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12/03/2008 |
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It was a long time coming, but we are finally
in our new home. Our new home is a 2007 Newmar Dutch Star with a 4037
floorplan. Although there are always little tweaks necessary on most
new motor homes, and this one was no exception, we are so happy with how it
has turned out. It is a truly beautiful home in which to start out on
our adventure to see North America. See below for pictures and
improvements/updates along the way.
Here we take delivery of our new home on April 11th, 2007. With us is Lee Litchfield of Lee's RV City, in Oklahoma City, OK. Lee is the dealer we used in buying our new home. Lee has been great to make sure we got what we were expecting and to run interference thru Newmar when necessary.
Here are just a few more pictures of the new home from the outside
And just a few of the inside. The woodwork is a glazed maple and is truly a work of art. The floor is a polished porcelain tile with granite inserts for accent. A couple of months after being in the coach we contracted with Irv Kaufman out of Nappanee to build some matching cabinets installed where the sofas would have been. These house our computers, a printer, a wine rack and some added storage. We also added 2 Lafer "Euro" chairs that have integrated foot support from Bradd & Hall out of Elkhart.
Around the bedroom... No TV in the bedroom, just added storage space.
Below are additions and upgrades we've made... _______________________________________ BlueOx Towing Equipment. See http://www.blueox.com for pictures and more info. There is the BlueOx Aventa LX tow bar rated for 10,000 pounds, the BlueOx baseplate for attachment to the car, BrakeSafe which provides proportional air braking in the Jeep while under tow, and BrakeLock II which hopefully will never be needed, but it's there if necessary. _______________________________________ In the water bay, we added an "On-the-Go" Water Softener, a RV-Sanicon Macerator, 2 water filters (replacing the original single filter), and a whole house pressure regulator added after the filters to maintain higher water pressure.
_______________________________________ A Motosat Datastorm dish so that we have Internet "anywhere" (unless we are under trees)
_______________________________________ Progressive Industries hardwired 50amp EMS (no picture) _______________________________________ PressurePro Tire Monitoring System, monitors on motor home and on tow car. We did have to add the antenna in our basement to insure always reading all tires. (no picture) _______________________________________ Full width slide out tray fabricated by DH Machine in Nappanee
_______________________________________ A box to hold 2 additional batteries welded under existing battery tray. Double wall at back since near exhaust. There wasn't room to mount a slide-out tray and still have room for 2 batteries. Decided slide-out not required since they will be AGM batteries. Also done by DH Machine.
_______________________________________ Extruded metal tray under LP tank to provide storage space for some sewer accessories without the need of an enclosed bin. Also by DH Machine.
_______________________________________ Silverleaf VMSpc equipment and 19" HD monitor to display VMS data. Installed on tilt/swivel mount to provide driver with unobstructed view of the road.
_______________________________________ Power strip to provide convenient individual on/off control for electronic components above driver seat.
_______________________________________ New TV...although we had an HDTV, it was only 26" and the resolution was not as crisp as we wanted. The new TV is a Sony Bravia model KDL-40Z4100. The processor is a 120Hz (instead of 60Hz), 1080p, 40". This new model has a very slim outside bezel with 1/2" tall speakers which allowed us to fit it in the same space with no real cabinetry work required. Although it drops a little from the original cabinetry, it is not a head banger when going in & out the entry. We will move the old TV to the basement to use as a patio TV.
_______________________________________ New kitchen faucet...never liked the original. Didn't extend out far enough, splashed water behind the faucet on the counter at the rear of the sink. After more than a year (out of warranty) the old faucet began leaking badly and quit turning from side to side. What a great time to get a new one! You will notice that Newmar in its infinite wisdom drilled three 1 1/4 holes for a single lever faucet. We will install plugs temporarily, but hope to have the Corian repaired to fill them ultimately. New unit....Grohe Ladylux Plus....should last the life of the coach.
_______________________________________ New radio speakers...The original speakers for the dash radio were tiny (3") and of poor quality...bad sound, and so on. Since we had Sirius radio on this unit, we really wanted better sound and didn't want to have to run the DVD player to get sound thru the surround system while driving. So, the only solution seemed to be new speakers. When we replaced the TV, the old speakers were covered anyway. Actually the old speakers were repositioned so they faced the windshield and connected to the CB radio. As bad as they were for music, they were great for the CB, so win-win. New speakers are 60 watt Pioneer external auto speakers. We found a nice spot for them on the end of the valance over passenger & driver side areas where they are unobtrusive, but good for sound. They point toward the rear-center and each has 3 speakers to cover the full tonal range.
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