[Don.Sloan]

Just purchased our first Newell #748, from Panterra in Holland, Michigan. Rex, Joyce, Randy, and Mike are really great to deal with. We have owned Foretravels for the past 17 years, so know we have a learning curve ahead of us. Would appreciate any and all suggestions/help to shorten the curve. Especially interested in startup/shutdown checklistsq[/align], or any information about this specific coach. Looking forward to hearing from you gurus.

[Yachts]

Welcome and congrats on your coach. Great group here and looking forward to having you as a part of the community

[encantotom]

don, welcome to the forum,

if you have specific questions you should post them separately.

tom

[Fulltiming]

Congratulations on getting one of the few 40' Newells with a steerable tag. Beautiful coach.

[Erniee]

where are you in Montana?

[Richard]

Welcome aboard. I guess we can all stop lusting after that coach now!

[bikestuff]

Don,

Congrats on buying your coach. That is a great looking bus and should be a hoot to drive!

As far as learning the coach....I bought 653 about 4 years ago. It was my first ever RV. Biggest thing that I had driven prior to the coach was my SUV. For me the learning curve was long, slippery and steep. (I am still learning). But, given enough time and thought and with the help of the gurus & the factory, it does finally make sense.

Here is what I would recommend...

1) Spend a lot of time in the coach. You will learn a lot just by turning switches and seeing what happens.
2) Ask a lot of questions. This site is a great place to research the theory about different systems and how to troubleshoot.
3) Give yourself plenty of time to get to know the coach. After several years, I am just now understanding my coach and its moods.
and finally,
4) Do what Tom did....Go to each bay, and thoroughly inspect every thing in the bay. Try to understand what you are looking at. If you see something out of whack, fix it and then move on to the next bay.

These coaches are amazing, but they are complex. It will take a while to "get it" but the journey will be worth it in the end.

Cheers,
bill

[Junior Guru]

Welcome Don

Just an idea... One of the things that really helped me shorten the learning curve with my Newell was when I took her back to Newell for some needed work right after I bought it,, I arranged to have some folks from Newell go through some of the systems, logic, and operation with me.

Hope I dont set a precedent or expectation on this..... Since I did not buy my coach from them, I was planning on paying them for their time as it was a few hours worth. When I was paying my invoice for the other work they said it was on them. That's service right there! That and the service I've received since pretty much sealed the deal on me being loyal to Newell.

[Richard]

We will be interested to hear from you in the next year, how the Newell compares to the Foretravel in terms of drive, maintenance, systems, and livability. Many of us consider Foretravels as fine pieces of equipment also. A trip to the mothership is worth it just for the experience. I hope you will find the gang on this forum to be one of the more unique and amenable groups on the interweb.

It may be easy for me to say, and harder for you to believe but......post the question if you have it. Nothing is too trivial, and we all learn from each new situation. Don't hesitate to call the phone numbers listed or offered. I think you will find that the first call to a Newell gear head is like making a connection with a long lost brother (or sister in Pam's case).

[Don.Sloan]

Between Helena and Great Falls on the Missouri River.
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