Sunday, April 8, 2007

The best motorhome in the world.


Several fervent and loyal blogreaders suggested writing about the experiences with the Lazy Daze Class C motor home.

A brand new Lazy Daze 26.5 MB was purchased in March 2006 and sold in March 2007.

This Lazy Daze was the first Class C motor home owned.
Before truck campers and camper vans had been owned and used.

A Lazy Daze 26.5 MB has a length of 26.5 feet and the MB stands for midbath which refers to the floor plan.

Lazy Daze’s are probably the best build Class C motor homes on the market.
They are of very high quality.
Excellent materials and superb craftsmanship.
After taking possession of the Lazy Daze, everything worked to perfection and never was there a reason to return to Montclair in California where the factory of Lazy Daze is located.

Does it seem that a Lazy Daze is the ideal motor home then?
The answer is positive.
Yes.
100 %
For someone who looks for a well designed, best made motor home with an ideal floor plan for weekend or permanent travelling and living, a Lazy Daze should be considered.
Keeping in mind that what they cost is a price relatively reasonable compared to what you get.

Will this posting therefore end here and now?
Aren’t there any remarks or observations to make?
Has motor home heaven been found?

There are two issues with a Lazy Daze.

One is the beds.
However, this is an issue that occurs in most Class C motor homes.
It is not a specific issue only with a Lazy Daze.

There is a bed in the cab-over.
It consists of several pieces of improvised mattress because part of the cab-over bed can be flipped open to create a larger opening to access the cab of the Ford E-450.

One thing is to access this sleeping space.
Because the space between mattress and ceiling is not high at all, one needs to learn a twisting manoeuvre with the body to squeeze in.
Getting out one also needs to learn a specific acrobatic movement to land safely on the floor.
And it is easy to imagine what it takes to make the bed if one has not much space between mattress and ceiling.

Once laying down on the bed, the ceiling is just above sending vibes of claustrophobia.
If two persons sleep there and the one near the wall needs to leave the bed during the night, it creates a major disruption.
There is hardly space for one to crawl over the other person.

But the worst part is the mattress.
Maybe for one or two nights it will do but if one wants to sleep in that bed for a longer period of time one becomes unfriendly towards one owns back.
The solution found was a +/- 10 cm (4 inches) Memory Foam pad put on top of the Lazy Daze sectioned mattress.
Making the space to the ceiling less high and even more claustrophobic.
And in spite of the Memory Foam pad, the mattress was still far from ideal.

The couches in the back of the Lazy Daze can be made into beds as well.
And that is what they are: couches made into beds.
Also not very good to sleep on for longer periods of time.
Again, this issue is not specific Lazy Daze.
It is with most Class C motor homes except the ones who have a floor plan with a permanent bed in the back where one could install a decent mattress and have enough space to the ceiling.

The other issue with a Lazy Daze is more personal although several similar complains have been heard.
It is a touchy subject and maybe even taboo especially among Lazy Daze owners.
It has to do with the purchasing process.
There are no dealers selling Lazy Dazes.
One must apply at the Lazy Daze factory and after paying a down payment, one is put on a waiting list.
Next, it can take 6 to 9 months before the Lazy Daze is ready for delivery.
This is all very well but what has been experienced as unpleasant is the treatment received from Lazy Daze.
There are no sales persons at Lazy Daze.
The general manager and owner busies himself besides running the whole operation with the customers.

The general position of Lazy Daze is that they believe they make the best motor home in the world, people wait in line to buy one and therefore the customer must simply accept all conditions of Lazy Daze.

Meeting this major person of Lazy Daze, first there was a half an hour litany of bitter complains about customers who have been annoying and disturbing to him asking for new options or modifications.
The message was: order, pay, take delivery when we are ready and shut up.
Have it our way or take a walk.
And that was the attitude all through the purchasing process.
It was a surprising experience because in general in the USA customer courtesy has a very high level.

If one has no problem dealing with the two issues mentioned above, a Lazy Daze is a privilege to have and to travel in.
*****************************************

This posting was not sponsored by Lazy Daze.

To learn more about Lazy Daze motor homes, click on
www.lazydaze.com

To learn more about Lazy Daze motor homes from users, click on
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/lifewithalazydazerv/

To learn more about Lazy Daze owners enhancing their motor home, click on:
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/LD_Enhancements/

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I cannot agree that Lazy Daze is the BEST motorhome in the world. It MAY be the best that is built in California, but NOT the world. The Born Free is far superior to the Lazy Daze. Not only better quality, but they have superior Customer Relations and a better selection of floor plans. Investigate for yourself and you may agree. My mother had 2 Lazy Dazes and was NOT happy with the quality of either. The ONLY reason for her second unit was that the factory gave her full refund on the first because of all the trouble, but only if she bought the second one. It was NOT much better.

Anonymous said...

Do you mean that for those 2 reasons you got rid of a great RV ?
I am sure that the bed area could have been improved by raising the roof & adding a large Heiky, & a real bed.

Unknown said...

I cannot agree that Lazy Daze is the BEST motorhome in the world. It MAY be the best that is built in California, but NOT the world. The Born Free is far superior to the Lazy Daze.

Motorhome

Tom said...

As owner of '11 I think the author's comments are fair enough.

Bed: I immediately put three inch memory foam on cabover bed. It is much better. Perhaps by trying different foam toppers I can dial it in to perfect. In general the cushions used by LD are high quality, but there is only so much they can do with the thin cabover cushions. The couch is comfortable, and I've cut a 2 inch memory foam pad to put over it when guests are sleeping on the couch. The claustrophobia has not bothered me in the cabover bed but that's personal thing.

The quality has been excellent, as author described. Very few teething pains compared to other RVs I've owned. Only one very minor trip back to factory. It has been very refreshing to just use it and not expect problems.

Sales is more "have it their way" than I'm used to. But minor customization is not completely impossible. Perhaps they are bending a bit since you posted your report.