Community Forums

shill · 09-06-2018, 11:01 PM

What changes would you make in building your dream new Horizons home? Just curious what some of you might say who have actually thought through, built, and are now living in your custom New Horizons home. The build process includes a mountain of choices and my guess is that it is virtually impossible to address each and every option that may turn out to be important to a purchaser. We do the best we can but hearing from real world experience can provide the best ideas and/or advice. Thanks.

rawn77 · 09-07-2018, 06:37 AM

I would have built a 1' longer unit to give me 6" more space on either side of my king size bed.
I would have asked if they could have used SharkBite connectors on all pex pipe connections.
Instead of my washer dryer stacked on top of each other, I'd have them separated by a shelf.

Other than that, I'm super happy with my build.

shill · 09-07-2018, 11:43 AM

rawn77.....Thank you so much for your reply. I've noticed that your comments elsewhere on the forum have been very thoughtful and I appreciate it. I think we have the room on the side of the king bed taken care of but the connectors are something I noticed but it didn't click. That is something I will definitely take up with NH.

rawn77 · 09-07-2018, 01:31 PM

You're very welcome.

One more thing I thought of. There's an on/off switch for the Bigfoot leveling system that must be toggled before and after departure. My switch is located in the front compartment which is a bit awkward to access while the truck is attached. I will have NH relocate the switch to inside the driver side basement access door next time I bring my RV to them.
You might want to specify that prior to a build.
Good luck!
Ron

dadej · 09-07-2018, 04:04 PM

A second furnace. I would have had slide toppers from girard. My switch for bigfoot is right next to the bigfoot controler where it should be. I have a 10 cu ft propane refrigerator which would be a 120 volt if I had another built.

dadej · 09-07-2018, 05:16 PM

I have heard of issues with neverlube bearings. I would research with moryde but probably go with greasable bearings. Moryde IS suspension is great with the 17.5 h rated tires. I know it is overkill but if you didn't want overkill you would not be looking at a New Horizons. Generally Way better than what you hear from most other manufactures.

shill · 09-07-2018, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rawn77

You're very welcome.

There's an on/off switch for the Bigfoot leveling system that must be toggled before and after departure. My switch is located in the front compartment which is a bit awkward to access while the truck is attached.
Ron

Hey Ron.....Thanks for the heads up. I will definitely make sure that is taken care of appropriately during the build. Looking at Dadej's post above, it would appear they might have that figured out now.

shill · 09-07-2018, 07:06 PM

Dadej.....We are thinking of starting without the slide toppers and adding them later if we decide to go that way. Why the Girard? Is/are your main awning(s) another brand or Girard?

I definitely plan to discuss the bearing lubrication issue. That's an age old issue which is actually a point of contention in many different types of applications. I don't think there is a perfect answer to it. As long as the Never Lubes work as designed, they're great, but otherwise....ugh! And I have always felt better when I can make sure the bearings stay greased. Either way, when a failure occurs it is really bad news. Thanks for your input.

Skip

ExcitedToRv · 09-07-2018, 08:40 PM

A small modification/addition that we added was a tank sensor monitor in the outside compartment (in addition to the inside monitor). It is one of those very nice to haves when back-flushing or filling the fresh tank. This can likely also be added later.
20X on the greaseable bearings, we are about to have ours switched to greaseable.

shill · 09-07-2018, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ExcitedToRv

A small modification/addition that we added was a tank sensor monitor in the outside compartment (in addition to the inside monitor). It is one of those very nice to haves when back-flushing or filling the fresh tank. This can likely also be added later.
20X on the greaseable bearings, we are about to have ours switched to greaseable.

Wow, that's pretty definitive sounding on the bearings. Thanks.

Good to know about the tank sensor. I hadn't really thought about the fact that doing any operation with the tank while outside leaves you with no monitor at hand.

Much appreciated.

Skip

rawn77 · 09-07-2018, 09:18 PM

External sensor readings in the wet bay compartment is now standard

Burrington · 09-08-2018, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rawn77

You're very welcome.

One more thing I thought of. There's an on/off switch for the Bigfoot leveling system that must be toggled before and after departure. My switch is located in the front compartment which is a bit awkward to access while the truck is attached. I will have NH relocate the switch to inside the driver side basement access door next time I bring my RV to them.
You might want to specify that prior to a build.
Good luck!
Ron

I installed my own switch inside the little door where the bigfoot controller is. That is the perfect location for convenience and visual reminder to do it. By the way, I have not had a single failure to auto level properly since I installed the switch.

CowboyFrank · 12-21-2018, 10:03 PM

I would do a better job of keeping all my email communications during the design and build process. I spent several years planing my rig inside my head before I finally started the buying process. I was getting confused on multiple emails and decided to delete all except the most recent. Turns out NH was having problems with their ordering database crashing and a bunch of stuff I had requested got dropped and weren't discovered by me until the unit was almost complete. As a result a number of items had to be installed in not the most optimum ways, and a few turned out to be so complicated to try to add later that I just dropped them.

HDrider · 12-22-2018, 06:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CowboyFrank

I would do a better job of keeping all my email communications during the design and build process. I spent several years planing my rig inside my head before I finally started the buying process. I was getting confused on multiple emails and decided to delete all except the most recent. Turns out NH was having problems with their ordering database crashing and a bunch of stuff I had requested got dropped and weren't discovered by me until the unit was almost complete. As a result a number of items had to be installed in not the most optimum ways, and a few turned out to be so complicated to try to add later that I just dropped them.

That seems to be a ongoing problem with New Horizon, we are going through the same thing before the first weld is even done by them not ordering the EZ Lube in time, now we either let them install Nevr Lube or let them switch us to Kodiak or have the build start date delayed. Hmm, now why did we give them so much money up front if not to order parts with it.
We were warned.