Grand National Rally review

Tonight was the last night of the GNR, and all in all it was a good rally.  The heat and humidity kicked up pretty good for a few days which really limited the time we spent out doors, but we were still able to work around it.  The new rigs were interesting, but there is a strong lean towards putting more residential refers in the larger rigs.  Even in the new 36' Journey and Meridian were sporting residential refers.  My own preference is I don't care for it for our type of camping.  I don't want to maintain that big battery bank constantly to keep the refer going, but that is just me. 

Service at the rally was pretty easy to get into this year as well. Attendance was down some so that may have been the reason.  A couple of great acts played at the rally this year.  The Diamonds played Wednesday night and Joe Diffie played Thursday night.  Both concerts were great.

I had the opportunity to get some great service from some of the vendors here as well.  Fantastic Fan provided some new feet for my Endless Breeze fan, the Carefree of Colorado Rep (my patio awning supplier) came out and diagnosed my wind sensor on my patio awning as being bad, and the Shure Flo rep provided a new, not yet available 3.0 GPM pump to replace my weaker 2.8 GPM pump.  The new pump has a beefier motor and a fourth pressure chamber in the pump head that will greatly reduce the vibration of the other pump by bleeding pressure off of the pump head when the faucet is just partially opened.  This pump is now standard issue for all Winnebago's starting with the 2012 model year.  All of these items were provided free of charge by the vendors.  This is just another good reason to come to the rally as the vendors are very easy to deal with and often will make "good will" adjustments on items that they carry. 

Winnebago customer service also stepped up on various items on the rig.  First they replaced the outside DVD player, as the current one had lost it's digital readout and just had a blank screen.  They also spend seven hours trying to kill the squeak from the stainless wheel liners that I have had since the rig was new.  Interestingly, they found that when they removed the wheel liners that they had been rubbing so bad on the steel wheels that they had nearly worn through 4 of the wheel weights. 

The jury is still out if their fix will be successful AND permanent.  And they also are replacing a door on the pantry in the kitchen.  We had just noticed that the existing door had developed a crack in the middle as a result of the wood grain splitting.  Again, all of these issues were handled on a "good will" basis.  My coach is about a month out of warranty, so all of them could have been turned down.  But making the drive to Iowa and participating in the rally is worth something, it shows a real interest in maintaining the relationship with the manufacturer. 

And even if your rig is a lot out of warranty, being a WIT member means a 10% discount off on all parts and the labor rate is better here at the factory than at most dealers.  If you haven't been to the rally before it really is worth the trip, and if you haven't been lately maybe it's time to come back for a visit. 

And besides all that, there are lots of great friendly people here.  It's definitely worth the trip. 

Sarge

Thanks for the overview! (All I need is a Winnebago, and then I'll get there someday, LOL!!!)

Are there any pictures of the new rigs? I seem to remember John taking some last year and posting (hint, hint!! )

I noticed there's no residential fridges in the Adventure line (Newmar has it as an option in their new Canyon Star, so I was wondering if Winnie would follow suit). Believe it or not, I'd LOVE that as an option in the Sightseer (as well as a washer/dryer option), but no such luck. I'm still really looking at that 33c, (which is the gasser version similar to your 34Y floorplan) - now with even more interest since it has the bigger chassis.

All we need to do now is get a ride in one to see if how it does (none of these are that local to us).  It's hard to tell from all the online back-and-forth as to how rough it really is. Some people think it's great; others say no way and go diesel. Since we're not (nor will be) full timers, I'm still tossing around new Sightseer vs. high-end used diesel, and  I'm on either side depending on how the wind's blowing on any given day!

Thanks for the write up!

Sounds like alot of fun.  We haven't been to a rally yet.  Maybe my oldie but goodie Winnie will make it next year.

There is lots of older Winne's here, even some classics! Try to come to one, it's a pretty unique experience!

Gosh - it's hard to believe the rally is already over!  Thanks for the detailed report Marty!

It sounds as if everyone had a great time!  Thanks for the info Marty.  Did anyone mention what the theme for next year's rally would be?

Thanks for the overview. We wanted to go this year but couldn't. Hopefully next year. Glad to here about the various vendors that were there and how helpful they were. It is nice to meet them face to face so you can exchange information and ideas, and your case, replacement or repair.

What are they using for battery banks in the units that they are putting residential refrigerators in?

Just curious

Paul

Paul - the 2011 Tour has I think four AGM house batteries.

John, no pictures? (I think you took some last year, or else my memory is going faster than I care to admit, LOL!)

No pictures since I wasn't there    I did take several last year.

Bummer! O well, there's always next year!

The theme for next years rally is ...............  Pirates!  YoHoHo! 

The battery banks for the biggest units are six 12 volt batteries.  And thats just house batteries. That's lots of weight and maintenance.  I didn't get a chance to look at the Winne's, but on a few of the units I saw at a FMCA rally in June, the Monaco's had a dedicated converter just for the refer. 

Well...yes, deep subject.  We took our used 04 Vectra to the Rally as first timers.  Agreed that the water pump vendor and the fantastic fan vendors were really helpful.  As retirees, we don't get up early enough to take advantage of the coffee and donuts every morning from 7 to 9 am.

Our trip was the one from H---.  We bought a new tow car, had it about 10 days when we got here.  Had hardly driven it, because it had been to have base plate, air brakes installed, etc.  Got here and decided to take a riding tour of Forest City.  Drove behind the Winnebago Plant and the new car quit.  Finally got it started, but with reduced power (wouldn't go more than 20 mph.)took it to local GMC Dealer.  They had to reprogram its computer.  Thank goodness that was warranty work.

We have a RV Rover (3 wheel golf cart) that we haul in the receiver hitch of the car, and we brought that to get around on the grounds.  Husband cannot walk distances.  Drove it to the First Timers Meeting, backed out to leave, put it in forward, and it died.  Spent many hours trying to dianose problem, turned out to be the control box, and none were available in this area.  Had to rent Golf Cart afterall.  More denero. 

Since we have only owned a Winnie since December, we stopped first at the Visitor's Center, toured the 1960s travel trailer and the Brave they have on display as well as the museum.  They directed us to Customer Service for refrigerator repair.  The top part of the fridge was like a good refrigerator, but the botton had reached 65-70 degrees.  We  had stopped at a Wal-Mart and bought a 1.7 Electric Fridge and put it on the counter.  After a full day of waiting in C/S, they finally diagnosed the problem with the fridge.  The cooling unit was no longer working.  The Norcold Rep. admitted that it was not installed correctly to begin with but because of age would make no adjustment. It worked fine until the last recall was done.  They contend that had nothing to do with the problem.  That is the 1201 LRIM.  They would not recommend a replacement Cooling Unit but insisted that we needed a new Fridge.  Service quoted me $6500.00 for a replacement installation. Because I knew the price Tiffin was quoting for a replacement of this unit (next door neighbor just got one), and what local folks were quoting, I felt this was really out of line and we decided to try to finish our trip with the top of the 1201 working as a fridge and making full use of the little Wal Mart one.  That lasted until Wednesday, and the 1201 just died.  Wednesday afternoon, I was in the store buying a few odd parts, and the young lady said she hoped they had made me happy.  I told her we were probably the unhappiest customers at the Rally.  A  very nice young lady, named Gina Keeper, heard me and asked why I was unhappy.  She did her utmost to help us and in the end, we took the unit back to Customer Service on Thursday at 6 am; and a 1210 LRIM was installed, for just under $4200.  Still too high, but $2300 less than orignally quoted.  We left C/S. dumped, got fresh water and was  back at the rally about 5 pm.  Long day.

Then Friday am, some gentlemen stopped by our rig and informed us that our awning had a problem.  We knew that it was too high and that it did not extend the arms completely; but being new to an automatic awning, did not realize it was a problem. We did know it collected water in the middle.  Saturday AM I walked down to watch another participant load his Cricket into the back of his Suzuki and we got to talking.    Because he knew I was on the Handicap Row, asked if I knew who owned the Vecta at the end of the row.  I told him it was ours and he said we would like to give me some advice, but didn't want to make me mad.  Well...he had made the same observation and realized we had a problem with the awning becuse he had experienced the same problem.  So we went over, thanked Gina, and again asked for her help.  I followed her instructions, did the measurements, and emailed her with the information she requested.  We await the answer for that problem.  I realize no labor will be paid, but I would like the awning fabric to be long enough to allow the arms on the awning to extend all the way; and wish the original owned had handled the problem while it was in warranty. 

A high point was meeting Sarge, hia wife, DAR, and several others that participate on this forum, and we saw conversions, improvements, etc. that others have done to their rigs.  We were able to share experiences.  Thanks to Sarge and his wife. 

Overall, we enjoyed the week, suprised that seminars were in tents rather than air conditioned rooms. Enjoyed the entertainment.  Got to meet 11 other couples from Georgia, and learned a thing or two. We are leaving much lighter in the bank account; and have decided we need to go home rather than continue to Minnesota and Wisconsin as planned. 

We got the lemons and still looking for the sugar to add so we can make lemonade.  God Bless.

Holy cow!

Maybe you are getting all of the bad stuff out of the way in a short period of time.  Forest City is the right place to be if you are going to have a problem with the rig.

On the fridge subject - I just priced a 4-door Dometic at about 3200 bucks at PPl.  Our 1200 4-door Norcold is still going fine, so hopefully we won't need to address the fridge issue for quite some time. 

As an aside - I just realized the house AC at the ranch quit about a week ago.  No telling how many bucks that will cost us.

Sorry you need to cut your trip short.

Well, Mamaw, I'm not saying I'd be happier if I only had the problems you've listed with your Vectra, but I'm about to make you perhaps feel a least a little better.

We didn't attend the GNR this year but did attend the Good Sam Rally in Redmond, OR just a week prior to the GNR.
Trip started in SoCal to Las Vegas. Temps reached over 107, basement air didn't keep up and we left for Plymouth, Ca. over July 4th and was very pleasant.

Continued on to Redmond, OR and first couple of days, weather was great and rally was very interesting. THEN the rains came!
Windows leaked badly and had to deal with that.
Now comes the good part. Vince Gill was the Friday night headliner but approx. (1) hour prior to his show, the heavens opened and thunder, lighting and monsoon rain absolutely drenched us to the bone and we were forced to leave, since the temps were falling as well. So, at least for us, no Vince Gill. Oh well, maybe in Branson, MO some time in the future.

OK, left Redmond heading to the Columbia River along Oregon/Washinton. suddenly on US97, highest winds in quite some time, we heard a loud bang and thought we had a flat tire. Middle of nowhere, pulled over, all tires good, look up to see our roof flopping in the high winds! Peeled front to back, all 40'! Limped into Olinger Travel/Camping World Winnebago dealer who took us in on short notice and did a fantastic job of roof repairs. Can't say enough about this dealer.

Well, now we head into Washington to have some additional mods done to the coach. When this work was complete, upon leaving the shop interior bay, they needed to extend the rear bedroom slide but forgot to pull it in and yes, you can guess that the slide caught the building side and did some pretty heavy damage.

The following night, a our next CG, I was messing with the slide as it was becoming problematic, stood up abruptly and yes, again I'm sure you guessed it, I opened up my skull but meeting the slide corner. Blood gushing all over, other campers are looking at me in horror and I don't know what to expect until I get in the coach to review the damage. Wife freaks but hangs in there to clean and compress the wound most of the night until it closes up enough to back to our travels.

Now were a little more than slightly discouraged since we've only owned this new to us coach for about (2) months and it's starting to look like a Road Warriors piece of machinery, of course missing the gun turret. I'm wounded, the coach is wounded but we are determined to at least have a good time returning to SoCal. :-\

Decided to take the US101 from California/Oregon line to see the Redwoods and yes again, you might have guessed the next event.
Not too far south of Fortuna, Ca. and for those not familiar with the area, we are now on 2-lane, winding mountainous terrain with redwood trees just inches from the roadway, and I mean desolate, the dashboard alarms start going off, lights flashing, computer center blinking something I can't quite read but notice my engine temp gauge RISING FAST! Lucky to find a dirt area to turn off, shut the engine down and a line of coolant out the back for 1/2 mile.

Now, call emergency road service you say? NO CELL SERVICE. My DW, me and the dog start walking down the road and come across a couple of mountain cabins not too far, find a young lady out front and she was kind enough to let us make a phone call to Coachnet. Approx. 6 hours later the 45' diesel wrecker shows up out of Ukiah, Ca. and says the rig will probably be damaged due to IFS and just the size of it. The driver, John, suggests we both try to find the leak so we tear into everything, including removing panels in the coach floor and closet (learned allot). Found the leak, coupled it, loaded with a little coolant and water and made it to the CAT dealer the next day in Willits, Ca., by the way, they were great and went above the call of duty to straighten the problems. The tow truck driver saved us a lot of grief and really proved a great service and I believe the company was called All In One Auto Towing and Repair. Great service!

We realized by purchasing a used DP, with 10,000 miles on it we would have some issues. Prior to the trip, we put new tires on it, all fluids changed, new shocks, alignment, weighed, motion control devices, LP service and any other thing you can think of to make it safe and reliant but as the saying goes, S**t happens!

We have now made it to Petaluma, Ca. where we are trying to have the last couple of days without incident and just some relaxation. I have to admit I'm a little hesitant to move this thing but have to face the music tomorrow as we pull into home. Wish us  luck.

Sounds like we both have some more service coming our way but all in all, we love this coach, its' floor plan is terrific for us and am going to see this thing through until it's either reliable or it breaks me down to a tearful separation!

I wish you all the luck in the world with yours with safe and enjoyable travels!

Phredsee, WOW! This is quite some story.  You surely are optimistic.  I wish you the best on the rest of your trip.  Keep us posted.  I know the feeling of apprehension when driving the rig, when so many things have gone wrong.  This will pass.  Good Luck!

phredsee said:

Windows leaked badly and had to deal with that.
Now comes the good part. Vince Gill was the Friday night headliner but approx. (1) hour prior to his show, the heavens opened and thunder, lighting and monsoon rain absolutely drenched us to the bone and we were forced to leave, since the temps were falling as well. So, at least for us, no Vince Gill. Oh well, maybe in Branson, MO some time in the future.

Click to expand...

Hey, we were also at Redmond and loved the weather, even the rain.....at least it wasn't 95 degrees ! FWIW, Vince Gill did go on, just an hour later than scheduled. And we actually liked the other entertainment better .... Peter Noonan was fantastic !

Sorry you had such a long list of problems and hope things improve. If nothing else, think of the stories you have to tell !

Wendy

phredsee, Thanks for trying to make me feel better.  It sounds like you had a ton of bad luck as well.  And, misery does love company.  Like you, we love the floor plan.  We only wish they had not put the mirror top on the dresser and put in more cabinets for clothing in the bedroom.

I'm curious, if the wind blew the fiberglas roof off, did insurance cover the costs?  And of course, the folks who damaged the bedroom slide fixed that at their expense, right?  And of course, nothing covers the aggrivation and time lost.

Having a motorhome has been a new experience for us.  We are experienced campers, having made our first trip in 1968 with a $900 pick up camper and three kids from Georgia to Fairbanks, Alaska.  Since 1996 we have been 5th wheelers.  (And we still have a medium duty frtlnr. and 36' Carriage LS, which we need to sell.)  But there seems to be more electrical, etc. that can go wrong with the motorhome.  Because ours was a repossessed unit, I think it must have sat for a year or so without being used; and I think that does more damage than using it.  Yours having only 10,000 miles must not have been moved often either. 

Best wishes for better travels and blessed days.  If you are ever on I75 S at Exit 205 give us a call and we can commiserate together, and swap stories. 

Mamaw:
The partial roof peeling back was not covered by insurance, although I did contact Winnebago customer support thinking the 10 year warranty might cover this and when they quit laughing at my suggestion, they said, uh no. Didn't go after my insurance company and just paid close to $600.00 to have it sealed back down.

The bedroom slide will be an insurance claim by the vendor with so far has been no issues and hopefully won't be.

Ours also was obtained by the dealer as a repo and did expect some aggravation but did not realize a low mileage coach would have quite this much to take in at one time. On the way back from the engine thing, my wife suggested all that could go wrong in our maiden shake down cruise hopefully now out of the way and once these repairs were complete, we would be back to traveling around. Well, pulling into the storage place, I failed to mention that when I went to unhook the car, there was the "Winnebago" mud flap at a 45 degree angle lying on the ground only supported at the other end by one hook! I promptly notified my wife that she should rethink her comment about it being over.

We also had a 5th wheel/chevy truck combo and sometimes wish we stuck with that. Good luck on selling yours. Assuming I75 is at the Florida point, we might just take you up on the visit.

Wendy:
Actually, we caught the Bob Vinton show the first night and though he and his family were absolutely great. Really wanted to see Vince Gill and I'm sure we will in the future but just couldn't shake the rain thing. Living in SoCal, rain is a bad thing and we definitely can't drive in it much less sit though a concert with clouds and moisture. We were SO SOAKED we still felt it the next day. Still had a great time.

We will be going to next year's GNR in Iowa and really looking forward to it. Anyone know the dates yet?