Our new Northstar 12' STC and solar/lithium install

[thedavidzoo]

Well, we finally picked up our 2017 Northstar 12' STC! In this thread I will try to review the camper in general and also our solar/lithium install as it progresses. I know there isn't yet a lot of info on this model, so I hope this helps others with their decision making.

Basics:
Truck is a 2014 Ram 3500 Laramie, CC, DRW, diesel, Aisin, 4.10, with no suspension mods. GVWR 14000, payload 56xx lbs. Added a DeeZee bed mat, Torklift Tiedowns and Fastguns. Before loading the rear wheel well height was 46 3/8", loaded with camper 39". Looks like it still sits fine.

We took the rig to a CAT scale on the way home. Weight includes:
Heki skylight, AC, bunk bed, new flip up footrest, 7 cuft Norcold DC compressor fridge, 13' awning, passthrough boot to truck, 4 aluminum chairs, wireless rearview camera, cassette toilet, maggie rack, dually swing out brackets
2x full propane, ~8 gal water
4 solar panels, 400Ah lithium batteries, controllers, BMS, inverter, 2 cheap temporary 12V batteries
Full tank of diesel, 360lbs of people and very minimal personal stuff
Torklift tiedowns, Fastguns, bed mat

Steer axle 5460
Drive axle 7720
Gross 13180
We were a little surprised to be this heavy already. We are still missing our 2nd son, the fresh water, food, clothes, toys, and STUFF.

MPG were roughly 19 unloaded with mostly interstate driving, 13mpg loaded coming back with interstate and lots of stop and go and some back roads. Hubby says truck handles fine but we did notice some sway on certain roads. Might add some Stableloads.

We had the dealer mount 4 160W panels on the roof (yes, I am aware of possible AC shading:R). As we chose to get 400Ah of lithium batteries, we will be doing the rest of the solar/battery install ourselves. I will post as our install progresses over the next 2 weeks or so. I have all major parts here but needed more measurements and hands on camper before I could narrow down placement of components and order cables and such.

We think the inside looks BIG despite the no-basement, no-slide thing! So far, overall we are VERY pleased with the quality of construction. This thing is SOLID. Fit and finish looks great. There were 2-3 minor things the dealer fixed right away. There is an unattractive "dimple" on the front cabover fiberglass that we will probably have the dealer take care of in August as we pass through on vacation. He says he will add some support from the inside to bubble it back out.
There is no wall switch for the bathroom lights, so one must reach to the ceiling to push one of the tiny LED light switches. Could be interesting groping for that at night.

They have added the flip up footrest to the dinette to make seating more lounge-like. Haven't tried it out for comfort yet. There is now also an extra removable cushion on the step up to the bed for extra seating. They made fixed backrest cushions instead of the loose ones. Nice 4-hook coat rack at entry. No more tiny umbrella/walking stick cabinet at door. Also, there is now a really nice sliding generator tray in the back (we don't want a genny).

Mods we requested:
additional insulation (not sure what that really ended up being)
Driver side shelved wardrobe (like passenger side) instead of standard shelf and drawer
requested NO TV and antenna delete
delete window above bunk bed
7cuft compressor fridge (hated the absorption fridge hassles)
few more 12V/USB plugs
2 separate 110V plugs strictly for 1500W inverter power (microwave, etc.)

Things we wanted that they FORGOT or changed:
add shelving in kitchen pantry/wardrobe (rod is useless to us)
more fat solar wire pre-installed (can't use the single run they added, has changed our solar wiring approach a bit)
rearview camera is now prewired only (dealer installs unit) but with an on/off switch on back cabinets instead of more logical prewire into running lights (could however turn it on at night to see "visitors", welcome or not)

Couldn't accomodate:
larger FW tank
wanted to initially delete the Heki but the hole was already cut

We spent 2 nights in our camper at the dealer with full hookups while they worked on stuff. An employee hooked up temp coach battery in reverse prior to our arrival, blew 30A fuse, we didn't know since we were on shore power and forgot to check 12V side (duh). At home we wondered why our lights weren't working. Also discovered that 7-way pin from Ram to camper stays on when truck is off. Must now remember to pull the plug if we stay parked (DC fridge!) or will have to come up with some permanent disconnect (we really don't want the alternator to charge the lithiums anyway)

I must admit we were getting a bit (a LOT) frustrated by Bill's (dealer) lack of communication after we put in our order in Mar/Apr. There were sooo many ignored emails and a few phone calls. After 30 years in the Army, we were used to near immediate response times and have been having a hard time adjusting to the "civilian" flow, or lack of it.

After living on Bill's lot for 2 days and working with him and his son, we fully understand why: he is incredibly busy with a severely undersized staff! He hasn't had a day off since January, hasn't seen his wife for a month. He is really a GREAT guy, willing to accommodate anyone, hands-on, does it all. We had to totally forgive him for neglecting us. However, the place is a bit inefficient which is part of his chronic behind-schedule problem.
We can highly recommend him. Rex was also willing to accomodate some of our whims (threw in some extra wood and paneling so we could build an additional matching box for some of our battery components).

First pics, more to come.

[TurboLQ9]

Changes-
Wardrobe on drivers side to match passenger side
No pass thru window
No Bed access doors
No speakers/radio
Pantry extended out to be flush with lower cabniets/ adj shelves
No headboard, valances or curtains
Delete cubby behind sink and dinette going to wardrobes
Half shelf/ half cabinet over dinette

[thedavidzoo]

Great!
I know they have already made some tweaks since we got ours. Let us know what you have Rex change for you, if anything...and of course when you finally have it!

[TurboLQ9]

In for updates, we are working with Rex on ordering one

[notsobigjoe]

thedavidzoo wrote:
I don't know how far SE you are, but http://www.campersplus.com/ is a Northstar (and a few other big names) dealer in Kittrell, NC.
We stopped by once at the beginning of our TC quest. Really nice guy owns the place.

Thank you for the link. I am in debary Florida 15 miles north of Orlando. Been here eight months. I moved down from Binghamton NY.

[notsobigjoe]

jimh425 wrote:

notsobigjoe wrote:
I own an Lance 1181 and love it but, the older I get the maintenance is becoming a chore. I like the slide but only from the inside. I hate the extra weight and the constant maintenance.

I have two slides and zero maintenance other than washing for mine. Maybe you need a different brand/model.

I got my 1181 from a bank repo in mass. It came to me needing alot of work that has turned into alot of upkeep. I am glad you are happy with yours but my first experience with a slide was and is a bad one. I had two non slides in the past and wish to go back to that kind of camper.

[thedavidzoo]

I don't know how far SE you are, but http://www.campersplus.com/ is a Northstar (and a few other big names) dealer in Kittrell, NC.
We stopped by once at the beginning of our TC quest. Really nice guy owns the place.

[jimh406]

notsobigjoe wrote:
I own an Lance 1181 and love it but, the older I get the maintenance is becoming a chore. I like the slide but only from the inside. I hate the extra weight and the constant maintenance.

I have two slides and zero maintenance other than washing for mine. Maybe you need a different brand/model.

[notsobigjoe]

Thanks for the detailed answer to my questions. Work got real busy so I wasn't able to reply. I own an Lance 1181 and love it but, the older I get the maintenance is becoming a chore. I like the slide but only from the inside. I hate the extra weight and the constant maintenance. I had a coachman ranger before I had this one. I loved it but as soon as you got two people in there it was not so much fun. I've been looking at the older TC's for a while now, not to purchase but just to get an idea of size. Some of them are enormous even without a slide. As soon as I saw this one it was a must have on my list. I'm going to give it a couple of years for the model to grow and get through the bumps that all new models go through. I would definitely go with the standard holding tank if it were about forty gallons. I realize that something like that on a no basement TC is darn near impossible. And I think I would do something in the way of a fold down sofa in lieu of the booth. I also would put my stable-lift on it. Anyway thanks for the info and great pictures. I guess I'll have to go find a dealer.

[thedavidzoo]

Just a Maggie Rack with square cross bars (Thule-like).

[hedge]

What kind of roof rack is that? I want to add one as well.

[thedavidzoo]

Notsobigjoe,

The dinette is fine, I guess. The cushions are very firm, but I think that is good as in they might not compress and sag for a long time.
My teen son does sleep on the dinette. We bring along a foam mattress topper just to make his bed a little less hard. It fits folded up in the upper bunk nicely during the day.

I do like how the backrest cushions are thinner and attached to the walls. You don't have to fiddle with rearranging them, especially when making a bed.

With the Lagun table being so flexible in terms of positioning and getting it out of the way, you can sit in the dinette in so many configurations and make yourself more comfortable. With the 2 additional cushions (bed making and step-up), a pillow, and the new flip-up footrest, I think it is fine. Of course, it will never be like a traditional couch or recliner. In our old TT, the fixed face-to-face dinette was not comfy except for eating and short card games.

Speaking of Lagun tables, we did remove the long table top that NS supplied that matches the countertops. It was nice but just soooooo heavy. We made a lower weight, stained birch table top with different dimensions. The new size now allows us to get rid of the additional drop-in board used to make the bed (which lived on the cabover bed during the day) and not stow the original table propped up by the back cabinets every night. The new table now serves both functions and 4 people can still fit their plates on it. Simpler solution for us.

We like our cassette toilet and would not go back to a black tank. It is simple and convenient to dump. You do have to watch your capacity a little closer (we have 4 people). We usually use campground facilities if they are convenient enough and only go #2 in the cassette if it is an "emergency". Now if we go boondocking in the sticks a week straight...:E
In addition, we don't need our stinky slinky dump hose anymore! We now use a garden hose arrangement to dump only our gray water.

Yes, Northstar gives you the option of having a traditional black tank, 13 gallons, I think.

---------------------

Just a few other observations we have had after 5 weeks on the road with it. Overall we love our camper and its quality build. We are glad we didn't get anything taller, with slides and basement, etc. We took the rig on some 40 mile gravel, washboard roads in Canada. It was so bad sometimes in the truck cab that I thought surely I would see walls separating from cabinets, seams split, etc. Nothing moved, just the coffee cups rattling. SOLID! Did I mention the potholes in Nova Scotia?:E

Some improvements might be in the works for the newer models. Bill in NH and Rex are getting lots of feedback from owners, including us.

1. The 2 cubbies near sink and dinette had long! protruding screws inside, ouch! Rex will most likely add paneling inside to finish it off better, like the other cabinetry. We covered ours up.

2. Some protruding screws under back overhang. Not a problem unless you mindlessly reach under to grab the cable, etc. Dremeled ours flush.

3. The hinges they use on cabinet doors that swing the usual way and the bathroom door are such that there isn't much clearance between door and frame. This means that the screw heads they used were digging/denting into the frame paneling and you had to exert more force to get the doors to close and latch. We were worried about the stresses on all parts over time. Bill kindly replaced the screws with flatter heads and it mostly took care of the problem.

4. I wish the fresh water tank drain valve was located such that I could drain the water somewhere else than into the truck bed. Several times this past summer we have loaded up on water for 3 nights of dry camping for 4 people and found we'd only used 1/4 of the tank! Instead of hauling all that weight 100s of miles to the next campground, we would have liked to dump it. Running the pump would take forever!

We had the camper off the truck the other day and I wanted to attach some kind of additional hose to get the water elsewhere. However, short of drilling a "conduit" for the hose through all framing members to the back end or out the side of the camper wall as someone else has done, that isn't going to happen in the near term. The best idea otherwise was to tap into the drain hose inside and run a temporary hose through the wheel well doors and up over the bed rails...and syphon...

Did I mention that I LOVE being able to see how much fresh water we have just by opening the kitchen cabinet?? No more inaccurate tank gauges!

5. Somewhere along the production process a dimension must have changed. There is a ~1/2"-3/4" "gap" between entry door frame and wall paneling, like the door used to be wider but they haven't updated their cuts to the wall panels. This to us was the most glaring oversight. Bill bridged the gap for us with matching material.

6. Drive with the dometic shades partially up. If left down loose in the frame they will rattle the whole way and drive you nuts. Occasionally on very rough roads one side pin of the long dinette shade would jump out of its locked position if pulled up too high and cause the shade to crumple down a bit on that side, weight being held by the other pin. Hopefully not a problem long term.

We do like these windows, you just have to be careful how you operate them, treat them nicely and go slowly.

7.Utensil drawer could have more substantial sliding hardware. I noticed on the smaller model with smaller drawers they had 2 substantial drawer guides. This bigger drawer has one flimsy central guide. There is a lot of cabling that runs behind the drawer, so maybe that limits the amount of hardware they were able to cram in. We are just careful when we use it and don't pull it out all the way.

8. Despite the lights being all LED, they do get HOT!???

9. Water pump is loud...

10. There is more inside storage than you will ever need...

[Jknight611]

We have a 2014 Northstar Adventurer, awesome build quality! We have the cassette toilet, we wouldn't trade it for any holding tank system. Really convenient, and not a big deal at all to empty, I actually "trip" the top inlet device and give it a good washout with a garden hose when we get home, no odors at all. My wife and I empty it daily when we are out. Great system!

[notsobigjoe]

Hello thedavidzoo,
I'm thinking about buying this exact camper. I have not seen one in real life yet as I have just moved from NY to FL. Yours is beautiful and I would do everything your doing. I have two questions:h for an actual owner not dealer.
1, The booth looks like it is the most uncomfortable thing on the planet, what do you think?
2, I have never used a cartridge toilet nor do i think I want to start. Does it come with an optional toilet holding tank system.
Thanks very much and good luck with your new toy!!!!

[crawfdp1]

Indeed a great camper, and very nice mods 🙂 I've got S/N 002 of the model line, also via Bill in NH-- got it Feb 2015. Bill has a lot of DNA in your unit, going back a good ten years. The missing stick storage, resized genny compartment with commercial slide, extra seat cushion, switched rear-view camera, and storage above the compressor refrig are all after mine was built. Same re the height of the microwave and shelving, although I believe my 5'4" wife gets credit for that mod-- two inches lower in yours than mine. If you have a 120VAC outlet at the rear shelf, that was also on Bill's list (and mine to do as a mod). The swing-up seat was another customer's suggestion and Bill ran with it for the last several he ordered; I got one from Rex and just installed it a couple of weeks ago.

As for my unit, I built a custom slide for a propane-converted Honda EU2000i, converted the stick storage box to power cord storage, and added a wireless remote power switch for the backup camera. Already had an Efoy fuel cell from my previous camper-- TCM has an article about that in their archives-- so stuck with that as about equivalent bucks instead of going lithium-- stayed with 220 AH of AGM in the factory battery box. Nice job re your battery setup 🙂 Like you we also did the second cabover wardrobe, sans shelving in our case, but deleted the storage unit on the counter and went with a full-size non-Legun table. I believe the picture of that table option on the Northstar site is from our unit.

One other mod you might want to consider down the road is a supplemental roof coating, not so much for a no-leak warranty given how well the roof is made/sealed, but for things like tree strike damage. I did the rvroof dot com polyurea coating from the folks in Florida, and it's saved my butt/roof at least twice so far. No more roof seal maintenance in any case.

Enjoy your rig-- we certainly love ours 🙂