New to us 2014 Itasca Sunstar

[SLOweather]

I originally joined iRV2 to get suggestions on our next mh. But fate and my wife intervened.

For background, we have had 1 of 2 motorhomes for over 30 years. #1 was my parents' 68 21' Travco, which they gave us in about '85 after Dad got tired of fixing it. In '89 we got an '88 31' Suncruiser, which we gave away to a homeless vet and his family last December.

In April we rented a 30' CruiseAmerica Class C. At 6'4", it was too small and cramped for me.

Three weeks ago after looking on the Internet, we went to the nearest dealer to see a 31' Sunstar and "just get a feel" for the current state of motorhomes, but not to buy yet. .

(After looking at what's available these days, I had to amend my list of desires.)

The Sunstar was in the first space in the lot as we pulled in, like it was waiting for us.

After we parked, and were approaching the MH, my wife ran her hand along the side and said, "I have a good feeling about this."

I looked at her and said, "You just bought it, didn't you?"

"I think so..."

Two weeks ago, we took delivery. It has a little over 10k miles on it. The previous owner made some upgrades to it, and for the last 2 weeks I have been figuring out what's there, fixing some things, and adding upgrades like a 2kW sine wave inverter and a 100 AH BattleBorn lithium battery.

Whoever did the "upgrades" was a butcher.

More stories to come...

[SLOweather]

I gotta say, MH technology has come a ways in 30 years.

I'm used to leveling with a bunch of 2x6es, so autoleveling jacks are something new. Roof air conditioning ducts through the ceiling are nice. The Suncruiser had 2 roof airs, and a 6.2 kW generator, this one a single A/C and a 4kW gennie. The slideout is something I didn't really want. It seems like a long term maintenance issue, and we like to go places where it might not be usable.

But, the floorplan is just as functional with the slide in as our old one was. Nothing is blocked, and with just the 2 of us and a dog, we don't really need the larger floor space.

It's nice to have a gas oven back. The old one had a 4 burner stove top, and a convection microwave.

The old one had lights in all of the basement compartments, this one doesn't, except in the water/sewer/power bay.

Speaking of that space, the old MH had the typical wye for the wastewater tanks, with the graywater tank line reduced down from 3" to 1 1/2" or so. I got tired of waiting for the tank to drain, so I replumbed that full size all the way and then added a third slide gate, to the outlet at the wye. That way, I could use the gray water to back flush the black water tank, or even join the 2 tanks together for an extended stay or emergency.

I'm pleased that the new MH has full size pipes to the wye. Also, I found a "repair" slide gate with male and female bayonet fittings that I put on the drain so I can still do my backflushing in this unit.

Another thing... Except for a switch by the door, and one in the toilet room, all of the switches are on the lights, and there are no wall light switches. The old MH had several. With a 6'9" ceiling height, that could problem for shorter people or kids.

One other thing for now. There is no way to fill the water tank with a jug. It uses a city water connection. Over the years, I've schlepped hundreds, maybe thousands of gallons of water in a 5 gallon jug to fill the tank. Not every place has a city water connection to top off the tank.

So I'm assembling a spare ShurFlo pump with a short hose and a dip tube to suck water from a jug and pump it into the tank...

[SLOweather]

Previous owner upgrades:

The big 3 are the Winegard Road Trip In Motion satellite antenna, the Pioneer double DIN entertainment system in the dash (complete with the SiriusXM add-on, and a DVD player), and a Viper alarm with the SmartStart cellular interface.

That brings us to the butchery. When the satellite antenna was installed, they axed out the controls etc for the the stock TV antenna, and cut off the coax to it in the cabinet wall. Then ADDED another coax out the roof and back to the bedroom for the second TV.

The Viper alarm never made sense to me. You couldn't unlock the door with it, and paying a monthly connection subscription so I can see the rig's location and start it from my cellphone was not attractive.

Plus, everything added in the dash was taped up with crappy dime store electrical tape. Over the years, the adhesive had turned to black goo that got on to everything that touched it, including the wires, and my fingers. Even the 2 wires to added switches and an LED were taped, rather than using cable ties or split loom.

So, the Viper got dissected out, and all the tape removed and the goo cleaned up with Coleman fuel, which is essentially VM&P naphtha.

The rear view MobileVision and the power mirrors didn't work. They had axed out the rear camera and installed a tiny little thing in its place, reused the cable, and jacked it into the Pioneer. Also added a lower camera to watch the towed dinghy and an unlabeled toggle switch to switch between them.

I do really like the removable dash piece over the instruments and radio. It made working on all this much easier.

Apparently, in the installation they blew the Body Maker Accessory fuse, and not being able to find it, did a lot of this extra work. I found it and replaced it. and stuff (except for the MobileVision) works again.

Oh yeah. I miss having a driver's door. That would make working on that circuit breaker/fuse block SOOO much easier. As it is, i replaced that fuse from the top. I'd gladly trade the slide for the driver's door.

[SuperGewl]

Nice to find that you are Happy with your MH. Now please update your Signature with your information so we can help you with any questions that you may have.
Also, if you have any questions about the various wires and stuff that were installed by Winnebago; download the MH's plumbing, electrical, and other wiring schematics directly from Winnebago under the Owners sections.
I would recommend that you put all of them on a thumb drive so you have access to them any time any where.

[SLOweather]

Thaks. Sig updated.


I already found the wiring info.



Unfortunately, the Winnebago site doesn't seem to list the 12 VDC wiring diagram for this model.


And, the wire I'm currently looking for (JAZ, maybe JA2), power to the TV antenna wall plate, doesn't appear on the Wire Identification Chart.


There is no voltage on that wire, yet I can't find a blown fuse or breaker. I'd like to know where the other end of it goes after it disappears into the ceiling.

[emcee]

Nice rig (check my sig )


Here's my favorite "upgrade" so far:

[SuperGewl]

Originally Posted by SLOweather

Thaks. Sig updated.


I already found the wiring info.



Unfortunately, the Winnebago site doesn't seem to list the 12 VDC wiring diagram for this model.


And, the wire I'm currently looking for (JAZ, maybe JA2), power to the TV antenna wall plate, doesn't appear on the Wire Identification Chart.


There is no voltage on that wire, yet I can't find a blown fuse or breaker. I'd like to know where the other end of it goes after it disappears into the ceiling.

Look under the TV/DVD Wiring Installation for the Antenna wiring