Review my specials!

[Essex-Spensive]

Originally Posted by Mapnerd

Hola all,
So the wife and I have been working on specials for, well I guess almost 5 months now. After backing out of our first order when we didn't quite feel right, placing another only to have it fall through when they couldn't get a chassis, we're now preparing to order a 2020 DSDP4326.

Because we've never made it to the point where Newmar has actually approved or denied any of our specials (though Michelle has seen them and started to work on them once before our deal fell through) our list is rather extensive. We know what's listed would probably cost a fortune, but we figure a fair number will probably be denied and it can't hurt to ask (the worst they can say is No). Further, we're also figuring that once we know the cost for each special then we can decide what's really important to us.

So this is our pipe dream of specials. Feel free to review our harebrained ideas if you dare, we welcome feedback on it.

• Things we've not thought of (yes, we've reviews the Specials post several times as well as all of the mods posts)
• specials that might create unintended consequences
• specials that you see in our list which you asked for as well and were declined
• alternative ideas to our specials that might achieve the same goal in a better fashion

I'm happy to explain the rationale or thought process behind anything listed, so feel free to ask if it seems unintuitive to you.

Since it includes pictures as examples of what we want, the list is too big to upload so here's a read-only link to the PDF file on my iCloud Drive: https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/0...-2020dsdp4326_

Special Number 9 Vent Microwave, I had this done and the vent rattles and makes A LOT of wind noise. They need to use a different vent.

To make the DS cabinets Higher is a NO. they will make them deeper and all the same line. The Valances could be redesigned to eliminate the arch and more window area would be seen.

You do not mention to have opening windows, That was a must for us.

I highly recommend you go to the factory and sit with Michelle and go over the fabrics, designs and exterior paint colors. You are spending a fortune and you definitely want it Right. I think you will be surprised how little the SO prices are. MHO.

Good Luck and enjoy planning your new adventure

[FSU Camper]

Originally Posted by Essex-Spensive

Special Number 9 Vent Microwave, I had this done and the vent rattles and makes A LOT of wind noise. They need to use a different vent. .......

We did the GE Adventum vented to the outside and have been very happy with this. I do agree, they could use a different vent. Ours has only made noise on one trip where we had a side wind but we just turned the Microwave vent on low while driving and it went silent. Has anyone else modified their vent?

Congratulations on the 4326, great rig!! We love the floorplan. We kept the reeded glass from bunks to living room and went with solid doors from bunks to bedroom.

[Dutch Star Don]

"Mapnerd".....Two things I wish I had done.....knowing what I know now, I would have had them NOT install the towel racks in the master bath and had them just place them in a cabinet, along with a second set.

I knew this was going to be an issue, but didn't address it. I don't know how the 4326 is set up, but Newmar installs the bed so that it slides under the wardrobe cabinets. They only leave 10" of height. So if you want a mattress, other than a Sleep Number, you'll find it difficult to locate a mattress, other than foam, that will fit under the wardrobe closets. We like a pillow top type mattress and there just aren't any in 10" that are true pillow tops. Most are at least 12" - 14" tall.

[Dizzee2020]

Originally Posted by Essex-Spensive

Special Number 9 Vent Microwave, I had this done and the vent rattles and makes A LOT of wind noise. They need to use a different vent.:

To solve your problem, look at a video done on YouTube channel, Great Escape. He used an electromagnet to hold the vent closed while traveling. I bet you could do the same.

[Busskipper]

Originally Posted by Mapnerd

Hola all,
So the wife and I have been working on specials for, well I guess almost 5 months now. After backing out of our first order when we didn't quite feel right, placing another only to have it fall through when they couldn't get a chassis, we're now preparing to order a 2020 DSDP4326.

Because we've never made it to the point where Newmar has actually approved or denied any of our specials (though Michelle has seen them and started to work on them once before our deal fell through) our list is rather extensive. We know what's listed would probably cost a fortune, but we figure a fair number will probably be denied and it can't hurt to ask (the worst they can say is No). Further, we're also figuring that once we know the cost for each special then we can decide what's really important to us.

So this is our pipe dream of specials. Feel free to review our harebrained ideas if you dare, we welcome feedback on it.

• Things we've not thought of (yes, we've reviews the Specials post several times as well as all of the mods posts)
• specials that might create unintended consequences
• specials that you see in our list which you asked for as well and were declined
• alternative ideas to our specials that might achieve the same goal in a better fashion

I'm happy to explain the rationale or thought process behind anything listed, so feel free to ask if it seems unintuitive to you.

Since it includes pictures as examples of what we want, the list is too big to upload so here's a read-only link to the PDF file on my iCloud Drive: https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/0...-2020dsdp4326_

Very Nicely done - On the electrical outlets, we added a few in spaces in the front that were easy to access while we were underway (Hooked to the Inverter)

Light colors are not really RV Friendly (Or Kid) - we had one coach with light colors and it was a PAIN. JMHO

Vent can/should have s friction lock.

Interior Entry steps may need some attention.

Desk option from old Travel Supreme. - https://www.dreamfindersrv.com/RV/7707553/details.htm

DW added mirrors on backsides of doors for her to use getting dressed.

Your thought into the design is exceptional - Times - Prices and Designs have certainly changed in the last 15 years in 2005 when we had our Unit built we were looked at as if we "Custom" built with 65 Special additions/Changes - and we got all but a Couple. Even after 15 years only a couple things I would Change.

Think You will enjoy the Adventure as you move forward.

Best of Luck,

,,,,,,

[Mapnerd]

Originally Posted by Essex-Spensive

Special Number 9 Vent Microwave, I had this done and the vent rattles and makes A LOT of wind noise. They need to use a different vent.

To make the DS cabinets Higher is a NO. they will make them deeper and all the same line. The Valances could be redesigned to eliminate the arch and more window area would be seen.

You do not mention to have opening windows, That was a must for us.

I highly recommend you go to the factory and sit with Michelle and go over the fabrics, designs and exterior paint colors. You are spending a fortune and you definitely want it Right. I think you will be surprised how little the SO prices are. MHO.

Good Luck and enjoy planning your new adventure

I knew factory visits are certainly a thing, especially when you have an order but I had no idea it was possible to actually sit down with Michelle to go over things in person. I will definitely inquire with her about doing that! Thanks for the great tip!

I don't have a special to raise the DS cabinets. I think you might be referencing Special #5 which is to reduce the depth of the kitchen OHC; that is to make them a bit shallower and to line up flush with the jackknife OHC. Making them shorter would certainly help but we figured that would be a denied and we know there's probably not much room to make them any shallower as we requested. Looking at the pictures though and walking through other units (I've still not been able to locate a near by 4326 to walk through), it appears there might be a possible inch or two that could be recovered. When I asked Michelle, she said they'd never done it for a customer but engineering makes the final call and advised me to include it and see what they say.

What does "SO" stand for? Special Order?

[Mapnerd]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

"Mapnerd".....Two things I wish I had done.....knowing what I know now, I would have had them NOT install the towel racks in the master bath and had them just place them in a cabinet, along with a second set.

I knew this was going to be an issue, but didn't address it. I don't know how the 4326 is set up, but Newmar installs the bed so that it slides under the wardrobe cabinets. They only leave 10" of height. So if you want a mattress, other than a Sleep Number, you'll find it difficult to locate a mattress, other than foam, that will fit under the wardrobe closets. We like a pillow top type mattress and there just aren't any in 10" that are true pillow tops. Most are at least 12" - 14" tall.

This was actually one of our early specials. "Don't install towl racks, tp holders or any other bathroom hardware as we don't want to patch holes and would like to decide where to locate those items ourselves", but my wife figured there would be a cost associated with that and sort of rolled her eyes. I will add it back as I'd wager there's no cost associated with not installing hardware. It's more like special instructions than a custom work. Even so, I still prefer the idea of installing it myself so that its all located right where we want and we're not patching holes and messing with sidewall vinyl.

As for the mattress, we plan on replacing it with our current mattress, which is a latex mattress that can be cut with just a razor knife to fit just about anything. Ours is exactly 10", but thanks for the info on the max depth. We didn't know that. Additional depths from 7" - 13" are also available from the company linked above as well as RV mattresses, just FYI. We've had ours in our bedroom for about two years now and love it. If anyone out there wants our new king mattress that comes with the coach, shoot me a DM.

[Mapnerd]

Originally Posted by Busskipper

Very Nicely done - On the electrical outlets, we added a few in spaces in the front that were easy to access while we were underway (Hooked to the Inverter)

Light colors are not really RV Friendly (Or Kid) - we had one coach with light colors and it was a PAIN. JMHO

Vent can/should have s friction lock.

Interior Entry steps may need some attention.

Desk option from old Travel Supreme. - https://www.dreamfindersrv.com/RV/7707553/details.htm

DW added mirrors on backsides of doors for her to use getting dressed.

Your thought into the design is exceptional - Times - Prices and Designs have certainly changed in the last 15 years in 2005 when we had our Unit built we were looked at as if we "Custom" built with 65 Special additions/Changes - and we got all but a Couple. Even after 15 years only a couple things I would Change.

Think You will enjoy the Adventure as you move forward.

Best of Luck,

,,,,,,

Thank you for the kind words. We are trying to put a healthy amount of thought into it as we realize we're spending a substantial amount of money and we're the kind of folks that use things until they fall apart in our hands after the multiple duct tape fixes fail (eg. no current plans for resale). Though, the world changes quick so we're trying not to do anything too drastic or over the top and find that happy balance of what we want without turning off the resale market if we do decide to sell it at some point down the road.

That desk mod you linked to seems like a really happy medium between what I originally envisioned and what NealC and I were discussing. Will show that to the wife. I bet she'll bite.

What are your recommendations on the interior steps? I'm not sure what you were referencing.

As for the light colors, yeah we realize its not the most practical choice but we've seen some of the darker interiors and its just not our taste. Our kiddos are pretty clean in the first place so we're not terribly worried about it. We have light cabinetry in the S&B along with white leather sofas. They've never drawn on walls or even marked up our white leather sofas at home with pens...both things that seem like they were rights of passage for me and my brothers growing up.

[Mapnerd]

I'm curious if anyone has any thoughts on Special #23: Second electrical prep for dometic freezer.

The rationale we came up with is that we're accustomed to having a moderate sized deep freezer and the dometic freezers are fairly small. Given that we'll be FT, we thought we may want to add a second dometic freezer at some point in the future should we find that one does not provide enough cold storage for us.

We were thinking both of them could probably go in the same default location, on the same pullout storage tray. Is that tray large enough to hold two dometic freezers?

[Busskipper]

Originally Posted by Mapnerd

Thank you for the kind words. We are trying to put a healthy amount of thought into it as we realize we're spending a substantial amount of money and we're the kind of folks that use things until they fall apart in our hands after the multiple duct tape fixes fail (eg. no current plans for resale). Though, the world changes quick so we're trying not to do anything too drastic or over the top and find that happy balance of what we want without turning off the resale market if we do decide to sell it at some point down the road.

That desk mod you linked to seems like a really happy medium between what I originally envisioned and what NealC and I were discussing. Will show that to the wife. I bet she'll bite.

What are your recommendations on the interior steps? I'm not sure what you were referencing.

Not sure what they look like today - but we worked in an Aftermarket set of step runners, so we could try to catch the Dirt there - This is the Front/Side/Back Door, so it needs to look good but still allow you to have the space to get in and put shoes. Light is important - switches and their Location are important - just give it a little thought, as I'm sure you will solve the issue to your satisfaction.

As for the light colors, yeah we realize it's not the most practical choice but we've seen some of the darker interiors and its just not our taste. Our kiddos are pretty clean in the first place so we're not terribly worried about it. We have light cabinetry in the S&B along with white leather sofas. They've never drawn on walls or even marked up our white leather sofas at home with pens...both things that seem like they were rights of passage for me and my brothers growing up.

Have no solution for the Light Colors - just need to keep it in mind - as you will quickly learn you are now in less than 450 sq ft so everything, including use, is multiplied by a factor of +-5 (We have 6 Granddaughters - usually only two at a time but pens and colors will find the Leather):(

What you will find is that the LR is now the Play room - the Office the - LR the - DR - Art Studio...........

Extra seat belt locations - kids have friends so a couple extra belts are often needed - We had to add them and still are short.

One more thought - we had Dimmer Switches for almost every Light - Again the small space - requires you to be able to think of many uses.

One more thing we did that we have not seen added to the general line is we installed a storage area Behind the Sofa - allows us to store the Coffee table and folding Chairs to add to the area when we set up, also bumped out the Cabinets over the King Bed to allow more pillow and sheet storage, no we have never hit our heads with it bumped out 6" and the extra pillows it allows are needed

Look at the End Tables - do they have enough space for a Plate or just a Glass......

I could go on and on but there is a limit...... and the reason we had our Coach built at TS and not Newmar was they would not rebuild as much as I wanted.

You really need to get into a Coach with the Floorplan you are seeking - you will need to sit in it and let your Imagination go WILD.....as the longer you sit the more you will see. ...

Will continue to follow as I'm sure this will be a Long Process (Mine took three years) - you might think about the 45' as 24" is really not much

Hope this helps and does not confuse you thought process.

Best of Luck,

PS - location of TV and adequate seating for same ? - Best seats in the house are the Pilot - Co-pilot seats so they should be able to enjoy seeing the TV.

[Busskipper]

Originally Posted by Mapnerd

I'm curious if anyone has any thoughts on Special #23: Second electrical prep for dometic freezer.

The rationale we came up with is that we're accustomed to having a moderate sized deep freezer and the dometic freezers are fairly small. Given that we'll be FT, we thought we may want to add a second dometic freezer at some point in the future should we find that one does not provide enough cold storage for us.

We were thinking both of them could probably go in the same default location, on the same pullout storage tray. Is that tray large enough to hold two dometic freezers?

Why not just get a single larger small residential freezer - they come in all sizes and will likely be much less $$ than two - try to locate Inverter Technology in the freezer as it is soooo much more efficient. Think I've seen these as drawers somewhere, which would work well.

Add as any electrical outlets as they will allow - just keep track of the inverter and the regular outlets - largest battery bank for the largest inverter - and wiring for rooftop solar.

What are you thinking of for a Toad?

[Mapnerd]

Originally Posted by Busskipper

What you will find is that the LR is now the Play room - the Office the - LR the - DR - Art Studio...

This was actually another thought in the back of my mind for the whole lift-top coffee table in the BR instead of a dedicated desk in the living room. I have noise cancelling headphones but sometimes it's nice to just have a small place to retreat to, especially if they have a couple of friends over with them.

Originally Posted by Busskipper

Extra seat belt locations - kids have friends so a couple extra belts are often needed - We had to add them and still are short.

That's a good call. We expect them to already be in place at the 87" sofa was well as the booth. We plan to go with the K555 option, so we're thinking that should give us at least 7 seatbelt locations not counting the driver and passenger. 3x at the 87" sofa and 4x at the booth. I'll add it to my list of things to verify and create specials for if it doesn't meet our needs.

Originally Posted by Busskipper

One more thought - we had Dimmer Switches for almost every Light - Again the small space - requires you to be able to think of many uses.

This makes me chuckle a bit because one of the first upgrades I made to my S&B after we moved in was putting dimmer switches on almost every light - we never use them. I suspect you're correct that in a 450sft space though, we will use them, so I might add them as a special or perhaps just do do it myself. I'm assuming the light switches are wired the same as any other light switch and I can just grab a box of single pole or 3-way dimmer switches from HD or Lowes.

Originally Posted by Busskipper

One more thing we did that we have not seen added to the general line is we installed a storage area Behind the Sofa - allows us to store the Coffee table and folding Chairs to add to the area when we set up, also bumped out the Cabinets over the King Bed to allow more pillow and sheet storage, no we have never hit our heads with it bumped out 6" and the extra pillows it allows are needed

Bumping out the king bed OHC is something we considered but we were worried about bumping our heads. Especially given that we're kind of tall. The storage behind the sofa is a neat idea, but I'm curious about how that impacts the already minimal amount of space there for passengers to move around in the coach while the slides are in. The space to walk is already about 8-10". Adding storage behind the 87" sofa would probably take that down almost nothing, so they'd be crawling over everything? How does it work for you?

Originally Posted by Busskipper

You really need to get into a Coach with the Floorplan you are seeking - you will need to sit in it and let your Imagination go WILD.....as the longer you sit the more you will see. ...

Couldn't agree more, I look for nearby 4326 models pretty much nightly and haven't been able to locate one within a couple hours drive. Might end up having to fly somewhere before I finalize a deal.

Originally Posted by Busskipper

Hope this helps and does not confuse you thought process.

Absolutely helps!

[Mapnerd]

Originally Posted by Busskipper

Why not just get a single larger small residential freezer - they come in all sizes and will likely be much less $$ than two - try to locate Inverter Technology in the freezer as it is soooo much more efficient. Think I've seen these as drawers somewhere, which would work well.

Add as any electrical outlets as they will allow - just keep track of the inverter and the regular outlets - largest battery bank for the largest inverter - and wiring for rooftop solar.

What are you thinking of for a Toad?

Thought about the traditional small freezer. Worried about it actually fitting in the basement. Will do some research and see if I can locate one that would fit.

I asked Michelle for a diagram of where the electrical outlets are located, I think she got distracted with other things and forgot about me. I'll have to follow up. I don't have access to Newgle, but it might be there. If someone with a 4326 has access and could share, I'd be super grateful.

As for the toad, we have a 2019 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk. No wiring harness needed on 2019s per a TSB Jeep put out. Currently researching the best setup, but will likely go with a DEMCO Air Force One and Excalibar II.

[Busskipper]

Originally Posted by Mapnerd

Thought about the traditional small freezer. Worried about it actually fitting in the basement. Will do some research and see if I can locate one that would fit.

Thought here is to get the Larger/Largest residential refrigerator and just skip the extra freezer - Lot more options available - Remember you are in a Coach not a House Just a Thought.

I asked Michelle for a diagram of where the electrical outlets are located, I think she got distracted with other things and forgot about me. I'll have to follow up. I don't have access to Newgle, but it might be there. If someone with a 4326 has access and could share, I'd be super grateful.

When you get into the 4326 take a camera and take Thousands - Yes Thousands of images - from every angle of everything. Every Light - every Outlet - drawer - cabinet opened and closed............

As for the toad, we have a 2019 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk. No wiring harness needed on 2019s per a TSB Jeep put out. Currently researching the best setup, but will likely go with a DEMCO Air Force One and Excalibar II.

Trail Rated ? - San Juan's, Colorado will call you to visit -

RT 550 and Alpine Loop - Beautiful!