Looking at an XLII -- need advice

[davidbrady]

Sky,

Phil Cooper's got a couple of slideless Vantare's for sale including this 1999 with 45,000 miles on it: http://www.philcooper.com/inventory/h345...nversion/#

Over in the Vantare Slide Cutout Structure Reinforcement thread I show that there's no appreciable chassis strength loss due to the slide cutout - if there is it's imperceptible to me. This is because of the extensive beams designed and installed by Vantare to add strength back in. Donny Myers and the ex-Vantare employees at DMRV explained to me how Vantare did an engineering structural analysis of the Prevost chassis using FEA techniques, similar to mine, to determine the size and placement of the cutout reinforcements. Any cutout which interrupts load paths must be reinforced to restore the required strength. Vantare worked on this in conjunction with an outside engineering firm and with Prevost. Prevost certainly wasn't about to let a converter tarnish its reputation with a half baked chassis cutout reinforcement. This is how they were able to produce a slide equipped bus that doesn't leak, rattle, or compromise the structure. They went to great lengths to add the strength back into the chassis by adding engineered beams around the slide cutout. After 15000 miles my testimonial is they got it right! No one should be scared of a slideout impementation in a Vantare.