Sometimes it’s what you don’t see that
sets your Country Coach apart…Like the Country Coach Wiring Process by
Sherry Fanning
When we were
building Country Coaches, I produced the employees newsletter. There were
twenty different departments in the production facility at that time. One issue
of that employee newsletter featured a tour through the Dash and Wiring Departments. I was impressed with CC’s commitment to
meeting stringent coding requirements set forth by RVIA to ensure your coach
wiring systems were not only state of the art but user friendly, safe and easy
to maintain, too. Wiring systems were first documented on schematics using CAD.
From there, wire number lists that documented identity of each circuit by
number and description of function were generated for use in construction,
installation and service. The wire number lists and a full set of schematics were
published in the user’s guide with each coach.
One of the
many unique features of the CC wiring department was the fact the wiring was color coded wiring, identical
from coach model to coach model, all labeled on both ends with numbers for
tracing purposes and bench assembled into harnesses. They did not run a
single wire at a time. Along with quality checks, wiring systems were subjected
to dielectric strength testing to assure proper wire conductor strength and
performance. Tests were run using high voltages at very low amps. Specific
energy management systems (transfer switches, inverters, control centers,
converter switches) were bench assembled in the “clean” room. This impressive
process was visible on factory tours via the large picture windows into the
room. Some of you probably watched the work in process yourselves.
An example of
the intricate and simultaneously user friendly wiring in the Country Coach is
in the Dash. The Dash/cab area is the nerve center from which most coach
systems operate. For example the layout of the dash prioritized controls
strictly for driving functions, with items such as air leveling and the systems
monitor placed within easy reach. During wiring installation, harnesses were
kept extremely neat with splicing never done. Components run to AMP plugs via a
modular system for ease of maintenance. Should components fail, they unplug
easily for replacement.
A favorite CC
Tour guide was one Jim Reab who noted that an estimated 3 miles of wiring went into a Country Coach—that’s a lot
of wire!
The
workmanship in the Dash and Wiring department all those years ago is evident in
the motorcoaches driven on the highways and byways of this nation yet today.
Country Coach artisans and craft persons really did build every coach as if our
own mother would be driving it.
Bob Lee,
company founder, used to instruct us to approach our jobs with that philosophy
whenever we’d meet in company meetings. Evidently his employees took his
directives to heart—I see Country
Coaches visiting Premier RV Services in Junction City, Oregon that are not only
still operating beautifully and but are still looking like what they are – The World’s
Finest Motorcoaches!
