Heres some ideas that some members have come up with to improve their living style when using their Newmar MH's.

A post started by "Route66" and many adds from other RVers "LINK" Part #1

A post by "oemtech"
New Bathroom

Dales Web Site OEMYS

Adjust Rod stop nuts bedroom slide

Clean up those battery trays

Gas 8.1 Serpentine belt

Replace door handle



Michelin Tires

Goodyear Tires

Braking Systems for your tow vehicle


Life is simple Garmin 330c GPS


Water for batteries ???? which is it.

The 12v side of life.


THE POOP SHEETS


HWH WEB SITE

HWH jack solenoid "O" rings

HWH jack info

HWH 210 TYPE CONTROL

Hydraulic-or-air-leveling Winter use.



Does your tow need brake sys, Please Read

MH & TT TOWING REG 2008

Trailer 7-pin Wiring


Leaking Slide Locks

Reset Slide & Slide Adjustment

Tighten slide topper and awning

RVService Reviews

Water Heater info


Winter is coming need to winterize

Winterizing your coach

Cold Winter Camping anyone???

Own a ESSEX or any other Newmar here is a LINK by RVDude for sub 0* camping.

Repair chip in Windshield


Roof Maintinance

Selling your coach ???

New Used Newmars

LCD TV LIFTS for cabinets

NEW LCD's for my coach by Max Hubrich

Remove carpet and install VINYL PLANK LAMINATE

Fix for cracked dash vents.

Allstar Heater Hose Fix

Slide switch cover

DRAPES FOR DRIVING AREA

MID-SHIP MUD FLAPS
BY jjbsmith


We have plenty of ideas for you maybe you have something to add.???????

As your coach gets older no need to go buy another just do some upgrades to make it more to your liking.

(1)


Its amazeing what they can squeeze into a small pkg these days. It took me hours to go thru all my CD's to load this device and it still has room.
You ask, come on now what is it.



That yes that has 250 songs and still more to load. Other MH's I had 10 disk CD's players with many cartriges.
This will have all them and more without taking up all my cabinet space for storage.
So how are we going to connect to the Sony radio system in the coach.



This is it its the AUX-IN Selector XA-300 which can be found on a shelf under your dash board on 03 and earlier coachs. Not sure if they still provide the 300 on latest coachs or when they discontinued it. But some of us lucky ones have it. My TV sound will play thru all radio spk's, the volume control is for a headset that plugs into blue jack, the USB port will take a Laptop input to play out music, the upper right of unit will take the CD/MD player, with 6 pin jack for control by Sony radio, and the two audio RCA jacks for CD player.
The radio is connected in at top left of 300 unit.
The two RCA jacks lower right will be for the Samsung MP3 player and I will be using a cord that plugs into head set jack of the MP3 and the double RCA plugs into the 300.



I will mount the MP3 with velgro to the dash and dress cord under dash to 300 unit.
Anytime I want to reload songs or listen to the MP3 with my personable headset just disconnect and go lay under the shade with a cool one.



Using your Mode and Source button on Sony radio you will connect the MP3 player thru your stereo music system. It will be CD3/AUX2 on the display for those lower right RCA jacks.
Another trick that makes system sound good is to swap your rear bedroom spk inputs with the rear spks in kitchen ceiling so you can adjust with the FAD control in radio and balance the sound to your liking between kitchen spks and over head front spks, it really sounds great that way. Your bedroom spks will be controlled by the volume control on radio when you want to use them.
In order to put rear kitchen spks on FAD control it will require you to identify the kitchen spk wiring.
The spks are a multiple of your front spks. I cut the lead to kitchen spks and spliced a wire to the back of access panel for blower for over head vents. If your looking for your spk wires that run from the bedroom and all spks in front open up the panel in cabinet for access to your over head blower.
You will be surprised as to how many wires are spliced behind this panel to the left. Not only your spk wires but lighting, running lights and many more, sometime when you have nothing to do open the panel up and redress the wires because some of them maybe caught behind the blower housing and the edges of blower are sharp will cut thru wiring just dress to left big opening after checking wiring.
You may find alot of sawdust if not removed will come blowing out your over head vents, yes thats where all that sawdust come from on your dash after useing your over head vents.
You will swap the bedroom spk wiring with these new wires from kitchen spk.
It takes time but the results will be rewarding.
You can also use one of the new I-PODS that will hold 1000 or more songs.


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(2)

With some PM's and posts requesting on how to install a FM /CD/DVD surround sys in a coach coming my way, said lets give it a try.
Dependent on year of coach any WITHOUT a kitchen slide should be able to install a sys like I have. First thing to consider is where the DVD player amp will fit, mine is thin 2" by 16" sq. In my 99 MA I was able to install in front cabinet over passenger seat.



looking at this photo looks unlikely.
So we have to find a location all my cabs were not deep enough but I did find a spot that the amp would fit



You just can not put amp on rug doghouse so I built a shelf near the width of dog house and depth of amp plus room in back for cabling and plugs.



With the location finally settled we can now get to work we will have six locations to wire for spks two in rear, one center, two driver and pass side and the sub woofer location.
My sub woofer location is the lease work its located behind the recliner and passenger seat, wire to it is tucked under plastic wall pocket towards front of coach to shelf for amp, I leave slack for any changes in future.
The wiring for rear spks and pass front spk and a coaxial cable for a RF Modulator that will be installed with cable box and tape player up in cabinet.
I have a RF-MOD from RadioS model 15-2540 cables come with it except the long one from DVD amp that you will have to measure.



When you remove cover from A frame you will see other wires there also we are going to add ours in this channel also, you can see the coax cable, spk wiring and if you look real close a thin black wire that is the FM ant for FM radio in my unit.



The pass and driver spks are mounted on the dressy window moldings with room to place wiring behind and fed into A channel for concealment. Drivers spk wire was fed under dash up into A channel to same location as pass side.
Dependent on what sys you get they make wall mounting brakets that fit on back of spk than mount on wall with adjustments up or down left or right.
Now things start to get interesting yes the rear spks, what I did was use a 8" by 1/8" wood drill to make some holes thru cabinets starting behind the window dressing pass side thru cabs all the way to your micro-wave cabinet.
Why you say, why not fish ceiling to rear spks. Believe me its not possible because of roof structures in ceiling.



You can see two wires on there way to micro cabinet you also have a 6" filler board on either side of your display panel cabinet, its dead space into your adjoining cabinets, after you drill holes take a long straight piece of number 14 wire , make a tight hook in it to attach wires and fish for hole thru dead space into other hole in adjoining cabinets, be calm it will go thru.
Once you get thru these two spots its a piece of cake.



We have arrived at our destination now all we have to do is get across ceiling, first drill a 1" hole into ceiling in far right corner ceiling of micro cabinet use a non auger type wood bit.
You now have access to the above ceiling area in that section of ceiling panel. You have a short fish to spk you see still useing #14 for that one wire spk location.
Your other rear spk will be a little more challenging.



A trick I use is to push string up thru 1/8" hole and fish across ceiling with long piece of wire takes time but we have plenty of that because you do not want to rush the project.
Now that we have the wires in, oops forgot one the center spk my dash is flat in center and I put velgro on bottom of spk to hold on dash.



You can see the wire for spk on shelf with colored plug, the ridge on dash instrument panel with the screws thru it you just back off and tuck wire in that channel and cut notch in channel where wire will come out.



So we have finally arrived at amp location with all our wiring all the wires will be color coded to the locations that will plug into amp, you also see coax that goes up to RF-MOD.
The reason for RF is when ever you play DVD it will auto switch into your TV with DVD signal. Instructions with RF will show how to hookup.



Now that wasn't so bad now was it we even have room on shelf for our remote controls.
All the wires were stapled with a wire gun and all spk brakets were screwed into ceiling surface without screw anchors and they are still holding if they loosen up will use some plastic anchors with liquid nails.
All spk wire and coax from RS, you may need wire nuts to splice into plugs. One thing to be aware of is to keep your + & - sides of wires together at plug splice and at spk locations, spk posts are marked +- and wires will have a copper and silver wire to keep everything straight, so spks will not be out of phase. You can use a marker to mark wires at both ends for easy identification.
So there you have it have fun take your time and the sound will be like your in the movie house.

If you want it easy you can alway get a BOSE 3-2-1 for about $700-800 I got mine, SONY, in Sams for $300 a special, while selling in BestBuy for $600 four years ago.

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(3)

Having owned two Newmar coachs in which I did some upgrades to them for support of coach body on a Ford chassis and some interior coach upgrades. My present 3d Newmar coach will have outdone the number of upgrades of the first two combined.

It started when my wife visited friends with new coaches and saw the new kitchen table setups with tables extending out from a cabinet setup as a desk or two cabinets on either side of table for storage I kind of liked the idea of the setup myself so we found a couple MFG's in Indiana that had flyers and prices for such a setup.
Costs ranged from $950 to $1400. We had to figure in travel time and gas to get there plus installation costs also.
Not to discourage my wife I said maybe we can come up with something less expensive.
Things I observed when looking at other owners setups were the tables had no support when in a normal table situation or when extended. The table would have a tendency to slope downward and if someone unknowingly set their butt on the end of table you would think the whole table would crash to the floor.
I wasn't tempted to fine out with a friends table.



We had a solid hardwood table with two legs and a good size when fully extended. So we had a good start in our quest for what we wanted. Next I took measurements from the floor to bottom edge of window frame. I had a window sill their that I had made. The measurements were 31-1/2." The length of counter shelf was going to be 71-1/2"x 12-3/4" wide.
We decided on Kraftmaid Cabinetry cabinets 21"w x 30" h x 12"d,regular wall cabinets for a kitchen.



One mistake made with Kraftmaid Cabs was the doors were exactly the size of the exteriors of the cabs so if mounted on the floor directly the doors would rub on rug. Other cabinet MFG's allow doors to be narrower than exterior of sidewalls of cabinets, so would have made for easier installation of cabinets.
But not all was lost I had to gain 1-1/2" in height to window frame. I purchased a 1"x 1-1/2" finished filler board that would be placed on front edge of cabinet to lift cabinet up off floor 1" for doors to swing freely over the rug.
Next the counter had to be raised 1/2" to clear the top of doors so I purchased a 1"x1/2" strip of hardwood that would be placed on top 4 side walls of cabinets, predrill hard wood so it won't split when nailed to cabinets.
We decided on the same counter as main kitchen counter, Corian "Sahara". We visited the people that made counters with a piece of my stove top counter to match Corian and give them an idea of edge treatment to match main counter, than they were to call me with a price.
When they called me we went over what we were trying to build and exact measurements of cabs widths, table width and space between table and cabs,1/2" either side of table etc,etc.
Something else they told me was the cost of counter $525 for a solid piece of Corian but also they could save us some money if we would let them take two pieces of scrap Corian and butt them together, cost $325, we said go for it.
I would pay anyone the extra $200 if they could find me the seam, I'am still looking.



With all the parts ordered I than stripped out window sill, window valences, hardware to fasten table to wall when traveling and built out electric outlet. Redress electric wiring and placed blank plate over outlet.
When all material arrived proceeded to mount first cabinet in corner. Cut the filler board width of cab and attached to bottom rail of cab flush with front surface of cabinet.



Used three screws into sidewall of slide and three more into back wall of cab into slide wall, check length of screws so you won't go thru wall to outside.
Second cab no side wall for fastening so placed four screws thru back wall of cab and three cab mounting screws, supplied with cabs, thru now floor of cab into the floor of slide.
Checked cabs held in solid, if its required you could find metal studs and predrill holes into them to fasten cabs, I found the way I did it wasn't needed.
"WRONG" I had to find the metal studs in wall after the right side cabinet started to pull slitely away from wall, best time to do this is before mounting cabinets to wall. Studs are 16" on center measuring from corner of slide and also either side of window. Position right cabinet against wall for a location and use metal stud that lines up with backside of cabinet. You can find it alot easier now than later. I used three cabinet screws to fasten cabinet to wall, into metal stud, real solid now.



Next picture shows bottom of Corian counter you can see placement of fiber board 3/4" thick in center of counter reinforceing front trim edge and butt joint of Corian.
With cabs in place I nailed 12"x1"x1/2" strips on top edge sidewalls of cabs 4 total. These 4 strips of wood will be the only place I will put an adhesive for Corian counter, because if its necessary to pull out cabs only screws will have to be pulled to move cabinets.



After everything was in place I found I had space on top of doors so I moved door hinges up 1/4" to give added clearence for doors over rug surface.

List of items 2 Kraftmaid Cab., Inc.
Door style Parkhurst Cherry Square
1 wall 2130L
1 wall 2130R 222.50 each APC-All plywood
construction 66.75
Sunset cherry finish 1 Solid Stock 1 1/2" 25.91
Corian counter "Sahara" 325.00
Total cost--$836.66



With the job just about done, if you noticed there are no pull handles for doors yet, they will be coming after another project is done a LCD TV for the bedroom, but thats another story.



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(4)

When I left you I was looking for the handles for the new cabinets I installed in kitchen well the time has arrived to do just that. The plans call for removal of the 13" TV in the bedroom and installing a nice 20" LCD TV with a DVD player.
Not going to remove to much just two pull handles from doors and the 13" tv.
Pop off the two buttons and remove wood bar across TV than two screws thru metal plate that held TV to floor of cabinet. The pitch floor was removeable which left a flat floor remaining for next step.



I took some measurements of space where TV was removed, this may vary for different year MH's. My space was 13 5/8" from floor of space to ceiling. What I plan on doing is to place a 2x4 in this space to hold mounting bracket for new TV. As you will see in coming pictures the 2x4 will have to be braced to hold up a 20 lb LCD TV the tv wall mount was one that would pivot straight out from the center of the 2x4. Purchased at Best-Buy for $135 a flat panel monitor/tv wall mount made by Sanus-systems weight limit 30lbs.



The next step required the removal of the Thin-Lite to gain access to under floor where the 2x4 was going to be mounted. After measurements found that I could reinforce the 1/8" floor with a 1/2" piece of plywood which was Liquid Glued to the bottom of 1/8" plywood. Thru this I was going to screw two cabinet mounting screws into the 2x4 from the bottom.



When you drop light wires will fall out of space with light redress the Romex 14's inside the space to outside wall, main electric panel is to the right of TV location, wires for light will have enough space to redress when light is put back in place.
Looking up into light space you can see where I was going to place 1/2" plywood. After plywood was glued in place I marked where the 2x4 on center within this space was going to be placed it was recessed 3" into space so TV would be flush with wardrobe closets when closed. Drilled two holes down thru floor for screws into 2x4. Next I had to reinforce the top of 2x4 at ceiling use a 1x4" board and glued to ceiling and top of 2x4, than placed two screws thru 2x4 into the board. Once everything was dried it was solid.
Than proceeded to mount TV mounting bracket to center of 2x4. TRICK I use is soap on screws so they will screw easier, the screws were 3 1/2" long. The screws for mount have a allen type head for tighting.



In this pic you can see the new TV mounted on mount, wiring to DVD player, and power cord to TV which is 12V by the way and cable wire from cable box. One thing I did find was the TV wanted to keep pivoting downward the mount comes with screws to lock any pivot point on TV mounting bracket.
Other pivot points had hand screw knobs which worked fine. The tv can be pulled out and pushed in and fills in the space nicely, even with the two wardrobe closets.
Just to be on the safe side while traveling I will place two hooks with a bunge cord across the top face of TV.




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(5)

With all my Newmars I have added because of my wifes arthritis small light switchs so when the closet door opens the light on ceiling will come on so she doesn't have to reach up to put it on.
All that you have to do is remove four screws out of light and pull wiring out of ceiling, there is slack, cut the black wire and wire the switch in useing wire nuts, redress wiring thru hole in ceiling and your done.
You can screw or nail switch to top of door opening just adjust so switch operates correctly.



One other thing is add a light in base cabinets to light up your pots and pans. You can find 12v thru floor into compartment below ,outside, and wire to compartment light I fed two lights under kitchen cabs.
We changed all our fluorescent lights to a white cool bulb the old ones as they age turn yellow or orange, these just brighten up the whole front area of coach.





That covers it for now if anyone is interested I did install a 5.1 DVD system off the main SONY TV up front, this would be for you people without the kitchen slide on passenger side, I can post the info for you. Till then have fun moving up to "07" with your coach but the same old upgraded chassis. "007"

This message has been edited. Last edited by: "007",

oo7 you are the man.....how heavy was the new top?

I redid the kitchen at home and the counter top was over 400 pounds.

Is that the orginal table from Newmar?

Thanks for sharing.

Bob

The Corian top was between 30-40lbs, yes that is the original table and I have just installed a LCD in bedroom to balance the load.
Will be adding to upgrades shortly plus some other tidbits. "007"

Your upgrades really look great. Really made a nice space in the dining area. May have to consider something like that in my rig. Get rid of the benches. Keep up the good work.

Thanks Steve if your space isn't as large as mine you could use a different combo of cabinets like a 21 and 18 putting the 21 in the corner and 18 near couch. SOME people have said their space is smaller. "007"

Clyde, the biggest problem is finding a good Corian counter mfg that will make up to size your counter. The one I have used has made sink inserts for me on other coachs, they were very helpful with my counter and save us a bunch of money. I'am thinking of getting some sink inserts made for this coach. They always have scraps leftover from larger jobs. "007"

Hey "007", Yep, I figured the top may be a problem ...so I was thinking about a nice piece of Oak to match the Cabinets.

Also, where did you get the hardware for the folding table ?? Did you find a design for the unit .. or just "wing-it".
APPRECIATE ANY SUGGESTIONS.

"Ride it like a Ford"

The table was original with four chairs, two of them folding. What do you have now a Dinette set up? Table top is about 27"x4' with leaf, for extending. You may find one made at cabinet shop chairs need to be squared for storage not like your kitchen chairs at home unless you have room. Wood top would be nice to match your woodwork.

GREAT WORK, very cool! We had not seen your pics until today. Just ordered the coach yesterday and left out all furniture. We are doing everything here locally with the Amish(beautiful work, including counter tops, etc.). Different couch, dinette similiar to yours but with a computer desk. A special designed computer center with a liquor cabinet(with corian counter top that extends the kitchen work area) where the recliner normally is and many TV changes(including one in the garage!). From the looks of all the new furniture in the surplus store here in Elkhart looks like lots of folks are making custom changes to their new coaches!

Thanks Dave, wife didn't want a new coach because new ones do not have the cloths closet space so we just upgraded the 03. Some people have caught on and are doing same to theres. DIY can save ya some money.
You will have a great coach when you get it finished the Amish do some quality work.
Good luck and many safe and happy miles with your new Newmar.