Special Motorhome Blog, Red Bay, AL

While Carole did the last trip blog I thought I would do one on my visit to the Tiffin manufacturing and paint shops and on some of the motorhomes I inspected. It is obvious that more Allegro Bus' are under construction, closely followed by Phaeton's. Tiffin is producing 10 motorhome per day vs a year ago when they were only doing 3 per day.

The manufacturing plant tour is loosely done, you have almost free rein to wander off and inspect whatever construction stage you want to. The tour takes you right through the assembly lines and you can speak with the employees, touch and feel the items being installed. It is quite a sight to see, seems to be alot of confusion at first until you get oriented on the different lines and how everyone is doing a certain task and the unit is moving on to the next stage. Basically, the chassis is driven up to the line at which time all the chassis wiring and anything being installed under the floor is completed. Then the subfloor platform, for those to have floor tile, it is installed in one slab the complete length of the motorhome. The floor tile is installed on a 3/4" plywood platform over at the paint shop 8-miles away and brought over on a flatbed trailer. Suction cups are used to transfer the tile slabs onto the motorhome platforms with a hosit. Anchors are shot through the tile and removed later and the holes filled. From this point holes are cut into the floor for various vents, plumbing, wiring and etc. As the home moves on the cabinets, dashes, plumbing fixtures, and etc installed. The walls are laminated and computer milled for the steel framing in the the huge slabs of insulation panels and hosisted into place once moved to the appropiate assembly line. The walls are installed and then cutting of openings for the various models are done as well as storage compartments installed and carpeted with liners. Some modifications are done to the Ford chassis units at the front to eliminate road water problems that apparently could develope. All models are being built at the same time and are intermingled along the production line. Each order sheet has a name on it and where it is to be delivered. Ironically, one of the orders that our tour guide grabbed to look at and show us was a 36' foot bus. The order was for "Bob" which is the aka used for the big man, Bob Tiffin. So, we know Bob will be showing up at a future rally in a 36' Foot bus.

Inspections are continuely done on each motorhome by the foreman's and many returned to the finish line at the end where corrections are made before or even after they have gone to the paint shop. The paint shop is in Bomont, MS a short drive west. It is a series of large buildings connected together by common walls. My estimate is there are roughly two dozen paint booths there and probably over 100 motorhomes in various stages of paint. I was quite impressed with the cleaniness of the shops, could eat off the floor, much different than the manufacturing operation. Again, you are free to roam the premises as long as you wear the safety glasses and ear plugs and can go in and out of the motorhomes. I spoke with a number of the employees who were quite informative. The primer looking unfinished units make an amazing appearance transition form start to finish. The paint shop is a must see if you are in Red Bay whether you are a Tiffin owner or SOB. The tours are open to anyone with an interest.

The pictures above are of the new Breeze and interiors along with some others of the Red Bay RV Park. Hope you enjoy them. Will send other pictures later.