Tag Archive for: Outside Our Bubble

A Dealer’s Opinion On Winnebago and Newmar

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I have to let it go. This Winnebago and Newmar thing. I want you to know that I have sought outside help and my therapist believes that I am making some progress but it will take time. Time to heal. Time to forgive.

Matt Miller, how could you do this!

Oops. Sorry. It comes out. The pain. The hurt. The betrayal.

I continue to read opinions on the deal even though, as far as I can tell, no one seems to have read Winnebago’s U.S. SEC Form 8-K to understand the specifics of the deal. And I get that. Not everyone wants to jump into that level of detail.

When a company borrows almost $300 million to make an acquisition and that company has to answer to shareholders, it is naive to think that the culture of Newmar won’t be impacted. It will. The only question is whether the impact is unduly negative, mildly annoying or downright positive.

Winnebago, Newmar and the dealer community understand that current Newmar owners are not very happy with the news. And that the negative reaction could really hurt future sales as a large percentage of existing Newmar owners are repeat buyers. And so the marketing of the deal begins.

The key messages?

Matt Miller is still running the company with the same executive team and the same group of employees. Newmar is still committed to its values around quality and customer support. The deal will help Newmar continue to grow and flourish.

Mount Comfort RV is very active on YouTube. Chris Anderson, in particular, is well known for his comprehensive video walkthroughs on Newmar coaches. I watched his video on a 2016 Newmar Dutch Star 4018 dozens of times while we were waiting for our coach to be built. The unit he showed was very similar to our coach.

This is the first video I have seen on YouTube that provides a dealer’s perspective on the Winnebago and Newmar deal. Ken Eckstein, the president of Mount Comfort RV, takes time to put out this video presumably to assure his current and future Newmar customers that all is not lost.

The spin from Winnebago and Newmar reminds me of what I used to deal with as a corporate executive. Whenever the senior team made a significant or controversial decision, we had to spend time on WSWSHH.

WSWSHH?

What Should We Say Happened Here.

The spin. The press release. How to manage the customer and employee response. We had a corporate communications group that specialized in crafting the specific FAQs and talking points all precisely documented in a comprehensive communication plan. All done before the news about the decision went public.

Just like the Winnebago and Newmar deal.

So, take it with a grain of salt. We will know within a year or two what kind of company Newmar will become after the acquisition. Better or worse? Again, we will know soon enough.

Here is another take on the deal by David Bott, a popular RV blogger with Outside Our Bubble:

My take has been captured in these posts:

Winnebago Acquires Newmar

NewWinnie

A Bit More On The Newmar Winnebago Deal

Washing Our Coach

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Lorraine knows this better than anyone.

I like things neat and tidy.

Whenever we travel, whether it is in the car or in the coach, clean is good. Especially the windshield. But preferably the entire vehicle.

And I am also fussy — in case that wasn’t clear yet — about the products I use on the finish of either the car or the coach. I hate scratches and swirls in the finish. I want to keep the finish looking like new.

Relatively easy to do with a car.

Very difficult to do with a coach.

Unlike the picture above, not every place we take our coach has a resident detailing service.

But I have found something that I hope Lorraine might add to the Christmas list this year. Something that we can use to make the task of keeping our coach clean much easier.

I already have the tools I need to wash the coach. The big challenge is how to dry the coach. Particularly if it is outside in the sun.

David Bott of Outside Our Bubble fame, put together this video on how to keep a motorhome clean using the CR Spotless water system.

The products are available in Canada through one of my favourite online detailing retailers, autoobsessed, right here.

CR Spotless offers a couple of packages specifically for motorhomes including this luxury package:

Don’t panic Lorraine. There is a basic version for about $500.

RV Blogs We Follow

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Follow

Well, it turns out that our blog is not the only one focused on the RV lifestyle. Thank heavens.

I have been blogging since 2004, which seems like such a long time ago now, and my personal blog gets a lot of traffic. The RV Castaways site, being new, is just starting to build. If you are visiting us for the first time, welcome!

We have been following a lot of blogs since we started our journey into retirement. There are, of course, many sites that we visit every once in a while and, no doubt, a vast number of them that we have never visited at all.

Here are a few of our favourites.

Gone With The Wynns

A very impressive website created by a very impressive couple. In one sense, they almost singlehandedly convinced us to make our dream of travelling extensively in an RV a reality. Jason and Nikki have left the RV community to explore somewhere else, something to do with water I think, and we do miss their RV stories however the spirit of adventure still continues. One of our favourite sites and we continue to follow them on their new adventures.

RV Love

Marc and Julie fulltime in their RV even though they are still working. And they have really upped their game with their newly designed website. I know how much work it takes to build a quality website and to produce quality videos. They put a lot of effort into creating great content and their videos have helped us with a lot of our questions about the RV lifestyle.

RV Geeks

Peter and John have a wide following due, in part, to their wonderful how-to videos. We have learned so much from this website. Everything from how to empty our black tanks to leveling our coach.

Wheeling It

It was this post, 10 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Fulltime RVing, that introduced us to Nina and Paul. Nina posts regularly about their travels and she does an amazing job reviewing the campsites they visit as well as the process they follow to plan their travels here, here and here.

Outside Our Bubble

Well, what can I say? David and Brenda do march to the beat of a different drummer! Highly energetic and passionate, we have gained a lot of insight from them on both the technical and non-technical aspects of the RV lifestyle. And David had founded AVS Forum many years back, a site I used to visit all the time. A guy who is passionate about technology and audio? Of course I love his website.

iRV2.com

I go here every day. I spend most of my time on the Newmar Owner’s Forum. Such a great community of people here. Although, for now, I have been lurking. Still a bit shy to post.

Life In The Slow Lane

I’m not sure how I stumbled onto Mike’s blog but he seemed to be in a very similar place in life to me. He was nearing retirement, looking at purchasing a Newmar Dutch Star to go travel fulltime, and his approach to blogging was very helpful to us particularly with his journey to purchase his RV. We’ve traded a few emails and he does post from time to time on the iRV forums. He always has lots of great content to share.

The Good, The Bad and the RV

Mike and Karla have created a really great website. They also travel in a Newmar Dutch Star. Mike has taught me a lot about how to plan for and equip an RV. Check out some of his thoughts on How To’s and Gear and Gadgets.