Got a build date; factory tour

John_Canfield · 03-21-2005, 09:39 AM

Progress! I now have the coach's serial number and a build date of April 28. I am not sure what the exact definition of "build date" is, but I suspect that is about when the coach will be finished. Winny rep said early May delivery looks probable.

We have a factory tour scheduled for next Monday. I asked Mark in the Visitor's Center if it would be possible see our coach on the line. He didn't sound very hopeful that would be possible. We'll see what happens. I plan on taking a lot of digital pictures if possible on the tour and I will post to my web site when we return.

BTW - Mark said they had about 15" of snow in Forest City this past weekend. I hope all of that frozen precip is long gone by the time we are there. Yuk - we have to drag out our cold-weather gear.

John

>>Time flies until you order a coach<<

John_Canfield · 03-21-2005, 09:39 AM

Progress! I now have the coach's serial number and a build date of April 28. I am not sure what the exact definition of "build date" is, but I suspect that is about when the coach will be finished. Winny rep said early May delivery looks probable.

We have a factory tour scheduled for next Monday. I asked Mark in the Visitor's Center if it would be possible see our coach on the line. He didn't sound very hopeful that would be possible. We'll see what happens. I plan on taking a lot of digital pictures if possible on the tour and I will post to my web site when we return.

BTW - Mark said they had about 15" of snow in Forest City this past weekend. I hope all of that frozen precip is long gone by the time we are there. Yuk - we have to drag out our cold-weather gear.

John

>>Time flies until you order a coach<<

DriVer · 03-21-2005, 05:18 PM

Yahoo! Congratulations. I remember we were pretty excited to get our VIN number and ETA. Pretty soon you'll be asking to have "Winnebago Coach Forum Member" put under your screen name instead of "Member" I bet.

Take lots of pictures! We'll enjoy them. Can't wait to see the finished product. Perhaps I missed it but which model did you say you purchased?

bsmith8 · 03-21-2005, 06:26 PM

John,
If you want to see your coach on the line you better wait until April 27 or 28th. The weather may be better too. The tour is great, you will enjoy it. Your coach goes through the welding building first. You don't get to see that. Then it is lined up outside the main assembly building. Once it starts inside, it is on a conveyor that moves the coach along pretty quickly. I think it is out of the building in only a couple of days. Then it goes to the stitchery building where it gets its furniture and other fabric items. Then it goes through QC and that is the day it was planned to be finished. On mine they sent it back to the body shop because they found a blemish in the body. Then mine went to get undercoated which I had ordered. That is not included in the build date either. Somewhere in there it goes to their new paint shop if you are getting full body paint. Finally it is taken to transportation which is an onsite contracter. They schedule a driver and it gets on the road as soon as that driver is available. They are permitted to drive only 10hrs per day and they are not permitted to sleep or eat in the coach so they do not come to you real fast.
Mine came off the line on Wednesday.
Bodyshop on Thursday.
Undercoating on Friday
It went to Transportation Friday or Saturday. t got on the road by Monday night. It got to western Pa on Friday morning. I picked it up on Saturday.
You can call Winnebago during that last week and they will tell you where it is. They were very nice to this impatient customer.
Hope this gives you a perspective on the date you are waiting for.
Congratulations
Bill

John_Canfield · 03-22-2005, 03:42 AM

DriVer - we ordered an Itasca Horizon 40AD with the Cummins ISL. Love the floorplan with the TV on the side! You betcha - we'll want a forum status upgrade

Bill - thanks for the interesting dissection of the production process. In fact the Winny rep did mention body paint when he gave me the build date. Apparently the coach goes to the paint shop after the build date (the Horizon does have full body paint.) I can't wait to see what you have described even though I won't probably see my coach.

We thought about factory pickup or buying from a local dealer in Forest City, but in the end we went with Lazydays and will pick it up there.

John

ichn2go · 03-22-2005, 03:45 AM

Congratulations again John. We'll want a full report about your trip to Forest City. Good Miles

tderonne · 03-22-2005, 05:13 AM

Aren't Horizons built down the road at Charles City? Or was that the Vectra? Or the Ultimates? Or it may even change over time as volumes fluctuate?

John_Canfield · 03-22-2005, 03:55 PM

Boy - I don't know... I thought all production was on the same campus.

John

BucknJeff · 03-22-2005, 05:14 PM

All class A Winnebago and Itasca products are assembled in Forest City. The exception to this rule is the Rialta which is also assembled in Forest City. All Class C's are manufactured at the Charles City location.

As most of you know the Ultimate line has been discontinued.

Horizon is now their top of line.

Cheers!

Good luck John, The factory tour is something to see, hopefully you can see yours on the line!

tderonne · 03-22-2005, 05:53 PM

There we go, class C's over at Charles City.

I know we didn't see any class C's on the tour last summer, and we saw pusher chasssis outside, didn't remember any inside.

RonTon · 03-23-2005, 05:20 PM

John,

This a bit off topic. If you like deli's there is one in Clear Lake that we never miss when we are in that area. Not sure of the name, it is on the north side of main. Great deli sandwiches and salads.

03-24-2005, 11:49 AM

Happy to hear everything is scheduled. We also like the side TV, we love our Vectra 40AD.
We will take our unit back to the factory the middle of May. We must have the side wall corner at the lower forward bedroom slide reinforced (or something). This model has a history of serious cracking at this location and I have developed hairline indicators. You may wish to query them about this and What steps have they taken.
If you find anything out I would like to know. Other than that this coach has been terrific.
Best regards...

DonavonP · 03-24-2005, 01:20 PM

Good luck John. Doesn't look like any serious snow storms and it's relatively warm up here lately.

John_Canfield · 03-24-2005, 03:01 PM

Ron - we love delis .. I'll try to find it.

Cliff - I have heard about a couple of incidents of fibreglas cracking on the forums. Don't have any idea of how widespread that is. I will for sure ask them about it. Just made a note in my adjunct memory bank (my notebook.)

Donavon - we have brought every kind of clothing in anticipation of any kind of weather! It is okay if I don't need my parka!

We managed to catch a Winny video today here at the FMCA rally in Perry, GA about the production process and it sure was interesting! Can't wait to see the real thing Monday at the factory

!!

John