GNR bulletin board

[jimandsue60]

You are the best John. From what I have read and seen it should have 3 roof airs, residential fridge, 10K genset, and Aqua Hot hydronic heating. I think we would want a lighter wood color. Give me an address  and I will send you some wine  ;D

Jim

 

[John Canfield]

Jim - here you go - more pix.  Yup - Maytag fridge (does that mean no 12 volt operation?), three roof airs that are ducted and have dual zone thermostats, Aqua Hot.  Not sure about the gen set, but 10Kw sounds consistent with everything else I have observed.  The interior is simply amazing.

I tried to take pictures of the Journey Express 34Y, but the door was locked.  That puppy might have been purchased already.

You can email me some Chardonnay  8) to my rvfourm.net address - I like La Crema.

 

[jimandsue60]

John your photos are amazing! We really appreciate it. I need to know what year La Crema you prefer 

If I am getting to detailed and you would prefer my questions on another thread, please let me know.

What did you think of the salon couch, we have seen similar couches on the previous model year and had some concerns about the longevity.

You are correct on no 12 volt operation of the maytag fridge. Typically for a residential fridge the builder will add another set of batteries and separate inverter to operate the fridge while not connected to shore power. I would also add some solar to maintain the batteries in between generator runs.

I like the window in the 1/2 bath. I do not see a flusher on the toilet, is it an electric flusher?

That huge slide is scary!

Wow, an awning sensor sensitivity switch on the entrance pedestal, what a concept. I am impressed.

Care free awnings vs A&E, I do not know if that is good or bad mechanically but they do look better visually.

It looks like the tv receiver storage location may keep electronics cooler than the overhead above the windshield electronics bay has.

Thanks Again
Jim

 

[John Canfield]

Jim - I'll make another run over there this morning.  Haven't found anybody to ask about the diff ratio - I might try Freightliner, they're here with a display and a couple of techs from their service admin department.

If you think of anything else, let me know.

 

[2dalake]

Great pics John.  That huge sofa kind of overpowers the living room, IMO.  How much space is there to walk thru with the slides in?

 

[jimandsue60]

John, I received some info from BF this morning. The rear axle ratios are the same.

2dalake asked a great question. I also wonder how usable the bedroom is with the slides in?

Thanks
Jim

 

[cbeierl]

Great pics John.  That huge sofa kind of overpowers the living room, IMO.  How much space is there to walk thru with the slides in?

Remember that the foot of the 'L' sofa slides back in to make a straight sofa.

 

[John Canfield]

2dalake asked a great question. I also wonder how usable the bedroom is with the slides in?

Not sure.  I'm going to try to get a test drive and some pictures with the slides retracted.  I found a 42QD in Honey Finish Cherry and took a whole bunch of pictures and a few from different perspectives (and a picture of the sticker with options, prices, etc.)  Got the genny slide pulled out and took a couple of pix.  I am very partial to cherry and I liked the wood better than the other 42QD.  The cherry will darken considerably with age, so the final shade will not be what you see today.

The gen set is 10Kw.  The fridge pulls 10 amps when running, or 1200 watts which will equate to roughly 150 amps coming out of the six house batteries when on inverter.  An interesting note is the batteries are in the main basement compartment, under the sliding storage tray and under a panel.  If the batteries aren't Gel or AGM, then everything might need to be unloaded (except the stuff on the sliding tray) so you can crawl into the compartment and tend to the batteries.

Attached pictures:  I attended a very good SHURflo seminar (notes coming later) and watched a little of the WIT rodeo (precision driving contest.)  The unit in that picture is dragging a cone or two under the chassis  ;D

 

[jimandsue60]

You have out done yourself! Thanks for the great photos. You have answered many questions. I look forward to your test drive.

The mystery aft cabin do-dad is a heating and cooling temperature sensor.

Jim

 

[John Canfield]

The mystery aft cabin do-dad is a heating and cooling temperature sensor.

Well hush my mouth  never would have guessed that!

 

[go6car]

Ok, I figured I'd get in a quick post before I head out to go get a lottery ticket so I can get one of those!!! LOL!!

John - thanks so much for the commentary and pictures! Really enjoyed seeing all this!

Anything else stand out in your travels there? New paint schemes, new stuff planned for future models, or anything else cool in general?

Enjoy the rest of your time there!

 

[John Canfield]

Looks like real wood has disappeared from the 2011 View/Navion interior to be replaced by plastic - ugh  I always loved the fit, finish and and rich look of the View/Navion interiors - it just doesn't look the same now unfortunately.  I'm into real wood and don't like synthetics.

I continue to be amazed at how 'open' and roomy the interiors are now - our Horizon is almost like a cave compared to others in the 40' class.

Winnie is very tight-lipped about products in development, so I never have any access to that info.

They dropped the Era - it was a great product entering the market at the wrong time unfortunately.  I looked at one at the '08 GNR and thought it was a neat design for the size.

Time to go - the GNR Row Party just started (everybody wanders around sampling food goodies from the state rows) and I'm hungry  ;D

 

[go6car]

Thanks again! Have fun!

 

[John Canfield]

We had a great get-together  - looks like we had 100% participation - one or two couldn't stay, but most everybody hung around for the entire hour!  I am so pumped over the MCD shades, I asked them to do a little presentation, so thanks to Dave (head kahuna) and Peggy for their time.  If you wanted MCD literature, and didn't get it, please let me know what site you are in and we will hand deliver to your site what Peggy brought later to our gathering.

Also many thanks to my Winnebago bud, Bryan Funke for appearing (but he said he wouldn't make a speech.)  Thanks to Chad Reece, Director of Marketing, for appearing and not making a speech (just kidding Chad  - thank you very much for the support!)

Finally got to look the Journey Express 34Y over again and take more pictures.  There were two or three couples in there and we were all curious about what it looked like with the slides retracted (one of the couples was railing about how narrow the walkway was to the rear with the slides in), so we figured out how to retract the two forward slides.  They came in fairly quickly (I heard the Power Gear mechanism was a little slower than HWH) and the walkway width wasn't really that terrible.  Quite a bit less than our Horizon, but unless you are way overweight, or have physical difficulties, it wasn't a big deal to navigate one's self to the rear.

We have a soft doggie kennel and a cat carrier that sit on the floor of our Horizon when we are underway and there is no way they would sit on the floor of the 34Y with the slides in.  They could sit on the couch, but would need to be secured somehow.

I really liked the interior - truly amazing for 34' overall length.  I'll get some pictures up of the coach probably tomorrow.

Here are a few pictures of our klatch.

 

[2dalake]

John, the Journey Express is the new 'entry-level' DP while the 'regular' Journey is supposed to be near a level of the former Tour.  Do you know if Winnebago is now using solid wood in the cabinet stiles and rails in the Journey or are they still vinyl-wrapped? 

 

[John Canfield]

Gary - I will investigate and make a post tomorrow.

 

[John Canfield]

Just completed a test drive of the 2010 Ellipse 42QD (with non-urea engine.)  We have 55,000+ miles of driving experience with our Horizon, so I was extremely interested to compare a non-IFS suspension and a tag axle with our chassis.

First impressions based on about a 10 minute drive and no tight maneuvering:

Do not like the mirrors or their position.  As I suspected, the right mirror is too low for my liking (and/or maybe too far away due to the curved windshield.)  I find myself having to move my eyes too far from the road to glance in the right mirror.  Even the left mirror doesn't seem right for me.  After a few hours of drive time this might not be an issue, or it may - don't know

I love the one piece windshield (we have a two piece) and the sloping dash - great visibility

Driver's position seems ergonomic and the seat is comfortable

Although the wheel cut is advertised at 55 degrees (I believe), when I made a turn from the parking lot onto a two lane road, I was a little farther to the right (maybe a foot) than I would have been with our Horizon - I should have started the turn a little sooner.  Maybe it was a wheelbase length increase phenomena I experienced

I expected there to be somewhat more sluggish performance with the 42QD compared to my Horizon with the 400 hp ISL engine and less gross vehicle weight, but I actually could not tell any difference.  This is a 'feel' thing - you would need an accelerometer or make a timed run from a stop to know for certain.  No clue what the 2011 urea-equipped engine will feel like.  EDIT:  In thinking about this, the Ellipse was not loaded up with 3,000 pounds of typical stuff you would add once you move aboard, so the performance might not be quite as good, but even at that, it was still impressive

The service brakes were considerably more effective than ours - that was a huge (and pleasant) surprise

We have some body lean in cornering (that I need to address), there didn't seem to be much if any in the Ellipse (I would need a few hours of drive time to really know for certain however)

The ride was quiet and comfortable (some wind blowing, fairly nice two lane road with a posted speed limit of 45)

I immediately felt  comfortable driving three more feet (okay, 2'10" more) of coach (with the exception of the mirrors)

With the slides in, there was an adequate walkway to access the head/galley/fridge.  Galley access was very good, fridge (the optional Maytag) access not so great, but I could live with it.  You can open the doors enough to access most of the fridge's contents.  Didn't try to open the freezer compartment.  Here are a couple of pictures with the slides in of the model we drove

No idea how much of a challenge it would be to maneuver the 42' Tour/Ellipse around a tight campground or around some of those tiny downtowns we were in last summer (Vermont, Maine, etc.)

Overall, it was a great experience and I still remain very impressed with the 42QD.

 

[jimandsue60]

John, did you happen to walk into the bedroom with the slides in? Was the bed usable? On one of the 2010 model tours the bed was unusable because it raised up when the slides were in.

Jim

 

[2dalake]

John, I can tell you that you can considerably minimize the body lean in your current rig with the Super Steer Motion Control Units.  The difference on our Journey was pretty amazing.  Others have reported similar results.  That is, of course, if you don't trade that Horizon on one of those new 42' Bago's 

 

[John Canfield]

Jim - no - didn't walk to the aft cabin due to a couple of guys being in the way, but I suspect you are correct in your assumption about the bed raising up.

Gary - couldn't find a regular Journey to inspect!  All I saw were two Journey Express models, so I'll keep looking.  I was going to install some of those Motion Control Units this past winter, but it never bubbled to the top of the list.  I think I would really like HWH's Active Air system to control lean, but it is a little pricy at about $5500.