Itasca Sunstar 30T and Winnebago Vista 30T

[danhannah]

My screen looks similar, but the volume is always available - no menus needed. just put rig in reverse, and hit the up and down arrows for volume.

[tonyd48]

Originally Posted by ghutch

Turn OFF the OTA roof antenna booster, then go into the settings for the TV and set it to cable, a do a channel scan. Remember to reset when you go back to OTA or satellite.

Have 2011 Sunstar 30w, where is the antenna booster switch?
Thanks

[jazzerjump]

Our 2012 Vista has it in the overhead cabinet over the passenger seat on the outside wall. Our 2004 Sightseer was in the same place so may be a good place to look. There is a box that looks like a place to plug in a 12v plug and the switch is on the left of the plug-a small button that when pushed a green light will come on. This has to be on in ours to power the signal locater on the antenna. Might be the same on the Sunstar

[tonyd48]

Thanks; will check there today

[Still Bill]

Originally Posted by tonyd48

Have 2011 Sunstar 30w, where is the antenna booster switch?
Thanks

When using the over-the-air antenna, you want this on (plus the on switch at the antenna itself). When hooked up to cable (at an RV park), you want this switch off...which tells the system that you are using cable.

Hope you found it.

Bill

[Still Bill]

We recently finished touring 12 national parks, 6 national monuments and a few state parks in the western US.

Have to say that we got good use out of our 2013 Sunstar 30T during our seven weeks on the road.

While out there, we did upgrade the standard queen bed mattress to a pillow top unit made by Denver Mattress. Now, our RV bed is at least as good as the one we have at home. Huge improvement for under $600 (not on sale).

About the only handling improvement pending for me is to upgrade to Koni FSD shocks. Used them on my cars; so, why not the motorhome.

Bill

[LeeOts]

This post sounds like a "drive-by rant." The OP posted this thread on 1/27/14 and has never followed up nor posted anything else. Makes me go, "Hmmm...!" Is he simply a WGO basher?

[Still Bill]

Originally Posted by LeeOts

This post sounds like a "drive-by rant." The OP posted this thread on 1/27/14 and has never followed up nor posted anything else. Makes me go, "Hmmm...!" Is he simply a WGO basher?

Hi Lee,

Actually, I don't have any issue with that original post on this thread. The guy was just passing on HIS experience. And considering how negative he was, he did say that he had returned that 30T to his dealer...Assumed he "offed it" at that point; so, no more entries.

Several posters offered advise that proved helpful to my issues with our 30T.

IMO, our 2013 Sunstar 30T was an ill handling beast when I first received it in 2014. It required multiple suspension modifications to make it road worthy; and, I still have shocks to do at some point.

Guessing at that time the poster had not yet experienced the issue of the excessive loss of the water from his fresh water tank which has plagued several model years of the 30T. Another issue which Winnebago has not adequately dealt with.

On the good side, Ford Motor Company did step up and effected warranty repairs to correct the premature failure (at only 4K miles) of the rubber shackle bushings within the links to the rear leaf springs of my unit. Bravo Ford! Yet, no one else on this thread seems to have suffered this particular issue.

Bill

[tortoise]

Having viewed this post some time ago I almost did not buy the 30T that I had been lusting over the ideal floor plan in fear of the reported handling issues. However after considerable research and carefully reading all the post in the threads including experienced owners who loved their rigs I went ahead and made the leap.

Frankly I am not clear what all the fuss was about? When I picked up the coach empty it did seem a bit squirrely, but after getting it home and loading it up to 17,520 lbs (480 lbs under MVGW of 18,000) The first weight station I used could only provide total weight of both axles so I still need to find a weight station that will provide weights for both front and rear axles to see how close it is to the desired distribution between front and rear, but I purposely loaded most heavy stuff like toolboxes to the front which may explain why it seems to be stable. I found it drives fairly well for a large coach with a lot area that can be impacted by winds. Recent trip home in 30mph crosswinds was a challenge but I am still getting used to driving such a big coach and expect my skills to improve as time goes on. From my reading if I ever determine I want more stability it seems the SafetyPlus system is highly regarded by many and offers increased stability in the unlikely but always possible event of a front tire blowout.

In summation driving a 30 foot bus will never be the same as driving a passenger car. As an experienced RV friend told me they are called motorhomes for a reason, namely when the wind blows above ones comfort level for driving that is the time to pull over and use the home part of the coach until the wind dies down.

[GreatWhite]

Originally Posted by Still Bill

While out there, we did upgrade the standard queen bed mattress to a pillow top unit made by Denver Mattress. Now, our RV bed is at least as good as the one we have at home. Huge improvement for under $600 (not on sale).
Bill

We did similar. We bought the memory foam topper from Costco and have never looked back. Awesome.

[tonyd48]

Honestly gang, we had issues our first trip out, checked tire pressure and brought it up to 80# front and 90# and have had zero handling issues since, 'bout 15k miles. Yeah, the fresh water drains every now and then so we just keep 4 gallons of fresh with us at all times for emergency until we can refill, rarely drains below a third but a bummer when you head out to boondock for a few days. We carry little weight, I added a 5 ton hydraulic jack since it took 4 different visits to Orlando RV (under warranty) to get the levelers to finally work, up til then I used the hydraulic on whichever jack was having a bad hair that week. It's got no Blue Ox anything, no anti-sway anything, we just have kept our personal items weight down as neither of us have a bunch of crap we need anyway, except her and the shoes thing that all women seem to subscribe to - 8 pair, I counted - 8 friggin' pairs of shoes, I mean "helloooooo" what is it with women and shoes? Our 30W tracks fine, even in the wind, we rarely go over 60 mph, and use the cruise so we only have to look at the speedo to set it once and since we spend so little time on the slab even that's a non-issue.

[Starfire5]

Congrats, tortoise, on your purchase! We have the 2013 Sunstar 30T that we bought last year used (even after people here told me not to, as it already had 2 owners!), but honestly, we love ours! True, my hubby hates how it handles, so we are getting some kind of steering stabilizers put on it, and yes, when I follow him home in the car, I can see the water coming out from underneath it, but I don't consider those real issues compared with other things I have read about. The floorplan is awesome. Tons of storage, lots of room with the slides out, love the decor. We love everything about it. Good luck with yours! Let us know how you like it in the coming months!

[tortoise]

Originally Posted by Starfire5

Congrats, tortoise, on your purchase! We have the 2013 Sunstar 30T that we bought last year used (even after people here told me not to, as it already had 2 owners!), but honestly, we love ours! True, my hubby hates how it handles, so we are getting some kind of steering stabilizers put on it, and yes, when I follow him home in the car, I can see the water coming out from underneath it, but I don't consider those real issues compared with other things I have read about. The floorplan is awesome. Tons of storage, lots of room with the slides out, love the decor. We love everything about it. Good luck with yours! Let us know how you like it in the coming months!

Thanks Janet, we love the floor-plan as well, so far only a few very minor quality control issues and I am working with the dealer on those. Biggest challenge is learning about all the technology and how to use it, especially all the Audio/Visual equipment. I will post back from time to time on how we are doing with the new rig. BTW we were especially pleased with the first gas milage check on a 300 mile trip we managed 9.8 MPG which is totally awesome in my book. I attribute much of that to the six speed transmissions in the newer models. BTW I almost bought a used 2013 Sunstar but did not like the dark cave feeling of the rear bedroom with no back window. The 2016 models have a emergency exit window in the very back and there are two windows one on each side of the bed almost at head level which makes for great fresh air cross ventilation.

[aznancy]

Highly recommend saftey plus steering stabalizer. We put one on our Winnebago Vista 26he and made a very big difference in handling well worth!

[Peter27C]

We have done 23,000 miles in our Vista 30T now and are very happy. I keep the tires at the factory recommended 82 psi and the only mod is the CHF. Steers fine. I do tend to stay around 60mph so maybe those who complain of poor handling with no mods are running must faster, but to me RVing is about the journey. I mostly manually level the coach as unless the ground is flat, the auto level is pretty useless. I have had no issues with water loss since I did my mod raising the vent pipe on the left side.

Pete

[Starfire5]

Originally Posted by Peter27C

We have done 23,000 miles in our Vista 30T now and are very happy. I keep the tires at the factory recommended 82 psi and the only mod is the CHF. Steers fine. I do tend to stay around 60mph so maybe those who complain of poor handling with no mods are running must faster, but to me RVing is about the journey. I mostly manually level the coach as unless the ground is flat, the auto level is pretty useless. I have had no issues with water loss since I did my mod raising the vent pipe on the left side.

Pete

How do you do that to prevent water loss? Um, my hubby is not handy AT ALL, so it would have to be something pretty simple, I hope?

[Peter27C]

The overflow pipe on the left hand side needs to be extended upward. This involves drilling a couple of holes in the floor and crimping some pipe connections. I posted all about this with photos some time ago. Winnebagos fix was to just extend the overflow and lay it on top of the tank which of course does nothing.
The fix took me less than an hour and I did the whole thing in a Home Deport car park as I was on the road!

Pete

[tonyd48]

Originally Posted by Peter27C

The overflow pipe on the left hand side needs to be extended upward. This involves drilling a couple of holes in the floor and crimping some pipe connections. I posted all about this with photos some time ago. Winnebagos fix was to just extend the overflow and lay it on top of the tank which of course does nothing.
The fix took me less than an hour and I did the whole thing in a Home Deport car park as I was on the road!

Pete

OK, I just scrolled through all 225 of your posts with no luck. Yes, I found a number of posts about the siphoning but could not locate yours with correction instructions. If possible could you send a link to the actual post (with the wonderful pics) and as soon as "she gets back from finding herself" in New England on her solo trip I want to make the modification.
Thanks;
I'm going to PM this also

[WBandJ]

Originally Posted by tonyd48

OK, I just scrolled through all 225 of your posts with no luck. Yes, I found a number of posts about the siphoning but could not locate yours with correction instructions. If possible could you send a link to the actual post (with the wonderful pics) and as soon as "she gets back from finding herself" in New England on her solo trip I want to make the modification.
Thanks;
I'm going to PM this also

If you use the google advanced search option for this forum, you will have better luck. I found these two threads;

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f101/itas...-245591-2.html

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f101/fres...-130344-2.html

[Peter27C]

Click on the first thread, and my picture of the vent extention is #18 and the explanation is #23. More pix at #65

There is quite a bit of verbal diarrhea to cut through, which is often the way with Internet forums, but no one actually reported that they had a reality check by accepting my challenge see #43

Pete