New to this forum - 2011 Winnebago Vista 36D

[Dallasrules]

Hi everyone. I just purchased a 2011 Winnebago Vista 36D motorhome. It was a bit of a wild ride. First off, let me say that I have a bit of a RV addiction. The Vista will make the 14th RV I have owned. I typically like projects and bargains, so I buy an rv, fix it up and use it a year or 2 and then find something else I want. I have typically made money on them, so slowly trading up over the years. I am 55 this year and currently have 2 5vers, 1 travel trailer, and one motorhome being rehabbed. A few weeks ago I decided that I was needing to be done with renovations and decided to buy a motorhome with no issues ( or few issues) and just camp. a 2014 Georgetown with 20,000 miles on it caught my attention and I started looking in that range with a cost of between $50 and $60K. The Georgetown ended up getting the cat stolen. We looked at it anyway, but were not that impressed. The vista was local and a bit older with a little more miles (31K). I decided to check it out since it was close by and listed at $48K. It really clicked with us immediately. We made an offer on it of $40K which was accepted. However, while waiting for my check to clear the bank so I could get a cashiers check, I found a 2010 Georgie Boy on Ebay that only had 7K miles on it. It did have some issues, but I felt that I could deal with them. It was $28KI really liked the Vista, but the $12K price difference was huge. The Georgie Boy was in MI about 450 miles away, so I backed out of the vista purchase and headed to MI. The Vista owner was a very nice older woman who lost her husband in January. She was very nice about my backing out and said she understood that I had to make the best choice for myself. She had the vista for sale since March and I guess she had got her mind set on having it sold. The night we went to MI, she texted me and told me that she would take $35K for the Vista. I was interested, because the price drop brought the two motorhomes much closer in cost and the Vista was meticulously maintained. I was also impressed with the high quality of it. I still needed to see the Georgie Boy though. The next morning the lady again texted me and said she would take $32K for the vista. This is roughly 1/2 of what an RV dealer would list it at. I don't think the Georgie Boy had any major issue beyond a clueless owner, but it did have a lot of unknowns. It had some positives as well, but my husband and I decided to go home and purchase the Vista. We are very happy with our decision and it is a beautiful motorhome. I purchased a 2010 Coachmen Northridge 5th wheel about 2 years ago for $12.5K and I sold it in under 2 weeks for $18K. In a sense, we are down sizing a bit since the Northridge had 4 slides, a full bunkhouse room and 1 1/2 baths, so we have some readjusting to do. Also, a great deal of learning. My other motorhome is a 1995 Georgie Boy salvage that we have never camped in outside of our own property. I haven't measured it yet, but the vista is a lot wider than the 5th wheel. We are taking her out on our maiden voyage this Saturday for 6 days. I am sure I will have a lot of questions, so be warned.

[Morich]

Sounds like we were doing the same track only at different time periods. We also went with what we could afford at the time and learned to repair/fix/replace what was needed as a way to move up as time went by.
We started with a late '50's Aljo trailer in about 1967 or so and went through about all the RV as the kids go bigger and money came easier!
I found it was a way to have and use and RV but also make some money on it when we sold! We were always a bit amaxed ot how folks would sell RV so cheap because the cabinet doors would not stay closed!

One thing we found was the info and help from Winnebago was often much easier to get than other brands. Now that info is often online, so even better!

Have you found the Winnebago home site:
https://www.winnebago.com/

Under the "owners" tab and at top left there will be a ton of good info, down to things like wiring and plumbing diagrams and interactive parts lists to let you turn the RV all around and "look through walls" to find and ID things you may need to know.
Things like where are the drains? Looking at a drawing is lots easier than crawling!

If you want to know where things are under the dash, it sure beats taking the dash apart!
The parts catalog is a bit of learning curve which can take practice, so if you have questions of how to move it, shout out as it can be lots easier/quicker with a bit of explanation on some of the controls.
https://catalog3d.winnebagoind.com/menu/Parts.htm

Enjoy the trek!

[Dallasrules]

I have definitely learned to repair a lot over the years. Also, I have noticed people on this forum refer to the online database. I find that quite amazing as you just don't get that information with 5th wheels. A lot of people have asked about wiring diagrams or plumbing layouts and I just chuckle and think "Nope". I also have all of the manuals and documentation for the motorhome including all service records. That case is at least 8" thick. I am sure that I will put the online information to good use.

Thanks for the welcome.

[Morich]

I've wondered at times about what happens to the big pile of info I passed along to later owners of the RV I've had.
Some of my notes have been made as I was laying under the cabinet or RV and some are not pretty, so do they look useful to the next buyer?
NOT!

[Dallasrules]

Depends on who the next buyer is. I have seen things and wondered why in the heck someone did this. Also, I am sure some of my buyers have wondered the same thing.