Getting ready to purchase a new Voyage or Adventurer 38J

[jackmetal]

Hello All,

I (My wife and I) and getting ready to become full-timers and I was wondering if there are any 2005 Voyage or Adventurer 38J owners out there that we could get your impression of the coach?

I've read a number of "horror" posts on here and I guess I'm needing some "good" posts to balance them. ;-)

I've been researching to become a full-timer for the last 3 or 4 years and we are about ready to take the plunge within the next couple months.

I figured that we would purchase the coach soon so that we could work out any bugs in it (while putting the house on the market). That way we hope we won't have to take care of many problems once we hit the road for good. (At least that's my hopes)... ;-)

I appreciate any insight you might have. I've been reading these forums along with a couple other like the datastorm forums, etc., for a while now, but decided to join so I could participate since I'm about to take the plunge.

Thanks again, for any insight.

[jackmetal]

Hello All,

I (My wife and I) and getting ready to become full-timers and I was wondering if there are any 2005 Voyage or Adventurer 38J owners out there that we could get your impression of the coach?

I've read a number of "horror" posts on here and I guess I'm needing some "good" posts to balance them. ;-)

I've been researching to become a full-timer for the last 3 or 4 years and we are about ready to take the plunge within the next couple months.

I figured that we would purchase the coach soon so that we could work out any bugs in it (while putting the house on the market). That way we hope we won't have to take care of many problems once we hit the road for good. (At least that's my hopes)... ;-)

I appreciate any insight you might have. I've been reading these forums along with a couple other like the datastorm forums, etc., for a while now, but decided to join so I could participate since I'm about to take the plunge.

Thanks again, for any insight.

[Nedra]

We are former Suncruiser owners (same as Adventurer) and switched because we had problems with quality and getting warranty work done.

We just bought a new Allegro Bay but looked at the Adventurer/Suncruiser again and a Newmar Mountain Aire.

We opted not to buy another Winnebago for several reasons: continued reports of quality control problems, manufacturers inflexibility in options. We wanted a coach with some things they would not offer in their gassers...one thing: padded vinyl ceiling. Also, the overhead (over sofa and dining area) cabinets are options and not standard....can't understand that.

We ended up going with the Allegro bay becaue of the great reputation and service (and I can attest to that personally now), their layouts were ideal for what we wanted, they offered the padded vinyl ceiling as standard on the Allegro Bay as well as all the other things we wanted.
We are very happy with the choice we made.

[jackmetal]

Thanks for the information. I haven't looked at any Allegro Bay's, I'll have to see if there are any dealers somewhere near me and take a look at them.

[Greyhound]

We have the Adventurer 38J and we were sold on the floor plan.
This is our second Winnie and the quality of workmanship on this compared to the 02 is not as good.
There are some things in the design that we like and others we don't like. The biggest being the opening of windows on the passenger side slide. Whoever thought of this, apparently has not lived in a MH.
As for the factory. We too are fulltimers and it is difficult to get warranty work done when you go to a dealership that did not sell you the coach. Although Forest City is out of the way, I feel it is worth the trip to get the work done.
We like our coach. Would we purchase this model again, most likely.
The biggest drawback was the loss of outside storage. My Chieftain had a big box on the passenger side which permitted my carrying large items.
Bottom line, all MH have pros and cons. Find the one that the two of you can live with and live in.
Not sure if this helps, or answers your questions.
Bob

[jonny33v]

We have a 05 Voyage 33V and we LOVE it. We bought it in August and have 7500 miles problem free miles on it. There was 2 recalls but they were handled easily by the dealer back in February. The fit and finish of the product is exceptional. Good luck in your search
Jonny

[Rapid Ray]

We have the 2005 Voyage 33V and like the floor plan. The outside storage is plenty for us tho we do not full time as you will be doing. We looked at the Adventure with the basement air but thought it limited our storage. The Adventure is one step up in the world but we choose to skip all the fluff and get only items that our experience indicated we would use. I prefer to maintain only those things I need or want not all the ginger bread that looks nice. We found the Ford satisfied our expectations and has preformed as expected.

[chazfaz]

Hi Benny and Barbara:
We have an 05 Adventurer 37B and we absolutely love it. The quality is top notch and the floor plan works very well for us. It is also handles very well. I feel very secure driving it. We had an 03 Rexhall Aerbus and just hated it. It has the full body paint (denim) and everytime we stop for gas or when I am parked in a campground people comment on how beautiful it is.
Hope this helps.
Chazfaz and Miss Ellie

[Tom N]

For full timing the 38R will give you much more basement storage than the 38J.

Have you considered the longer 38R??

We have an '05 Suncruiser 38R and have had no problems with coach. One trip to FL for 2 months and have 3300 miles on the coach. We've spent 83 nights in the coach since Jan 25th. No problems. The 38R has a huge bedroom slide. We considered the 3 slide 38J but did not like the slide intrusion on the under awning area and the more limited basement storage space.

[rg]

I have had three winnebago products one being an Adventure. The Adventure was an 2000 and peformed great. We had no problems with it but we put 30,000 plus miles a year on a coach and just "had to have" a deisel pusher. All three of our Winnebago products have been great I honestly would not buy any thing else period. I try to walk thru all the different brands and compare. The basic lay out of switches and other day to day requirements I have not seen one beet Winnebago. I have many friends with the major brands that come and tour ours. After they tour thet wish they had bought a Winnebago. Remember that the any replies on the web covers only about 10 percent of the actual owner base. So again take these web sites with caution. I would go and review each coach with a fine tooth comb and realy research the dealer.