Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
RV Trip Planning Discussions

Go Back   iRV2 Forums > THE OWNER'S CORNER FORUMS > Newmar Owner's Forum
Click Here to Login
Join iRV2 Today

Mission Statement: Supporting thoughtful exchange of knowledge, values and experience among RV enthusiasts.
Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on iRV2
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 11-09-2018, 07:30 PM   #1
JMH
Senior Member
 
Newmar Owners Club
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 1,030
Newbee2 the adventure continues

Welcome to the on going adventures, some will enjoy, others will lament “not again” [emoji3]. First, I am typing this on my iPhone so make no warranty that my autocorrection will not render this post unreadable.

We picked up our Ventana 4369 on Nov 5 at the factory (FPU/CPU). Our beloved Newbee the first, a 2016 Ventana 3725 (the last of her model to come off the line) was traded to Transwest in Frederick Co. Side note if you want a well loved 3725, contact Grant Russell there.

I continue to believe Factory Pick Up (FPU) is the way to go. Even with weeks of QA these coaches, in my opinion, have issues that only the Newmar factory can fix. There are fewer than I have read on other boards but Newmar does not build a perfect coach. Not a slam, just a fact.

Most of the issues we found during FPU were minor. However some were significant and were caused more from the hurry up off the production line and QA having a set time to look at the coach.

During QA they found a leak in the belly pan. According to our tech at FPU the belly pan was removed, all insulation was replaced, the whole belly pan was replaced/undercoated, and rechecked for possible intrusion.

I think this short changed the time available for QA to check other areas. Why do I say this? Because at FPU I asked our tech to verify all slide revels were within spec, and... all three slides were way out of spec. The tech adjusted them back to spec, but the coach should have never left QA in this condition. If it had shipped to a dealer like this, we would have been in for months of warranty work only ending in taking her back to the factory be be fixed right.

A shout out for Jonas (our team lead) and Perry our tech. These two have a standard that no coach leaves their FPU unless the owners consider the coach to be perfect. Like I said, the other issues were mostly minor, until on Friday we had some nits we wanted taken care of. Then it happened... three auto locks on our baggage doors would intermittently not work. So on day 5 of our FPU, Perry jumped in and replaced all three offending actuators. On a day that should have seen FPU winding down, Perry attacked our new found problems like it was the first day of an FPU.

Once we got the slides aligned I asked Perry if we could re-water test her to make sure we did not introduce a leak. Sure enough, Perry had made the alignments correctly and no leaks at the slides. But in true Perry fashion, he scoured the coach to make sure there were no leaks. And, the driver window and the escape door had minor leaks that QA missed. He repaired the leaks and instead of just calling it good, put the coach in the water bay to recheck that the things he did corrected the leaks. This time success. Then, because the rain bay left hard water all over our new coach, they rewashed the coach using soft water to make sure we did not have any baked on hard water spots.

And Jonas, what a treasure at Newmar. He has bent over backward to make our coach “perfect”. And although polite, on the rare instance that something wasn’t perfect, but couldn’t be corrected to perfect, you always got an honest and logical explanation.

So there is a short version of a 5 day FPU. It’s Friday and we start our adventure back home tomorrow. We are very happy we picked a 4369 and are learning why it is the best selling floor plan on the Dutch Star and the Ventana. Not that all of the other floor plans are not great in their own way, just that we are beginning to understand the wisdom of the majority.

So, be safe out there and we will post more “adventures” in the future to at best increase your knowledge, and at the least provide some entertainment as you travel on your own adventures.

Mark and Louene Hetrick
Newbee2, 2019 Ventana 4369, heading back to God’s country (South Dakota)
JMH is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 RV Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 11-09-2018, 08:06 PM   #2
Moderator Emeritus
 
"007"'s Avatar
 
Nor'easters Club
Workhorse Chassis Owner
iRV2 No Limits Club
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 30,785
BELLY PAN new to me, maybe when the QC people know its a FPU coach they use the time for some other coach to dealer and they maybe only allowed a certain time limit for their operation.
Once your on the road things will get shook up and something may show up.
Thanks for your report and safe travels back to S.D. unless your heading to, ENJOY the travels.
__________________
98KSCA, 99MACA, 03 KSCA-3740- 8.1 Chev-- ALLISON Trans
VISIT the NEWMAR QUICK TIPS & EASYMODS 1 & 2
QUICK TIPS # 3
RV SYSTEMS & APPLIANCES & RECALLS --- TECH INFORMATION
"007" is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-09-2018, 08:29 PM   #3
Senior Member
 
FLJOE's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Full Timing From SW Florida
Posts: 1,950
Congrats on the new coach. We kind of like that floor plan also! We recently spent a few days at the factory (not deliver) and were equally impressed.

Safe travels and try to stay warm out there.
__________________
Stand For The Flag.....Kneel For The Fallen
Gave Up Full Time RV Traveling 2023.
U.S. Army: VN 71-72 (64B20)
FLJOE is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
vent



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Three months in...and the adventure continues! GoatLocker Full-Timers 6 11-03-2016 08:30 AM
The adventure continues..''skinnum joe's'' Seajay RV'ing Humor & Crazy but True Stories 3 03-18-2010 08:39 AM
In 2009 The Workhorse Chassis Continues Ground Breaking Traditions DriVer RV Industry Press 1 12-01-2008 07:10 PM
Vibration continues 4gone Damon 3 07-24-2007 01:51 AM
OUR BATTLE CONTINUES WITH NEWMAR Nancy Fisher Newmar Owner's Forum 13 07-04-2005 08:56 AM

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 01:52 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.