2023 Winnebago View 24D Modifications

[melbago]

We received our 2023 Winnebago View 24D in July and simply love it. There are several mods we have done that we recommend.

1. We added 12V power outlets in the dinette cabinet.This is not difficult to do since the wall that provides the chase to the power outlets below the cabinet is nothing more than a flimsy 1/4 piece of plywood. I purchased 4 USB outlets on Amazon, and connected them to the existing power connections.

2. Added a 120V socket to the right rear outside storage compartment. This compartment connects to the closet in the bathroom. This is where I put the Starlink satellite router. Easy to do since the power cabling runs under the removable panel at the bottom of the storage area. I made sure it was connect to the same cable that has the ground fault circuit on it.

3. We got rid of the rod used for hanging in the closet in the bathroom. I added 3 34” x 16” shelves using Command two way tape hooks. Now the cabinet is useful to put clothes and towels.

4. Added the missing Toilet water spray. You can buy it on Amazon for $30.

5. Removed the cabinet in the bathroom and replaced it with a slim 20” x 24” x 3” cabinet from Kohler. The existing cabinet was not well planned out. It stuck out from the wall, 7 “ over the 8” sink that comes with the RV. The sink was simply unusable. By reducing the depth of the cabinet by 4” it makes a big difference. Now you can wash your face, brush your teeth just like normal people do

6. Changed the mattress to a proper 9” multi foam mattress made by Comfort RV Mattress. The mattress that came with the RV was so hard you can play ping pong on it. We originally tried to improve it by adding 4” memory foam and 3” Padding. Only made it difficult to hop on to the bed at night and all the memory foam did was compress down to the ping pong hard mattress below. Comfort RV was able to make the mattress soft enough on my wife’s side for her, and medium for me.

7. Changed the extra 34” x 18” table to an 18” round table. This is the 2nd table that is stored in the bathroom closet. We bought a pine 1” x 18” diameter table at Home Depot, moved the base from the existing one, and my daughter painted it and coated it. Now it is usable and does not get in the way.

8. Added Command hooks. You can never have enough of these. We added hooks to the skylight in the shower so we can hang bathing suits, added two to the bathroom walls for towels, added them to the side of the outside door to put hats and to the inside of the kitchen window jam on the left to put keys. As mentioned before we used the larger Command hooks to hold the wire shelves in the closet.

9. Change out the lead acid batteries to LiFEPO4. We were tired of having to worry about how much charge there was remaining in the lead acid batteries and if we can draw enough power if we did not have shore power. We replaced the two NAPA 12V beasts with one Lossigy Lifepo4 12V 200 AMP LiFEPo4 on Amazon. $650! Weight is 1/2 of one of the lead acid guys. Fits perfectly, Used a strap to secure the battery and there is now some room to spare in the battery compartment.

10. Added an exterior windshield cover made of vinyl . ($60 on Amazon) The ones that come with the RV are interior ones that are difficult to install, and block out all of the light. They also fall down every once in a while which can be embarrassing. I purchased a sunshade for a 2021 Mercedes Sprint , which is the right one considering the 2023 View is on a 2021 Mercedes sprint chassis.

11. Added Portable Air Compressor. I can’t figure out why this isn’t included with the RV. They tell you to check the tire pressure, but if it is low they give you nothing to fill it up. Make sure you get a 20’ 12V extension cord since the distance from the rear tires to the 12V socket is 20 feet.

12. Snap pads . Our View came with the levelers . I added rubber snap pads to the leveler pads. No worries now with concrete or paving surfaces when leveling the RV.

[bigb]

Sounds good, how about some pics? Which thickness did you get on the mattress? Are the thicker ones better?
I also hated our rectangular table and made a round one. Well I actually made 2, a 30" round and a 24"x19" oval, so with the small front table we now have 3. We leave the 30" at home mostly but if we think we will need it I bring it. One thing I did was to offset the hub a bit so by turning the table you can have multiple positions and distances from the seating and the aisle. The small oval table fits in our wardrobe (note the post clips which secure everything in place) as does the second table which is 17" round. The 30" has to go on the floor in the bedroom or on the bed which is one reason we sometimes leave it home.
I also made a cupholder/tray to replace the ridiculous Sprinter one. There were several for sale but the corners stuck out too much for our Flexsteel seats and would have made it uncomfortable squeezing past it to go in back so I made one with more rounded corners.

[lenore]

Love mods, I have the Vita on the Sprinter chassis, and hate the dinette. I like your ideas on rounding the corners with the oval. I too make a cup holder on our 2018 chassis which handles all large drinks. The original Mercedes cup holders would always dump your drinks. Beautiful wood work by the way. I like.

[bigb]

Originally Posted by lenore

Love mods, I have the Vita on the Sprinter chassis, and hate the dinette. I like your ideas on rounding the corners with the oval. .

Thanks!
It's actually a round pine top with two sides cut flat on the table saw, very easy to do. The stain and clear finish took more time than the cutting and sanding.

The cup holder is just some scrap Birch plywood with edge banding and stain/clear coat and a thin piece of steel cut from an old electrical panel cover attached to the underside and slipped in to the gap above the stock cup holder which is still there, underneath.

[squirrel]

Thanks for the upgrade suggestions. I also bought a View 24D in July, Mine was a 2022 model, so ours may be a bit different. I plan to make most of the changes you have made. Ours has the two recliner model and not the dinette. Not a fan of the huge tables that stow for each chair and plan to make some smaller ones as you suggest.

I hit my head several times on the medicine cabinet and plan to change it out. Can you give me the PN for the Kohler cabinet you used. I found one that is 3.6" deep, would like the extra half inch.

Did you enclose your house batter compartment when you installed the new Li battery? I am planning to enclose mine to keep in warm during the winter. Not sure I want to pay for the internal heated batteries, but I will probably add some heat trace in the compartment once inclosed so I can charge when below freezing.

[Stevie305]

Originally Posted by melbago

We received our 2023 Winnebago View 24D in July and simply love it. There are several mods we have done that we recommend.

9. Change out the lead acid batteries to LiFEPO4. We were tired of having to worry about how much charge there was remaining in the lead acid batteries and if we can draw enough power if we did not have shore power. We replaced the two NAPA 12V beasts with one Lossigy Lifepo4 12V 200 AMP LiFEPo4 on Amazon. $650! Weight is 1/2 of one of the lead acid guys. Fits perfectly, Used a strap to secure the battery and there is now some room to spare in the battery compartment.

Did you have to change out or modify anything when you made the battery swap? Alternator still charge as usual? Solar still charging? Just a plain old swap out?

I'd love to do this on our 2022 View but don't want to open a Pandoras Box with other necessary changes.

[melbago]

Originally Posted by squirrel

Thanks for the upgrade suggestions. I also bought a View 24D in July, Mine was a 2022 model, so ours may be a bit different. I plan to make most of the changes you have made. Ours has the two recliner model and not the dinette. Not a fan of the huge tables that stow for each chair and plan to make some smaller ones as you suggest.

I hit my head several times on the medicine cabinet and plan to change it out. Can you give me the PN for the Kohler cabinet you used. I found one that is 3.6" deep, would like the extra half inch.

Did you enclose your house batter compartment when you installed the new Li battery? I am planning to enclose mine to keep in warm during the winter. Not sure I want to pay for the internal heated batteries, but I will probably add some heat trace in the compartment once inclosed so I can charge when below freezing.

For the table, my daughter painted and finished the 1" x 18" pine we bought at Home depot. I told her to sell them online


For the Cabinet , I purchased this from Home depot as well, KOHLER Maxstow 20 in. x 24 in. Aluminum Frameless Surface-Mount Soft Close Medicine Cabinet with Mirror. Installation was easy. Removed the 7" deep cabinet, and made sure to line up the holes on the same vertical. The top screws were the main ones holding the cabinet. I did raise this cabinet higher, and covered the holes from the previous cabinet with a couple of small command hooks. I added hooks to the top and bottom of the right side exterior cabinet to attach a cord that keeps the cabinet shut while driving. There is no latch included.


For the battery, the only tricky part is that you need to move the cable to the generator from the house battery to the chassis battery. The Battery Monitoring System on the Lithium battery does not allow more than 100 amps to be drawn at one time. So when you try to start the generator, it shuts down. I have not done the mode, but I will do this next. I traced the generator cable below the passenger seat.

I did not enclose the battery , since I live in South Florida and will not venture up north during the winter. I know this to be a issue, and enclosing the battery with a thermal material should be easy. The LifePo4 battery I bought was the same width and height as the NAPA that came with the RV. However its length was smaller leaving at least another 6" that you can put a heater in if needed.

[melbago]

Originally Posted by Stevie305

Did you have to change out or modify anything when you made the battery swap? Alternator still charge as usual? Solar still charging? Just a plain old swap out?

I'd love to do this on our 2022 View but don't want to open a Pandoras Box with other necessary changes.

I did a plain swap out. You need to change the settings on the Inverter Charger and the Solar controller to Lithium. The only item that I need to still do is move the source starter power for the generator from the house battery to the chassis, since the BMS on the lithium will not allow enough amps to start the generator. I believe this to be an easy fix , since I traced the generator cable to under the passenger seat. Will add this mod once I do it ( probably next month). I don't use the generator much, but still need to make sure it functions of course.

[squirrel]

Melbago, have you moved your generator cable? You battery comments were helpful. I have been looking at some of the lithium batteries that allow more amps, but your solution would be less expensive.

[melbago]

So here is the deal. I decided to return the Lifepo4 12v 200 ah battery for 2 x 12v 100ah , exactly replacing the Napa lead acid monsters.

Hooking the up in parallel , the same way the lead acid batteries were done, and presto! No generator problem .

Total cost of the 2 batteries were $650 . I did not enclose the case since we are in South Florida