Vista 29VE

[Steven2017]

I have narrowed down my rv search to a Vista 29ve. Anyone out there currently own one of these models. Would appreciate the good the bad and the ugly on it.

[zekethomas]

Though I did not buy a 29VE, I just bought a 2015 31KE. We looked at the smaller Vista's, several of them and found the 31 (about 18" longer) was almost the same but had a few "simplicities" we wanted.

The slide in the 31KE only moves the dinette and the sofa, we did not want refrigerator / stove etc sliding. (again simplicity and less maintenance).

The kitchen counter had more work space for cooking, we have gone a month without using a restaurant while on the road with my previous rig.

Best of luck... be patient is the best advice.

[corvetteSS]

We bought our 29VE this spring, and have put on over 7000 miles on it this summer. We have done "camping" in state parks, and "vacationing" in RV parks. We love the floor plan, and find the length to be adequate for our needs. We now drag a car around, and I have had to do U-turns on dead end roads without having to disconnect. We have added a big rear sway bar, as the wind can make things interesting. Engine power seems adequate, as we can hold 65 dragging the car up some rather steep hills. The new 6 speed transmission with "transmission assisted braking" takes a bit to get used to, but helps quite a bit. There have been a few "quality" issues, but they were minor, and I have corrected them. We are going to upgrade the mattress. I am looking to get rid of the lame grill that comes with the unit, as I purchased a camp chef single burner camp stove that fits really nice in the storage hold next to the outside kitchen. We love the outside kitchen. I wish that fridge was a gas/electric unit, but being connected to the inverter, it stays cold. Although we have to shut it off when dry camping (no electric) because it takes too much from the batteries overnight. The LED lights are nice, except the ones over the bed. They were too bright (at night when waking up/etc..) so I have put filters over them. I added a pressure tank, GPS, multiple DC outlets on the dash, transfer switch for the generator, curtain behind cockpit seats, and am working on a table over the dog house. Anyway, for two people it has all we need. When we take our adult kids, we use the loft bed, and jack-knife bed. but it gets crowded with many adults for more than a weekend.

That's been our experience so far.

[Bosunmate]

We have a 2017 29VE and love it. We have about 6K miles on it so far. It has plenty of power. My mods include: TPMS, a LED light bar/strip above the bathroom mirror, an EMS, and a privacy curtain near the thermostat.

The floor plan with the outside kitchen is what sold me on this unit. I'm rigging my 2 door Jeep for towing and know it will do fine.

The only negative thing is when the temp is above 90 deg, the single a/c unit struggles to keep it cold. It does keep it cool. If I were to camp often in really hot weather, I would do some serious window insulating.

Good luck, let me know if I can help with any questions.

Patrick
Semper Paratus

[Bosunmate]

Originally Posted by corvetteSS

We bought our 29VE this spring, and have put on over 7000 miles on it this summer. We have done "camping" in state parks, and "vacationing" in RV parks. We love the floor plan, and find the length to be adequate for our needs. We now drag a car around, and I have had to do U-turns on dead end roads without having to disconnect. We have added a big rear sway bar, as the wind can make things interesting. Engine power seems adequate, as we can hold 65 dragging the car up some rather steep hills. The new 6 speed transmission with "transmission assisted braking" takes a bit to get used to, but helps quite a bit. There have been a few "quality" issues, but they were minor, and I have corrected them. We are going to upgrade the mattress. I am looking to get rid of the lame grill that comes with the unit, as I purchased a camp chef single burner camp stove that fits really nice in the storage hold next to the outside kitchen. We love the outside kitchen. I wish that fridge was a gas/electric unit, but being connected to the inverter, it stays cold. Although we have to shut it off when dry camping (no electric) because it takes too much from the batteries overnight. The LED lights are nice, except the ones over the bed. They were too bright (at night when waking up/etc..) so I have put filters over them. I added a pressure tank, GPS, multiple DC outlets on the dash, transfer switch for the generator, curtain behind cockpit seats, and am working on a table over the dog house. Anyway, for two people it has all we need. When we take our adult kids, we use the loft bed, and jack-knife bed. but it gets crowded with many adults for more than a weekend.

That's been our experience so far.

I'm interested in some of the mods on your 29VE as I own one as well. Tell me about the pressure tank. Are we talking about an air compressor tank? And for what use. I do carry a 120v air compressor.

And what about the transfer switch for the generator? Did you do the work yourself? I'm handy with electrical work. Is this something easily done?

Please post a picture of your table for the dog house when your done.

Thanks
Patrick
Semper Paratus

[oldjoe]

Originally Posted by zekethomas

...I just bought a 2015 31KE. We looked at the smaller Vista's, several of them and found the 31 (about 18" longer) was almost the same but had a few "simplicities" we wanted.

The slide in the 31KE only moves the dinette and the sofa, we did not want refrigerator / stove etc sliding. (again simplicity and less maintenance).

The kitchen counter had more work space for cooking, we have gone a month without using a restaurant while on the road with my previous rig...

We bought a 2016 31KE for exactly the same reasons, especially the counter space.

[corvetteSS]

The table is my project for this winter, as I have all the parts, I just need to adjust the wood to fit the dash, and stain to match the cockpit wood. I find that this is something I really want for traveling, as eating a sandwich while cruising down the interstate, there is no good place to set it down ut on my lap. I will post pictures after I get it done before spring.

The pressure tank I am referring to is a water pressure tank under the bed (next to the pump). It holds enough water to allow flushing the toilet, and getting a glass of water in the night without having the pump start and wake my wife. (my wife is a very light sleeper)

The electric transfer switch is the 30A from Camping World. It installs pretty easy, jut that the wires in the electric compartment are a bit short, but I moved that around, moved the mounting position of the wood base, added a twist lock connector, and now the generator is hardwired into the system. So whenever you start the generator, you are switched over to it after about 40 seconds. No having to mess with any of the power cords.

I also changed my wall thermostat to a digital model, as the original seemed to have difficulty holding a constant temp, now it is usually 1 degree from whatever you set it to. When we were in Nashville this summer, it was pretty hot (90-95), and with the "main vents" open it kept the temp reasonable, but we also had the cockpit curtain, and privacy door closed which reduces the air volume to cool in the coach.

I have installed a curtain behind the cockpit to provide privacy to the loft bed which basically goes all the way to the floor. I like using this when traveling at night when family has the interior lights on "playing cards". The cockpit stays nice and dark for easier night driving.

I am looking to put some "positive" locks on the outside hatches that cannot "bounce" open. I have had a door open twice while traveling on the road.. This is also a future fix.

A handy change we made to the outside kitchen was to change the faucet to something with a higher spout. Now I have a "hose connector" on that faucet so we connect a spray hose to wash dishes at that outside location while "camping".

[Bosunmate]

Originally Posted by corvetteSS

The table is my project for this winter, as I have all the parts, I just need to adjust the wood to fit the dash, and stain to match the cockpit wood. I find that this is something I really want for traveling, as eating a sandwich while cruising down the interstate, there is no good place to set it down ut on my lap. I will post pictures after I get it done before spring.

The pressure tank I am referring to is a water pressure tank under the bed (next to the pump). It holds enough water to allow flushing the toilet, and getting a glass of water in the night without having the pump start and wake my wife. (my wife is a very light sleeper)

The electric transfer switch is the 30A from Camping World. It installs pretty easy, jut that the wires in the electric compartment are a bit short, but I moved that around, moved the mounting position of the wood base, added a twist lock connector, and now the generator is hardwired into the system. So whenever you start the generator, you are switched over to it after about 40 seconds. No having to mess with any of the power cords.

I also changed my wall thermostat to a digital model, as the original seemed to have difficulty holding a constant temp, now it is usually 1 degree from whatever you set it to. When we were in Nashville this summer, it was pretty hot (90-95), and with the "main vents" open it kept the temp reasonable, but we also had the cockpit curtain, and privacy door closed which reduces the air volume to cool in the coach.

I have installed a curtain behind the cockpit to provide privacy to the loft bed which basically goes all the way to the floor. I like using this when traveling at night when family has the interior lights on "playing cards". The cockpit stays nice and dark for easier night driving.

I am looking to put some "positive" locks on the outside hatches that cannot "bounce" open. I have had a door open twice while traveling on the road.. This is also a future fix.

A handy change we made to the outside kitchen was to change the faucet to something with a higher spout. Now I have a "hose connector" on that faucet so we connect a spray hose to wash dishes at that outside location while "camping".

Good stuff! Thanks for the info. I also was thinking of replacing the thermostat. What brand/model did you choose?

Thanks
Patrick

[corvetteSS]

I used one like this on Amazon:

Coleman 83303862 Digital Thermostat

You can get this at other camping places as well, like camping world, etc..
I believe it will pay for itself as we leave the A/C on at home while parked to keep the interior from getting too hot.

[zekethomas]

Single AC units can be fine if you add reflectix to your windows. I am in Texas and have spent a week working on my rig in 95+ weather. 4' x 10' roll is $27 on Amazon.

Cut it to fit, on the screen side of the window, get some black velcro and it holds well, on the glass side, cut it a bit larger and just stuff it in. It will change your coach temp by at least 10 degrees and that will make your a/c unit enough to keep you cool.

Oh, when you have smaller leftovers... you can put it in the doors and side walls of your fridge (not on shelves as you need air circulation). Put it in your fridge and you can turn the fridge off when you go to bed and when you get up all will be cold or frozen still... it is amazing stuff!

For what its worth.....

[corvetteSS]

Finished the table on the dog house.
Now I can set down a sandwich, a map, or a bag of chips. Yea!

[PetesMH]

We bought a 29 VE in August and love it. Only 1500 miles now and very few problems so far. We chose it for the perfect size and BECAUSE it has a single full wall slide. Sure its big and moves the whole kitchen along with much else but it is only one slide and perhaps has half of the failure points of a two slide model. It also extends only about 18 inches which I think makes the physics a lot better than some slides I’ve seen that go out nearly 30 inches. Plus it makes the living space much more pleasant. Also it’s simply beautiful. I recommend it!

[PetesMH]

Forgot to list my “updates”. TPMS, digital thermostat, GPS, dually valves and a front table between the seats. I had all of the stuff to make one but then saw an Intent at an RV show and decided to just buy the one it has. Added cup holders to it and I’m very pleased.

[corvetteSS]

So It looks to me that the Intent Table is behind the doghouse, it this where you mounted it? How does that interfere with getting in and out of the drivers seat? And is it still at a comfortable place to access while driving? Have any pics?