Tonight we are baking our pumpkin pie and making other arrangements in preparation for our Thanksgiving day dinner. After Thanksgiving we are really looking forward to seeing Joanne and Wally where we are heading to Beverly Hills, Florida on Friday. We are planning on getting there early enough so we can take them out for dinner Friday evening.
We experienced our 27th problem with our nine month old motorhome on Monday. We were getting ready to leave Mexico Beach because the forecast called for rain for the next few days and we knew from prior reviews this rv park did not hold up well in periods of heavy rain. When we went to bring in the small bedroom passenger slide nothing happened. We managed to push it in manually and lock it so it wouldn't come out while traveling. In Tallahassee after contacting Newmar I tore the covers off, which were in the tag axle wheel well, so I could loosen the 1 1/2 inch nut on the slide out shaft so we could move the slide back out manually. We got the slide out and have had numerous conversations with Newmar and Northtrail RV in Fort Myers, Florida. I am leaning toward waiting until we take the coach back in to Newmar in May 2014 to have this fixed while other things are being repaired rather than have North Trail work on it. It all depends on how much trouble Huli and I have in manually getting the slide in and out a couple of times before we get to Fort Myers.
I am now investigating Extended Warranties for the motorhome. In fact, I spent a couple of hours looking these over but concluded that if you have the money to spend to have the repairs made you probably are better off without the warranty. If you have limited funds and kind of want to spend the money for worst case then maybe the warranties are for you.
So far most of the stuff that has broken I can or have fixed myself. When our warranty runs out in February I will need to do that or pay for someone else to do the repairs.
My one on again off again regret that I wonder about is not going ahead and buying the 2008 Tiffin Allegro Bus that was at Lazy Days. While this unit may have been neglected I don't see how I could have had any more issues than I have had with our brand new Newmar. Although I have had only had one issue when it comes to our chassis, engine or transmission and that one issue only lasted 20 minutes before correcting itself and has not reoccurred again. About all of my issues have been with the Newmar motorhome stuff or neglect from the dealer Northtrail.
Here is a breakdown of the issues so far and who I attribute the problem to:
19 Problems - Newmar - stuff like doors not closing correctly, air conditioners breaking, cameras not working, mud flaps falling off on one side, refrigerator doors not locking, side mirrors falling over, sleep number bed not working on one side, tape on roof coming off. Most things in this category are not the fault of Newmar but more the failures of the parts they install. All manufacturers are cutting costs each year and then they wonder why at some point what happened to the quality of the product they used to produce. Kind of like how does a one inch shaft break on a small slide out. I wonder where this shaft was sourced from? The shaft broke in two pieces as if someone cut it with a hack saw. Coming from Orthopedics' I know a little something about metallurgy and what happens when you source poor quality materials.
6 problems - Northtrail stuff like windshield wipers being worn out from over exposure to the sun, carbon monoxide detector being in a kitchen drawer since it didn't work correctly, outside radio being replaced without providing manual etc., surge protector failing, water filter being plugged up, generator not being serviced even though it was due. I would catch most of these things if I were to buy another motorhome from a dealer. Not catching some of this is due to my inexperience and trusting the dealer to do the right thing.
1 problem - Chassis/Engine - Cruise and other steering wheel functions not working for 20 minutes while going around St Louis. Has not happened again.
1 problem Shit Happens - Windshield chip
Oh well we still feel really blessed since our problems are really inconsequential compared to what many others are dealing with during this Thanksgiving season. We hope everyone has a very Happy and Safe Thanksgiving.
Jack and Janet
P.S. This is Janet. Don't include me in the "old" people category just yet!
The little tree is Huli's and it is sitting on top of the steering wheel table we just finished building. Sorry about all of the junk sitting in the seat. Most of that is Huli's.
Mexico Beach, Florida. Nice but not in the rain. We gone.
This is my Baby Girl.
This is my Big Ass Bump that I am planning on having removed after the first of the year. The technical term for this condition is a Haglund Deformity caused by walking on the outside of my right foot.
This is my Big Baby Girl with no make up on who is going to kill me when she see's this.
I really like these Live Oak Tree's in Florida but the moss is kind of dirty.
