Tampa super show

[RKins]

I see on the other site that the Hoots are having their gathering again, 3-6PM Friday 1/17.

 

[FLSteve]

Anybody attend the show today (Wednesday)? Just curious how traffic was getting into the show. I saw somewhere that it was backed up 10 miles on I-4. Just trying to confirm as we are headed that way tomorrow from Disney.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jmltech]

We just got back to our hotel. Drove in right at 9:00 this morning. No traffic at all. Coming out of the lot at 3:00 didn’t see any traffic along 574. Some moderate traffic (slow but moving) from I-4 heading towards the fairgrounds on 304.

It was pretty hot today. Large crowds inside at the vendor tables - people trying to cool down. Not too bad getting in/out of both Tiffin and Newmar. Ran into a few rude people

 

[Tip&Tina]

I edited my previous post-I didn’t realize it had posted. ?

We are staying at Tampa South RV resort, 25 miles south. We drove up yesterday at 10:00 and got on Hwy 574 to light traffic. Then came to a stop! We’ve never been there before so had no idea why. All the traffic was to get into the fairgrounds. It took 30 minutes to get to the entrance and another 20 minutes to get to a parking space. CRAZY.

On an interesting front, we drove by all the Newmars parked along the south entrance at Gate 3. We saw some incredible, beautiful rigs. They went on forever as we inched along. Great advertising for Newmar!

It was the biggest show we’ve ever been to. The sheer size was amazing. Easy to get lost. And the heat was a bummer. We anticipated a little cooler (we dressed for hot weather and still sweated like crazy) and the air conditioners on the rigs just couldn’t keep up.

At the show we headed for the Newmar’s. We wanted to look at Dutch Stars and Ventanas. They had every model out. They really did great with the DSs. They had 3-4 4081s and 3-4 4369s. Which is what we are comparing.

We’ve never been able to compare at the dealer like that...it was worth the drive to Tampa just to compare the styles and colors.

We then went and looked at Tiffins...Yuck. They all smelled like chemicals and were just nasty. We’ve seen them before, however, I don’t recall the overwhelming chemical smell. Never again.

Then on to Entegra. I look at Entegras every time we pull our rig out of storage at NIRVC. Seeing them all lined up and comparing to the DS made us realize that Newmar is the way to go. Now is it 40‘ or 43’....

We are going back on Friday. We will go out earlier to avoid traffic.

 

[Joe Dutchstar]

The front gate was closed on the day you arrived. Traffic was a major pain as you discovered. We are on the front row at he Newmar KK Rally. We sat sipping coffee watching the endless line of vehicles of all sorts roll in. The main gate is open now so arrival should not be as difficult. Saturday will be the busiest day by far.

 

[Joe Dutchstar]

Newmar made some interesting additions to there service organization. Here is a post my Facebook post regarding some of the topics discussed today at the NKK Rally at the Tampa SuperShow. Newmar Owners Group

 

[Neal]

How many are they going to deploy?

 

[Joe Dutchstar]

How many are they going to deploy?

This is just starting. Newmar is taking the position that each Mobile tech will be a Newmar Employee with Line Experience or at least be fully factory trained. The goal is to have the Mobile force become snow birds, "following the Herd" nationwide as the RVs migrate North and South. Full deployment will take some time according to Newmar.

 

[Jabber Jaw]

Joe Hogan,
A very interesting and informative meeting! "New Serv" is an interesting concept, and if implemented the way they say, it would be quite helpful for Newmar owner's, especially the "Snow Bird Herd"!
As a first timer, & our first trip with the new coach, it has been a fun,
interesting experience for us!
Hats off to the Newmar "tech's" for their efforts! Efficient and pretty quick too. They had to order a couple parts for our "warranty repairs". Came back by today and installed them. Repairs finished, and all is well.
We are about four rows from the back in site "723".
Will stop by to say "Hi"", now that I know which coach is yours!?

 

[Joe Dutchstar]

We are at site #218

 

[sheridany]

I am not a FB person. Could someone elaborate or share what this about.

Newmar made some interesting additions to there service organization. Here is a post my Facebook post regarding some of the topics discussed today at the NKK Rally at the Tampa SuperShow. Newmar Owners Group

 

[Neal]

@JoeHogan maybe post your report here directly?

 

[Joe Dutchstar]

Today the Senior Management of Newmar spoke for approximately an hour discussing the ownership change, current and future plans. A new technical training program to provide training to dealer technicians has started. The main campus where programs will be developed and distributed is located in Elkhart. These programs will be distributed to regional schools closer to dealerships to allow technicians to conveniently attend. A new Mobile Service has been started using factory trained technicians. The first Mobile Service truck is here in Florida. Mark, the first Mobile technician, previously work on the Newmar manufacturing line in Nappanee. Appointments for the mobile technicians are made through the Newmar model specialist. On newer coaches a label above the drivers window should have your specialist contact information. Mark was kind enough to allow me to take his picture, see below.

 

[FLSteve]

Anybody attend the show today (Wednesday)? Just curious how traffic was getting into the show. I saw somewhere that it was backed up 10 miles on I-4. Just trying to confirm as we are headed that way tomorrow from Disney.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Made it to the show yesterday (Thursday). Got there about noon and traffic was not an issue at all. Came in on I-4 and turned south on 301 down to the south gate. Leaving at 5:30 pm to head south was a different story, but still not that bad as we were always moving.

Newmar/NorthTrail RV had a great display and lots of units to look at ... and we got to see all the usual folks we look for (Michelle Howard, Ken Williamson and even Matt Miller). BUT unfortunately we also got a good look at the Dutch Star 2020 redo of our 2019 floor plan (the new 4081). Wish we had not of seen that. They have really upped the game on the bathrooms (back and mid) ... especially that curved shower. It's almost like we sent them a list of things we would like to see changed and they changed them!!!!!

FLSteve

 

[RKins]

Site 104 here (first row beside the MLK entrance), same site I've had the past 3 years, weird that it happens each year. It was a good meeting, market share on both gas and diesel has grown, employees number 1150, Winnebago transition VP was in attendance and he assured us that nothing was going to change at Newmar except now they have to report their numbers every 90 days.
The first class of Trained RV tech are to graduate this month from the RV Tech Institute (not the real name - don't remember it) in Elkhart, so there is an effort to staff the Manufacturers and dealerships with trained techs. Satellite training at different MFRs to build on that initial training.
My understanding from what they said on the mobil service (I was sitting in front row) is that they are just cutting their teeth on this and are really not sure what they will do yet. Someone mentioned to them that they should "follow the herd" of snow birds but who knows.
They are looking into a dealership in Utah.
That's all I remember right now.