Newmar Ventana 3942 Bunk - Pros/cons/advice/regrets?

katoomer wrote:
I built a larger stereo cabinet, installed a 40" tv with a proper Marantz AV receiver and Klipsch in-ceiling speakers and trashed the cheap sub under the sink and use a Velodyne sub and SQ is now pretty good. I even have a pair of Terra outdoor speakers I hang on the outside with a Bryston amp and wifi with a hard drive so I can sit in my lawn chair and control music from my phone.

Outstanding!!!

comfort drive , enough said

the recliner is not the greatest but we move it out to the middle when we watch tv.
a couch would be better. The tile is great. I wish it had tile all the way thru the bedroom. Carpet is too hard to keep clean

We have 3942 Ventana and have owned it for 3 1/2 yrs. We have 2 kids age 13 & 10 and bought it used 1 yr old with 9000 miles. We now have 47000 miles on ours so I would say we use it a lot. At least 8 wks of holidays each of the past 2 yrs. We go dirt biking and pull a 7000 lb. traler most of the time and do a lot of boondocking. It has been a good coach but we have had some issues. The worst issue is the Precision Temp hot water heat. It is constantly in need of repair. Usually a small $10 part fixes it but in my mind a heating system should be dead reliable. The service tech at Precision Temp knows me by first name. When it is working it is the best type of heat. I would never buy a coach with a forced air furnace. Newmar no longer uses that manufacturer. We also had a problem with the heat because of an issue with Newmars construction. In the slide-out they go from Pex pipe to rad hose for a small portion to allow for flexing with the slide moving. Just using a hose clamp to attach the rad hose to the pex causes the pipe to crush and restricts flow. We changed the fittings to proper ones and problems solved. Poor design on Newmars part.
Another disappointment has been Newmars "Amish Craftsman" cabinets. I am a cabinetmaker carpenter by profession and luckily I am able to repair them myself. Thin plywood, staples with no glue have left cabinets shifting and twisting loose. In particular the large kitchen cabinet in the slide out has twisted, even enough to crack the Corian countertop behind the sink. I reinforced and all is well now.
Both passenger side slideouts have failed but luckily I have an old grumpy local repair guy that can fix anything. I replaced the Kingdome domed dish with a Motosat HD dish and am very happy. I built a larger stereo cabinet, installed a 40" tv with a proper Marantz AV receiver and Klipsch in-ceiling speakers and trashed the cheap sub under the sink and use a Velodyne sub and SQ is now pretty good. I even have a pair of Terra outdoor speakers I hang on the outside with a Bryston amp and wifi with a hard drive so I can sit in my lawn chair and
control music from my phone.
The chassis is good but remember it is a straight front axle and drum brakes. The "Comfort Drive" works well. Power is acceptable.
All in all a good quality coach that serves us well. I believe it is the best of the entry level DPs that are available with bunks. Our friends had a damon Astoria with bunks and our is miles better. I would only sell it to move up to a tag with IFS and 500 hp or more.
Sorry for being long winded. let me know if you want to know anything else.

Aridon wrote:

Entropy69 wrote:

Aridon wrote:
We modified our bath and a half to put bunks in the back. Love having that entirely separate room for the kids.

This is something we're considering as we have three kids. Is there more information on your mod anywhere? Do you have any pictures you could share?

Pm me your email I'll send you some pictures.

I'd be really curious to see it to if you can post some pics

Aridon wrote:

Entropy69 wrote:

Aridon wrote:
We modified our bath and a half to put bunks in the back. Love having that entirely separate room for the kids.

This is something we're considering as we have three kids. Is there more information on your mod anywhere? Do you have any pictures you could share?

Pm me your email I'll send you some pictures.

PM Sent, thanks!

Newmar runs every vehicle down the same assembly line. The same people work on all models so it would be pretty difficult for them to change their quality construction for only certain models.

Entropy69 wrote:

Aridon wrote:
We modified our bath and a half to put bunks in the back. Love having that entirely separate room for the kids.

This is something we're considering as we have three kids. Is there more information on your mod anywhere? Do you have any pictures you could share?

Pm me your email I'll send you some pictures.

Aridon wrote:
We modified our bath and a half to put bunks in the back. Love having that entirely separate room for the kids.

This is something we're considering as we have three kids. Is there more information on your mod anywhere? Do you have any pictures you could share?

We bought a 2006 Ventana 3631 in January. We absolutely love it! It is built really well and is very high quality. Our 2006 still looks brand new and very modern.

We have half tile and half carpet. The tile does not get cold or slippery that we have noticed.

If you need any more info, just let me know.