New Here - Buying a Newmar Dutch Star

[Darbone85737]

I've owned sailboats, diesel pickups and fifth-wheel trailers, but we're in the process of buying our first motor home.

Finding this group has been great. We live in southern Arizona and the primary use of our coach is as a winter home in Mexico as well as a few trips to California and the western states.

The coach we've chosen is a 1998 Newmar Dutch Star on a Freightliner chassis with a 3126 Caterpillar engine and 6 spd Allison transmission. It has 70,000 miles but only one owner and looks to have been stored inside and well taken care of. The coach is located around 1,500 miles away and my plan is to fly there, spend 2 or 3 days checking it out, orienting myself to it's systems and operation, and then driving it home. I have a friend who owns a motor home near where it is located who will probably help me get acquainted.

I have to say this process is both exciting and frightening. I'm a mechanical kind of guy and feel pretty comfortable working on things once I've become familiar with them but I feel like I'm jumping into the deep end of a pool.

Anyway, thanks for the great site and I look forward to learning more as we go along

[wolfe10]

Darbone,

Welcome the the FMCA Forum.

You have chosen a very reliable coach/drive-train.

Be sure to get any maintenance logs or receipts the previous has accumulated. That will give you a good baseline for determining what/when preventive maintenance needs to be done.

Plan to come to an FMCA Convention and attend the many free seminars to help you get acquainted with the "care and feeding" of your new motorhome. As an example, here are the seminars that will presented at the next Convention in Indianapolis next month: http://www.fmca.com/...polis-2012.html

Brett

[Darbone85737]

Thx, Brett. I think I made a good choice. I'll be driving it home from Wisconsin in 2 weeks. I'm pretty excited. Feels like the day before Christmas ...

[RVerOnTheMove]

Just be sure you don't send any money! Fly or drive where ever you like and promise whatever they want you to do so, but there so are many RV scams on the internet that sending money to an unknown recipient will often result in the money disappearing and the RV simply not existing! We have even seen our friends RV listed for sale. When we called they knew nothing of what we spoke. Someone had simply stolen the pictures and posted the unit for sale.

[jfxg48]

Thx, Brett. I think I made a good choice... I'm pretty excited. Feels like the day before Christmas ...

Darbone, I agree, you've made a good choice!

And I know what you mean about the day before Christmas--- we bought a 2002 Dutch Star/ Freightliner/ 3126 Cat/ Allison, and just drove it home today, smiling all the way! Good Luck with yours!

[hermanmullins]

Darbone,

Congratulations. Since you have, as it seems, already purchased the coach, contact Newmar and check on any Factory Recalls that may or may not have been done. Check the refrigerator, if it is a Norcold make sure both Recalls have been done and at the same time check with Cat for the same things. If you are buying it from a dealer have them change the oil and all filters in both the Cat as well as the Gen. If you are buying from an individual have these done ASAP. Starting this way you know when the work was done and when you need to do it again.

PS: If you are going to drive through TEXAS any time soon, start early in the morning turn on the Gen. and both A/Cs, then you might be comfortable during the trip.

Texas heat is Humid and AZ is dry, but when it is 107 it is hot no matter where you are.

Good Luck

Herman

[actionjackson]

Congratulations. We purchased an 02 Journey DL last year, that was about 1000 miles away. I understand your apprehension. We pestered the owner about the condition of the coach, particularily rust issues. All turned out well.

I'm aware of one fatal flaw with the older Newmar coach's. Be sure and check out the condition of the roof. You could save yourself thousands of dollars. Good luck

Action Jackson

[Darbone85737]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. I actually bought it on Ebay. That doesn't worry me as I buy and sell vintage European motorcycles on a regular basis, some with value equivalent to the coach. I only had to send them a small down payment ($250) and the balance when I show up to get it. I've had several conversations with the fellow who owns the company that is selling it. It had one owner who traded it to the company that sold it new. They don't handle anything old so they sold it to the company I'm getting it from. It was stored indoors and there is no sign of any roof problems or rust underneath. They have already changed the fluids and filters and will have it road ready when I pick it up. The only issue I've seen are 2 eight year old tires that will be replaced before I pick it up. The others are all 2011. I plan to spend a day or so in it to get acquainted before the trip back. Hope you don't mind if I put up some pictures. I'm trying to locate the original owner so if anyone recognizes it ...... Any and all comments are welcomed