Hi Everyone! Looking at new Winnebago View and have questions

[randolf]

Hi Everyone!
I'm back and at square one again! The inspection on the 24v was good, other than needing new tires in 6 months, but then it finally came to light that the couch doesn't turn into a bed. I had repeatedly asked the salesmen to provide me a video showing it converted because I was concerned with the way it looked - it didn't look like it would convert. Unfortunately, AFTER I paid for an inspection, I found out that they made a mistake and it's a dual recliner couch, which won't work for me. I'm told the 2021 24V doesn't have a sofa bed option, so I am back to looking at either Navion or View 24D.
I have heard differing opinions on the 2 Sprinter versions - 6 cylinder vs the new one ?4 cylinderish?
I know it is supposed to get better gas mileage, but I also read some things about the weight of the cabin being a bit much for the new Sprinter and engines quitting in protest.
Does anyone have any experience/knowledge of that? I am leaning towards sticking with the older model with the 6 cylinder (mainly because of price), but want to keep options open (again).
And one more completely different question: Does anyone have an opinion on Thor Chateau? The salesguy was trying to get me to look at one, but from what I read, it sounds like the workmanship and materials won't be as good as Winnebago, so that would be a no-go if that is the case.
Thanks guys!!!
Randy

 

[Pointyears]

I'm not sure the jury has been out long enough on the Winnie 4 cylinders. MB only introduced them in their 2023 chassis and thus are only in the 2025 RVs.

Salesmen lie. And the good ones graduate to being used car salesmen.

The Thor Delano would be more comparable to a Navion/View, not a Chateau. I'm sure the salesman was trying to steer you to something he had on the lot he wanted to get rid of.

 

[randolf]

Hi Pointyears - Yes, you are correct! He has that one on the lot I'm in a bit of a situation with them since I have given them $1000 for the down pmt on the 24V, plus I spent $1100 on an inspection that I would have never paid for had I known the 24V wasn't going to work for me. Now that I am looking at the 24D, I see a lot of choices and would prefer to NOT be stuck with just this one RV dealer. Ugh!
Thanks for the info, as always!!!

 

[Pointyears]

When I bought mine, the down payment was refundable. It's not at your dealer? Especially since they misrepresented a key feature that was important to you?

 

[randolf]

I'm pretty sure I can get refunded the $1000. But the $1100 for the inspection will probably be more difficult.
But, if it comes down to it, I'll just have to deal with losing $1100, with LESSON LEARNED!

 

[Pointyears]

I can't imagine the inspector not having a provision for discounts for secondary or tertiary tests.

 

[roundtail]

Randolf,

We have a '20 24D, just recently purchased, and have yet to get the "maiden voyage" under our belts...as it's still too chilly here in the Northeast. But I've worked on it a bit, and thought I'd share what I've learned about the Murphy bed.

But before that, a word on Thor: My wife's cousin recently owned a Thor Hurricane, a 2023 I believe. He kept it less than one year. It was always needing repairs. Said it was the worst RV he'd ever owned out of the four he had over many years. FWIW.

The 24D Murphy Bed: In my opinion, the bed design would be better off as a manual/boosted affair instead of the electric motor design. On ours, it utilizes an offset hinge which is leveraged by two seatbelt-like straps, each wrapped in opposite directions around a small shaft, which in turn is slowly spun by two small, reversible electric motors. As tension is applied to (or released from) the corresponding strap, the head of the bed is moved to raise or lower the entire frame about the lever point of the hinges.

It is this leverage (on a wooden frame) that I believe is the source of failure. If the straps are not properly adjusted (mine had a lot of slack), the bed will "lurch" when you lower it until gravity is stopped by the now-tight corresponding strap, greatly increasing the strain on that part of the frame.

My solution to this point was to guesstimate how much opposing tension/slack belongs on the straps, and to always manually assist the bed whenever I operate it. I want as little force on the frame and motors as possible. If the motors fail, the straps need to be mechanically released in order to lift the bed, then re-secured to keep it stowed - a curse of a "solution" if there ever was one.

As for the white cabinet faces: We have them, and we like them. I owned a similar Sprinter-C, and we opted for the lighter-faced cabinets in that as well. Too much darkness, especially at eye-level, can create a perception of closeness, while lighter color does the opposite. Matters more in a smaller unit such as this, obviously. Purely a personal cosmetic decision.

 

[Morich]

On the Thor Chateau? UGH!
We have had numerous RV and thought to finally buy a totally new one but did not do a good job at all of shopping the Thor!
It was among the worst jobs for fit and finish on things that are my bugs! The hidden parts were the worst part!
And that led to us only finding out when we got hands on and did things like open the dinette seat to stow things. Much of the space under the seat was taken up by excess wire coils!
Customer service? None that wanted to make life easy for the buyer!
I needed to know where the other end of a defective coax might be found? They told me they did not know as it was just a "generic" plan! I finally found it was defective because somebody has drilled a hole and wrapped the coax around an auger bit!
It was pretty well mangled and the ends had been twisted together and just taped! Once vinyl tape gets hot it unwraps.

This was before the loss of skilled people during Covid, so no excuse at that time but it was as if nobody had an actual plan for building wiring looms or cutting them to proper length.
We had lots of trouble with plumbing as there was a lot of debris in the tanks and drains. When they cut holes for pipes into the holding tanks, they left the cutout in the tank!
I had never seen an RV drain clog at the main pipe! It's really hard to stopper a big pipe like that but if there is a piece of plastic sticking half way in the pipe, all the paper, etc. can stick and tend to clog but when you run a snake in, you can push the piece so that it is cleared for a time. We gave up after a year or so of constant head scratching on things we had never seen before!

For shopping, are you aware of the online info we have that lets us shop from home on Winnebago?
Home page as start:

Home - Winnebago

www.winnebago.com

Under the owners tab for links to lots of drawings and other info?
One I love is the interactive parts drawings that let me look at many of the systems like plumbing to see anything that sticks out as a problem:

Parts Catalog

It takes a bit to learn to drive it well but once you get the idea, it is great to stay out home and look where the drains hang out-----without even crawling!

 

[randolf]

Randolf,

We have a '20 24D, just recently purchased, and have yet to get the "maiden voyage" under our belts...as it's still too chilly here in the Northeast. But I've worked on it a bit, and thought I'd share what I've learned about the Murphy bed.

But before that, a word on Thor: My wife's cousin recently owned a Thor Hurricane, a 2023 I believe. He kept it less than one year. It was always needing repairs. Said it was the worst RV he'd ever owned out of the four he had over many years. FWIW.

The 24D Murphy Bed: In my opinion, the bed design would be better off as a manual/boosted affair instead of the electric motor design. On ours, it utilizes an offset hinge which is leveraged by two seatbelt-like straps, each wrapped in opposite directions around a small shaft, which in turn is slowly spun by two small, reversible electric motors. As tension is applied to (or released from) the corresponding strap, the head of the bed is moved to raise or lower the entire frame about the lever point of the hinges.

It is this leverage (on a wooden frame) that I believe is the source of failure. If the straps are not properly adjusted (mine had a lot of slack), the bed will "lurch" when you lower it until gravity is stopped by the now-tight corresponding strap, greatly increasing the strain on that part of the frame.

My solution to this point was to guesstimate how much opposing tension/slack belongs on the straps, and to always manually assist the bed whenever I operate it. I want as little force on the frame and motors as possible. If the motors fail, the straps need to be mechanically released in order to lift the bed, then re-secured to keep it stowed - a curse of a "solution" if there ever was one.

As for the white cabinet faces: We have them, and we like them. I owned a similar Sprinter-C, and we opted for the lighter-faced cabinets in that as well. Too much darkness, especially at eye-level, can create a perception of closeness, while lighter color does the opposite. Matters more in a smaller unit such as this, obviously. Purely a personal cosmetic decision.

Hi Roundtail and everyone!
I had completely forgotten to update this thread! Thanks so much for that information, Roundtail!
I think it is a great idea to assist the murphy bed, and I've heard others say the same thing (possibly on this thread).
I am in the process of purchasing a 2022 Navion 24D. I had the inspection done and am waiting for the dealer to address some things, none of which were the bed (knock on wood). However, the slide was making a lot of noise in the video that the inspector sent to me and he pointed out that the rails are slightly bowed, which he believed might be the source of the noise. The dealer told me they tried lubricating the rails, but I told them I didn't think that was going to be enough and that they need to really check out the slide thoroughly. Meanwhile, I contacted Winnebago and asked them about the excessive noise, and about the bowed rails. They said that they really shouldn't need lubrication but that slight bowing of the rails is okay. They also suggested that I should investigate the excessive noise to make sure there aren't any alignment or structural issues (which is what I am afraid of). I'm waiting to hear back from the dealer on what their technician finds out. If anyone has any experience with that slide and knows what their rails look like, I'd appreciate knowing if yours are bowed at all, and whether your slide-out gets very noisy towards the end when being slid out. I attached a picture that the inspector took of the bowed rail.
I have looked online it sounds like once I go in for the final walkthrough, I should look at the slide-out while it is in - look for it to be lined up evenly and flush with the RV, and then while it is out, look for anything that makes it look like it is not properly aligned. I'd love to hear any other advice on that!
Thanks everyone!
Randy

 

[Pointyears]

That looks like the same Lippert Slim Rack slide my Vita has and they have a slight bow too. I’d find it pretty astounding that they’d go bad in 3 years as they’re extremely reliable. It’s not like they’re the mediocre Schwinteks that are on most class Cs.
Make sure that when the slide is out that the rubber seal is tight to the side of the slide and doesn’t get folded behind.

 

[randolf]

Thanks so much, Pointyears!!! I will add that to my inspection notes for when I go look at it in person!
Randy

 

[JayBirdley]

Hi fellow Glampers!
I currently own a 33 foot Minnie Winnie (2002) and am looking to downsize to a more manageable length with newer features.
I am currently looking at the Winnebago View 24D and 24V.
Wondering if anyone on this forum has either of these and if they have things they'd like to share about their experience with this model.
I am looking at the 2021 and later. We do boondock some of the time, but not always.
I am not very fond of the white high gloss cabinets in the 2024/2025 models - makes me feel like I'm on the bridge of the Star Trek Enterprise, or in an office.
However, a local dealer has one available at a good price, so I'm considering whether I can deal with that or not. Any idea what type of coating/stickers/anything I could use to make them look darker but not harm them? I was thinking laptop skins might work.
For the View 24D:
Any opinions on the electric murphy bed?
How about the privacy curtain when others are in the Rig?
Do you find the refrigerator annoying since it cannot open all the way when slide-out is in?
For the View 24V:
How do you like the bed in the back?
How comfortable is the couch with the table for dining in the front?
I wish there was an option with the 2 of these units combined: I want the bed in the back, but I want the U-Shaped Dinette!
Thanks everyone!!!
Randy

Hi fellow Glampers!
I currently own a 33 foot Minnie Winnie (2002) and am looking to downsize to a more manageable length with newer features.
I am currently looking at the Winnebago View 24D and 24V.
Wondering if anyone on this forum has either of these and if they have things they'd like to share about their experience with this model.
I am looking at the 2021 and later. We do boondock some of the time, but not always.
I am not very fond of the white high gloss cabinets in the 2024/2025 models - makes me feel like I'm on the bridge of the Star Trek Enterprise, or in an office.
However, a local dealer has one available at a good price, so I'm considering whether I can deal with that or not. Any idea what type of coating/stickers/anything I could use to make them look darker but not harm them? I was thinking laptop skins might work.
For the View 24D:
Any opinions on the electric murphy bed?
How about the privacy curtain when others are in the Rig?
Do you find the refrigerator annoying since it cannot open all the way when slide-out is in?
For the View 24V:
How do you like the bed in the back?
How comfortable is the couch with the table for dining in the front?
I wish there was an option with the 2 of these units combined: I want the bed in the back, but I want the U-Shaped Dinette!
Thanks everyone!!!
Randy

We have had the 2024 D for about 16 months and are very pleased so far.
The Murphy bed has worked very well so far, other than being a bit cumbersome to get in and out of during the night.
We had the factory replace the white cabinetry with the walnut before they delivered to our dealer for pickup and walnut looks great.
We make a lot of use out of the dinette and wouldn't replace it.
Our main complaint is that the EO stabilizer footings are very vulnerable to popping off while you are driving due to they don't retract very far off the surface of the road.
JayBirdley