Archive for January, 2008

>Vancouver Province – Vancouver,British Columbia,Canada
Late last summer, Ian Harwood turned what should have been a pleasant sojourn in a beautifully equipped motorhome into an episode worthy of the National Lampoon Vacation movie series. Don’t let his pratfalls put you off RVing — read on with a view to learning how not to enjoy the great outdoors!

For our first RV trip in the Okanagan Valley, we thought we should bring everything including the kitchen sink.

We should have brought our plumbing, but more about that later.
Full Story…
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>“During the fourth quarter, we faced significant challenges in the RV Group as overall retail demand remained tepid, resulting in a very weak wholesale market as many dealers became reluctant to take on new inventory,” said Michael R. Terlep, President of the Coachmen RV Group. “Although the bottom line does not yet show the results we want and need, we have accomplished meaningful gains in margin improvement, increased capacity utilization as a result of consolidation activities and overhead reductions from the cost cutting that we diligently managed throughout 2007. Despite the sales weakness we experienced in December, based on the favorable response to our new models introduced at the Louisville show and our current backlogs and sales activity, we are optimistic that our sales will rebound in the first quarter from their fourth quarter levels.”

The Company’s Recreational Vehicle Group reported sales of $54.5 million during the fourth quarter of 2007, down 34.5% from the $83.3 million reported for the same period last year. Despite the significant decrease in revenues, gross margins for the RV Group improved 5.7% to a loss of $2.7 million from a loss of $2.9 million last year. The improvement in gross profit was the result of margin improvements, increased capacity utilization as the result of consolidation activities and overhead reductions from the continuing cost-cutting activities the Group has pursued throughout 2007. The RV Group generated a pre-tax loss from continuing operations for the quarter of $9.4 million compared with a pre-tax loss of $10.4 million for the year-ago quarter, representing an 9.6% improvement. For the full year, the RV Group reported revenues of $361.7 million, down 10.6% from the $404.7 million reported in 2006. The Group’s pre-tax loss for the year increased to $33.9 million from $25.4 million, however results for 2007 included a goodwill impairment charge of $3.9 million, while last year’s results included the benefit of a legal recovery amounting to $3.6 million.
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RV Repair and Maintenance Manual – Updated and Expanded

>Are you planning to be in Texas early in February? If you are, take advantage of a great opportunity here at Rainbow’s End. On February 5, the Escapees RV Club is holding a political forum in our activity center and we’ve invited all the candidates running in the March 4 primary election. This “town hall” atmosphere is a great chance for all the candidates, whether running for local, state, or federal office, to share their platforms and positions with their constituents — Escapees members and local residents alike.

Our 2008 primary election political forum kicks off at 1 PM with set-up and one-on-one opportunities before the on-stage forum begins at 2 PM. During the onstage portion of the event, each candidate will be given five minutes to address the audience. After all the candidates have spoken, questions will be taken from the floor.

Directions to Rainbow’s End can be found at
www.escapees.com/parkpages/rainbowsend/rainbowsend.asp
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