speaker 2:And so I like that, the temperature and water sensors.
Speaker 1:So we'll just say across the board, like a notification system for things that are should not be happening, that are happening.
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1:So that is the aspects of our ring security system which is a which is a safety thing. We have a security camera system that goes all the way around the coach, but you're specifically referring to the water sensors that we have placed, like behind the washer dryer, underneath, in different areas where there could be leaks. So if there is one, we know.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Combined with our temperature and humidity sensors that lets us know if the temperature is out of whack, so that if, like if we're boondocking and something's happened to the solar setup, that the dogs are okay.
Speaker 2:Yes, and also, you know, the ring can incorporate the fire alarms, the listeners, the CO2 listeners, that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that Favorite piece of technology we've added to the rig. She's not the technology person.
Speaker 2:I am not the techno person, so I'm going to leave this as broad as my brain lets me. The internet I like that we can take the internet with us, because that means that I can always use my laptop, I can work from the road and we can always watch TV.
Speaker 1:Okay, you kind of did cooking, so what's your favorite?
Speaker 2:I beat him in his own game. He can't even come up with questions.
Speaker 1:Here's the problem is it's the bathroom. One again, but I'm trying to phrase it correctly.
Speaker 2:It's a bathroom for crying out loud.
Speaker 1:But there's things up there that we use. Like we installed a toilet paper holder, a different one in a different place. You know we're going to upgrade this, We've made upgrades to the shelving, We've got, you know, that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:So like okay. So then let me say that my favorite thing that maybe we've done to the bathroom is that we didn't do the glass doors. We have the curtain.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Because the doors weigh a lot. They're too. They're hard to clean. Oh no, they're. They shatter all kinds of things that are just a mess.
Speaker 1:Not in this coach, cause you never had them. If you custom order a coach, you can say I don't want those things, by the way. Uh, okay, I. That was the last of my questions. I'm sure I can come up with one.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to throw out kind of the thing that one of the things that we've bought for this coach that I like the most, and I don't think you can get away with this in a non-toy hauler. Confused, I know, ta-da the washer dryer.
Speaker 2:I love our GE washer dryer. It is not the splendid, it's none of those. It's ventless. It does a phenomenal job. The clothes get clean, they smell great. It's just a little bit bigger, I think, than the splendid, so I don't think it would fit in the closet spaces if you don't have the toy hauler. But I love that and I love that we can always do our own laundry.
Speaker 1:So I will say that doing being able to do our own laundry has been one of our big things. We're not necessarily germaphobes, but we just have a very particular way and I don't like other people's stuff.
Speaker 2:He doesn't like laundromats. I don't.
Speaker 1:I just they always smell like cigarette smoke and I have yet to been to a laundry mat that I went. That was nice.
Speaker 2:And I mean even the one here at our campground. But it's been fine and we've used it, but that's just not our preference.
Speaker 1:No, I'd prefer to have my own machine, that I know that I've maintained the hygiene of it and all that stuff. So but yeah, we have the GE. I think GE is making some phenomenal things that can work in RVs but aren't necessarily meant. So if you do go looking for any of these types of things, just understand your space. I'm pretty sure none of the products would have worked in our solitude. I agree.
Speaker 1:I will say, and she did mention, we have a combo washer dryer that is ventless, so it's a compressor driven dryer. It may. It holds water in a reservoir and then pumps it out through the drain from the washer, if it has enough in there to pump it, and then it also can use that water for a steam cycle if you so choose. I will say it's heavier than the splendid, significantly heavier, but because we put it in our toilet space, that was a less of an issue for us. And just be aware I would we had this conversation the other day If I had the option of venting, I would vent, and only because it's faster.
Speaker 1:It takes, you know, probably about a third of the amount of time longer to dry clothes and it does take a while sometimes towels Like if I throw three towels in there, it takes four hours just to dry. And so not the end of the world. But that just a few things. That just a few things to know. So, ok, well, that is going to do it for us this week. We hope you enjoyed this episode. Don't forget we are coming to the Tampa RV show. We're going to be doing some live podcasts you can find out updates on not just that, but everything. If you follow us over on Instagram or Facebook, everything for us is Millers at Millers in Motion.
Speaker 2:You can also sign up for the newsletter and we will reach out to you monthly and give you the latest updates.
Speaker 1:You can find all those links in the description below. Just click on that guy and it'll take you to pretty much whatever you want to find. So thank you so much for joining us and we will see you or talk to you. I got to remember, say talk to you next week, travel safe.