We decided to put together a list of our Top Ten favorite upgrades to the motorhome. We have owned this RV now for 3 years. Over this span of time we've done some things that we felt made it better or more comfortable for us.
While we were relaxing in the motorhome during a beautiful Sunday Mother's Day picnic, we decided to make a video of the TOP TEN THINGS we have updated. The link for the video is at the end of this blog post.
It may not have been sunny, but it was nice to sit back and relax in our motorhome while we brainstormed and made this list.
Please remember: We are not sponsored in any way by any of these manufacturers. We bought all of the items with our own money. We are not paid by anyone to show these items.
These are the things mentioned in the video:
NUMBER 1.
The conversation started with us realizing that during the last 12 months, we have spent six of them living inside the motorhome. After our trip to Alaska, we decided to splurge and make a purchase of an RV mattress specifically made for our unique bedroom slide in our 2016 Winnebago View G model. We have been sleeping on the original two-piece memory foam mattress from the manufacturer since day one, which was now 9 years old. It was time to get a new one.
We went on to our Winnebago Group on Facebook and asked other people with the same model where they had gotten a good mattress. It has to be custom-made with this special fold in the middle, called a "hinge". Hands down everyone recommended this company:
https://wildernessrvmattress.com/products/the-aspen
Aspen Custom - Queen / No Corner / Hinged 10” memory foam mattress WRV-52850 $788.29
They were very easy to deal with, they took all of our information over the phone and the mattress was shipped quicker than the originally had projected. I think they had given it 14 days and it was here by the 7th or the 8th day? It arrives compacted in a box and all we have to do is carefully cut it open and it expands.
Here is the YouTube video of the process:
The mattress is hinged and folds in half "like a taco" with one section being longer than the other.
When the back slide is deployed, the mattress is unfolded and becomes a queen size bed.
It has been extremely comfortable, and we are quite pleased with it. Our regular household queen size sheets fit well, and our electric mattress pad heater is perfect. It was a good decision.
NUMBER 2.
Our last motorhome had an automatic leveling system. We really miss not having one on this motorhome. We knew it was possible to have one installed, or to do it ourselves for that matter. But we decided to add a little detour to a trip in lower Michigan and stop directly at the factory to have one installed. Who better than the people that actually make it to specifically install it for our motorhome. We called ahead and made an appointment. Everyone was very professional and our work was done perfectly. We were quite happy with the installation and the demonstration of showing us how it worked.
Bigfoot Leveling Systems
https://thebigfootleveler.com/akc-mb2007
305 US-131 South, White Pigeon, Michigan 49099 $5,000 approx.
Here's the YouTube video we made of our visit and the process of having the levelers installed.
There are four hydraulic levelers, located on each corner of the motorhome. Inside there is a control panel that was mounted on the side of our cabinets that is easily reached from standing by the open doorway.
It's quite a contraption mounted up underneath the motorhome and Steve was able to check it all out during the initial walkthrough. .
It automatically senses and levels the motorhome with each individual leg and figures it out to be perfectly level when we reach a campsite. We really enjoy having the stability of the levelers, and it keeps the motorhome stabilized from dipping and wiggling when you move around inside of it.
NUMBER 3.
Many times, RV sinks are much smaller than traditional home sinks. The one we originally had was two basins and they were very shallow. With the angle of the faucet, if the water was turned on too quickly with full power, it would splash on the bottom and right out onto the stomach of the person standing in front of the sink!! We always had to be careful to open the faucet slowly so we wouldn't get an unexpected bath.
Sooooo we did a little research with careful measurements, and found out that we could replace it with a single basin that was deeper than the original.
We did the swap when we found one from ClassACustoms for only $119.00, free shipping, no tax. All of the other RV sites wanted $200-$300 for the same sink.
It's an undermount sink but we mounted it from above with a bead of silicone and caulking from underneath. It was really an easy job and we really appreciate the new sink.
The two individuals sink base covers still fit on top of this, side by side, after Steve did a little teeny routering along the edge of the undersides of the covers. Not in the photo below, but it adds to the counter space when cooking.
NUMBER 4.
This was actually the first upgrade we made to the motorhome. These aren't in any particular order. We were camping one of our first times out in the motor home and realized the crazy Flexsteel Fold and Tumble loveseat was the most uncomfortable thing. Even with little additional ottomans in front of it, it was not comfortable to sit back and watch TV and relax. There is only so much width in the slide for any loveseat, and household ones won't work. It needs to be a RV specific that can be bolted to the floor, have access to the seat belts, and come in pieces to fit through a narrow RV door.
Steve was looking at Facebook Marketplace, as he usually does, and he ran across somebody selling a brand new RV loveseat exactly the right size that we needed!! They had purchased it from an RV Warehouse in Indiana in anticipation of putting it in their school bus renovation. But then they realized they could go with a longer full-sized couch. So it hadn't even been used or installed yet, and they were selling it on Marketplace.
We skipped out on our last day of camping and rushed over to purchase a NEW Williamsburg grey reclining loveseat set for $500. We removed the Flexsteel Fold and Tumble loveseat and used the same screws for mounting the Williamsburg. We sold the Flexsteel to someone else for their van built out for the same amount of money!
So really, our cost was $0.00.
It is extremely comfortable and we really are pleased that it matches the interior. The original seat belts are made to come up through the back sections of this special RV loveseat, so they are legal seated positions when you carry passengers in the motorhome.
NUMBER 5.
Now that we had replaced the love seat with the beautiful dark charcoal colored upholstery, we decided to cover our driver and passenger seats in the cockpit. The cream colored "leatherette" fabric of the original 9-year-old seats was beginning to peel and chip away. It's a known fault with the seats from Sprinter thru Winnebago. Most people replace the entire seats. But we went on our Facebook Winnebago group again, asking for recommendations. Someone had recommended this company who custom makes the covers exactly for the right ones that are in our motorhome.
So we took a chance and ordered them in the color of our choice.
Leatherette Custom Seat Covers - Charcoal - Front Seat
Custom Tailor Made - 20% OFF - BACK TO SCHOOL SALE
$429.00 but on Sale $343.20 Shipping Free Total $343.20
Here's the YouTube video of us installing them
It took a bit of effort to get them on, but they fit absolutely perfectly and snugly. The hardest part was getting the armrest covers on. But once it was done we were quite pleased. They're comfortable to sit on and we like the dark color that matches our love seat. They never really get hot because if it's a sunny day, we pull the windshield screens across to keep them from absorbing sunlight when we are parked.
NUMBER 6.
This one is kind of a biggie. We had debated back and forth about upgrading the 2 wet cell deep cycle Trojan batteries that operate the coach portion of our motorhome. (These are NOT the two driving batteries for the diesel engine on the chassis). The process on our particular motorhome is much more involved to swap them over to lithium batteries. It also involves changing over to a new system controller, getting a new larger inverter, getting a new converter, altering the compartment the batteries reside in, as well as changing the engine alternator and some of the other wiring components on the motorhome. Quite an expensive and involved process!
Although lithium batteries are really nice, we really didn't want to go through all that to upgrade the motorhome. So we did the next best thing...
We did some research and purchased a Bluetti power station. This contains everything in one unit, a large LiFePo4 lithium battery, the controller for solar, the inverter to give pure sine wave power for sensitive electronics, and can be charged in multiple ways. It has a large 30 amp plug on it that we can just plug the motorhome into! It rides perfectly in the first compartment next to our passenger entry door. It even runs our Starlink as we drive down the road, and we aren't wearing down the chassis batteries in the process.
Our unit is the Bluetti AC200L
(approx $1,800)
We can charge the Bluetti:
- from our solar set up,
- or from our generator,
- or from plugging it into shore power,
- or the best way is that we can charge it while driving from the alternator (with the addition of the Bluetti One DC to DC charger).
Bluetti Charger One DC to DC charger. Bought on Amazon, added post fuse 60 amp and grommets. $250 on sale, normally $399. BLUETTI Charger 1, 560W Alternator Charger,
Here is the YouTube on installing the DC to DC charger:
https://youtu.be/QNQ168xRG2A?si=bSyVSw_qLnH8_FE4
We put a 320 watt solar system on the cargo trailer roof for $125. We also have a Renogy 400 watt portable solar panel that can be deployed if needed.
https://www.renogy.com/products/renogy-400w-solar-panel-blanket
Here is the YouTube of getting the renergy solar panel:
https://youtu.be/XpFgZ8Prx8U?si=dsLaxJEReluvA3PN
It fits perfectly in this compartment without interfering with any of the original battery space.
NUMBER 7.
(really 7A, 7B & 7C)
The next thing on our list was to improve our "ride". We knew that other Winnebago View owners had made changes to the suspension. We took a lot of their advice and did some research and decided to invest in some products to make our rig handle better. Especially dipping and swaying as you pull in and out of driveways or gas station aprons etc. Also when being passed by semis or dealing with high winds on the road. The suspension can make all the difference.
The previous owner of our motorhome had already installed the Hellwig sway bar. That makes a huge difference in handling.
But we knew that the shocks and the struts needed to be replaced as well. It was 9 years old and we don't think they had ever been done before.
7A.
First up were the rear shocks, we ordered the special ones from Agile Off-road in California. They were so much beefier than what was originally on there.
AOR0016-HEAVY AO Fox 2.5 Rear Shocks – Sprinter 3500 $499.99 Discount Total Agile Offroad https://agileoffroad.com/
10928 Wheatlands Avenue Suite B
Santee CA 92071 Shipping Cost $0.00 Total $499.99
We were able to do this project ourselves. It was amazing how bad the old shocks were. If you watch the video link below you can see how easily Steve can compress the old ones. That's not right. So watch the video below and you can watch our process:
7B.
Once that was done, then we also had to do the struts up in the front. Again, using the advice from the others with the Sprinter chassis on our Winnebago View list, we ordered these that are specifically designed for the Sprinter chassis used for rvs. They carry loads differently than the regular Sprinter vans used for deliveries or other purposes. The RVs have a different weight distribution and it was discovered after the fact that they needed a different strut then what were originally put on the chassis.
Bilstein 22-334299 Front B6 Camper Advanced (DampMatic) Strut Sprinter 2500/3500/3500XD × 2
$398.00
They weren't quite as expensive as the shocks were, but all around it was a huge improvement to the ride. It was well worth the expense.
Once they were done, we were in need of an alignment. We had that done down at the Mercedes-Benz in Appleton.
7C.
But after our trip to Alaska, it was time to also invest in new tires. RV tires should never go longer than 5 or 6 years because they "age out" a lot faster than they wear out their tread. They age from the inside out because they do not get used every day to distribute the oils throughout the rubber. It's called "dry rot". So because they sit and are not driven every day like a car, you don't go by the miles on the tires, you go by the years. All tires have a date code stamped in the side so you can tell the age of your tire. The first two digits are the week and the second two digits are the year itself. Thus 2122 would mean the 21st week of 2022.
In choosing new tires, we specifically indicated that we wanted fresh ones. Sometimes you will be told about a "great sale" but they are actually tires that have been sitting on the shelf in a warehouse somewhere for one or two or even three years. They are brand new as far as not being mounted on a vehicle yet, but they have been sitting around for quite a while. Beware of those great sales!
We called ahead and ordered our tires and insisted that they be fresh and that we will check the date codes when we get there.
Six Michelin Agilis tires Cross Climate 2
LT 125/85 r16 115RE1bsw We had them installed at Discount Tire in Green Bay (NOT recommended!) $233 each $1,398 $3.50 per tire disposal fee $21 Final total $1472.05
It was quite a fiasco with irresponsible workers not lifting our motorhome properly on the indicated lifting points and causing potential damage to our chassis. We really had to monitor them and insist they follow what is in the manual and not what they think they needed to do. Watch the video below for more information:
After they were done, we still had to have the tires balanced again by the Mercedes-Benz repair shop down in Appleton. We also had everything looked over for any potential damage after their botched up work at Discount Tire.
NUMBER 8.
Tireminder TPMS sytem from Amazon
This is really an important item to have, especially if you are towing something behind your motorhome. We have tire pressure monitor transmitters installed on all six tires of the motorhome, as well as anything we are towing behind. In our case, we mostly tow our cargo trailer which has two more transmitters on it.
Those who say they can walk around and thump on their tires with a bat to monitor their pressures are "old school". You really can't tell what's happening to the tires on something you are towing behind you. You can't thump your tires when you're driving down the highway at 60 miles an hour either. There are instances of a trailer or vehicle with a flat that keeps running down the highway and starts on fire. Soon the towed item is in flames and you can't get it unlocked off the hitch fast enough without it passing through an igniting onto your motorhome. Twice this has happened to us with flats on vehicles we were towing behind our larger motorhome. It's saved our butts and a lot of headaches. This way we can tell if we have a slow leak, as it will register as soon as it drops too far below the baseline. It also alarms us if there is a rapid decrease in pressure, or a rapid increase in temperature.
We invested in this tpms, although there are others out there on the market. We like this one because we can change out the batteries in each individual sensor and not have to replace the entire sensors. Our old Hopkins N-Vision system we had to replace the entire sensors which was quite expensive. So that is why we chose Tire Minder this time.
TireMinder Smart TPMS with 10 Transmitters for RVs, MotorHomes, 5th Wheels, Motor Coaches and Trailers https://a.co/d/06UtrgVK
$518.00
NUMBER 9.
Our motorhome originally came with a Coleman Mach 1 roof air conditioner. It had a hard time keeping up with high heat, especially with a dark sided and partially dark roofed motorhome like our Winnebago View. Also, it was very noisy and not very efficient. We decided to make a change to a newer quieter one that also had a heat pump feature.
Houghton RV Air Conditioner 15K Quiet AC Unit with Heat Pump, Remote Control
RP-AC3800-DB-KT-SS
Type: Ducted, Color: Black, Thick Roof Extending Bolts Include Installed Soft Start: Include (+349.95)
https://recpro.com/rv-air-conditioner-15k-quiet-ac-heat-pump-with-condensate-pump-remote-control/
$1,687.95 USD Shipping:$0.00 USD Grand total:$1,687.95
Here's the YouTube of how our neighbor came to help us get it up on the roof and get off the old one. It was quite a job, but we are glad that we did it.
Last but not least, we added a Furrion propane stove/oven combination. Remember, I said these are no particular order of importance. But to me, this one was really important!
Our motorhome originally came with only a two burner cooktop and no propane oven at all!! The two burners were awkward, one was larger and one was smaller. It was not very easy to cook on and the kettles would tip on the little wire brackets around the propane burner. Any larger fry pan or kettle would actually touch the edges of the plastic surface countertop when cooking.
It does have a microwave/convection combination unit up overhead. But that's not the same as a propane oven. Especially if you are boondocking a lot or camping without hookups. Who wants to fire up the generator just to run the convection oven? If you are doing something like a roast or slow cooking something you would need to have the generator running for hours. Not only that, I just don't like convection oven for cooking. I never really got the hang of it.
We had mentioned several times that we would like to swap it out for a regular propane stove with more burners, and a propane oven underneath.
It would mean sacrificing two of the drawers in the cabinetry underneath this cooktop. But I was willing to do that, just to have a propane oven.
Again, Mr Steveio had his eyeballs on Facebook marketplace. It's amazing the stuff that he can run across that is usable for us, and usually at a really good price.
Can you believe it, he found a brand new RV propane Furrion stove / oven that had never even been installed in an RV before? A guy who works at an RV repair dealership said it had been shipped to them for an insurance replacement but had been damaged during shipping. It was merely some dents on the side of the housing and didn't affect the operation at all. His boss gave it to him and he was going to do a van conversion build out, but never got it done. So he decided to sell it on Marketplace for a third of what it would have cost new!
We snapped it up, quick as a wink. It had never even been hooked up to a propane tank yet, so we brought along our own to test it before purchase. Everything was wonderful and it worked fine. He lowered the price from $250 down to $220 because we had to bring along our own propane tank and a couple fittings to test it out.
Here is the YouTube of our process of installation which was quite extensive:
THESE ARE THE RUNNER-UPS:
COSTWAY PORTABLE WASHER SPINNER
If you've been reading this blog at all, you know how much I hate going to laundromats. Especially City laundromats. I would much rather do our laundry in the motorhome and hang things out to dry, or hang them up on hangers. In our last motorhome we had a washer dryer combination built into the cabinetry in the bathroom. I really miss that. So this was our next best alternative being lightweight, and able to ride in our own shower stall...
COSTWAY Portable Washing Machine, Twin Tub 20 Lbs Capacity, Compact Laundry Washer(12 Lbs) and Spinner(8 Lbs), $149.00
LogicBlue Technology LevelMatePRO Wireless RV Leveling System, Bluetooth Leveler. 119.00 on Amazon - $20 coupon got for $99.
Here are two videos of how we installed it and another one of how it's used. It's quite handy!
HUANUO Adjustable Monitor Stand, Single Arm Desk Mount for 32 inch Screen and 17 inch Laptop, $37.99
CAROTE 33 PCS Pots and Pans set Non Stick, Ceramic Cookware Set, RV Kitchen Cooking Set Removable Handles
Anniversary present https://a.co/d/05wY9e8k
$139.99 Amazon
Here is our YouTube of how well they nest and store completely in one drawer underneath our stove.
12 VOLT DIMMER SWITCH
This one was Steve's little favorite extra thing to do. We have some under counter LED strip lights that just switch on bright, or off. No in between. So he decided to add some dimmers. He had done this on our previous motorhomes too.
He likes this one that's a touch dimmer for 12 volt fixtures. It only came in a double format, but we can cut it apart with a small oscillating tool blade.
RecPro Dimmer Switch | RV 12V Touch Dimmer Switch | Compatible with LED, Incandescent, or Halogen Bulbs (Double) Amazon $30.95 (double switch we cut apart)
Our previous You Tube installing the dimmers under the cabinets:
INSTALLING DIMMER ON LED LIGHTS ON 2016 WINNEBAGO VIEW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxOCV2L60Wo
Now we can dim down the lights over the loveseat area when we want to watch tv. We can brighten up the lights over the kitchen countertop when we are working on some cooking, or dim them down into the evening for soft lighting. They really are handy!
EXTRA EXTERIOR LED PORCH LIGHT
This one is the most recent upgrade we have done. And it kind of ties in with the previous dimmer switches. Because he took the regular switches off, when replacing with the dimmers, he happened to have an extra on and off 12 volt switch that matches all of our others.
On the passenger side of our motorhome we have one of these LED strip Optronics light as a porch light by the passenger entry door. It's very handy for at night when we let out the dog or for checking out what's going on outside if we hear a noise.
Steve decided we should have one over on the driver's side too. Since he already had the switch, we ordered a matching light from Walmart of all places! We installed it on the top edge of the slide on the driver's side. Now we can just reach up under the cabinet and flick the switch to check on what's going on out on the driver's side of the motorhome. This is also especially handy for Nick's last call out to do his potty before bedtime. Sometimes it's better if he goes over there rather than on the patio side of the rv.
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