New Aire for Boondocking

[Skywatcher1]

First a Skywatcher Status Update Before The Boondocking Review:

It was a long story on our 3343 NewAire, in short, we had a bit of a rough start. Our coach was due at the dealership by end of February 2018, but it took two months for dealer delivery due to a very long PDI punch list of items found by the dealership service tech (nice job). We asked the dealership to perform a very through PDI, since there is no Newmar dealership in our home state.

Newmar flew a factory tech to the dealership for a week to assist the dealership tech with repairs. When we picked up the coach in April, it was in good shape without any major issues until we discovered a few while dry camping. Since I work full time at a time-intensive job, we have only been out a few times for several days each trip, but we have put about 1500 miles on the coach.

What we like about the NewAire. The materials for flooring and cabinetry are good quality. The bathroom, though not large, is very nice with a rain shower-head and a folding bench. I’m 6’0 and can move around in it without issue. We purchased the 3343 model and love that layout. The Samsung electric refrigerator stays sufficiently cold when set one light down from full cold on the display and the freezer set at one light (lowest setting,) will still make ice. We don’t use the ice maker since we don’t drink city water (ice) when camping.

We have the Euro Dinette and we ordered two leaves for it. We use the larger leaf and it makes a big difference in table space. Since there is only one table area in the coach, having it expanded gives us more room for meals, iPads, PCs etc. All the furniture in the coach from the standard queen bed to the dinette, couch ad especially the FlexSteel captains chairs are very comfortable. We prefer a king size bed but the queen works fine for this shorter coach.

[Skywatcher1]

BOONDOCKING

Communication:
We spent four days and three nights at the Firehole Canyon Campground at Flaming Gorge Wyoming. The campground has no power or water hookups, but spectacular views of the river and geological formations (see pics). It was a small campground with 35 sites, but most of the time there was a maximum of three tent campers in the area. There was never another RV at the site other than the camp-host trailer, whose owner split his time across multiple campgrounds. Although prime season, we think most people don’t come to this campground because there is no cell service at the campground (spotty at the boat dock), nor TV signal and the sites are short.

My wife needs to stay in daily contact with our boys, so she picked up a Garmin InReach+ Communicator which allows text messaging via satellite and she used it constantly. Tip for the Garmin satellite, you must text the user first, let them know it’s you, before they can text you back. Each user receives a different cell number to text you back, but the number seems to stay the same, so they can add it to their contacts. You can also get a weather report for free, which is important to know when you don’t have outside communication. The monthly plan also includes free SOS emergency communication, if necessary. The unit cost about $350 and you can sign up for a month-to-month plan for as little as $15 a month for ten texts, but we opted for the plan for $35/mo which allows 40 texts a month, free weather, and unlimited pre-written texts. If we did not have the Inreach communicator, I would be boondocking alone, as my wife insists on staying in daily contact with family.

[Skywatcher1]

BOONDOCKING:

Site size: Our campsite at Flaming Gorge was the longest available at 35 feet long, but far from level and it took some pads under tires and jacks to get it somewhat close to level for slide operation. On the very positive side, if our rig was 37 feet, it would not fit into those sites, so the smaller footprint made this trip possible. The turning radius and maneuverability of the smaller class A is very good. This is our first class A, we had a B+ previously, so I can’t compare it to others.

Water usage: With two people, 3 meals a day, 2 short showers at night, the fresh water can last 4 days. The black water tank, in which we emptied our used dishwater into the toilet, still only registered 20% after 4 days, so the black tank could be half the size and the fresh water tank increased a bit. The Oasis burner brings hot water within 10 minutes, then you can turn it off and still take two quick showers without running the burner again. Not sure how that works since it’s tankless.

[Skywatcher1]

BOONDOCKING:

Power usage: The HB 210 amp hour, 880 amp hour capacity batteries work well for boondocking. We have the factory-installed 400-watt solar panels and that is one of our favorite options. During a sunny day the solar panels will supply 17 to 22 amps which covers the fridge (13-17 amps depending on compressor and with the inverter and coach battery on). The solar really helps keeps the battery topped off at 100%. In the evening, we still needed the generator to run the stovetop (required).

We did a bit of both outdoor grilling and cooktop use. The generator is loud, although I’ve seen comments stating otherwise. In a quiet remote area in the wilderness, you can easily hear the generator (quieter mode at 2200 rpm with no A/C) at 25 yards away and even at 50 yards away it’s very noticeable, but tolerable for those tent camping around us at this very quiet site. At 9pm we had about 98% battery on Victron. At night we only used only accent lights until bedtime. Each morning at 8am we would have 82% battery charge (12.44V). So we had no issue dry camping in an all electric coach. We needed to run the generator two hours in the morning to fully charge the depletion from the night before and then use the solar panels to stay topped off.

Do not use the ‘Ceiling Lights’ when dry camping, they light up 13 separate LED lights and draw a huge 3 amps. We love the ceiling lights, but not when boondocking. We cheated a bit with power and used a rechargeable fan to help with airflow and offload the coach battery drain

[Skywatcher1]

Overall:

We love the coach and if we had to select a motorhome again we would choose the same brand and model. We had a few problems as does every RV’er and I’ll post those shortly, so we are not glossing over issues. But I don’t think you can beat the quality, features, livability and maneuverability of this Class A. It’s in a class of its own.

[Skywatcher1]

Some pictures of coach and dry camping site.

[Skywatcher1]

Here's what the tent campers had for a shower - I don't think so. The New Aire shower is the way to go for us.

[Skywatcher1]

Campsite - we fit!

[Skywatcher1]

Factory installed 4 solar panels (400W) on a sunny day covers the day power use for the coach.

[Skywatcher1]

I took this passenger camera viewing idea from Mike Mas - but I had to dumb it down since I am not as handy as him or Turbo.

I used a DVD player with video input plugged into video controller so my wife can see the cameras. It's a temporary connection (easy and quick since the dash cover is velcro attached). We will see if its useful before routing cable. The DVD player has a 8 hour rechargeable battery.

[Skywatcher1]

It's all about the BBQ

[Skywatcher1]

You can text via satellite in the middle of nowhere with this thing. Worked well.

[Skywatcher1]

Roof top showing solar panels, Winegard satellite, Winegard TV, Winegard WiFi/4G. Very glad we ordered the solar on this electric coach. It made it more accessible for dry camping. It's not the 1000W monster Turbo has but it was easier to check the solar option box on the Newmar order sheet.

[Skywatcher1]

Not sure you can boondock comfortably without a Battery Monitor. This one was used by Turbo Pilot, so I had the dealer install it in a convenient location. The app works well but because the display is so accessible we just flip through the display settings.