Yesterday we finally got our 2015 Navion V delivered back to us by the Winnebago dealer after three weeks in the shop, ending what has been a discouraging series of quality issues we didn’t expect from Winnebago. The experience has left us hesitant to recommend either the brand or the service department at Roy Robinson RV in Marysville even though the Navion is a dream to drive and we look forward to many more years of RV travel.

Here is the list and how each item was resolved (in no particular order of importance):

1. Gray water system would not drain totally, leaving a couple of cups of water to drain on the ground the next time the drain cover was removed. Winnebago said this was by design (!) and Roy Robinson said they’d not heard of this happening before. As a temporary fix I replace the cover with one that had a
hose connection, emptying the gray water into the sewer hose when hooking up. When we got back from our trip, Roy Robinson added an additional gate valve. The tech said he’d had to do this many times.

2. Slide out support for the king bed was too small for the side support tracks, causing the slide to collapse when weight was on it. I added thick felt dots on both support sides and consider this done.
3. The power roof vent repeatedly blew the fuse for it’s circuit. The two roof fans and the HVAC thermostat are on this circuit, so I put a piece of black tape over the switch. We ordered the power vent as Sherry couldn’t reach the manual vent in our 06 View J. It took three trips to the dealer, each time to discover the problem hadn’t been fixed. The last time it took from Sep 19 to Oct 10 to troubleshoot the problem. Three times we were told it was a pinched wire. Twice the repair was deemed as completed only it wasn’t. Here is the result.
4. The door that opens to the LP tank was missing the rear striker plate. Took two tries at this. Now that the door latches on both ends, the fit with the body trim and forward door isn’t right. I’m just going to not latch the rear end and ponder a trip to a local RV shop.
5. The AC outlet near the coach door was noticeably crooked. I fixed this.
6. The AC outlet under the thermostat was not secured to the wall. It was not installed properly. I fixed this.
7. The remote door lock remote (and the dash button) stopped working the passenger and coach doors after about a week into our first trip. I’m kind of tired of relating the story line here, but it went from initially being a “blame game” to “the owner needs to solve the problem”. Armed with that status, the Tacoma Mercedes provided me with a tech sheet on the Signal Actuation Module (SAM) and Winnebago factory provided me with the instructions on how the dealer was supposed to replace the coach door lock wiring. Lynnwood Mercedes finally replaced the SAM module after two visits and Roy Robinson RV replaced the wiring harness during one of our many visits. The result is that the passenger door works remotely and coach door works remotely – but only with the engine running. I do not have any confidence that further dealer troubleshooting will solve the problem.

My primary gripe with item number 7 was the lack of coordination, the “not me” description of the problem by Winnebago and placing leg work of the solution on the owner.

8. Dust got in the cockpit connection box for the steer by wire circuit. This caused an unholy number of warning lights and much consternation west of Douglas WY. Mercedes dealer in Salem OR gets five stars for suggesting a can of compressed air and blowing it out. Have not had a problem since.
9. The storage doors were not adjusted properly when we picked it up, causing marks above the doors. Dealer adjusted the doors, I’ll try to rub out the marks.

10. The electrical switches by the door and driver side bed were unmarked. I labeled them using white on black tape from my Brother label maker.
11. The lighting bar above the galley came loose and dropped down. Roy Robinson glued it back in place.
12. Many of the cabinet doors, the kitchen and closet doors were not aligned properly. Roy Robinson fixed these, though some of the overhead doors still need my adjustment. One of the overhead doors was warped on delivery and was replaced.

We were also very disappointed while on the road to the East Coast at the repair time responses by both Winnebago and Mercedes. With the exception of Mercedes Salem, response involved a week or more just to be diagnosed. My dentist, doctor and barber can do better than this.

OK, I’m done now and we’re now trying to get on the road. Now we’re not just a little hesitant to turn our rig over the the dealer again. Hopefully some hot springs time in British Columbia and then south to Valley of the Sun in November will smooth things over again. On the road again!