When you compare our 276RBS to many other Tango models it obviously sits much lower...about 5-6" I'd guess. Not coincidently our axles are underslung (e.g. axles on top of springs) whereas the taller models appear to be overslung (e.g. axles below the springs). I'm not particularly concerned about the ride height - lower is probably better for wind resistance - but there's only a couple inches of clearance between the top of the axles & the bottom of the chassis rail and I don't think it takes much of a jolt to use up that space!

I'm familiar with the process of "flipping the axles" and the kits available from the axle manufacturers to move the spring perches so I'll probably do just that at some point. As an added benefit I'd also gain enough room to install some shock absorbers to reduce the bouncing. I'm not sure why PCW decided to use this configuration for our model, but I think they should have stuck with the proven overslung design.

UPDATE 7/2009: It's even worse than I thought! I had to pull off the Coroplast belly shield to install my new SeeLevel tank monitoring system and discovered the clearance between the fresh water tank & forwad axle was 1/4" in the center! Yikes!

My previous trailer had BAL single-leg stabilizers with sand pads that always worked flawlessly, but our Tango is equipped with scissor-type stabilizers that look like they came off a 1948 Shasta canned ham! (If I didn't know better I'd say these were used when they were installed - either that or this trailer is a lot older than the title says it is!) For starters, they've been repainted with a coat(s) of thick black paint which really gums up the the moving parts including the ACME threaded shafts. Someone did take the time to mask the labels containing the brand & model info with some duct tape; but when you try to remove the tape it takes the decal off with it! I suspect they might be Lippert jacks that were provided with the chassis package.

Aesthetics aside, my biggest problem is how they operate: despite my repeated attempts to lubricate the threaded shafts & collars they rotate about as easily as a coarse-thread screw in a fine-thread nut! The only thing ACME about these is the dynamite the Roadrunner will have to detonate to get them to move! And don't get me started on the rusty & paint-clogged thrust bearings which sound like they were factory-packed with sand! The guy who parks his trailer next to mine has similar jacks and they look brand new (which I would have expected... on a brand-new trailer) by comparison. I watched him crank them down one day - smooth & quiet - mine squeak & groan like an old bricklayer's back!

I plan to junk these as soon as possible in favor of some new scissor jacks or better yet upgrade to BAL "C" jacks, probably with the lock-arm stabilizing bars. These have the same weight capacity as the scissors & have a much cleaner profile when retracted. Plus they work!

UPDATE! See modification "Replaced stabilizer jacks" for my solution to this problem.

I frankly took the advertising claims of a "walk-on roof" with a grain of salt & figured it was mostly to justify the ladder. However I was pleasantly surprised it would take my 220 lb. weight with ease when I cleaned my rubber roof for the first time & later when installing a couple vent covers. I had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time on the roof in the latter case and noted very little deflection between the rafters where expected & none directly over the rafters.

I wouldn't plan on hanging around up there with a few friends to watch a sporting event or to store a bunch of stuff; but for the occasional maintenance job it's more than acceptable.

During the Christmas Holidays I checked on our trailer in the storage yard after we had about 24" of snow & freezing rain in the Portland area. I wasn't too worried about the ability of the roof to hold the weight, but thought it might be good idea to see how things were faring because the temps were below freezing for a good 10 days prior. (Luckily I had drained the water heater, tanks, & water lines last Fall). Good thing I did because I found a good-sized puddle of water on the floor along the curbside wall next to the bed! It also seemed to have flowed over under the Kitchen sink cabinet & all the stuff I had in the bottom there was soaked. Yikes!

I've actually noticed water under the sink earlier in the year ('08) & chalked it up to a possible plumbing leak; but after finding no more during the Summer (gee, I wonder why?) I didn't worry too much about it. Now I see it may be related to the water accumulating along the wall, but from where? I conjectured it might have worked its way under the refrig. vent as the snow melted, or possibly the new vent covers I installed last summer might be leaking through the mounting holes (Damn! I knew I should have caulked those bolt holes!).

So I mopped things up & placed several dehumidifier canisters around to soak up the moisture and kept an eye on the rig for the next several days. I also turned on the furnace to get the temperature up & help the water evaporate. A few days later during a particularly heavy rain I drove over & hung around inside to see if I could figure out where the water was coming from - and was "rewarded" with a steady trickle of water running down the wall from under the window above the puddle! The window must not be sealed properly and was working its way behind the outside flange?

Of course, by then my battery had completely discharged from running the furnace (no surprise) so I pulled the trailer home & parked in front of the house where I could plug in the shore power to run the furnace & recharge. I set the thermostat to 75° & let it cook for a couple days and during a break in the rain managed to run a bead of clear silicone caulking around the window. While I was at it I did all the windows & was pleased to see an neat trick I saw on a DIY show worked great: to smooth out the caulking mist it with denatured alcohol first - your finger won't stick & it makes for a nice clean job!

Today (two weeks later & after more heavy rain) I checked the trailer again to see if my handiwork did any good - not a drop inside so that must have done the trick! Thank God for small miracles! For the benefit of others I Googled “window leak RV” during this process & got a LOT of hits (like 500,000+)! Apparently this is a very common problem and many said it was often due to the window sliding down in the opening during hot weather. The theory is the foam tape or butyl sealant gets soft when warm & if there is any space between the window frame & body opening on the bottom the whole thing will sag down due to gravity if not properly supported. This then breaks the seal along the top & allows water to leak in, which flows down around the frame & exits along the bottom inside which is not sealed. I imagine it also fills up the wall cavity so hopefully that won’t become a larger problem later – perhaps my foam-filled walls didn’t offer too many places for the water to hide!

During the initial walk-thru when I picked up the new trailer from the dealer we noticed some water on the floor in the bathroom in front of the vanity. The technician at first thought it was water that may have sloshed out of the toilet when they were staging the trailer; but upon closer inspection he noticed the clamps on the hoses running to the outside shower box (located under the vanity about a foot off the floor) were loose. To the dealer's credit they had hooked up all the utilities to demonstrate their use - as an added benefit it also tested them! BTW, it's worth noting all the piping in the trailer appears to be PEX except for these two water lines, which are braid-reinforced PVC hose secured to plastic tee & elbow fittings with worm-drive Breeze hose clamps. PEX connections are typically made with copper or steel compression rings applied with a special tool & are pretty leak-proof.

On our first trip I again noticed water in the bathroom and discovered the carpet I had placed on the floor inside the vanity was soaking wet. Interesting it didn't show up right away, but rather took a day for the water to build up to the point it saturated my carpet so it must be a pretty slow leak! I tightened up the hose clamps some more and since we were leaving soon just tossed the carpet in the tub to drain. I left the cabinet door open & roof vent during the trip home to dry things out.

When I got home I inspected the situation closer & decided the 1/4" wide clamps might be the problem - some some wider versions may apply more even pressure to the hose & stop the leak. After I replaced those with 1/2" wide clamps I hooked the trailer up to city water & left it pressurized overnight.

The next day I checked the floor - damn! - wet again! I pulled out the soaked carpet one more time & set up a fan to help dry this out as I was getting concerned the water may work it's way under the vinyl flooring (the water lines run right along the floor where it meets the back wall & the flooring only extends a few inches beyond that) given the proximity to the edge. This time I removed the hoses completely, applied some bathtub caulking to the fittings & inside the hose ends, then really cranked down the clamps as far as I dared - getting pretty close to the crush strength of the plastic fittings! After another test it seemed to hold; but I did have one other trip where I saw some leaked water...pretty minor & after three days so I know I'm getting a handle on it. A few more careful twists on the clamps & the leak has permanently disappeared (hopefully).

Conclusions:

• The factory should have used PEX for these lines. Not sure why they choose to switch materials - possibly the outside shower was installed as an afterthought? I may do this myself at some point since I'm considering buying a PEX installation tool.

• On a related note I'm going to make up a 5-sided box from 1" high-density foam that will slip over the shower faucet enclosure to insulate it. This is exposed to directly to outdoor temperatures & I really don't want all the plumbing under the vanity to freeze! I'd suggest the factory try to mount this in the same compartment as the water heater - at least the heat thrown off by that would help keep things warm.

(This information was submitted by another Tango owner from California coincidentally named Dave Smith)

"1 week after taking delivery of my new 2008 Tango 257 BH, the battery was dead: while plugged into shore power. Checking the Power Distribution panel, I found the 2 30 Amp Battery Polarity Protection fuses blown. After a quick run to the hardware store, I put in 2 new fuses which immediately blew. After a bit of probing with a voltmeter I found that I was getting no output from the Power Converter. With the 30 amp fuses pulled and the Power Converter breaker OFF, I checked the resistance of the 12 VDC output of the converter and found it to be a dead short. OK, so that is RANT #1; I received my brand new trailer with a defective Power Converter.

RANT #2: I called the dealer where I purchased the rig and was told to get it repaired, I had to bring the trailer back and it would take them about a week to fix it. Well, the dealer is 120 miles away, so that was a non-starter.

RANT #3: I called my local Tango dealer to see about getting it taken care of there and was told they are currently not doing any Tango warranty work because Pacific Coachworks has not been paying the bills for warranty work.

I tracked down the manufacturer (Parallax Power Systems) of the Power Converter and spoke with a very helpful tech rep which verified from the info I gave him that my converter was bad and that there were quite a few defective units delivered in late 2007, early 2008; but I would need the dealer or manufacturer to initiate a warranty repair. I called Pacific Coachworks customer service and they confirmed I could have gotten a bad one, but they had none in stock to replace it with. It seems that PC is pretty short on staff right now and they are not currently building much of anything. PC sent me back to PPS and agreed to intercede on my behalf. PPS has now agreed to expedite me a replacement converter so I can have power on my camping trip the end of the month.

So about 10 phone calls, 10 e-mails, and a couple of faxes later, a new Power Converter is on its way. Don't expect to get much in the way of warranty service out of Tango dealers right now; although I must say Ray Found at PC Customer Service was very helpful."

Let me preface this by stating this is not PCW's fault - all the gas fired furnaces used in RV's are apparently derived from aircraft jet engines & operate at a sound level slightly less than an F-15 at maximum takeoff thrust! Why some manufacturer can't come up with a design that operates reasonably quietly is baffling - just do a Google search on noisy RV furnace & you'll get at least 29,000 hits!

As with my last trailer we finally resorted to using a silent oil-filled electric radiator-type heater; which works fine as long as you have shore power available. When boondocking...well, there's always earplugs!

I noticed this the first time we camped during hot weather. The roof-mounted A/C drains the water it extracts from the warm air onto the roof, which eventually makes its way down to the ground. I don't know if PCW can control which side of the roof it exits from but right now it runs straight down to the gutter along the curb side & overflows onto the awning...and onto anyone unlucky enough to be sitting or standing under the outside edge! I know this for a fact because my Mother was sunning herself in a chair when it let go (usually right after it turns off) & she got pretty wet!

If PCW could route the drain hose to the road side I think a lot of people would be much happier on a warm day!

I'm constantly amazed how good the cabinets are in our Tango when compared to other RV's we visit. A very nice surprise considering the relatively light weight of the trailer. Two families we frequently camp with both have new Airstreams and I'd say they have nothing on the Tango - their interior furnishings are mostly laminate-faced MDF or curved plywood and while "modern" seem very cold to me. Plus the available storage is a fraction of what we have! (the price you pay for aerodynamics)

Some highlights:

• The sturdy plywood drawer boxes have decent quality ball-bearing slides & solid wood fronts.
  
  
• All the raised-panel cabinet doors (at least the rails & stiles) & drawer faces are solid wood. Probably Alder or White Pine.
  
  
• The end panels, door panels, & face frames are covered with "Distressed German Beechwood" photo-veneer; which is a fancy name for paper imprinted with an image of the graining & color of wood. This seems to be a standard trick in lighter-weight trailers & I really don't mind as I'd rather not haul around investment-grade furniture! (Pretty thin though - I pulled off a piece while removing some 3M mounting tape)
  
  
• Countertops are very sturdy too with solid-surface edging in the kitchen area.
  
  
• All the knobs are brushed nickel over brass.
  
  

The only complaint so far is with the drawer retention which is some kind of friction stop built into the slides. We asked Ray Found at the show where we bought the trailer if they had any problems with the drawers coming open while traveling, and he said "not that he's aware of". However we've had them come open during travel with increasing frequency lately so whatever method they use is wearing out. Unfortunately, the last time some kitchen tongs sprung apart when a drawer slid open & managed to scratch the heck out of our oven door! Bummer... I've got a new door skin on order from Suburban.

(See my modification to correct this problem)

The dinette table uses a pair of aluminum tubes that twist-lock into plates bolted to the floor and fit into tapered sockets attached to the underside of the table. Despite the high-quality of this hardware the table was very unstable and would wobble & tip under the slightest pressure, which as you can imagine can be pretty disastrous when covered with a full compliment of dishes & silverware!

(See my modification to correct this problem)

We're very pleased with the copious amount of storage on our Tango!

• Across the front of the trailer is huge pass-thru compartment that could literally hold a casket. Access is from exterior swing-up doors on either side & there are lights inside for those nighttime forays. We keep our hitching & utility stuff on either side in a couple of plastic mortar mixing tubs I picked up at Home Deport - works well to contain any water & keeps things from moving around. In the center are a couple of large Rubbermaid Action packers for seldom-used stuff.
  
  
• In the bedroom are two wardrobes & more drawers, cabinets across the top, and the bed itself lifts up for bulk storage for about 2/3 of its length (other 1/3 is taken up by the pass-thru mentioned above).
  
  
• In the center of the trailer the kitchen offers a good selection of overhead and undercounter cabinets, a stack of four drawers on one side plus another adjacent - and a very useful garbage can drawer! I can't imagine where other people store their trash without one of these - we were always tripping over the garbage can in our previous trailer!
  
  
• Moving back, across the top of the slide-out is another bank of deep cabinets we use as a pantry, and opposite that are even more overhead cabinets above the dinette. On the adjacent wall is a taller cabinet that works great for liquor bottles so it immediately was designated as the bar!
  
  
• In the rear bathroom is dual-door closet across one end with four drawers below, plus a good-sized under sink cabinet and mirrored medicine cabinet on the wall. There's also a small exterior compartment into the dead space below the closet that's probably intended for access to the water heater located there, but it works great to hold a small toolbox.

Compared to the miserly amount of stowage space on some trailers (Airstream, are you listening?) this thing is a packrats dream!

(This information was submitted by another Tango owner from California coincidentally named Dave Smith)

"The water pump on my 257BH is under the drawer stack in the galley, with a spot that would perfectly fit another drawer blanked off. If they would have moved the pump 12" forward it would have been under the pull-out trash bin where it still would have plenty of room, and would also be accessible for service by taking the trash bin slider out.

If I can purchase a new drawer front from PC, I will move the pump, knock out the blanking panel, and put a hinged drawer front as a door over the space and gain an extra 1.5 CuFt of accessible storage.”

We've spent about three weeks (altogether) in the Tango now & I've got to say the mattress on the bed is damn comfortable! We camp occasionally with a couple families who own new (< 2 yrs. old) Airstreams and both have commented about replacing or augmenting their stock mattresses to improve comfort. There's not been a night we haven't slept like logs! Kudos to Pacific Coachworks for selecting quality components!

UPDATE: we did add a memory foam mattress topper, which improved our sleeping experience even more! But my original comments still stand: the stock mattress was better than most!

We took a quick trip to the Oregon coast last weekend to take advantage of some beautiful February El Niño weather (was awesome) and extended the awning as usual to provide some shade & protection from the breeze. Later when I tried to retract it for the night it was dead - no reaction to the switch in either position! I checked the fuse - OK - and was sure we had power since all the lights & other 12-volt devices were working fine.

Hmmmm...this could be a problem, but I wasn't too worried yet as the winds were light & I know there's a way to retract the awning manually for the trip home. I did attach a couple of guy lines before bed, which turned out to be a good idea because the wind picked up during the night & the awning flapped around quite a bit before things calmed down about midnight. The next day was calm & sunny so played around with the awning some more...tried turning the tube by hand while Kris flipped the switch in cause the motor had a bad commutator segment. Nope. Looked for obvious broken wires, etc...all seemed fine so we headed out for a full day's activities in Newport.

By late afternoon the winds had picked up again & the awning was jumping quite a bit so I moved the guy lines out from the stabilizer jack pads to a couple of stakes driven into the ground outboard of the awning. This pulled the fabric much tighter & seemed to take care of the problem so we had dinner, watched some TV & hit the sack around 11:00. However the winds increased quickly after that and by midnight was fairly active at 12-15 MPH with gusts up to 18 (according to NOAA). Inside the trailer however it seemed like a hurricane as that damn awning was jumping & popping, the wall was squeaking, and the floor shaking! I half expected to hear the "Wizard of Oz" music at any time & we'd take off only to land in some Kansas wheat field! Needless to say we didn't sleep too well that night!

Morning again brought sunny skies with still winds & since we were leaving that day I took another hard look at the awning before resorting to the manual retraction procedure (which according to Dometic requires a service call to put everything back together). This time I zeroed in on the connection where the power cord transitions from the house wiring to the flexible rubber-covered cord that snakes up the support arms to the motor. (I knew there was a splice underneath a plastic cover strip that I previously reinstalled after it worked loose last year). As I unwrapped the electrical tape covering the crimp connectors the wires literally came apart in my hands! Yikes!

The spice was also soaking wet; which after close examination was due to a perfect storm of shoddy workmanship:

1. pigtail (closed end) connectors were used instead of the inline butt type which created a bulky splice package
2. the tape was installed from the bottom working upwards
3. an insufficent length of tape was used which left an opening at the top

All of this managed to create a rather nice little plastic “vase” to keep the connection full of water! At this point I’m not sure if the resulting corrosion caused the wires to separate or it was simply a poorly-executed splice; but after cutting away all the old stuff & reconnecting everything with the proper butt connectors and taping it up tight I was pleased to see the awning retract under its own power!

So as a word of caution – please check this splice on your trailer if you have the power awning! It’s been my experience that once someone is assigned a particular task on a production line they tend to “own it”, and perhaps more importantly are typically responsible for passing on the technique to their replacements. Save yourself a headache & make sure you won’t spend a sleepless night wondering if your trailer can fly!

PCW included an A&E 9100 electric awning in the "Advantage Package" and I'll have to admit it's pretty slick! We find having the ability to extend it with a push of a button makes us use the awning more. And it always impresses the neighbors still equipped with those Neanderthal manual awnings!

All this convenience has a downside though:

• You can't tip the awning to allow rainwater to drain off like a manual awning. (See my modification to correct this problem)
• The height of the awning is fixed & pretty high. If the sun is low it easily shines in under the canopy.

But the advantages outweigh these minor gripes so we still consider this a rave!

(This information was submitted by another Tango owner from California. Yes, believe it or not there are other Dave Smiths who own Tangos!)

"Here is a RAVE and some helpful advice.

My 2008 Tango 257BH came with an A&E Power Awning. Unfortunately, according to a number of posts on various RV forums, the "automatic" rain dumping feature does not really work, and there is no way to tilt the awning for runoff or to adjust the angle. Fortunately, A&E responded to this problem by coming up with a modification kit (p/n 3312508.017B) that allows tilt adjustment; and even better, they will supply it free of charge to owners of the Power Awning through dealers. It is easy to self install by any semi-handy person with an extra set of hands to hold the awning when the fixed arm is removed. If you want to be able to adjust both sides to angle the whole awning downward, you will need 2.

Now the rave: I sent an e-mail to Pacific Coachworks to see if they could provide the kit, and I received it the next day! Free of charge! Now that's what I call CUSTOMER SERVICE!

I have also heard that Camping World can get it for you.

The other Dave Smith, Camarillo, CA"