What to Look for in a Motorhome, Worked Through on the Thor Challenger

Paid advertisement from Home Run. Home Run is the sponsor of this giveaway and wrote this article to promote its own prize and membership.

What to Look for in a Motorhome, Worked Through on the Thor Challenger 36FA

A seven-point checklist for sizing up any motorhome, run line by line on the spec sheet for Home Run's Thor Challenger giveaway.

A kitchen counter with a stainless microwave above a cooktop, a tall faucet, a tile backsplash and a window onto green water — Check three starts here: the kitchen counter.

Shopping for a motorhome means a lot of lists. This guide boils them down to seven checks, then runs each one on the spec sheet for the Thor Challenger 36FA from Home Run's giveaway.

Nobody is buying anything here. The point is the method, which works on any coach you look at. Every number below comes from the giveaway page or the Official Rules.

Check 1Count the places to sleep

Start with people. How many does the coach sleep, and where? The Challenger is listed as sleeping up to seven. The list names a king bed, a dinette (a Dream Dinette), a sofa (a jack-knife sofa) and a bunk overhead that lowers by power. Your own question for any coach: what has to be folded, lowered or made up first?

Check 2Look at the room, not just the length

Per the giveaway page: gasoline, Class A, approximately 37 feet long, two slide-outs. Numbers only go so far, so look at the photos too.

A woman at the kitchen sink with a mug, with the living area and reclining chairs behind her — The galley, with the living area and its recliners beyond.

Check 3Judge the kitchen like a cook

List what the kitchen has. Here the list is long. It starts with a residential refrigerator, then a gas range with two burners, an induction cooktop and a 30" convection microwave, plus solid-surface counters and a sink with two bowls. A residential kitchen is the line the page leads with.

Check 4Open the bathroom door

The page lists a full bathroom. Ask of any coach whether it is a full one, and look for a shower. Then look at the walk to it. The photo below looks down the coach, with wardrobe doors on one side.

A view down the coach with mirrored and louvered wardrobe doors on the left, a woven runner on the floor and the living area in the distance, the king bed at the right edge — Wardrobe doors line the walkway from the bedroom to the living area.

Check 5Add up power and water

Make two columns. Power: an Onan RV QG 5500 gas generator, a 100-watt solar charging system and dual roof air conditioners. Water: a tank with 100 gallons of fresh-water capacity, plus a tankless heater. The sources give no run times, so treat that as a question for any coach.

The engine gets its own column. The page lists a Ford F-53 chassis with a 7.3L Triton V8, 350 horsepower, 468 lb-ft of torque and a TorqShift 6-speed automatic transmission.

The bedroom wall with a mirrored wardrobe, louvered doors and drawers, a wall-mounted TV at the left and the foot of the bed at the lower right — Storage and a TV on the bedroom wall.

Check 6Walk around the outside

Outdoor gear counts as living space when the weather is kind. The Challenger comes with a power patio awning with LED lighting, a 40" exterior TV and extensive exterior storage.

The Challenger with its awning out in warm light, a checked-cloth table and two chairs on the grass at the left, trees and a lake behind — The awning side of the coach.

Check 7Count the screens and the signal

Screens first: 40 inches in the living area, 32 in the bedroom and 40 outside, plus a Bluetooth soundbar. The list also names a Winegard Connect WiFi/4G/TV antenna.

Seven checks · One spec sheet

Run the checklist on this one

Run the Checklist →

No purchase necessary. A purchase will not improve your chances of winning. Open to legal residents of the US and Canada, 18+ or the age of majority. Void where prohibited. Ends 01/07/2027 at 11:59:59 p.m. ET. Official Rules

Deep diveThe scorecard

Here is the whole exercise in one table. Each row is a check from above, scored against the giveaway page.

Check 1: places to sleepUp to 7

Check 2: slide-outsTwo

Check 3: kitchenResidential

Check 4: bathroomFull

Check 5: generator and solarBoth listed

Check 6: patio awningPower, with LED lighting

Check 7: TVsThree, plus a soundbar

Coach and cash award together, approximate retail value$115,000

Brands named in this scorecard are there to identify items. They are not sponsors of the giveaway.

A scorecard like this says what is listed. It cannot say how a coach feels from the driver's seat or the dinette, and neither can this article.

Deep diveWhat the Official Rules add to the sheet

A spec sheet is not a prize description. The rules are. They describe the prize as the Thor Challenger 36FA together with a $10,000 cash award. They also let the Sponsor swap in another prize worth at least as much. And if the actual value turns out lower than the stated value, the rules say the difference is not awarded.

The winner is responsible for the taxes on the prize. That is part of the winner's paperwork, which starts with an affidavit due within three days of the notice date.

The fine print, in plain EnglishHow entering works

Members are entered automatically. An active Home Run membership includes automatic entry into every Home Run giveaway, alongside the other member benefits.

Anyone can enter for free. Mail a hand-printed 3" x 5" card as described in the Official Rules. Each mail-in entry counts as 10 entries. Mail-in entries must be postmarked by January 7, 2027 and received by January 11, 2027.

Paying never improves your odds. A purchase will not improve your chances of winning, and odds depend on the number of eligible entries received.

Checklist done · Mail-in entry is free

Your turn to check it

See the Thor Challenger →

What is Home Run?

Home Run is a membership club that runs regular giveaways. Members get:

Cash back when you shop at more than 6,600 stores
Trees planted every month through your membership
Digital wallpapers for your phone and desktop, included with membership
Discounts on Home Run merch for Silver members and above
Automatic entry into every Home Run giveaway while your membership is active

Membership starts at $15 per month, renews monthly until you cancel, and can be canceled anytime from your account. Past winners are listed on our winners page.

You never have to buy anything to enter. There's a free way to enter by mail, described in the Official Rules, and a purchase will not improve your chances of winning.

The short version

Class A, gasoline, with two slide-outs
Beds, a bunk, a sofa and a dinette on the sleeping list
Generator, solar charging, air conditioning and a tankless heater
Last day to enter: January 7, 2027
Prize: the coach with a cash award alongside it

Common questions

Is this guide telling me what to buy?

No. It is a checklist for looking at any coach, with the giveaway's Thor Challenger 36FA used as the worked example.

Does the guide say how the coach performs on the road?

No. The giveaway page and the rules give specs and prize terms, not performance claims, so none are made here.

Where do the specs in the scorecard come from?

The giveaway page. The prize terms come from the Official Rules, and the rules win if the two ever differ.

Who runs the drawing?

The Administrator, American Sweepstakes & Promotion Co., Inc. The date is on or about January 12, 2027.

Run the Checklist →