First-Time Winnebago Adventurer 29B Owners: Tips for a Smooth Start

[Repereyda]

Both my wife and I are preparing for retirement, which is still several years away. But we decided to get a jump start by purchasing our very first motor coach recently. I have to admit, driving the coach with passengers is somewhat intimidating, but we are looking forward to booking our first trip near San Antonio area. We are also glad to have joined the “Winnie” forum and look forward to helpful tips of the trade from the Community…Semper Fi

 

[HappyNomads]

Welcome, welcome! This is one great group of contributors. We own a 2021 Adventurer 2021 30T. Very happy with build quality and extremely happy with Winnebago support.
First, air pressure. Set it to the spec on the label next to the driver. Some shop mechanics set it to 105 psi which will rattle your teeth and can break things in the cabin.
Second, make sure the recalls were fixed, including the one that makes cruise control suddenly turn itself off when you are hit by a wind gust.
Third, inspect all the black epoxy globs that hold your front engine panel in place against the fiberglass front. The epoxy manufacturer said Winnebago didn’t apply enough, which causes the standoffs and panel attachments to break and fall off as you drive. Winnebago may not yet have issued the recall but if your globs are broken, they will ship you the now-missing parts and plenty of epoxy, no charge. Or they will authorize the work at a certified Winnebago dealer.
Fourth, by this time your original shocks are getting long in the tooth. We replaced them with Koni EVOs that smoothed and quieted the ride. Well worth it.
Your chassis may have been shipped to Winnebago in 2020. That makes an original tire hitting six years old later this year. Opinions vary on tire age. We put on a new set of Steers because ours needed to be replaced. That also improved the ride quality and lowered cabin noise
Finally, we chose to install a Supersteer Steering Stabilizer. Not critical, just something to help keep a sudden tire failure from jerking the steering wheel from my grasp.
We are very happy with our rig. May your experience be outstanding!

 

[Eagle5]

Greetings Repereyda,
Noah's Ark is the perfect name for your Motorhome!
Welcome to the forum.
Eagle5

 

[Repereyda]

Eagle5, Awesome! I hadn’t heard this before, thank you for sharing.

 

[Scotty B]

Voopa, voopa, voopa....right!

 

[Morich]

As a new motorhome owner, I have to say you have a trek in front of you. You have just bought into one of the most pleasant, but also most frustrating things you may ever do!
Almost like raising kids as far as what to expect!
Expect the unexpected!
But a couple p[oint that may help to head off some big headaches?
One of the bigger issues on motorhomes is the batteries and how to help them do thier berst and last the longest. It will take some study as they seem so simple and most of us have thought we understood how little it taskes becasue we have a battyery in the car and we never need to worry much! WRONG!
On an RV, you have three groups of electrical and they have to work together at times and other times they stand alone! Understanding how and why we need to watch so much closer is a whole days discussion, but do ask any questions and try to get a full understanding of how something so simple can be one of the big headaches and expenses!
On tires, one of the biggest issues is not the tire pressure in my experience if we do the right thing to be able to prevent trouble catching us.
tire pressure changes more often than you change your shirt, so I avoid chasing that dream! I DO want to know at all times that the pressure is within a safe range, but for long life of the tires but also for my life!
A tire pressure monitoring sytem is now a "must have" on my RV! Once you have one and get the alarms set in the right range, you will quickly learn the folly of getting tire pressure set "just right". It varies ever time you start a drive and every time the weather changes, so "just right" is a waste of time unless you plan to stop and adjust it!
Set a monitor on the dash and get the alarms set wide enough to not bug you every time you drive in a different direction or every overnight and then let it tell you if things get out of the range you have chosen!
Once you see you can't catch the bouncing ball, you can relax and let the machine do the worry!
But for making the learning curve a bit less difficult, try the Winnebago home site:

Home - Winnebago

www.winnebago.com

Look under the owners tab for sites that give details like electrical drawings, plumbing and a great parts catalog that is a great help to find where things are hidden and what they are called!
Want to know where something is hiding?

Parts Catalog

That's a lot to swallow in one go but it may point in the right direction and that is often as good as the world gives us!
Enjoy the trek!

 

[Repereyda]

Thanks for advice Morich, see ya down the road!

 

[Morich]

I sometimes write too much and not give the small hints that may help more?
One tip that is often needed is how the battery cutoff switch can confuse us.
If we find the coach battery charges when we plug the RV in, we can skiop to thinking we can reduce the power bill a bitif we turn the battery cutoff switch off.
A problem to be alert and check, is that the cutoff switch DOES cut off most of the power drains but it also cuts of the charge from the converter!
And to make it worse, there are safety items like CO and propane detectors left ON to drain the batteries if given time.
Watch those battery voltages when you store the RV. Letting them go way down can damage them!

Smaller hints can be easier to swallow , so wish you luck!
Now go play!

 

[levasseurjohn]

As a new motorhome owner, I have to say you have a trek in front of you. You have just bought into one of the most pleasant, but also most frustrating things you may ever do!
Almost like raising kids as far as what to expect!
Expect the unexpected!
But a couple p[oint that may help to head off some big headaches?
One of the bigger issues on motorhomes is the batteries and how to help them do thier berst and last the longest. It will take some study as they seem so simple and most of us have thought we understood how little it taskes becasue we have a battyery in the car and we never need to worry much! WRONG!
On an RV, you have three groups of electrical and they have to work together at times and other times they stand alone! Understanding how and why we need to watch so much closer is a whole days discussion, but do ask any questions and try to get a full understanding of how something so simple can be one of the big headaches and expenses!
On tires, one of the biggest issues is not the tire pressure in my experience if we do the right thing to be able to prevent trouble catching us.
tire pressure changes more often than you change your shirt, so I avoid chasing that dream! I DO want to know at all times that the pressure is within a safe range, but for long life of the tires but also for my life!
A tire pressure monitoring sytem is now a "must have" on my RV! Once you have one and get the alarms set in the right range, you will quickly learn the folly of getting tire pressure set "just right". It varies ever time you start a drive and every time the weather changes, so "just right" is a waste of time unless you plan to stop and adjust it!
Set a monitor on the dash and get the alarms set wide enough to not bug you every time you drive in a different direction or every overnight and then let it tell you if things get out of the range you have chosen!
Once you see you can't catch the bouncing ball, you can relax and let the machine do the worry!
But for making the learning curve a bit less difficult, try the Winnebago home site:

Home - Winnebago

www.winnebago.com

Look under the owners tab for sites that give details like electrical drawings, plumbing and a great parts catalog that is a great help to find where things are hidden and what they are called!
Want to know where something is hiding?

Parts Catalog

That's a lot to swallow in one go but it may point in the right direction and that is often as good as the world gives us!
Enjoy the trek!

 

[levasseurjohn]

I purchased a monitor and many different extenders. Everyone of the extenders eventually leaked. The cheaper rubber ones were the worst. Ancoring them so they don't rub on the rim was an issue. I finally took them off and realized with the right air guage I could check the pressure fairly easly. I have had so much experience removing the chrome hub caps that it is easy now. The idea of a monitor is good and I may try it again without the extenders. Without the extenders the monitor may work fine. It is a good idea and great for peace of mind.

 

[Repereyda]

I sometimes write too much and not give the small hints that may help more?
One tip that is often needed is how the battery cutoff switch can confuse us.
If we find the coach battery charges when we plug the RV in, we can skiop to thinking we can reduce the power bill a bitif we turn the battery cutoff switch off.
A problem to be alert and check, is that the cutoff switch DOES cut off most of the power drains but it also cuts of the charge from the converter!
And to make it worse, there are safety items like CO and propane detectors left ON to drain the batteries if given time.
Watch those battery voltages when you store the RV. Letting them go way down can damage them!

Smaller hints can be easier to swallow , so wish you luck!
Now go play!

Probably can’t find that tidbit of info in Op Manual. So no need to t

I sometimes write too much and not give the small hints that may help more?
One tip that is often needed is how the battery cutoff switch can confuse us.
If we find the coach battery charges when we plug the RV in, we can skiop to thinking we can reduce the power bill a bitif we turn the battery cutoff switch off.
A problem to be alert and check, is that the cutoff switch DOES cut off most of the power drains but it also cuts of the charge from the converter!
And to make it worse, there are safety items like CO and propane detectors left ON to drain the batteries if given time.
Watch those battery voltages when you store the RV. Letting them go way down can damage them!

Smaller hints can be easier to swallow , so wish you luck!
Now go play!

*****Probably can’t find that tidbit of information in Ops Manual. So, we need to leave coach battery “ON”, while connected to Shore power, gotcha…thank you Morich!****

 

[Repereyda]

Welcome, welcome! This is one great group of contributors. We own a 2021 Adventurer 2021 30T. Very happy with build quality and extremely happy with Winnebago support.
First, air pressure. Set it to the spec on the label next to the driver. Some shop mechanics set it to 105 psi which will rattle your teeth and can break things in the cabin.
Second, make sure the recalls were fixed, including the one that makes cruise control suddenly turn itself off when you are hit by a wind gust.
Third, inspect all the black epoxy globs that hold your front engine panel in place against the fiberglass front. The epoxy manufacturer said Winnebago didn’t apply enough, which causes the standoffs and panel attachments to break and fall off as you drive. Winnebago may not yet have issued the recall but if your globs are broken, they will ship you the now-missing parts and plenty of epoxy, no charge. Or they will authorize the work at a certified Winnebago dealer.
Fourth, by this time your original shocks are getting long in the tooth. We replaced them with Koni EVOs that smoothed and quieted the ride. Well worth it.
Your chassis may have been shipped to Winnebago in 2020. That makes an original tire hitting six years old later this year. Opinions vary on tire age. We put on a new set of Steers because ours needed to be replaced. That also improved the ride quality and lowered cabin noise
Finally, we chose to install a Supersteer Steering Stabilizer. Not critical, just something to help keep a sudden tire failure from jerking the steering wheel from my grasp.
We are very happy with our rig. May your experience be outstanding!

*****Hello HappyNOMADS, we bought stabilizer before leaving the lot, and as you already know, F53 Chassis has stock OEM front and rear sway bars to improve safety margin. Since Coach only had 7400 miles when I purchased, I’ll wait and observe tires/shocks for time being. Thank You for sharing!*****

 

[Repereyda]

Greetings Repereyda,
Noah's Ark is the perfect name for your Motorhome!
Welcome to the forum.
Eagle5

*****Hello Eagle5, I haven’t seen this before ands it’s funny …This is the version of Bill Cosby that like. Thanks For sharing.*****

 

[Eagle5]

*****Hello Eagle5, I haven’t seen this before ands it’s funny …This is the version of Bill Cosby that like. Thanks For sharing.*****

Good morning Repereyda,
I listened to that album so many times as a kid that I still have it memorized! Right!
Thanks, Eagle5

 

[Morich]

One of the "funnies" about the battery disconnect is that it is actually correct but we misread it. It does almost toally disconnect the battery. But that means most of the drains as well as the charging are disconnected! But yet another small point is the safety items ARE left connected to run the battery down if we wait long enough.
Seems they don't want to be responsible for us coming back to an RV full of propane becasue they had the alarms cutoff?

On the TPMS and sensor mounting, I finally got around to doing a bit more work as I mount them to avoid the constant work of not getting them mounted the way I want them.
I do not want them mounted in the tire rim as I want them to be where I can get to them. If I want to sell the RV and the new owners does not want them, I take them off and use them on the next RV.
I also do not want some hammer head mech in the middle of nowhere doing any work near that sensor!
Step one is that I never want to take the wheels ims off to check. I certain don't wnat to get on hands and knees to find a stem sticking out of the inner dual.
Those two items make me go with a flexible extendor that I attach firmly to the tire stem ans seal to aovid any question of leaks.
that metal sheilded flexible extention makes it easy to add a tab of flat metal to mount the sensor so it is not hanging out to swing aroudn and break.
Next time you get around an over the road truck, take a look at what they have for the sensor mounting?
A lot of info is not in written form and all we have to do is look what the folks who do it all the time are doing! If it's good for those pro driver's it often will do for me and my occasional use!

 

[Repereyda]

Voopa, voopa, voopa....right!