The below comment from one of our readers was regarding our recent Schwintek floor post. We talked about how there is no warning label regarding using the slide room when it is retracted, nor was there anything about that in the owner’s manual.
As a retired aerospace technical writer, a career where accuracy and completeness is paramount, I have been disappointed with the generic nature of the RV manuals. Some information is missing, some is incomplete, and some of the equipment that is described is very different than that which was installed. If I were to write updates and corrections, there is no obvious way to submit it, nor do the companies offer updates. In aerospace if there is a problem with the manual, we create change pages and insert pages. That is so obvious. —Gary
Gary,
This has been an issue for as long as I can remember. When I was at Winnebago, I was very critical of the owner’s manual and had this discussion with the writer many times. He was a good writer but was not an RV enthusiast or even did any camping. He got no technical assistance from anyone at Winnebago. By the time the legal department got done proofing what he wrote, it looked like a child’s cut-out snowflake with all the holes!
Why such watered-down owner’s manuals
The challenge with providing a comprehensive owner’s manual for each specific unit is the diversity in options, floorplans, and dealer-installed components. Developing a manual that had the accuracy and completeness you have described would be cost prohibitive. As we all know, the RV industry is all about keeping it cheap. Most models have several different floorplans and can have more than 50 different options available.
Then, adding to the confusion are the model year changes that do not “sync,” such as the chassis, appliances, and the RV manufacturer. You will see 2025 model year units introduced in the next few months. That will create a mess in OEM equipment that is used in the tail-end of 2024 and what is new for 2025.
So, it is impossible to provide an owner’s manual that would be what you are looking for unless there was a dedicated technician/writer that would be able to document all of the components and assemble that information—which almost no one would pay for. Therefore, most RV manufacturers provide a generic manual which covers the basics.
Relying on OEM manuals for specifics
Most RV manufacturers are actually just “assemblers”—installing original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts from the hundreds of companies in and around Elkhart, IN. There are companies that make furniture, cabinetry, slide rooms, and even frames. Not to mention all the appliance companies such as Norcold, Dometic, Onan … and the list goes on and on.
Most RV companies rely on the OEM to provide the documentation and owner’s manual for their specific product. In that case the manual is thrown in the “pile” of all the other documents—which is somewhat overwhelming.
When I was at Winnebago, we developed a large binder with folder tabs for the various OEM manuals to help organize and identify. However, owners still indicated this was overwhelming since there were so many manuals. In addition, most of those manuals cover a wide variety of models and might not be specific to the model you have.
The bottom line… cost
There is a very big difference between the aerospace industry and the RV industry. I would imagine that everything in the aerospace industry has detailed documentation and very little running-line changes. In the RV industry there is constant change and very little documentation. Try getting a wiring diagram for your rig or find out where the frame runs in the sidewall.
I also believe the aerospace industry has a whole department dedicated to documentation, with a budget to match. Most RV manufacturers have one person who writes all the manuals for each model. To supplement the owner’s manual with updates and added pages just will not happen.
As I have stated many times, the goal is to make the RV as cheaply as possible. Unfortunately, they can get by with it as there are no government regulations or third party quality control. There are just RVIA inspections twice a year, which are looking for component compliance and not quality.
Winnebago has great, and readily available, owner’s manuals
Some companies try to create an owner’s manual that will provide a little guidance. An example is Winnebago. It not only has what I feel now is one of the best manuals, but all their manuals are available online. For those of you that have been following my posts, you know that I get excited when someone asks a Winnebago question. That’s because I can go online and find 3D drawings, wiring schematics, and even sealant recommendations.
Just last weekend I had one of my seminar attendees trying to figure out where the house batteries were on his unit. I pulled up the website at www.winnebago.com, went to the Owners tab and clicked on Owner Resources. Then we found the year and model and pulled up the 3D drawing showing the batteries hidden underneath the floor in a compartment.
However, Winnebago was not always like that. When I asked about the owner’s manual back in the day, I was told by the director of service that nobody reads the manuals anyway and they leave the education of functionality to the dealers. Ha! We all know how well that works!
I would like to hear from our readers on what they have found with the owner’s manuals of their rigs.
You might also enjoy this from Dave
Should we be concerned about full-body RV slides with appliances?
Dear Dave,
Just looking over some of Tony Barthel’s RV reviews, it looks like a lot of the travel trailers he looks at have full-body RV slides of mechanicals in them such as refrigerator, sink, oven/stove, etc. How does this affect the slides and mechanical systems? Looking at a review with suspension issues and slides above them, I would think that full slides with mechanicals in them could be a major issue. I’m not looking at these, but what are some of the points to look at before purchase? —Jeffrey, 2016 Gulf Stream 30 ft.
Dave Solberg is a leading expert in the RV industry and the author of the “RV Handbook.”
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Using the owners manual for most items has become an exercise in patience. First for me is find the English portion. Sorry, that’s the only language I can read. Then I often have to read and re-read it to try to guess what it says. I will then turn to Youtube where I seem to have better luck. Even then I have to watch a 9 minute video that begins with a 3 minute intro with 4 minutes of fluff and hopefully find the 2 minutes of useful information. Please, just write a manual that is useful.
We never an actual Forest River owner’s manual for our new motor home we purchased. Got a lot of paperwork for the appliances, radios, and other things including the cab and chassis owner’s manual. Nothing about the actual Forest River coach. It did not phase me; we have owned enough RV’s to know what they were about. And working as a diesel mechanic for part of my career advancing through the business, I was used to being around and working on trucks. Doubtful there is an RV made I could not find the coach batteries of having the need of an owner’s manual to find them.
Both of my past Winnebago’s had excellent resources and manuals online and print, as you mentioned. When I changed to Tiffin, I was a little disappointed (manuals). I love my Tiffin much better (numerous Schwintek related problems with Winnebago) and have muddled through it ok. Each one of has to scramble ahead of time to locate each item and individual manuals as well. Remember “Haynes” auto manuals back in the day?! Would be nice to have that resource for RV’s of all types today——-ONLINE!
Having You here Dave, has helped many of us get through the manly task of doing what we love to do, learn more about our rigs and fix ourselves when possible! KUDOS!
I’ve worked in the computer software industry for almost 45 years, and we have the same problem. Every client wants good documentation and training materials, but they aren’t willing to pay a penny for it, and they don’t evaluate the quality of those materials as part of the bids. So, they get crap. We create better materials, but only because we need them for ourselves.
So, if you want good manuals, you must refuse to buy anything that doesn’t have them, and must be willing to pay more to get them. Good luck.
I have a 2000 Fleetwood Bounder 39z DP.
The owner manuals came in a brief case sized case that not only has the Bounder manuals it also has the Cummins manuals, Onan manuals, Coleman manuals, Magic Chef manual for microwave, stove and oven and Carefree manual for awnings it also contains various manuals for almost everything in and on the rig.
Warranties included.
Goes to show they don’t make them like they used to!
The owner’s manual for our 2017 Keystone is mostly about operation and precious little about maintenance or repair. And even for operation, has more of a feel of a sales brochure – plenty of sizzle but little meat. The only saving grace is that many components and construction techniques are very similar between manufacturers and I can watch a bunch of You Tube videos or read forum pages. After I sort through the bad advice, I can generally learn enough to accomplish what needs to be done.
Thank you, Dave! RV #1 was an American Revolution. We got a nice shoulder bag with lots of component manuals. I’ll guess two-thirds or even three-quarters of the components were represented. I found on-line component manuals as well as a very general RV manual, allowing me to supplement my library of manuals. We left the file box with North Trail RV when we traded it.
I needed a schematic to mount an outside RV ladder on the back of my Outdoor RV trailer…after contacting Outdoor RV they promptly sent a schematic for mounting such a ladder, including exactly where to put screws into the wall frame. Other manufacturers…not so lucky on responses.
Outdoor RV don’t help their customers anymore. They wouldn’t give me the drws for where the Maxxair fan goes in the kitchen. They want you to rely on the RV dealer. Which we all know dealers can be useless. I just went thru this. Dealer said he got them for me. We’ll see. Dealer don’t want to cut the hole for the fan and install it which is supposedly framed for it.
Thanks again, Dave! RV #2 is a Newmar New Aire. We got a spiral-bound New Aire book with some almost-specific information about the RV and the components. They also gave us a briefcase with most (all?) of the component manuals. They have an owner website (newgle.com) where one may search by year and model RV and ultimately find manuals for all the versions of a particular component in addition to “knowledge” articles related to it. The typical motivation for creating a “knowledge” article is recurrent owner questions about a component or its operation. All the manuals are on Newmar’s site in case the manufacturer removes them in the future.
It’s true that Winnebago rv’s came with very complete and model-specific manuals. Our 2008 Sightseer has all of this in addition to a thick product manual that includes all the documentation for the appliances and basically anything Winnebago didn’t build or manufacture. There was even full body paint info from the company that painted the rv, and 4 different bottles of touch up paint for each color. All these things were organized neatly in the “info case”. The company’s support has been exceptional.
I purchased a 2024 RAM 2500 last December. The truck came with a small “Fast Start” owner’s manual. Mostly useless. However, online, there is a 412-page Owner’s Manual for the RAM 2500/3500. The manual has information about every possible option on the two models. Since my truck has almost every option I read almost all 412 pages. I flipped past the pages with the options I don’t have. It appears RAM is saving money by not providing the 412-page manual with the truck, as they did with my 2022 RAM. Updates are easy. Just notify owners of any manual changes. Seems RV manufacturers could do the same if they cared about their customers.
I have a 2022 2500 and I hate when the manual says “if installed”! If you don’t have the actual as built specs you don’t know if you have that option or not. Using the VIN I was able to pull up the sheet and went through the manual (thank goodness it was paper) and tab the options I have that I will use.
I think you mentioned it previously but just to reiterate, drawings for Winnebago TRAILERS is not available on line. However, I will say that I was able to obtain several drawings for our trailer by contacting Winnebago directly, for which I was appreciative.
There will come a day, very shortly, where a QR code will be affixed on a cabinet door. Using your QR App will open an owners manual. Whether that manual will be useful or not is another matter, but it will save the manufacturer money by not having a printed one….
Most of the manuals they do give you are the installation ones and have nothing to do with how to use or maintain the equipment.
Winnebago was outstanding in providing a complete how to owners manual for our Class A 1994 Vectra 34′. They also included all the support equipment manuals. Including the Chev. chassis owners manual. (All included in a very poor 4-5″ plastic 3 ring binder. I recycled that!) On-line support is also outstanding! I have contacted them several times to help with in wall stuff which can’t be seen or found without a schematic Also, support for a problem repair with direct contact with Jay S. All wiring is also labeled for every circuit printed on the wire! Super diagrams too! I hope the new ones are the same…. Thanks Dave!
My 1988 Superchief has the Winnebago binder you speak of, I of course have added all the items I have updated.
Fortunately the original owner even highlighted items that are specifically for “Lucy.”
I guess I got lucky, the next two owners didn’t lose any of the pages either.