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edgray · 10-12-2006, 04:07 PM

The following is copied from the thread about the 21st International rally:

Originally posted by Ed S.:

Just got back yesterday from the Newmar International Rally,Essex Junction, Vermont stayed a couple of extra days and did some site seeing, wonderful area.
I was on the parking committee for the event, the parking committee parked 576 units on a beautiful Thursday and park an additional 226 units on a miserable rainy Friday and concluded the parking on Saturday with 23 units, 48 coach members were on the parking that came in early.
The rally was well attended but the vendors were sparse, food was adequate nothing great when you compare previous International Rallies.
Newmar showed almost their complete line-up of motorhomes and fifth-wheels for 2007. The word I got from the Vice-President is after 2007 the Mountain-Aire gas is gone, this coach is just priced to high in the scope of all manufactures gas coaches, in other words it has priced itself out of he gas coach market, the Kountry Star gas will more than likely be the Newmar flagship for the gas model coaches. The other interesting thing that came out of the discussion was that Newmar is looking at the FRED pssibly for 2008 model year and with that the Newmar VP said that Newmar had no plans to use or consider the Workhorse UFO chassis, mainly because when you mention "Pusher" people immediately think that the gas pusher will have air bags just like the DP and the rest of he suspension that goes with rear engine chassis and the price of that coach would put it to close to what Newmar already has in the market.
The full paint coaches were eye-poping, just beautiful.
The website seminar went well, the turn out actualy was more than either of the participants expective, the three of us(Yahoo Newmar Owners, IRV2.com, RV.net)were very pleased on the input and exchange of information. I probably have forgotten something but if I did I will start a new post or add to this one. I got to meet EDGRAY, Spoonman,Lew Mann,basically thats what rallies are for to renew friendships and to make new ones and to have memories of past events, I had a great time and I believe almost 2000 other people did to. Ed.S

edgray · 10-12-2006, 04:07 PM

The following is copied from the thread about the 21st International rally:

Originally posted by Ed S.:

Just got back yesterday from the Newmar International Rally,Essex Junction, Vermont stayed a couple of extra days and did some site seeing, wonderful area.
I was on the parking committee for the event, the parking committee parked 576 units on a beautiful Thursday and park an additional 226 units on a miserable rainy Friday and concluded the parking on Saturday with 23 units, 48 coach members were on the parking that came in early.
The rally was well attended but the vendors were sparse, food was adequate nothing great when you compare previous International Rallies.
Newmar showed almost their complete line-up of motorhomes and fifth-wheels for 2007. The word I got from the Vice-President is after 2007 the Mountain-Aire gas is gone, this coach is just priced to high in the scope of all manufactures gas coaches, in other words it has priced itself out of he gas coach market, the Kountry Star gas will more than likely be the Newmar flagship for the gas model coaches. The other interesting thing that came out of the discussion was that Newmar is looking at the FRED pssibly for 2008 model year and with that the Newmar VP said that Newmar had no plans to use or consider the Workhorse UFO chassis, mainly because when you mention "Pusher" people immediately think that the gas pusher will have air bags just like the DP and the rest of he suspension that goes with rear engine chassis and the price of that coach would put it to close to what Newmar already has in the market.
The full paint coaches were eye-poping, just beautiful.
The website seminar went well, the turn out actualy was more than either of the participants expective, the three of us(Yahoo Newmar Owners, IRV2.com, RV.net)were very pleased on the input and exchange of information. I probably have forgotten something but if I did I will start a new post or add to this one. I got to meet EDGRAY, Spoonman,Lew Mann,basically thats what rallies are for to renew friendships and to make new ones and to have memories of past events, I had a great time and I believe almost 2000 other people did to. Ed.S

edgray · 10-12-2006, 04:13 PM

Posted Oct 12, 1:00 AM
quote:
The word I got from the Vice-President is after 2007 the Mountain-Aire gas is gone, this coach is just priced to high in the scope of all manufactures gas coaches, in other words it has priced itself out of he gas coach market, the Kountry Star gas will more than likely be the Newmar flagship for the gas model coaches. The other interesting thing that came out of the discussion was that Newmar is looking at the FRED pssibly for 2008 model year and with that the Newmar VP said that Newmar had no plans to use or consider the Workhorse UFO chassis, end quote.

ED, first let me thank you and all the other volunteers who worked so hard to get us all parked. I arrived in the rain on Friday, and everyone of you "parkers" were friendly and extreamely helpful even while slopping around in the mud and rain. THANKS TO ALL!!

I am extremely disappointed to read your findings about Newmar's plans for the future. The MACA is $200K plus for 2007 and granted, that is uncharted territory for gas products. However it is 39 feet and sitting on a 270" WB 25,500 GVWR Workhorse chassis. Newmar has 5 new floorplans for the 07 MA, and I hope they wait to see some sales data before dropping the product. As for them looking at FRED from Freightliner, that is really a susprise, based on their recent decision to eliminate FCCC from ALL their Diesel products with the Spartan exclusive deal. As for "no plans to use or consider the Workhorse UFO chassis", all I can say is "WOW" !!!! As loyal Newmar owners, we have been shopping for a new Newmar, and wish we had bought the 06 MACA when we had the chance. Unfortunately for ME, the FP my wife loves was discontinued for 07. We have been back to the factory to "find" which Newmar GAS product she could learn to be happy with, and didn't like what we saw. With the recent UFO announcement from Workhorse, I had hoped we could wait for the 08 Newmar GAS products and then find a UFO based Newmar to purchase. IF the comments you heard prove to be true, Newmar has lost a customer. If they stick their head in the sand and ignore the UFO, they will continue to lose market share, and I'll be driving an SOB ! ED Gray

Newmar 2003 KSCA 3740, W-22. 05 Vue V6 with US Gear toad brake, Blue Ox Alexus tow bar

Edmund A Skibinski
"Moderator"

Posted Oct 12, 7:17 PM Hide Post
edgray, you are no more sorry than I when the Vice-President told me about the plans for the Mountain Aire gas, ED did you look at the Kountry Star gas with the drivers side full slide, I thought it had some real possibilities. Ed.S

edgray · 10-12-2006, 04:56 PM

ED S. Yes, we did see the KSCA 3682 with the full wall slide. We have been anxiously awaiting the chance to see it in person ever since we heard about it last July. It was introduced at Hershey and we even had other iRV2 members email us some pictures from there.

While I commend Newmar for trying to keep up with FW

I must say that the 3682 was a major source of our dis-satisfaction with the 07 offerings from Newmar. While the full wall slide definitely adds to the open, spacious feel, that floor plan does not have two features we require. There is NO full length closet anywhere, with only two "shirt wards" and some drawers in the bedroom. The other missing requirement is a place inside the kitchen cabinets for a trash can. We looked and could not believe there wasn't any place for even a small one.

On a related subject, my wife also attended the "seminar" held by the NEW interior designer. Apparently many of the attendees were quite vocal about how the colors and fabric patterns are too "busy", and need to be more subtle. She thanked them for ther input and said she looks forward to making some changes for the 2008 products.

I hope we can get some other members to add to this thread, and look forward to hearing more about Newmar's plans for the future. ED

"007" · 10-13-2006, 07:19 AM

We too do not like the pass couple of years with the shirt closets instead of full wardrobe closets in bedroom. THE extra size bed was the reason. Our floor plan had ample room and storage and latest models have taken away from it in shower size and rear bath arrangement. The Newmar 3758 floor plan has been around for years because they know its a good seller they should leave some other floor plans alone as well.

Ecker · 10-15-2006, 12:17 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by edgray:
The following is copied from the thread about the 21st International rally:

The full paint coaches were eye-poping, just beautiful.
Ed.S </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Eye-poping but problematic. I have been at Camp Newmar all week and the number of re-paints seemed staggering to me. The camp was full and the heavy workload increased the workday to 10 hours. The end of shift saw a parade of many of these homes coming back, including mine, with various areas primed ready for paint on Tuesday. This went from total re-paint to more localized issues like edges , corners, etc. Incredibly, I noticed on Friday another small chip at corner of my slide and when I probed it with finger nail about two inches left go. I was left with an uneasy feeling, to say the least, about the paint expertise that exists at Newmar. If I was in market again, I would hire a former paint reseach guy who worked for me for many years and have him look the entire process over if Newmar would agree. If not, no sale. In the meantime, I immediately scheduled a return to Camp Newmar for paint repair next April just before my warranty expires.

Edmund A Skibinski · 10-15-2006, 01:30 PM

ecker, the repaints are not from the current paint being applied to the 2007 motorhomes.
The Newmar paint being used now is BASF, the repaints are from the use of Sherwin-Williams, it seems after several years on the road the Sherwin-Williams paint doesn't like all the flex that occures and starts popping and peeling especially at the cornors but in can also occure on the body, that being said the 2007 full paints are eye-popping. Ed.S

Ecker · 10-15-2006, 02:20 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Edmund A Skibinski:

ecker, the repaints are not from the current paint being applied to the 2007 motorhomes.
The Newmar paint being used now is BASF, the repaints are from the use of Sherwin-Williams, it seems after several years on the road the Sherwin-Williams paint doesn't like all the flex that occures and starts popping and peeling especially at the cornors but in can also occure on the body, that being said the 2007 full paints are eye-popping. Ed.S </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I moved from Camp Newmar at noon today and went over to park at Precision Painting (they have several 50 amp receptacles)for some work tomorrow AM. They do the full repaints for Newmar and I think all full body paint for Travel Supremes as well as others. I was,and am, planning to discuss the situation with them if they'll be forthcoming in view of their relationship with Newmar.

Jestme13 · 10-15-2006, 04:21 PM

When at Hershey I gave the Newmar products a long hard look. I could not get past the price's for MA gas coachs, they gotta be kidding. I looked at the MADP's and fell over with the price. The KSDP was more reasonable, but was nowhere near as nice as other coachs in the same, or lower price range. IMHO, I think Newmar is losing IT !

Ecker · 10-16-2006, 11:32 AM

I afraid today's information doesn't suppport your comments. It turns out my motorhome was painted with BASF thus its not an SW issue per se. Second, the folks at Precision say they are still using SW and have no plans to change. (They have ordered BASF paint to do my work) They don't have enough data to convince them that its an SW problem. They think its possibly related to a lack of cleanliness before painting.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Edmund A Skibinski:

ecker, the repaints are not from the current paint being applied to the 2007 motorhomes.
The Newmar paint being used now is BASF, the repaints are from the use of Sherwin-Williams, it seems after several years on the road the Sherwin-Williams paint doesn't like all the flex that occures and starts popping and peeling especially at the cornors but in can also occure on the body, that being said the 2007 full paints are eye-popping. Ed.S </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

"007" · 10-16-2006, 05:46 PM

I have seen other MFG's with paint problems also. I thought all paint rooms were to be clean rooms and with extra venting because of possible flash fires.

Edmund A Skibinski · 10-17-2006, 04:33 PM

ecker, I'm wondering if you have ever been to the Newmar plant and specifically to the Paint Department since April of this year and what did the banners all say in the paint department and what did the tour guide say about what paint Newmar is using now, you betcha BASF. Ed.S

Ecker · 10-21-2006, 08:24 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Edmund A Skibinski:

ecker, I'm wondering if you have ever been to the Newmar plant and specifically to the Paint Department since April of this year and what did the banners all say in the paint department and what did the tour guide say about what paint Newmar is using now, you betcha BASF. Ed.S </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

All I can say is- So What? Your statement was the paint problem was solved by switching to BASF. My unit was painted with BASF, as I said, and it has the paint problems ergo SW was not the problem with the paint issues. I don't know how statistically oriented their process people are but it sure looks like they need to apply some Shainin Red X work here to find the real cause.

BTW - No one is allowed to tour the paint area any more.

Fillitup · 10-26-2006, 07:26 PM

It must have been something that has occurred just in the last couple of years though. We have been looking at 03 and 04 DSDPs and have our eye on one in particular. Anyway, we have seen many many 03/04 models in the last few months and I have not noticed any paint problems - not even one. Maybe it is the later models and they changed something. Didn't they have a fire and redo a lot of stuff?