Delivery of our new London Aire

[JMonroe]

Had the coach weighed after we had moved our personal items into it. These weights do not include me, Peggy or the dogs. If I'm overly conservative I'd add about 450 pounds to the front axle, maybe 200 on the right, 250 on the left.

LF 9195 + EST 250 = 9445
RF 8745 + EST 200 = 8945
Total 18,390

LR 8920
RR 9000
Total 17,920

LR2 6140
RR2 6195
Total 12,335

Gross Weight: 48,645

Fuel tank full
Fresh water at 95%
Holding tanks empty

As you can see, I'm well under the axle ratings at all positions.

Axle ratings
Steer Axle: 20,000
Drive Axle: 20,000
Tag Axle: 14,000

[JMonroe]

Firstly, we both feel the factory delivery experience was well worth the extra money. Was it perfect, no, but our current squawk list is a small fraction of what we had two weeks after the delivery of our Revolution.

Part of the factory delivery process includes factory techs being made responsible for going over every inch of your new coach before you ever arrive. Most of you reading this know you can not count on anyone at a dealership taking the time to do this. The second part of the experience is having a tech available to you full time for the entire week of the delivery. One comment on this, however, we had no way to directly contact our assigned tech when we were not with him and I felt we should have.

Our tech did not know EVERYTHING, nor do I think it reasonable for any one person to know every system as if he/she had designed it or personally installed it. There were a number of things through the week where our tech had to seek input from other members of the Newmar team and here's another big difference from a dealer delivery - there is a subject matter expert on virtually everything on your new coach relatively close at hand rather than hoping to get someone on the phone that may or may not be able to answer your question. More than once our tech solicited help from others on the team who seemed more than happy to join us in our delivery bay and help out.

As I've already reported, our tech did some non-standard modifications or installations for us, at no additional charge. Remember, you've already paid for his time for the week. He crafted a protective cover for an exposed 12 volt terminal box in the "basement" and installed a pair of TPMS signal boosters for us. He also modified the post under the passenger chair that the folding desk mounts to so if we choose not to leave it installed we can remove it without leaving an ankle killer of a steel post sticking 4 inches into the already narrow entry isle between the two front captains chairs. He cut it off flush with the side of the chair which left enough of the post under the chair that we could put the desk back should we ever decide to do so.

I do think they need to have a dedicated full hookup area for factory delivery (preferably one without all the dust!!!). We got lucky and had a full hookup site for most of our stay, (no thanks to anyone at Newmar, but a big thanks to "VP Chianese", aka Vinny, who was watching out for us) but there is no room to do a coach to coach move there. We ended up parking both coaches on a stretch of pavement that runs parallel to the road that runs in front Michelle's office (the factory tour office), on the north end of the overflow area. I talked to others that ended up staying in the overflow area for their entire delivery. How do you test the city water and sewer hookups without access to those services? And a further note on that overflow area. At least 5 of the electric boxes do not work. We had that same problem last August when we stopped for our appointment with Michelle. This really needs to be addressed. And one last note on the facilities: I don't know the full history of those full hookup sites, but shouldn't those with an appointment have a site reserved for them the night before the service is to begin?

As it stands now I have a few items on our list to be addressed at the time of our June 9th service appointment back in Nappanee. I had them put the appointment on the books a few months ago at the time they confirmed our delivery date.

As of now, can't turn on the dash radio. It worked for the delivery demonstration but I suspect something may have been accidentally disconnected when the tech took the dash apart to connect the rear camera microphone line as well as the microphone for the dash radio blue tooth feature, both mysteriously left off during the construction process.

The upper rear corner of the full wall slide does not seal when extended (early morning you can see daylight shining through).

The satellite receiver sound runs through the Bose system (something I've already complained about). You're supposed to be able to turn the Bose on from your chair but 90% of the time I have to get up and open the cabinet it's in to get it to come on. This is something our tech tackled at least twice while we were still there.

The center A/C unit makes a hell of a racket when it kicks in, especially if in heat pump mode.

This short list compares quite favorably to the pages of items we had documented after a couple of weeks with the Revolution.

One other item we discovered today, for which I suspect there is nothing to be done, with the A/C running on "Auto" the fans have been running at the low speed. Condensation is collecting on and dripping off of the fancy ceiling medallions that otherwise hide the actual ceiling outlets for the conditioned air. We seem to be able to avoid this if I manually set the fans to 'high', but they the run all the time, whether the A/C compressor is running or not.

We also had a sewer smell getting into the coach while we were at Midway for service. We had no hookups other than electric. We never noticed a problem while set up as a house, but when the service was done and I went out to the coach it was horrible. It was emanating from the center half bath. I opened the window in the bathroom and turned on the exhaust fan but the smell stayed with us for at least an hour while on the road. Once we got to our destination, which that night was only a couple hours away, I did my first black tank dump and rinse. Since we've had a few minor whiffs, interestingly in the rear bath in the immediate vicinity of the toilet. Right now we're set up for a week visit with family in northern Wisconsin and it's not gotten any worse, most might not even notice it. The black tank right now is at about 65% full.

Love driving the LA. A combination of the Comfort Drive, chassis and power make this coach far less tiring to drive than our last couple of coaches. Even with the Revolution I was ready to get off the road after a couple of hours. We did more than six hours on our trip from Michigan City to Wausau and I was ready to stop, but no where near as worn down as I would have been after half that time in our last coach.

[NLOVNIT]

Oh boy, room for more "stuff" I see more shopping in Peggy's future.

Lori-

[JMonroe]

We're still on the road, but thought I'd take a moment to post some interior photos.

Living room







We didn't like the OEM clock and had them delete it. We also swapped out the fabric that came standard (sort of a leopard print) for what you see here in the window surrounds. We had no idea when we bought the clock (at Hobby Lobby) that the clock matched the fabric!



We also had them delete the OEM "art" so we could hang our own.



We had them delete the window at the end of the bedroom full wall slide wall. We both thought it looked awkward, partially over the dresser, half hanging out into space. This also gave us room to hang an oiled photo my amateur photographer grandfather (long since passed) did decades ago. His camera took up a suit case, I remember him carrying it around when I was a kid. He had his own darkroom but of course it was all black and white back then. He hand colored some of his art shots for effect, this is one we inherited. The dolls were gifts from the in-laws for our 20th wedding anniversary, more than 20 years ago.



As I commented elsewhere, there are never enough towel bars in new RVs. I bought a couple towel rings (to match the towel bars I'd put in the shower enclosure) to replace the one the coach came with.



I moved the OEM towel ring from the rear bath to the half bath.



My niece painted this for us a few years ago so of course we had to find a place for it. Disney movie fans will recognize it.



When we finally land at one of our home bases, who knows what might be added or changed!?

[palehorse89]

What a beautiful Coach Jay!!! The interior is..........
LOVE the flooring!!!!! instead of the tile!!!!!!
Safe travels to the both of you!!!!!

[JMonroe]

Actually, the flooring is tile, made to look like distressed barn wood, sort of

[Smosher]

Congratulations on your new coach. It is beautiful. We also have a London Aire it is a 2015.
We also have the dual recliners, I turn the recliners sideways when we travel so we can gain a little more room to get to the refrigerator and half bath. They sure do drive great.
Steve Mosher

[NLOVNIT]

Stunning, just stunning! Agreed on the lack of towel bars. Even for 2 there aren't enough. Every RV we've owned we've added them. Who in the world thought a leopard print fabric for window surrounds is a neutral?! Your dot print is much more classic. Your niece is very talented. How appropriate for a pair of Disney lovers.

Lori-

[JMonroe]

Thanks all for the compliments.

Of course I keep finding things that confirm what I've always believed. Those that design and build these don't use or maintain one. Twice now I've had to scrub bugs from the big raised "NEWMAR" that's 11 feet off the ground on the upper front cap, and the 3/16th high raised letters "London Aire" just below the windshield. I could give more examples, I know all of you could too.

[glenspence]

We take delivery on our London Aire on June 6. A D Day of a different significance. I am taking notes and will look for these same things when we take delivery!

[tucker1232]

Looks even more beautiful than when we last saw you (and a bit more organized!). We took our new baby home for two days to show friends and family and then headed to Bar Harbor, Me. for two weeks. Nothing like breaking it in right!!!

[tucker1232]

Sorry for the "sideways" pic, don't know how to turn it!

[96 Wideglide]

I believe all Dometic AC's fans only run on low speed when you have the fan speed set to 'Auto'.

[We_B_Tripn]

Ok my wife loved the pictures of the salon and in particular the dining table top. I expect that this was a special to have the custom design build in?

Bill